April 19th / Toddler /Mirror Mirror on the FLoor
Mirror, Mirror, On the Floor
Mirror, Mirror, On the Floor,
Who’s the cutest of the all?
YOU ARE!
Put a non-breakable mirror on the floor.
Let your child make all sorts of faces and see themselves from a totally new perspective. Stand next to them and look down too.
Extend this and talk about feelings. This is how our face looks when we are sad, happy, tired, laughing, crying, shy etc.
April 19th Sunday /Preschool /Young Mad Scientist
Preschooler:
Collect between 10-20 rocks.
You can take a nature hike and make a big deal of finding them or simply go outside and collect them with your preschooler.
Put half of them in the freezer. We left them over night.
When you are ready to actually do the experiment put the other half of the rocks in hot water. (NOTE: we boiled them and the rocks were way too hot, we had to let them cool down before we could sort them.) Rocks hold cold and heat very well.
Now put all the rocks in a pile and sort them into hot and cold. Ask your child a lot of questions. Which are hot or cold? How did they get that way? What else do we make cold in the freezer? What else do we make hot in water? Have them guess before they pick up the rocks which will be hot or cold. Remember to use the words experiment and scientist!
Advanced: Is your preschooler able to write? Draw? Record your “observations” on paper or in a notebook.
Monday April 20th /Because Your Mine, I Walk the Line
Toddler and Preschooler
You will need one long ribbon or a piece of string
Roll out the ribbon (make a show of it). Now show your child how to walk the line like a tight rope walker or a gymnast on a balance beam. This is more difficult than you might guess.
If you have more than one child it is a good game to practice waiting in line and taking turns.
Perfected walking the line? Can you jump? Balance on one foot? Walk the line sideways? Turn? Go on tip toes?
We keep our ribbon on the shelf and the kids like to try unrolling and straightening it by themselves.
Tuesday April 21st /Music Time / Drive The Fire Truck /Itsy Bitsy Spider
Toddlers:
Grab your firemans hat and lets sing and pretend with actions!
My daughter’s favorite song is:
Hurry Hurry Drive the Fire Truck (tune of Ten Little Indians)
Hurry Hurry Drive the Fire Truck
(Pretend to drive the fire truck)
Hurry Hurry Drive the Fire Truck
Hurry Hurry Drive the Fire Truck
Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding
(Pretend to ring the bell)
Hurry Hurry Climb the Ladder
(Pretend to climb the ladder)
Hurry Hurry Climb the Ladder
Hurry Hurry Climb the Ladder
Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding
(Pretend to ring the bell)
Hurry Hurry Put the Fire Out
(pretend to spray water)
Hurry Hurry Put the Fire Out
Hurry Hurry Put the Fire Out
Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding
(Pretend to ring the bell)
Preschool:
Hands up, voices on, LET”S SING IT!
My sons favorite action song:
Itsy Bitsy Spider
The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout
(walk the your hands up finger tip to finger tip switching sides)
down came the rain
(fingers wiggle like rain coming down)
and washed the spider out(move your arms and hands like "out" in baseball, Dramatically)
out came the sun(form a circle with your hands above your head)
and dried up all the rain
(Wiggle your fingers like rain but go up not down)
and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again
(walk your fingers finger tip to finger tip up again)
April 22nd Wednesday /Let’s Have a BALL!
We have two ideas for you this week for either toddlers or preschoolers.
*Clothes Line
You will need a string, balls with holes (like wiffle balls), and a place to tie the string on both ends.
First string the balls and then hang the string. You could put it outside between two trees or inside attached to two chairs. Your child can spin and slide the balls on the string.
*Beach Ball You need a beach ball and a ribbon.Attach the beach ball to the string(at the place you blow air in) and hang it from your ceiling or a tree. Your child can kick, hit, push the ball and it always comes back. This has been an amazing delightful game at our house!
April 23rd Thursday / "Shell" Game w/o the Gambling!
You will need three shells, cups, or small boxes and one object to put underneath.
Toddlers:Put three cups facing down on the table. Put an object under one cup. SLOWLY move the cups around and ask your toddler where the object is. Please remember this is a fun game and NOT meant to trick or frustrate your child. Cheer for them if they guess correctly and encourage a second guess, third guess if they are wrong.They have just learned object permance and will try to figure out which cup the object is under.
Preschooler:After you have played this game a few times your preschooler will enjoy moving the cups and asking you to guess where the object is!
April 24th Friday / Blanket Bonanza
You will need a blanket.
This is good for toddlers and preschoolers.
Have your child lay on the floor and lay the blanket on top of them. Quickly lift the blanket up and let it fall back down on them. This is a small version of the parachute game. If they don't like it -stop...if they love it keep going! (one of my children loves this and the other one does not care for it.)
Lay the blanket on the floor. Have your child sit on it and you take one corner. Drag them around the house. Be prepared to do this over and over and over again. Keep in mind your child age and there balancing ability. For small toddlers you must go slow...
April 25th Saturday /Obstacle Course
Toddler:
Ok your toddler has just learned to walk so they won’t be jumping over hurdles and swinging on ropes yet but we can spice up the floor to make it a challenge. Get a large pile of pillows (throw in the couch cushions if you want) and let your toddler explore how to get up and over the pile. They may want to get up it and roll down too!
Preschool:
Label pieces of paper 1-5 and mark each “station”. Make five areas for your child to go through. Here are a few ideas but it could be anything as long as they have to go through a whole “course”. Make a start and finish line. You may have to go through it a few times with your child before they understand what to do and in what order.
1. Pillow crawl
2. Tight Rope Line
3. Build a Tower with Blocks
4. Throw a ball into a basket
5. Run around the cones.
FINSH LINE!
Remember to read 15 minutes a day to your child!
"Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning...They have to play with what they know to be true in order to find out more, and then they use what they learn in new forms of play."
-Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
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