Paper Towel Drawing

March 29, 2020Leave a comment

Paper Towel Drawing (2)

Here’s an easy art hack for toddlers, especially if you have a child who wants to get into an older sibling’s art supplies. Give them a paper towel to mark up instead! Because the paper towel has absorbency, the colors blur and bleed in fascinating ways.

I gave Veronika four different color markers and showed her how to make thick lines across the paper towel.

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She didn’t need to be shown twice! Soon she was coloring avidly, clearly interested with how the markers felt on the slightly bumpy surface.

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Next I showed her how to press in one spot and make a dot (almost like dot markers). “Dot dot dot!” she started saying happily as she imitated.

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She also said the names of the colors as she drew, parroting back “pink!” or “yellow!”

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Eventually, I taped the paper towel pieces down so she could keep going without direct supervision.

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Even when the paper towels slipped, I didn’t have to worry since the washable markers wipe clean from her high chair tray in a pinch.

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Note: You can also try this activity on coffee filters, which we did later in the day. They have a similar absorbency for a similar effect.

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Who Do You See?

March 28, 2020Leave a comment

Who Do You See (4)

For toddlers who are forming a firm sense of “me”, the chance to see themselves in a mirror is especially exciting. This little project lets your toddler play peek-a-boo with him- or herself!

To make a mirror box, I used a wooden box with a hinged lid that Veronika would easily be able to flip open and closed. You can also find boxes like this at the craft store.

Use hot glue to attach a small flat mirror inside the lid of the box.

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I decorated the outside with pretty wrapping paper, purely for the aesthetic. And of course she loved playing with extra wrapping paper as I put it together!

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We started with just the mirror inside. You can tell from the photos that she was smitten.

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She tried playing peek-a-boo with her reflection, and said “hello” to it and paraded around so proudly with the box.

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And of course tried climbing in it!

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I later added a few photos of family member’s faces, thinking to make the surprise inside the lid different each time. You can mix this up by taping in pictures of animals or other favorite items from magazines, too.

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Even once the surprise of the mirror wears off, this makes for a special box to store little keepsakes in.

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Let’s Build a Flashlight

March 28, 2020Leave a comment

Build a Flashlight (4)

Kids will feel like real electricians with this easy project! All you need is a cheap flashlight, the kind you’ve probably picked up at a drugstore or dollar store check-out in the past and have lying around.

I disassembled the flashlight into all of its components and arranged them on a tray so it felt very official, then called Travis over.

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He was so excited when I challenged him to put it together again! At first he was twisting together just the body and the screw cap, without a thought for coils or batteries or other pieces that might need to go inside.

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Hmm… it wouldn’t turn on. What was missing? Now he worked hard to figure out where the coils should go.

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Being allowed to handle the batteries all by himself was super thrilling!

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It took a few tries before he had everything arranged in the right direction.

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He was so proud once a push of the button turned it on!

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This is a great introduction to battery power that even young children can grasp.

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Kindergarten Home School Day 10

March 27, 2020Leave a comment

Home School 10 c

Another week under our belt. I can’t claim today felt as strong as yesterday, but we did enough, and sometimes that’s OK.

8.30: Check-in. We started early because Travis’s teacher had recorded their morning meeting songs. He grinned to see her on video as we went through all the songs and watched her read a story.

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9-10: ELA. First we played ‘I Spy’, taking turns finding something that started with each letter of the alphabet. “I spy something that starts with B: Banana!” and so on.

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He also did one ltter page (F), a few worksheets on concepts (wet, hot, cold), and loved sitting down for Lexia online again.

10-11: As a special treat, there was a class Zoom session. The kids took turns doing show-and-tell and clearly loved the chance to see classmates.

11-12: Math: There were three assignments today, which felt like too much. First he hunted for a shape in the house, then took a picture of it with the camera of an online program. The program allowed him to then trace the shape and record himself saying what it was.

From there, he formed the letters 10 through 20, first with colored crayon, then with Legos.

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We were supposed to go on a hunt for numbers around the house, but I could tell he was tired. Instead we made t-shirts!

12-1: Lunch/free play. Little sister needed to nap.

1-1.30: Science/Art: He watched a BrainPop video on spring and took the quiz, then drew a picture of himself in the springtime. Love those sunshine hands!

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1.30-2: Outside time: We went for a nature walk looking for items that the school’s counselor had suggested, including something you find beautiful.

