Week Seven - Travel - Science

Today is the day for air, water, and road experiments.

Air: You will need a balloon (get a couple, accidents happen and you wouldn't want the fun to end early because of a popped balloon), string, tape, and items of different weight. Blow up the balloon and attach the string. Have your child place the objects you gathered from around the house in order of lightest to heaviest. Attach the lightest one to the sting and see if the balloon caries it to the ceiling. Continue with each item and see if they were right about the weight. If you want, add another balloon to see how much more it can hold or see which item weighs more in a head to head.

Water: Will it float? You will need a large container for water (preferably outside - this gets wet) (a kiddie pool works well), waterproof items (or items you don't mind tossing after you play) and a record sheet for their hypothesis and actual outcome. Create the record sheet with your child - you draw the grid lines (I would suggest 5 - 7 rows, 3 columns [object, hypothesis, outcome]), then have them come up with the objects. Depending on time you can have them draw the object in the object column or you can write them in. This is a great time to work on beginning sounds and corresponding letters. Then have them guess if the object will sink or float. Record their guess and head outside to see the outcome. While they are placing the object in the water you record the outcome and talk about why that happened. This is a great time to talk about how boats stay afloat.

Roads: You will need objects that can be made into ramps (anything will do as long as it makes it easier  for cars to roll down hill - even a steep driveway), toy cars of all types (different wheels are best) and objects/textures found around the house (examples: towels, pencils, paper clips, cardboard, etc). Take the items to your ramp and start by rolling the chosen cars down the ramp without any items on it. Then add the items. Talk about how the speed and successful completion of the ramp changed based on what you added. Ask them if they would rather ride on a bumpy or smooth road. Talk about all the textures that real cars drive over.

This is sure to be a fun one, enjoy!

Week Seven - Travel - Craft Time

Today we are going to have fun with some car art, juice box boats, a straw car, and (for the intense at heart) an actual rolling car (plus bonus links to build your own paper planes).

For the "car art" all you will need is the toy cars found in your home (if it is anything like mine - found EVERYWHERE in my home), some washable paint, markers, paper and masking tape. You will want to do this in an easily cleanable place (outside is best). Put the washable paint into a paper plate, ride the cars through the paint and make tire track art. You can also tape markers to the back of cars and roll them across the paper. Use different surfaces under the paper for different results.

Inchmark has step by step instructions for juice box boats. You will need an empty juice box with tape over the straw hole, a small wooden skewer, and a water resistant paper (or paper covered in tape - you can decorate the paper and then cover it with clear packing tape for a pretty and waterproof solution).

No Time for Flash Cards has a great fine motor truck craft. You will need straws, paper, marker (for the outline) and glue. You can make this easier (and last less time) if you just cover the outline with straws instead of the whole truck.

The very adventurous will want to try the Marvelous Motor-Car. Brought to you by the folks at SolidWasteDistrict.com (what??!! Seriously, when I first saw this I was stumped as to what was going on over in Indiana - but it is all about recycling and they apparently reprinted a craft found in Creating by Recycling). This car actually rolls - but is probably above the attention span of a pre-schooler. It might be a great option for a dad/kid project.

Last, but not least paper airplanes. Here is a resource that has step-by-step instruction of literally 50 different paper airplane models. Alex's Paper Airplanes has videos on paper airplanes and helicopters.

Week Six - Dinosaurs - Craft Time

Three great options today; a faux relief drawing of a dinosaur skeleton, a dinosaur fossil made of pasta and a hatching baby dinosaur. I have added a few bonus options, because the web is a wealth of ideas for dinosaurs - obviously Little Man is not the only obsessed four-year-old.

I found the great idea for a faux relief dinosaur print on The Do It Yourself Mom. She took a easy fossil printable (here's one) and had her boys trace it with a white crayon on a different piece of paper (one on top of the other). Then they brushed over the white crayon tracing with water colors (use dirt colors for the biggest impact). The end result was a super cute final product. Get all of the details here.

Two options from Busy Bee Kids Crafts. First, dinosaur bones pasta style. You just need glue, paper, the printable provided on the site and some pasta - penne worked great! Little man loved crushing the pasta, so that got a little out of hand, but he was very proud of the final product.

Second, a hatching dinosaur egg. You need paper bowls, paint, other options for decorating (use your and your child's imagination), a paper fastener (if you don't worry about it sliding open you can use a staple or poke through with a twisty tie), and either a dinosaur toy or the free printable found on the site for inside the egg. This is too cute! This would make a great extended play day - hide and seek with the egg, what else fits inside, what other animals lay eggs, make nests outside - the options are endless.



