Sand Sensory Art: 100th Day of Preschool

Henry had his first homework assignment for preschool.
To create the number 100 out of something.
[Not 100 of something, but to make the numbers themselves.]

We discussed it together to decide what to make.
[Henry told me his teacher made one out of corn!]

We decided we wanted to make one with dirt.
Well, its February in Iowa and it just snowed about six inches, so dirt wasn't to be found.
We settled on sand. [Thankfully, our sandbox has a lid!]

Henry created the number 100 while playing with sand, inside!
It was fun and George even joined in.

First, I had Henry write the number 100 on a piece of scrapbook paper.
I was amazed at how easy this was for him.
His writing skills have really taken off, even if they aren't correctly done all the time, I'm still impressed. [He often starts at the bottom of letters and numbers, instead of the top.]

I then traced over it to thicken up the lines.

Henry painted the numbers with glue. 

And then the real fun began.

The sand came out.

Henry decided to dig in it with his backhoe.

Loading it up and hauling it to his paper.

This literally took him well over an hour to do.

He covered his numbers with sand, as well as pushing the sand around to make piles and spread it out. He was pretty busy.

When all the numbers were completely covered, he picked up the paper and shook it off.

Ta-da! 

The number 100 was still there where he painted his glue! 

What's your opinion?

Does he get an E for effort?

Like it? Share it!

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Toddler Activity : Fine Motor Skills with Pom Poms

Toddler play with pom poms!

Grabbing, pinching and poking at these little items are great for fine motor development!

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Baby Play : Baby Food Jars

Baby food jars and lids. 

Simple entertainment for a baby.

And it's something almost every mom has on hand.

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Fine Motor Activity : Pipe Cleaners

I know Henry's fine motor skills have never been his strongest trait.

So I do sneak in some fun here and there that works his fingers, such as the Dandelion Hat and Colored Vinegar and Baking Soda Experiment.

But this activity was not intended for Henry at all. 

I set out this colander and some pipe cleaners for George to explore.

I did have Tinkerlab's Colander Sculpture and The Imagination Tree's Pipe Cleaner Discovery Box in the back of my mind. But I completely intended for this activity to be about George exploring the pipe cleaners. Thinking that a pipe cleaner sculpture could be for another day.

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Kids Experiment : Vinegar & Baking Soda

Henry was fascinated by the reactions the colored vinegar made when it hit the baking soda in this activity.

Shh... it was really a science experiment! 

This science experiment [that I found at The Adventures of the Smith Family while I was browsing the wonderful play posts of It's Playtime!] was super easy to set up.

Spread out some baking soda on a cookie sheet and color some vinegar!

While I was coloring the vinegar, I let Henry have some experimental play of his own with the baking soda first.
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It's Playtime! : The Areas of Play

In yesterday's post, P is for Play, I went through a few of the ways I look at play, and how I believe it is an important part of learning for a young child.

Luckily enough, I find inspiration for all kinds of ways to play every week from It's Playtime! [Yay Playtimers!]

Here are your ways to play in each area of Play that I outlined yesterday.
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P is for Play!

P is for Play. One letter and only one part of the ABCs of Teaching Preschool. Deborah of Teach Preschool has hit an amazing milestone on Facebook: 20k fans. Yes, that's right, 20,000 fans!

I'm thrilled to be included in Teach Preschool's celebration! This is only one post in a collection of the "ABCs of Teaching Preschool".

I don't teach preschool, but I do teach my own preschooler as his mom. And one of the most important parts of our day is play, as it is in preschool, too.

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P is for Play

If you haven't noticed, hands on : as we grow is a lot about play.

Children at play.

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Learning Activity : Cutting Straws

As a learning activity to help Henry learn to use a scissors better, 

I set out the above items on his play table during his nap. 

It includes straws, Magic Loops [plastic strings], and a pair of child scissors.

I really didn't expect Henry to be as excited as he was when he woke from his nap to find this bowl. 

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Art : Homemade Window Paint Take 2

I love when Henry chooses the activity for the day.

This time he wanted really, really badly to paint the big window again!

When we made window paint last time, it was super sticky and goopy.

This time, I looked up a new window paint recipe from Home Spun Threads.

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Free Play : Fabric

Yesterday's basket of fabric scraps that George explored, 

turned into some exploring from Henry, as well.

The entire basket, of course, was dumped onto the floor immediately.

Henry began sorting the fabric scraps by color.

At least that's what he told me.

He was collecting the blue fabrics. 

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Outdoor Play : Tin Can Forest

A forest in the sandbox for the Forest Fiesta!

Henry and I made a real forest with upcycled tin cans, tree branches and a few plants.

Henry loves picking up sticks at Grandma's house. So that's just what he did. 

While he added the biggest branches he could find to Grandma's twig pile,

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Outdoor Play : Firewood Sculpture

Henry got to camp overnight with Grandma and Grandpa last weekend. 

