Fine Motor Activity: Pipe Cleaner Loops
Supplies: Pipe Cleaners, Fruit Loops or Cereal and Your Imagination!
Directions: Have your child string the desired amount of fruit loops on the pipe cleaner. Take this time to discuss colors, patterns and what you are making! Bend the pipe cleaner into fun shapes!
Skills Learned: Explore creating texture art. Developing fine motor skills by lacing beads on a string.
Math & Manipulative Activity: Number Hunt
Supplies: Sticky Notes or Papers With Numbers Written on Them, Items Around Home and Adventure!
Directions: Create notes 1-10 with one number written on each individual sticky note. Line up the notes with numbers on a table, shelf or floor. Have your child use their sense of adventure to find specific number if items around your house. For example, number 1 = 1 object, number 2 = 2 objects. Any items or toys will work! Make it an adventure by pretending you’re exploring and looking for treasure!
Skills Learned: Begin number recognition. Vocalize numbers out loud. Introduce amounts and quantities.
Gross Motor Activity: Yoga or Animal Yoga
Supplies: Yoga Cards (optional) and Mats (optional)
Directions: Instruct your child to an open area to practice yoga poses. Animal yoga is a fun variation where children can act our yoga poses that mimic animals – add in animal noises!
Skills Learned: Gross motor skills. Animal recognition. Following one step directions.
Creative Expression Activity: Painting Ice
Supplies: Ice Cubes, Paint, Paint Brushes and Shallow Pan or Tub
Directions: Place ice in the shallow pan. Allow your child to use desired coloring to paint the ice. Show your child how to use both hands to paint because it can be slippery. Discuss colors, how cold the ice can be and how ice is made.
Skills Learned: Exploring creative art with 3d materials. Color recognition. Color mixing. Exploring objects by sense of touch, hot and cold.
Science & Sensory Activity: Bread In A Bag
Supplies: 3 Cups of Unbleached White Flour, 4 Tablespoons of Sugar, 2 1/2 Teaspoons of Rapid Rise Yeast or 1/4 Package, 1 Teaspoon of Salt, 3 Tablespoons of Oil and 1 Cup of Warm Water
Directions: In your gallon size or larger Ziploc bag add: 1 cup of the flour, sugar, yeast and warm water. Then seal up the bag, and while doing it, let out as much air (out of the bag) as possible. Then you or your child can scrunch and squeeze the ingredients around in the bag, till they are mixed well together. Let the bag set on the counter for 10 minutes, so the yeast can begin to work. Then open the bag again, and add another cup of the flour, the oil and the salt. Close the bag and repeat scrunching and mixing. Finally open the bag again and add the final cup of the flour and mix one last time. Lay out a sheet of wax paper lightly dusted with flour and pour the mixture onto it. For around 5 minutes (or less), knead and work the dough till it’s all nice and smooth. Divide the dough into two portions, and place each into mini loaf pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Set your dough loaves in a non-drafty warm spot and cover them with a clean kitchen towel. Let them raise for 30 minutes to an hour, till they’ve almost doubled in size. If they don’t get a whole lot bigger, don’t worry, they will raise some in the oven too. Bake for around 25 minutes, in a preheated 375-degree oven. Let them cool in the pan for just a couple of minutes, and then turn them out onto a cooling rack or clean towel.
Skills Learned: Counting with assistance. Measuring ingredients, pouring and mixing. Gross and fine motor skills. Experiencing various foods and ingredients by taste and smell. Exploring the five senses.
Language Learning Activity: Cool Whip Letters
Supplies: Cool Whip and Tray or Mat
Directions: Scoop the desired amount of cool whip onto your tray or mat. Have your child make letters and discuss the sounds for each letter. Don’t forget to taste the materials!
Skills Learned: Begin to explore letters. Experience with textured objects using sense of touch.