2-2.30: Mental Health: It was a low-key afternoon. We played a board game to get laughing and went through a few more of the counselor’s suggestions, including a 5-minute guided meditation video; looking through old photos and sharing memories; and learning something new about a family member.

Is your school counselor providing mental health resources for kids in this strange time? Please share in the comments!

Kindergarten Home School Day 9

March 26, 2020Leave a comment

Home School 9 f

Hallelujah, we finally had what I would call a great day of home school. Travis stayed in a positive mood, we powered through lots of activities early while everyone was fresh, and there was even time for a baby gym class online with my toddler.

9-10: Check-in/ELA: After watching an online read of Clark the Shark, it was time to make a shark and feed it words! We loved this activity, first coloring in a shark and then cutting it out so the mouth was open with lots of jagged teeth.

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I cut “fish” from construction paper and added a consonant/vowel/consonant word to each one. The rule was you had to read the word before feeding a fish to the shark.

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10-10.30: Math: Still in high spirits, we tackled a math shape hunt before snack, looking for: 3 triangles, 4 circles, 3 squares, and 5 rectangles. Travis learned that triangles are much harder to come by than the others!

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10.30-11: Free play/snack. Travis requested to play inside with Legos while baby sister had some sensory fun.

11-12: Science/Social Studies. First we watched a Mystery Doug video on the world’s biggest tree, than did the website’s weather mystery lesson. Using “clues” in each picture, Travis aced figuring out which season was which. He loved coloring the pictures in so much he spent 45 minutes on it! I had time to prep dinner!

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He was on such a creative roll that we went ahead with social studies. After saying the Pledge of Allegiance and talking about the American flag, he designed a flag for our family. This is a great project for raiding the craft bin.

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12-12.30: Lunch break!

12.30-1: Music. His music teacher had recorded a full 15 minute video. Travis confessed that this felt different than really being in the class, and I was proud he stuck with it.

1-1.30: Spanish/Yoga. The afternoon, as you can see, was super light as a result of all the early academia. We did a Spanish video counting to 7, and I roped the kids into a few yoga poses.

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1.30-2.30: Outdoor time. We took advantage of gorgeous weather for a “sandbox” on the porch and other fun games, including a homemade boomerang.

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The afternoon was now beautifully open for free play, a family walk, and chatting with friends online.

Please do let me know how home school is going, if your district, too, is closed for COVID-19!

Paper Finger Boomerang

March 26, 2020March 26, 2020Leave a comment

Paper Boomerang (3)

Having recently tried out a real boomerang, Travis and I brought this little paper version to our home school “recess” today!

To make the boomerang, you’ll need a perfect square. Either measure with a ruler, or cut a piece of paper, fold it in half to form two triangles and then open back up again. Trace onto thin cardboard and cut out.

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Cut out a boomerang shape, making sure to measure the same distance in from each side of the square. Travis decorated with crayons, rounded the corners, and then we were ready to flick!

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We were surprised since we struggled with our store-bought toy, but this little one really does circle back to you! Because it’s so lightweight, you could even use it indoors on a rainy day. Note: We made the holder simply by cutting an additional strip of thin cardboard and folding in half.

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Play Dough Sound Sensory Jars

March 26, 2020Leave a comment

Easy Sound Sensory (12)

This project took us from morning to night since we tackled different portions of the game throughout the day! It all started when Veronika had a morning of play dough play while big brother Travis did home school lessons.

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But she’s still more tempted to eat play dough than play with it, so I clumped it into a big ball and set it aside for another day. There we were with lots of empty little jars. They were the perfect vessel for… sensory play!

I rinsed out the jars while Veronika continued to play with the lids.

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Once clean, I started filling each one with different items. In all, I had 12 little jars with:

popcorn kernels
marbles
beads
rice
coins
bells
dried beans
ground coffee
salt
sprinkles
rubber bands
sesame seeds

Other ideas might include: buttons, water, spices, Lego pieces, or bits of foam. It was a little tricky to set these up with Veronika watching, since she wanted to touch the items and many are choking hazards.

Once lids were sealed, she could safely play! First we just had fun shaking them, or tapping two together.

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Then we shook each one in turn and divided them into two piles, one loud, one soft.

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I could sense her growing frustration that she couldn’t get inside the jars…

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…so we went through them one at a time. I gave a jar a shake and opened it up so she could see the item inside. Be sure to name the item, too! Bells, beads, and marbles seemed to especially intrigue her.

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For bigger kids, you could even turn this part into a game. Give it a shake, and have them guess what’s inside. Travis trotted over for a try!

