Monday August 10th /Nature Walk / Matching Toddler and Preschooler You need: to take a walk outside Today you can finding matching things. You find a car and ask your child to find another car. Then tell them they have found a match! You find a BIG house and they find a BIG car. You find a pink flower and they find pink curtains. Objects: cars, flowers, trees, basketball hoops, birds, street signs, etc Discuss: same, different, alike, matching You match objects, size, shapes, or colors. Find something else that is blue... Find something else that is BIG, or small etc Tuesday August 11th/ That's My Voice! Toddlers love to see themselves in the mirror. (Some adults too) Now let them HEAR themselves. Your cellphone has a recording option, a cassette player, your computer, or the best option is the video camera. Try to get lots of different sounds that your toddler makes: crying, laughing, singing, talking, babbling, kissing noise, and clapping. Let them listen to themselves right away. Are they excited? Ask them what they are doing or how they are feeling. Tell them laughing means you are happy and crying means you are sad. Repeat what words they say and have a conversation about their noises. Tuesday August 11th / Static Electricity Preschooler You need: balloon sugar tiny bits of paper This activities objective is to introduce your preschooler to static electricity 1. Tear paper and put it on the table. 2. Put sugar on the table with paper. 3. Blow up balloon. 4. Rub balloon on your sleeve or shirt. The effect is best if you are wearing wool. 5. Ask your preschooler what they think wil happen next. Why are we rubbing the balloon? What are we going to do with the paper and sugar? This is a hypothesis and ANY thinking is GREAT, not just correct thinking. YOur praise will encourage them to think and guess, put downs will do the opposite. 6. Hold balloon over paper and sugar. 7. WHAT HAPPENS?? Ext: Draw a picture and/or write about your experiment. Wednesday August 12th / My Shoes At Night This is a rhyme to say before bed with your child. Make sure to do the actions. Highlight this section and print it our for yourself to remember. Before I jump into bed at night Jump Before I dim the light switch off the light I put my shoes together put shoes together or move hands together So they can talk at night make hands or shoes talk I'm sure they'd get lonesome shake head like yes If I left them here and there toss hands or shoes So I put them close together put shoes or hands together For they're a friendly pair Wednesday August 12th / Chair Maze This is another preschool activity. You need: chairs lots of space I suggest making the maze while they are not in the room and then make a big deal about coming into the room and showing them the new game of the day! Place a bunch of chairs around the room for your preschooler to climb and crawl over and under. If your up for demonstrating this activity, go for it! Clear other furniture from the room. You can number the chairs or let it be a free for all. This is a great rainy day pent up energy idea. I do not recommend this for toddlers because they are not coordinated enough yet. Once they are bored with the maze, take the same chairs and make a train. Add stuffed animals and dolls. Thursday August 13th / Kitchen Chores Toddler and Preschooler Are your kids always wanting to cook with you and "help"? Have them clean vegetables and shine apples today. You need: two large towels large bowl veggies or apples Place a large towel on the floor and put your bowl with water on top of it. Show you child how to dip the veggie or apple in the water and scrub it clean. Take the veggie or apple out and dry it with the other towel. Place it on the towel or another plate. If you are using apples, show the how to "polish" the apple with the towel. I was skeptical of this one, they loved it! What To Do After You Turn Off The Tv Frances Moore Lappe and Family Book Review As This book and it's title was an easy sell for me. While my children do occasionally watch channel 2 (Sid the Science Kid and Super Why) we do not generally watch TV at all. The ideas in this book for preschoolers and toddlers were pretty limited but I am recommending it for any one with elementary aged kids. There is a national TV Turn Off Week in April every year. You could use this book as a catalyst to try your own TV Turn Off Week at home. The book is a collection of one families activity ideas. I liked the idea of keeping a collection of our ideas, which first turned into an accordian folder of index cards, and secondly turned into the website PlayisEssential.net. It is my personal collection of games, ideas, and activities I do and want to do with my children. I still keep each activity on a separate index card so I can easily thumb through them and figure out what to do when we need something to do. Friday August 14th / Sensory Table Toddler and Preschooler: You need: Sensory Table (or two bins, look in previous sensory table post) Idea #1 beads and string I use empty thread spools, actually string beads, buttons, and string. My toddler needs help to string the beads still. I hold the string and she puts the beads on. My preschooler can do this by himself. Idea #2 poker chips They make a great sound when you pour them or drop them out of your hands. You can also talk about colors! They stack and tip over too. It will be more fun than you think, I promise! Idea #3 stretchy bugs, tiny bugs, plastic spiders etc. Hey, if your up for the real thing give it a try too! :-) I was not up for the real thing, but we did use lots of plastic bugs. We named them(spider, roach, fly, ant), made them talk to each other, poured them, touched them, and them named them again (Bob, Sam, Jill). Idea #4Worms and Dirt Put a thin layer of black dirt in your bin and then add worms. You can get worms at a bait shop or by laying a board on the grass and running the hose over it for 5 minutes, then lift the board. This is how my grandma and I used to get worms for fishing when I was little. be sure to teach your child about being gentle with nature. They will try to pull the worm in two pieces. Also teach them about nature by returning the worms to outside soil when they are finished exploring them. Saturday August 15th / Fruit Smoothie Toddler and Preschooler 1/2 cup fresh or frozen berries 1 banana 1 cup milk 1 tbs sugar 1 8oz plain yogurt 1. Wash or drain berries 2. slice banana 3. put fruit in blender, add milk, sugar and yogurt 4. blend until smooth 5. Pour and drink I have added crushed ice or ice cream too. We froze our left overs and had popsicles the next day. Sunday August 16th / Shape Slap Oh how appealing! Slapping things! Today play the slap the shape game. You ask your child to "Slap a circle!" Then they have to find a thing that is a circle and slap it. This worked with my toddler too. I modified it a little for her turns. I said we are going to slap a circle and then I helped her or showed her what to slap. Both enjoyed slapping things and thought it was hilarious! Circle: clock, plate (tea set), ball Rectangle: tiles, window, dresser Square: fan, TV, Triangle: Remember to READ 15 minutes a day to your child! “The essence of childhood, of course, is play, which my friends and I did endlessly on streets that we reluctantly shared with traffic.” Bill Cosby quotes Comments Your comment will be posted after it is approved. Leave a Reply | ArchivesAugust 2009 |
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