Here's An Idea...

This is a fun post (click the green words)...
Instead of being a couch potato or vegging on the computer...

Do something outside with your kids!

This month's letter; the letter "M." In this project our friends are gluing shell macaroni to an outline of the letter "M" and cutting out pictures that start w/ "M."

Clean fun

Today we used non-toxic liquid watercolor and an assortment of different sized brushes to "paint" soap. This is a fun activity which gives the child the power to start over again on the same piece of soap after washing in a tub of clean warm water. This group painted over and over again! 

It's Spring!!

Painting with big brushes and Springtime colors! 

Earth Week: Caring for Our Planet.

 

This was part of our "Earth" week theme; Helping take care of trees and plants helps our earth stay healthy; plants clean our air make food and homes for animals, feed us and provide shade.
Good job!
 

Today we used kitchen utencils with poster paint. This project promotes fine and gross motor skills, social skills and language develoment. Plus it was alot of fun! 

Gak, Glurch and Goo, Oh My!!

Some call it "Gak," a recipe for strechy, slimey goo that kids love to play with. Click on this green sentence for the link to the recipe (Kinder art calls it "Glurch" but it's the same thing).
What can Children learn from this? Well, it's another one of those fabulous activities that promote self competence and team building skills.

It's also a (non-edible) cooking project. Though we did not make this batch today, making Gak is a good way to teach children measurement, and transitional changes that take place when things are mixed together and become something all together different, i.e. mixing cake ingredients together to make a wet mixture, baking and discovering a "dry" cake.

Very valueable science concepts.
 

Superunit

Our friends enjoyed a water play activity this morning.

It can actually be so much more than that upon closer examination. What they are engaged in is a "Superunit" activity. Which means that this particular water project can be used in more than one way, by more than one person and children can learn more than one concept from it.

Here are some discoveries children can make for themselves using this activity:
1. Some things sink while others float.
2. The ability to compromise and share while working in a group. Skills I try to promote as much as possible -- because we all want our children to be able to work in a positive way with others.
3. Balance. Hooking a scoop on a crane, filling a floating boat with sand, etc.
4. Cause and effect. If I crash into the water with my boat, it might get me wet.

Our Seasonal Art Collage in 3 Parts

Here we see our friends using markers to create images on their egg shapes. The picture collages below show that our friends are progressing through 3 steps of this project: 1. The begining (using markers, colored pencils) . 2. The middle, (the meaty part including scissors, glitter, stickers and other collage materials), and finally 3. The end (the finished product, clean up).

Traditional holidays are not celebrated here, instead we honor the first part of Spring in which birds laying eggs is a part. This week we have discussed eggs, what comes out of them who lays them, who does not, and how they hatch. 

Glitter, Glue and stickers. The choice is really up to the individual. Choices are an important part of a young child's life; they develop self-competence, and make the activity fun! There is also some fine motor work going on -- pasting on paper, cutting and peeling the backs of stickers.

The finished product, and all of our friends pitching in and willingly cleaning up the left over paper scraps and glitter. This is important. Children who develop a positive sense of work can carry this attitude throughout their lives.

Motor Skill Activity

Our friends enjoyed a bean bag toss game this morning. It's easy and appropriate for all ages that are able to toss. This activity builds social skills (sharing, taking turns), Self confidence (the feeling of "I did it"!), hand/eye coordination (making the shot), and large muscle development.

Today's Project: Wooden Beads and Poster Paint

Today's art project involved many aspects of development. First the friends are learning to share the materials and take turns, while using their vocabulary. There is fine motor control involved as each child uses thier fingers to pick up the wooden bead and dip it in paint. This was not as easy as it looks. There was autonomy and independence in the project; all were able to have choices as to if they want to do it, what they wanted to use and when they were done. As you can see in the pictures below this one, Some of our friends mixed the paint and some used the dipped shapes to create lines. Alot of this is based on developmental level, and some is based on individual taste. 

Not Mixing Paint; Creating Lines

Here, this friend is making lines with her shapes, a precursor to writing. She is being deliberate, careful and methodical with her newly aquired fine motor control. 

Mixing Colors to Make Green

Our friends experimented with color while working with the beads & paint. Can you guess what color they made?  

Emergent Literacy @ Home

The following are tips to help your child develop language skills at home (it is a "whole language" approach. The purposeful use of language is emphasized, rather than drill-practiced approach).

*Give your child access to a variety of writing instruments; paper, pens, individual chalk boards, magnetic boards and letters, typewriters or computers (this can be free at the local library).

*Print rich environment: Label common objects in simple print, especially in their rooms, and dramatic play toys (kitchen structures and boxes with certain types of toys).

*The opportunity for children to tell stories verbally or act stories out through dramatic play.

*The display of children's stories, such as stories of personal events, or stories they have heard read to them which they have interpreted through artistic media. Adults write down what they have heard from the child about their art, to help develop the story.




 

Please Don't Let My Son Wear a Dress

My thought for today: Helping children sort it all out. Some times parents cringe when they see their son, or any boy for that matter assuming a female role while engaged in dramatic play. My take on this is children work out situations thorough different types of play. When children play with a hair dryer, (much like this young man in the picture), it very well may be because he has seen someone close to him doing this. He wants to feel what it is like to do it himself. The same can be true for wearing dresses, heels or aprons; it allows children to try-on different roles and also to make sense of their own in relation to adults. It's not a permanent state or a glimpse into their preferences, just children working toward understanding their world.
 

Children, Art & Stress

The Thought for Today:
Children are more likely to express their feelings, thoughts and Ideas with pencils, crayons, pens, and finger paint.

Children may provide additional information after painting and drawing based on their art.

These stories can help them communicate their thoughts and feelings about stressful events that are often difficult to verbalize.

Why is this important? Art allows children to reconstruct experiences; frightening things can be made less scary, and children gain power and control.

I think the most important piece of this issue is that we want children, who eventually grow into adults, that are able to find ways of coping. I wonder if there are other really constructive ways we have discovered, as adults or children, to cope with really difficult feelings? Anyone??

 

Easy/Clean at Home Art

Roll-on Deoderant Bottles. Save your empty roll one deoderant bottles, pop the ball off, fill with watered down poster paint or tempura paint, pop the ball back on.
To extend and enhance the project:
*Use several pieces of news print (or cut big pieces down into small pieces). Cut into different shapes and sizes for fun.
*Encourage them to share bottles w/siblings, family and friends and encourage them to use their words; like asking for colors. Have fun.