Looking for a sensory activity that will get your kids’ attention? Spray some shaving cream into your sensory bin. The sight and sound of that alone will get them running!
The Secret’s in the Sound – Phonological Awareness and the Preschooler
The Secret's in the Sound – Phonological Awareness and the Preschooler
A Puzzling Mess
Tell me I’m not the only mother with a two year old who thinks the best thing to do with five boxes of puzzles is to put them all into one bucket together. Luckily for me, I learned at a university lab preschool, that it is very handy to number the backs of your puzzle pieces to help out in just such a situation. Each time I get a new puzzle, I write a number on the box and then write that number on the back of each piece. Then, say when I find two random puzzle pieces mysteriously stuffed into the only VCR left in our house, I can quickly determine which boxes to return them to. Now if only fixing the VCR was that easy!
Goopy Goop
It’s colorful, cheap, and a little bit slimy. What’s not to love? Goopy goop, is pretty much colorful paste. Get a few of the plastic bottles they sell for hair dye. Fill them about 1/2 full of flour. Add water and food coloring or water color powder. Adjust the flour to water ratio if necessary so that the goop is thin enough to be easily squeezed out, but thick enough that you can basically write with the stream that comes out. I used it in my sensory bin and included some paint brushes for mixing colors.
This activity increases fine motor control and strength, both key for future writers. It also is a great opportunity for creativity and sensory development.
Work in Progress
Do you ever run into this problem? You have a child who has been slaving away on a block project and is devastated when it’s time to clean up? Here are a couple of ideas for handling that situation.
Take a picture, it’ll last longer. Keep a digital camera handy and snap a few shots. Tell Little Jimmy you will email the picture so that he can look at it on his computer at home, and show it to his parents. Kids quickly shift gears into photo-op mode, when they contemplate the idea of having a picture magically appear on their computer! Sending the pictures home also goes a long way in communicating with the parents about what their child has been doing at school. Add a note such as, “Jimmy was so proud of this structure, I just had to send a picture so he could tell you about it himself. He worked on it for 15 minutes and showed an eye for detail and symmetry.” When Jimmy gets to show off this picture at home, it reinforces the home-school connection, encourages use of language skills as he describes what he did, and it is a huge boost to his self-esteem.
Colored Salt
Here’s a quick way to create a new art medium. In a jar or baggie, pour in enough regular, table-grade salt to equal the amount of total colored salt you want to end up with. About a teaspoon at a time, add tempera paint powder. (If you don’t have paint powder, and you’re in a crunch for time, just smash a small piece of colored chalk into powder. My prefered method is to put the piece in a plastic baggie and stomp on it.) Mix the salt and color together thoroughly. Voila! You have colored salt! I use this several ways. Pour some in a cookie sheet or art tray and let children write in the salt with their fingers (for this, you really want to be scant with the paint powder to reduce the mess factor). As you can see in the picture, I put some in baby food jars, poked a few holes in the lids and glued them on. (Those of you who get ideas more than 5 minutes before you need them, could actually go to the store and buy cheap salt shakers, or even collect old spice bottles as you use them up.) I’ve seen these colored salt shakers used to shake onto glue pictures at the art table and into shaving cream at the sensory table. I’ve even reconstituted the tempera paint with salt to create a new texture. The kids really like the bumpy look and feel of their salty paintings! End up with some colored salt that you don’t need anymore? Use it to make playdough and you don’t have to add any color! No wonder salt was once used as money in ancient times. It really is versatile and fun stuff!
Here’s a great fingerplay for a snowy day:
The ingredients:
