Water Play!

Water is so much fun to play with - and a great learning tool, too!! It can be a fun mess, though, so summertime is a great time to do it, if you're worried about getting your floors, tables, clothes wet! Just take it all outside!


You do not need a fancy water table (although there are some great ones out there!) or a great amount of water. I've done these activities with a small basin of water, in sinks, or in little blow-up baby pools in the yard. You can do it with one child or a few, just watch, as always, for safety around water!

Here are my Top 5 Water Play activities:

1. Sink or Float: Gather up, with your child, a variety of objects that can get wet. They can be kitchen utensils, blocks, toys, fabric, sponges, .... anyything you have on hand! Your child can experiment with how these things interact with water ... Do they sink? Do they float? Do they expand and take on water? There are so many things your child can learn from this type of play, as well as having fun while doing it! Children will be observing, interacting, making connections - scientists at work!

2. Measure Up: Make available some containers - save yogurt, milk, margarine containers - and some measuring cups or small pitchers. Anything that will hold and pour water will do. Let your children discover how to fill containers using other containers and encourage them to see differences in size - "Look, it took you two scoops with the yogurt container to fill the margarine tub!" Watch as they count and size containers, determining smallest and largest, less and more, and be sure to name those concepts for them as you go! Join in to model new activities, as needed, but let them be the ones making the discoveries :)

3. Water Cycling: Children are never too little to learn about the importance of conservation. Talk to them about how the water we have on our planet is so important to our lives. Show them how the water cycle works by setting up a tiny model, using clear plastic containers. Next time it rains, catch some rain in a pitcher or shallow plastic container. Pour some into a clear cup and mark the water level on the outside with a piece of tape or marker. Next, invert another clear cup over the top to make a seal. Place it in a window where you can observe it over time. Check back later to see, as the water heats from the sun, tiny water droplets forming on the top and eventually dropping like rain back to the bottom. Keep checking to see if  the water level changes. After having some success with this, uncover the top and keep track of the water level, as it dries up. Lots of opportunity for discussion ... your child may want to record their findings via artwork, journal-style ... their first "lab reports"!!

4. Freeze and Melt: Fill up some ice trays or small containers with water and place in the freezer. When frozen, they can be turned out into a basin alone to observe the melting process, or put into water - where they will melt faster! Your child may want to use some big spoons to capture and release ice pieces, or just fingers to feel the temperature and texture. (Have a bit of room temperature water available to dip chilly fingers in.) Introduce some small toys and see what your child will do with them. Try freezing small figures in ice and seeing how long it takes to get them free! Your child may find ways to speed up the melting process! Fun!

5. Wash Day!: Kids love water and kids love bubbles - and you love clean toys! Make everyone happy with wash day activities. Set up a basin with some warm, slightly soapy water - a little squirt of dish detergent goes a long way! Have a rinsing station - either a clear water basin to dunk in or some pitchers and a larger shallow container (like a baby pool) and a drying center. If you have access to a fence and clips, that would work, or spread out some beach towels or an old shower curtain to catch the sun. Then, let your kids have fun washing, soaping, rinsing and drying - cars, dolls, play equipment, etc. They will have a great time - of course, bubbles may be blown around, too, and they will most definitely get wet - and happy! 

Have fun!

Fun with Birds!

This time of year, all the kiddies are longing to be outdoors. Structure your learning around an activity they can all enjoy: bird watching!!

Put their powers of observation to the test - have them peep through some homemade "binoculars" to get started. Tape two small cardboard rolls together and decorate as you wish: we used packing tape to secure ours and then added some construction paper and stickers. There are some really cool designs out in duct tape now, too! Add some yarn or string to hang them and you're all set!

Here's a cute little art project: cut two circles out of white paper and then a larger figure-eight shape out of black. Attach the two circles as lenses of the binoculars and tell your kids to draw what they see in the "eyes" of their binocular pictures. Have them dictate "I see ..." to finish it off!

Check out some bird websites for some identifying pictures and let your little ones try to paint some birds of their own. Sponges in small and medium ovals or circles for the body and little triangles for beaks will help them make a bird shape - then dip some feathers in semi-dry paint to add details. So cute!

Find a children's guide to bird watching at your library or bookstore and don't forget to read some great fiction books, too! "Are You My Mother?" is always fun to read and "Round Robin" by Jack Kent is another favorite of mine!

While you're checking out the birds, fix up a simple bird feeder for your yard. Take a large pretzel, tie a ribbon on it long enough to hang it from a branch. Then, roll it in a small bit of peanut butter (unless there are allergies to watch for!) and dip it in a pan of bird seed from your local market. All you have to do is tie it to a tree branch and wait for the birds to find it. It will make a great spot for sighting some favorite local birds!

Have fun!

Paint Play!

Playing with paint can be so much fun - and filled with self-discovery!!! Sometimes little ones will have a hard time with art projects because their hands can't quite make what they want them to YET, so projects like this are perfect!!


Fill a pie plate or aluminum baking pan with just enough paint to cover the bottom. Have on hand a variety of materials that will either wash clean or are disposable. Lay out some big sheets of paper or a giant roll and let your kids explore! Let them know that there is no right or wrong way to CREATE - just dig in!!