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Bigger kids might also like to try a sound match-up. Narrow it down to fewer items (3 or 4), and have two canisters for each item. Can your child match them up? I didn’t expect Veronika to be able to do this, but did the exercise as an illustration in all the ways she can hear.

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We could use lots of great vocab words as we played, like “jingling” bells and the “cha cha cha” of rice.

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Of course then your child might just keep busy with the jars themselves for quite some time, which was certainly the case for Veronika. Like I said, this is a game that can last all day!

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Kindergarten Home School Day 8

March 25, 2020Leave a comment

Home School 8 h

Pluses and minuses to our day, here on home school hump day! Read on…

9-10: ELA. Today’s suggestion, to have Travis pick a favorite book and “read” to himself for 20 minutes, turned out to be fantastic. I thought he might just look through the pictures of the Star Wars book he picked from his shelf, but he was determined to read the words. This meant it was a little more hands-on on my part than anticipated (my toddler happened to be smeared in peanut butter at the same time), but he was so determined I couldn’t turn him down. The assignment to then draw either his book or his reading nook, unfortunately, led to a temper tantrum. Emotions are high, folks.

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10-10.30: A reset pause for snack and recess.

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10.30-11: Math. This went great today!

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We wrote out the first names of everyone in the family, and counted the letters of each name. Then he put the results into a graph. He was disappointed that ‘Travis’ “lost” to ‘Veronika’, though!

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11-12: Science. We started two projects today but we’ll have to wait for the results. First was to see if we can waterlog a large piece of wood (like a craft stick). Set one in a container of water and wait. Our guess is that it will take a week before it sinks completely.

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We also made a quick rain meter by ticking off inch marks on a mason jar. It’s out on our patio to collect the rain!

Home School 8 h

12-2: Travis got a long break because baby sister needed me for a nap, then lunch, then baby sister had a “live” music class. As a result, it was hard to rope him back in for some final activities.

2-2.30: Library. This is his Wednesday special and the suggestion was to explore any topic of interest on PebbleGo. Travis chose Inventions/the telephone, and sort of clicked through the links about it, but wasn’t interested in putting together a cup and string telephone craft. He also resisted drawing his favorite book character, or watching one of our local librarians do an online storytime.

2.30-3: Movement. So I got him moving instead. Check out my quick post about Line Dancing!

Honestly, the biggest hit today was a sensory tray meant for baby sister, so hey, sometimes the learning happens inadvertently.

Line Dancing Fun

March 25, 2020March 25, 2020Leave a comment

Line Dance (1)

Travis is growing tired of class videos we’ve used to get our afternoon wiggles out during home school, so today I turned to Raddish Kids for inspiration. With a musical theme this month, one of the lessons was all about line dancing!

We kept the “lesson” part of it short, since really I just needed to get Travis moving. Big kids can delve further and talk about the genre of Country and any singers or song titles they know. You can also give some history of the genre. Instead, I just focused on common instruments (banjo, fiddle) and explained that line dancing allows dancers to move as a group, instead of with a partner. In other words, it’s meant to be shared!

To get our toes tapping, we listened to clips of the Boot Scottin’ Boogie and Watermelon Crawl. A few quick tutorials from YouTube showed us basic steps like the heel stomp and grapevine. Travis was a little skeptical but then we watched a quick how-to for an Achy Breaky Heart line dance.

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We cranked up the music and danced! Of course, it’s totally fine if your kids make up their own moves.

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For giggles, we finished with a clip of a line dance from Ice Age.

Baking Soda and Vinegar with Color Fun

March 25, 2020Leave a comment

Baking Soda Colors (8)

This activity was intended for my toddler, but it turned out to be my kindergartner’s favorite part of the day. Since there’s some STEM involved, keep it in mind if you find yourself home schooling!

For set up, I wanted Veronika to have the option of color mixing, so I filled three cups with vinegar. I left one clear, added yellow food coloring to the second, and blue food coloring to the third.

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I then sprinkled a box of baking soda into a shallow tray. Veronika instantly liked making lines through it with the pipettes I had left out. It was sort of like an indoor sandbox for a moment.

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Then it was time to start squeezing in vinegar! I used the clear cup first, knowing the bubbly reaction was enough to get a “wow” even before we added color.

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Then we started piping in the colored vinegar. I had hoped Veronika might get in some fine motor practice with the pipettes, but that was too much for 16-month-old fingers. Big brother Travis loved using a pipette and baster, though! Then the kids poured the cups of vinegar instead, for even bigger reactions.

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