Bonus - here are some fun dinosaur gems I found while searching for ideas for this week.

Here is a set of dino flash cards. My two cents - print two and play memory, print several and write easy word foundations (-ed, -at, -up, -ast, -all, etc) on the bodies with letters that would create words on other same bodies to work on sounding out words. Tons of options, and these are so cute!

This is a set of worksheets and educational files some of which may be a bit above the preschool age range, but sweet and useful now and in the future.

Week Five - 4th of July - Science Time

Here are a couple of activities you can enjoy with your child now that the 4th has passed. This is a great time to talk about what you saw, what was their favorite part, and what was their favorite tradition. Let them talk and see what parts they want to relive.

How about some firecracker cookies? These sugar cookies from CakeSpy.com with food dye and pop rocks look amazing, if a little intense. I like the option at the bottom with the sugar cookies and frosting on the top - but hey it is a holiday week - knock yourself out :) P.S. If you are trying to lose weight DO NOT go to CakeSpy! It is (forgive the language) food porn at its best!

Make your own fireworks. No, not the ones that will blow up and possibly cause you our your precious little ones to lose fingers, firecrackers in a jar. A clear glass, food coloring, oil and and water are all you need for this interesting and quick way to be part of the explosive parts of the 4th.

It is all about density. Use different densities of liquid to create a red, white and blue layered final product. Kids will get a kick out of the liquids not mixing and you can play with this all you want - any colors will do. Make are you talk about weight and what weighs more - and stretch it to the density concept if you feel so inclined.

Have fun!

Week Five - July 4th - Crafts

Hello from the beach! I hope you are enjoying your holiday week.

Here are some simple crafts to celebrate Independence Day.

First, make a noise maker for the parade. You will need a drinking straw, 2 craft sticks (popsicle sticks will work), and a wide rubber band.
1. Cut two 1 1/4 inch pieces from the straw
2. Stretch a rubber band over one of the craft sticks length wise.
3. Put one of the straw pieces under the rubber band at one end and the other straw piece over the rubber band at the opposite end.
4. Put the other craft stick on top of the craft stick you were working on sandwiching the straw pieces in the middle
5. Put the sticks together using rubber bands around each side
5. Decorate and enjoy

Tip: Give this to your child out of doors for sanity!

Second, create a shirt for the 4th activities. The involved version and the not-so-invovled version. Both come up with adorable final products that the kids can be a part of helping you make. These would be perfect if you have a bunch of friends and family getting together as gifts for the kids.

Last, firework art! Paint, water, paper and another straw make a craft that your kids will love creating.

Also, tons of patriotic printables from Disney Family Fun. Enjoy!

Week Four - Beach - Science Time

The best thing about learning about the beach is to be at the beach - which is where we are headed tomorrow, so this will be a little short as I have a household of four to pack for a week.

The experiment for this week is to create a Motion Ocean. The folks at National Geographic have detailed instructions to make this a fun experiment for many different ages. Besides what kid doesn't like to get wet when it is hot?

I also found a great blog, Along the Way, that also did a beach theme in 2010. They made sand and it seems like something that a four year old could easily do - especially with the jumping and shaking. You may need to explain the sand a little more so they really understand that they made actual sand. This blog also talks about really looking at sand to understand what it is and talking about how it got there.

Other possible ideas:


Create a sand sensory area - after playing with the sand for a while add water. Talk about the difference between wet and dry sand. What different things could you do based on whether the sand is wet or dry (build a sand castle, pour it in a bottle, etc)? Then leave the wet sand out to dry check it out after it has had time to sit in the sun - what happened?


Explore shells - if you have shells around your house get them out and talk about the differences and similarities. Talk about the sea animals that live in shells and draw a picture of their favorite shells while talking about the different shapes and patterns they found on the shells.

Tomorrow - movies and games (especially helpful for long car rides/anticipation)

Week Four - Beach - Craft time

This weather has me inspired to offer a few more easy options for indoor fun.

Today's crafts include making a boat (it floats!), a sun catcher (I would love to catch ANY sun after all of these days of rain), and sand dollars.

All of these crafts involve items you see at the beach. While you are making these crafts, ask your child to tell you what they see at the beach. What items did they forget? What things do you only see at the beach? Work on letter sounds, and see if you can come up with one word for each letter for things at the beach (example: animals, beach ball, crab, etc.) Here is a list of some beach words to give you some ideas (good luck with q).

Make your own sand dollar. The link takes you to Disney FamilyFun where they have very detailed options that involve glueing to circles together and using clothespins so they dry well - which is great but a little to much for my four year old. I suggest you use two white paper plates (the cheap kind), a stapler, a q-tip, glue and barley (if you don't have barley on hand [what's wrong with you??!!] use tan construction paper and tear it into little pieces and ball them up).