They might have fun with some kitchen implements ... try a potato masher or a slotted spoon. Fly swatters make great prints, as do twists of fabric scraps. One of my personal favorites is bubble wrap!! The point is to let your kids explore and come up with new ways to use the materials.

Bubble Wrap Printing

You will be surprised at how cool the prints will be! Use multiple colors for layering and don't be afraid to let your little ones get messy - hands can make prints with palms, fingers or the outer edge of their fists ... Let them figure it out! If you're looking for a particular outcome, like a flower or a shape for a collage, to use in a card or illustration, you can cut it out after the paint dries. Have fun!

Books to Love: "Over in the Meadow"

Rhyming poems help children learn and remember things, just like songs! The poem "Over in the Meadow," written long ago by Olive A. Wadsworth, does this perfectly. It introduces mother and baby pairs, new vocabulary, spring themes ... all in an easy to read, fun package! There are many books that illustrate the poem - this book version, illustrated by renowned author/illustrator Ezra Jack Keats, is lovely to look and great to read. You'll find your little ones chiming in to read along with you, especially if you put a little rhythm in it! It's a perfect read for Mother's Day and you can extend it with a project to highlight the holiday!

Try this: Bake a big, round cookie with your child and ice it to look like a fishbowl - then add some Mom and baby candy fish to decorate. Or ... a whole family of cookie fish! You'll be spending some time with your little ones and they'll be joining in a special gift-making that will begin to set up some traditions, a good lesson for the future.

Trace and cut out some mom and baby animal shapes to make a spring scene or card, or surf the Internet, search for the poem by title and find some cool ideas there - I found a little coloring book on my search that would be fun to do :)

Have fun!!

Books to Love: "Snow Family" by Daniel Kirk

Each year, when the weather turns chilly, I can't wait to pull out "Snow Family" by Daniel Kirk and revisit it with whatever age children I am working with! I have found it to be a book that spans the early childhood age groups and begs to be read again and again!

Daniel Kirk's engaging illustrations pull the readers in and delight children with all the little details - they love to search the pictures for missing hats and carrot noses of the little snow children! As the story unfolds, the readers discover that the snow children are on their own, bringing up discussion themes about family, home, and safety ... such as whether Jacob, the boy in the story, should have left the safety of his home to follow the snow children!

When Jacob and the snow friends come upon a sleeping bear, it's a scary situation until he is rescued by his parents. The drama drives home the points of paying attention to safety rules and listening to the grown-ups. Finally, the story ends sweetly - all the children I have read this book to have delighted in the resolution.

Plan on previewing the pictures to generate interest, checking out all the details in each illustration. Notice the poetry of the story, complete with rhymes and repeating lines, and invite your readers to join in when they hear a familiar line. Leave lots of time for discussion of the various themes - so many great directions to take!

Tie it all up with a snowman craft - have on hand a variety of colored paper to cut for carrot noses and black boots, along with some mittens and scarves cut from leftover wrapping paper scraps! Children can trace different sized circles, cut them out and put it all together! Make sure YOUR snow family has all their gear! (Or not!)

Have fun!

Holiday Snowglobes!

I saw these adorable snowglobes hanging up in school the other day outside my friend Kelly's room, and they were so cute I had to try them out!

So easy ... have your children make pictures of something to do with the holiday - mine shows a Christmas tree, complete with gifts! Then, have them color it all in with crayons or colored pencils to resemble the color of water - light to medium blue - or try some silver snowflakes in the "air"! When the picture is complete, find something round to trace around it and cut out a perfect circle. Use a scrap of black construction paper to make your stand and glue it all on contrasting paper. The result is so cute!

Use it for a festive decoration or as a writing prompt to encourage a story about the holiday ahead! Wishing and hoping are part of the seasonal fun - maybe your little ones will draw their wishes inside the globe :)

Have fun!

Get Ready with a Holiday Countdown!

It's so hard for the little ones to wait for the holidays, especially once it gets to be December! Help them out with a "Count-down Chain"!

Take construction paper in holiday colors and draw some lines for cutting - make them about two inches wide. No construction paper? - no problem! Find some nice, glossy magazine pages and turn it into a recyclables craft :) You will need 25 strips if you're counting until Christmas, starting at the beginning of the month, or one strip for each day left - the 15th is a great day to start for Christmas with only 10 days left! 

Depending on which holiday(s) you’re celebrating and how many days you want to play, you can make your own rules! Have your children cut on the lines, giving them excellent cutting practice! Turn each strip into a loop with tape or staples, alternating colors, and add new strips by threading through the loop and fastening into another link.

When you are finished, hang your chain up and each morning or evening, take off a link and count “how many days left?!" Lots of counting practice for your little ones!

While you're waiting for the holiday to get here, try this - pattern math with decorative bows! Fill a basket with colored bows and show how to start a pattern. 

Side by side play works best for this ... or direct modeling :) You could even make some poster strips with color patterns. Your children can match the strips, see "what comes next" for sequencing practice and form their own patterns with these festive bows!

Have fun!