Make your own game of bowling using recycled 1 or 2 liter bottles. make them fun by decorating them with colorful masking tape. Helpful tip, seal the top on with a glue gun so the bottles do not crush easily. Use any ball to knock down the pins.
Goal: Children will develop large motor skills and hand-eye coordination with this activity.
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.”
– Plato
Sometimes you need a new artist to liven up your dance parties or offer comfort or singing together time. These are a few of our favorite artists!
Jim Gill – A energetic performer with the best banjo! Join him on YouTube for music and a reading of his funny opera
Little Miss Ann – Enjoy tunes like “Dim Sum for Everyone” and “Tong Tong Tong”
123 Andres – Grammy award winner and bilingual children music singer. Check out “Estoy creciendo y aprendiendo” or “Talentos y habilidades”
Young children are absorbing information from everything around them, but they haven’t yet developed a “filter” through which to assess that information, which is part of why it’s so important to discuss the media they are taking in with them directly.
I hope to introduce you to both specific books with excellent opportunities for conversation with young children, and also some jumping off points to carry into your discussions about books and other media as you consume it with the children in your care.
To start off, a classic: The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear.
This is one of my favorite books to consciously introduce young children to the amount of information they can get from facial expressions and body language. Before reading it to the children, flip through and notice the huge variety of emotions that are readily apparent on the Little Mouse’s face. Pride, surprise, fear, regret, anxiety, confidence, and joy all stand out to me on different pages.
As you read, pause to notice out loud how the mouse appears to be feeling. Mimic the expression on your own face and see if the children do it as well. With older children, you can “wonder out loud” with statements like “I wonder what the mouse thinks the bear will do?” or “I wonder what he’s planning,” or invite discussion with prompts such as “I think he looks scared, here; look at his eyebrows. Do you see anything else that might tell me he’s scared?”
Using books to teach social-emotional competence gives children a low-stakes time to practice reading others’ emotions. When children haven’t had the opportunity to practice “reading” others’ faces, they have to learn on the fly, which can mean more conflict and more social struggles. For example, a three-year-old might not notice that the friend he’s chasing in a game of tag isn’t having fun anymore until that friend is in tears, rather than seeing his friend’s facial expression and other non-verbal cues and stopping the game.
Learning to read body language and facial expressions takes time and comes more easily to some children than others. When we take the time to consciously teach children about it, we can help build their empathic skills as they learn more about other people.
Early Math Collaborative is a part of Erikson institute dedicated to providing math resources and professional development for educators and administrators.
The collaborative recently launched Download format; making resources available for immediately download and printable for everyone.
Enjoy these at-home activities cards to help children explore numbers, shapes, sorting and more!
At-home activities cards are available in English and Spanish
For many of us, winter is sticking around for a few more weeks, which means more fun in the snow. Remember, there is no such thing as bad weather; there is just bad clothing.
Playing outside during cold weather is very beneficial for children.
It builds resilience, helping children learn to cope with uncomfortable or challenging situations, and builds mental and emotional strength.
It improves creativity and imagination; being outside provides endless imaginative play and exploration opportunities.
It promotes physical activity, playing in the snow, and engaging in winter sports like sledding, skating, and skiing supports physical activity and healthy habits.
Lastly, it enhances sensory experiences; snow, and ice provide unique sensory experiences that stimulate and calm the senses, helping children develop sensory integration skills.
Stephanie McKinstry owner of Caterpillar Clubhouse Nature Preschool, shares some fun photos of her program enjoying the snow!
Esconda un juguete debajo de una pequeña manta o toalla secamanos. Muéstrele al bebé cómo el juguete parece y despues desaparecer y volver a aparecer cuando retire la manta. Repita varias veces preguntándole al bebé “¿a dónde fue?” “¡Ahí está!” A medida que el bebé desarrolla la capacidad de comprender que los objetos existen incluso cuando no pueden verlos (permanencia del objeto), buscarán objetos de manera más activa.
Objetivo: El bebé y el cuidador practicarán un intercambio de ida y vuelta que es importante para el desarrollo del lenguaje y para construir relaciones positivas.
Exploring textures is an excellent activity for toddlers.
This simple activity encourages curiosity, the development of hand-eye coordination, and language development in describing textures. You will need a few materials to get started.
- An empty tissue box works best, but any box will work; just cut a hole in the top.
- Place a variety of objects inside the box. For example, shiny ribbons, scarfs, feathers, shells, rocks, bark etc.
- Encourage toddlers to explore the box’s content by using their senses. Model what this looks like, rub the fabric on your hand, smell it, rub two items together, and be sure to describe what you feel and see.
Have fun and alternate the material in the box to explore more textures!
Provide children with a large sheet of butcher paper and small trays or plates with paint to explore dipping and making marks with recycled materials such as toilet paper or paper towel tubes, containers of various shapes and sizes, materials with different textures, etc. This could be an activity that is available over several days that children can experiment with in a variety of ways.
Goal: Children will work collaboratively, use fine motor skills, and explore making marks with paint using a variety of recyclable materials.
¡Bienvenida la primavera!
Aprovechemos el tiempo cálido y divirtámonos al aire libre
Incorporar las artes al aire libre es una forma estupenda de fomentar la creatividad, la exploración, la autoexpresión y el desarrollo de habilidades de motricidad, ¡todo ello mientras se disfruta del sol!
Compartiendo una sencilla receta de pintura de tiza para usar afuera
Fácil de imprimir – Pintura de tiza