First, tear the tan (or brown) construction paper into little pieces and make them into little balls (this does not have to be perfect - just give them the 3D look). This was a highlight for Little Man - he was a paper tearing champion. We had a lot of fun with jet this step (in fact the rest was really for me). You can skip that first step if you were able to put your hands on some barley (go you!). Next, take the back of one of your paper plates and using the q-tip draw a star that reach almost the the end of the plate in glue (these look best if they are thin stars). Put the balled construction paper (or barley) onto the glue - let dry. Once it is dry staple the other paper plate to the back of the first, back side out to give the 3D feel (you can skip this step). If you are really a perfectionist cover staples with white out or white paint. Tah Dah! Sand dollar.

Create a sun catcher. You will need heavy paper or card stock, a push pin, yarn or thread (something to hang it - tape work too), something to put underneath the sun when using the push pin, and crayons or paint if you want to decorate after you are done. Cut out a sun shape (template for those of us who are not born artists), if you did not use printed paper - decorate it with crayons, stickers, paint, etc, let your child create a decoration with the push pin by placing it on cardboard and pushing it through the paper. I was nervous about this but Little Man loved getting to use the "big boy" tool. Attach thread and hang by a window (I taped it to our sliding glass door). Enjoy!

Make a paper boat that really floats - perfect for the beach! Use the link for step by step directions with pictures. This is a little complicated for preschool hands but Little Man was good at following me step-by-step. The look on his face when a boat he made launched was priceless. I would suggest if you are going to bring the boat to the beach that you waterproof the bottom of the boat with clear plastic tape.

Finally, in case you are stuck in the house like I am here is a free online game the encourages kids to help pick up the beach. It is a great opportunity to talk to your child about keeping our world clean and doing our part to make sure the places we love are kept for the next kids that want to enjoy them.

Week Three - Weather - Science Fun

Three great (and easy - bonus!) projects to get in our science and weather combo. These are so simple you could actually do all three but feel free to pick just one.

First, create a sun print. This is great project for kids to understand the power of the sun. It works best with cheap construction paper. You need three items - cardboard, construction paper, and sun. Find items around your house, or create pictures using the internet. I found you some weather related items here (you know how I am about themes) - print them out on card stock or print them and cut them out and then trace them onto cardboard. Place your items or cutouts on your cheap construction paper and place it in a sunny place. Feel free to place items overlapping in order to make interesting prints (but leave some of the construction paper uncovered or you won't see a difference). Leave it in the sun for a while (you can check it but keep the paper in the same place) and when you are ready remove the objects (or cutouts) and see the pretty prints. Ask your kids - where else do we see the sun's power? (sunburn, burnt leaves, things growing, etc.)

The other two come from Weather Wiz Kids. Your kids will enjoy it because it is giving them power over nature.

Make it rain. This is so simple and so cool. Follow the directions on the website and watch your kids be amazed. You will need hot water, ice cubes, a glass jar (recycle), a plate and white card stock. Talk about how this happens on such a large scale. This is a good time to talk about the water cycle. The link will take you to Kidzone and has a fun way to talk about the water cycle with kids and bonus coloring pages.

The last one you can do at dinner (or whenever you are enjoying a glass of water and it is sunny), make your own rainbow. Make sure you check out the explanation at the bottom of the link to explain the science of it all. Also, this is a perfect time to talk about the colors of the rainbow. Here is an interactive color the rainbow game. 

We had fun with this - after we made our rainbow we drank the water and talked about how there were rainbows hidden inside. I asked Little Man if he thought the water tasted different which lead to a whole discussion about what would rainbows taste like. In case you are interested, he thinks each color would taste differently.

Week Three - Weather - Craft time

I don't know where you are, but this week is coming at the perfect time for Florida. We are full on into the every afternoon showers, and it is so nice to have something planned to do while we are stuck indoors.

Today is craft day, and I love the little weather mobile I found at Education.com. This is great because it gives you some freedom to let your child's inner artist roam. Do not feel that you have to include only the snowflake, sun, rain, and cloud. There are plenty of other options - hail stone (balled up piece of grey construction paper), tornado (cut a funnel shape and paste on yarn), hurricane (cut a hurricane shape - use the internet! - and glue down cotton everywhere except the center eye), wind (a leaf you find outside, plastic wrap with blue waves inside, use your imagination) - the choices are endless.

