Spring Week 13: Spring Favorites

 At the end of each season I always like to wrap up with some of our favorites or some of the big activities that we maybe weren’t able to do originally. Here are the activities we are doing this week… you pick your favorites or some of the ones that you missed throughout Spring!

Spring Week 13 May 28-June 1: Spring Favorites

At Real. Meaningful. Family. my goal is to provide information based on research for parents and caregivers, and to create regular opportunity for you to have special together time with your child. Toddlers and preschoolers learn from the environment and daily interactions. We are in no way seeking to create a school-like setting for your young child. Research has clearly indicated that academic learning (think reading, writing, and arithmetic) for these young children is not developmentally appropriate, learning for this age is in the every day details. The activities below have been created as a time to set aside specifically for parents and care givers to have a fun interaction with their children. I would recommend you first prioritize time to read, snuggle, dance, sing, move, rhyme, play, and then add these activities in as you can. Don’t stress… keep it simple, and just be together!

“The work will wait while you show your child the rainbow. But the rainbow won’t wait while you do the work.” -Erik Erikson

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Art

Golf Ball Paint

This will be a fun, abstract piece of art for your child to enjoy! Lay construction paper in a container about the size of the paper. Then, let them choose paints they want to use and squirt blobs onto the paper. Drop in one or two golf balls and let your child roll the balls around in the container. This is a nice activity to combine some fine motor movements, some large motor movements, and the stimulation of colors moving and mixing. They can also have total control of what they are doing and be proud of their final product.

Stuff to Have

Construction paper

Paint

Golf balls

Plastic container, large enough to lay construction paper flat

Developing Skills

Fine motor, colors, art

Fine Motor

Button Flower

Lay out buttons and pipe cleaners. Demonstrate to children how the pipe cleaner can go through the button-holes. Let your child try to put pipe cleaners through the button-holes and make a button “flower.” If it starts to get frustrating for your child help them out. The point is to have fun and try something new. If you do help, try to find the balance between letting them experiment, and assisting them.

Stuff to Have

Buttons- various shapes, sizes, and colors

Pipe cleaners

Developing Skills

Fine motor, colors

Early Science & Math

Seeds on a Sponge

This is something I did ages ago when I was a lead teacher of one year olds. We had a lot of fun! Start by letting your child wet the sponge, more than just a little wet, but not dripping and place the sponge in a plastic container (or we used cute miniature pots). Then, they can sprinkle on the grass seed with a plastic spoon or small cup, just until it is covered with a layer of seeds. Place the seeds in an area where they will get sunlight and check daily to make sure the sponge stays moist as well as to see if the grass is making any progress. This activity is great because it continues over time! Talk about what you see changing and happening, what the grass looks like, what color it is, etc.

Stuff to Have

Sponge

Grass seed

Container to fit sponge into

Developing Skills

Science, observation

Cooking & Baking

Dirt Cake & Worms

With lots of supervision and helping hands, this is a kid activity that they can be very involved with. Let your child dump in the pudding mix, and the 2 c milk (insert helping hands here for sure!). Then, they can whisk it together until it is smooth. Let the pudding sit for 5 minutes. This would be a good time to put the chocolate cookies into a gallon bag and let your child crush them with a heavy spoon or other semi-heavy object. Next, mix in cool whip with the pudding. Then, add about a half-cup of the crushed chocolate cookies into the pudding mixture. Now, place the pudding mixture into individual cups or bowls (approx. 10), or into a larger bowl or container. Put the rest of the chocolate cookies on top of the pudding and refrigerate for 1 hour. Top with gummy worms and enjoy this Spring treat!

Stuff to Have

1-3.9oz package instant chocolate pudding

2 c milk

Cool whip

15 chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed

Gummy worms

Developing Skills

Cooking and baking, fine motor

Happy Playing!