We joined them for the night for fire-cooked pizzas and s'mores.

Before building the fire, a giant stack of firewood was begging to be played with.

Henry and I began to build a sculpture.

[Mostly assembled by myself, with Henry's assistance.]

Balancing the firewood to get it to stay took great care.

Finding the right place to set a piece up against, so the others didn't fall, did as well.

Henry didn't slow down with any frustrations, 

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Learning Activity : ABC Mat Game

Using an ABC Mat and ABC Blocks a learning activity is formed!

Letting Henry lead the way, 

we put the ABC mat together in order of the ABC's and 123's. 

He used his hammer to pound in each of the letters to their corresponding blocks.

Once the mat was together, 

we gathered our Melissa and Doug ABC blocks and drew one block at a time.

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Sensory Play : Flour Piping Activity

After seeing the sand piping bags at Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning, I knew it was a sensory activity that Henry would love to get messy doing. Minus the sand, we made our own flour piping bags. 

After our Free Play : Stirring and Mixing activity, I couldn't let Henry miss out on mixing together the flour and water.Henry measured and scooped flour into a large bowl and added some lots of water.

I poured some of the mixture into ziploc bags and added a bit of paint.

Sensory Play:
Henry squished the mixture together to mix the color in thoroughly.

I snipped a corner off the bag.

The mixture was very runny, and ran out of the bag immediately. 

Nevertheless, Henry squeezed it out and made large colored puddles.

When the red color was added to the blue, it didn't mix together to make purple.

Instead, it created swirls of colors.

Glitter was added as a finishing touch. [Lots of glitter, the shaker is now empty.]

Henry noticed as some of mixture ran off the paper : "a river!"

The glitter showed the flow of the river.

Henry created his own rivers of glitter all over the paper.

Of course, this ended in one very sloppy mess!

* linked up to some of these parties *

-- Henry is 3 years old --

-- George is 7 months old --

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Cardboard Box Ramps : Trial & Error

Henry [along with most preschool boys] loves things that move. 

These cardboard box ramps were no exception.

The ramps are leftover cardboard box flaps [from the Box Flap Bridges] that I hot glued inside another cardboard box. I cut a square hole in the lower end of each box flap for the ball to fall through, along with a hole at the top of the main cardboard box.

Henry tested the ramps over and over as I was making them.

Because of his testing, I was able to see what didn't work.

The balls fell off the edges.

With painters tape, I created a lip for the ramps.

[This worked well in the beginning, but over time, the lip got smashed and didn't hold the objects in all the time.]

On the bottom box flap, I cut three holes above plastic jars to create a Plinko affect for the balls to fall into.

Where will the ball fall?

Henry had fun dropping the balls in the holes to see where they would land.

I intended this activity for golf balls, but it wasn't long before other toys got a chance to roll and slide down the ramps.


Trial & Error:
Henry tried toys that were too big.

Henry tested blocks.
A square block surprisingly went down all the ramps, sliding the entire way.
A cylindrical block rolled, but needed some help as it fell to the next ramp.

Henry tried smaller cars that fit through the holes, but usually crashed as it fell through the hole to the next ramp.

Even some Little People got a chance to take a tumble down the ramps.

Wouldn't this be fun to be life size? A maze of ramps for your preschooler to tumble and roll through!

But the ball is the best at the cardboard box ramps.

Rachelle at Tinkerlab has challenged about 20 blogger friends to create something with a cardboard box. Below is everyone's cardboard box creations for Tinkerlab's Creative Challenge : The Cardboard Box

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-- Henry is 3 years old --

-- George is 7 months old --

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Craft an Airplane : from Green Kid Crafts

Here's a simple, quick airplane craft from Green Kid Crafts.

I was pretty excited when Penny from Green Kid Crafts contacted me about reviewing her products - the only subscription-based, earth-friendly craft kits in the states.

I was even more excited when I got the crafts! They were sent to me packaged in completely recyclable materials: newspaper and tissue paper. 

What got me even more excited? Check out the directions, the first line states:

'Remember its about having fun and the process and not about the finished product!'

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Stacking : Trial & Error

As we were playing the other day, 

I looked over, 

and saw Henry building this:

I was quite impressed!

Those are skinny blocks and they stood as tall as him!

I'm not quite sure what they are exactly, or where we even got them.

But this could easily be done with any kind of box. 

The thinner and taller the block, the harder it is.

I noticed as Henry was stacking them,

he began counting them as he put them on.

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ABC Mat Fun!

Do you have an ABC mat in your house?

We do.

Henry learned his ABC's with this mat.

Other than that, we haven't expanded upon what it could be used for.

Until I realized that Henry always put together small foam blocks to make a road at his Great-Grandma's.

Let's make a big road for his big trucks!

We also have a couple sets of the plain large foam squares.

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