Talk with your child first to see what four items they would like to make. Use Weather Wiz Kids (left side bar) to find the weather choices made by your child and explore the science of it together. I love the pictures, and animation and Little Man loves it too. Then using your inspiration (and in some cases newly acquired knowledge) get to crafting. I have to say I am surprised at how much I don't know. As a note - Little Man LOVES it when I don't know, so I make sure to tell him. I think it makes learning that much easier because he isn't doing it on his own.

Speaking of learning about weather, this is a great time to talk with your kids (and spouse) about disaster preparedness. There are great options online for kids, that help them be ready without being terrified. Sesame Street, one of my personal favorites, does this better than anyone (in my very biased opinion). Go to their site and find a video, printed step by step plan, and printable activities. The Weather Channel has a more adult focused information that can help make sure we are all ready.

Enjoy!

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Week One - Summer - Science Fun

Today's activity is really fun...my little man loved it, and the art work created is actually very cool.

Weird Science Kids is a great place to get ideas to show kids how the world around them works. The one I chose for summer (because it can be customized) is Bubble Prints.

You will need paint, water, dish soap, paper (all of the supplies are found if you follow the link). Weird Science Kids gives you very specific ingredients, but we used regular water, and bowls and everything worked fine.

Little Man's favorite part was getting to blow into the bubble solution to create the bubbles that will ultimately make the print. This is the part I was nervous about, because you want to make sure that they do not drink the paint - but it proved not to be an issue. He was so excited about being allowed to blow into something with a straw that it never came up.

Image from About.com

The pictures that we created were very cool to look at - and could be used multiples ways, cards, wrapping paper, art for a play room, etc.

Here are my hints to make this fun and educational:

1. Use colors associated with summer: oranges, yellows, reds, bright green, hot pink - talk to your child about why these colors remind us of summer. Ask them what colors they think of when they think of summer. (Note: If you are going to use this as a gift for others, use complimenting colors)

2. Keep some of the bubble solution for bubble blowing fun - don't add paint. This will give them something to do when they tire of the more directed experiment. Talk about the different ways you make bubbles - wands, using your hands in the tub, straws and what they have in common (soap, air, etc.)

What do you see?

3.  Once you have created your bubble art - talk about what it looks like to you (think of looking at the clouds). What does it look like to your little one - why?

4. The point of bubble prints is that the randomness makes it beautiful - but try to direct the bubbles to make a specific object - we tried a bird. This does not work very well - but we had a great time talking about how we would dip the paper to make the components of a bird (beak, belly, body, feet, etc). Then once it didn't work we tried to draw the bird onto the picture. I made it very silly as we tried to find the "beak" and others and see what our silly bird looked like. Little man laughed a bunch.

Tomorrow we have reached the end of week one - I will finally give you that sight word review and give some more books, and movies and shows that you could enjoy as a family over the weekend to keep talking about Summer. Have fun!

Week One - Summer - Craft time

Are you ready for a craft project that turns into a game, and just so happens to be adorable?

created by Eat Drink Chic

Over at Eat Drink Chic she has created a Do It Yourself popsicle memory game that is as fun to look at as it is to play. My little man got a kick out of the different popsicles and loved playing the memory game. The best part - you need a printer, popsicle sticks, glue (or double sided tape) and scissors - simple. Eat Drink Chic has more detailed directions if you want your game to be perfect, and possibly used as a cute gift - but we got along fine with folding and cutting. She also is kind enough to include the memory game directions, if you need a refresher.

In order to do this with your kids (and give them all the educational benefits) here are my tips:

1. The popsicles need to be cut out reasonably well - kids just learning to cut will not be able to accomplish this. Draw a square around each popsicle and let your child do the cutting work on the straight lines - then you fold and take care of the details. Although you do not need me to remind you - supervise carefully. Children with scissors can be a danger to themselves, others, and everything near them including pets, drapes, etc. Seriously - those little buggers are quick - keep your eyes open :)

2. Make sure you have the child count each of the pieces you are using (sticks, popsicle papers)

3. Ask them to guess the flavors based on the pictures - no wrong answers, play along if they use their imagination. Ask leading questions: What makes you think it is ____ flavor? What flavor would you pick to eat? What are silly flavors of popsicle? Make sure you add your thoughts. The more you are out there - frogs toes and peanut butter, princess kisses and poison potion - the more they will stretch their minds and the more fun you will have.

4. If you are using glue - let them squeeze (it will make a mess - embrace it)

5. While they are drying, have a popsicle - or make your own :) Popsicle ideas here!

6. Play the game you just made, and enjoy!

Tomorrow the focus will be on movement and songs. I will also put together another way to review this week's site words. I hope you are having fun - and adapting to the new summer schedule. We are getting into the new routine slowly - I am hoping for easier days coming soon! Thanks for reading.