Good morning! It’s going to be another wet day today.
Fine Motor Invitation: Transporting with bags
What kinds of non-plastic bags do you have? What might your toddler enjoy carrying around in a bag? It could be a paper grocery or lunch bag, an old purse or pocketbook, or a cloth bag. Find a variety of materials your child can put in the bag and carry from one place to another.
This is another invitation that provides ways for children to build and explore transporting schema, builds motor skills, and builds planning skills.
Art/Design Invitation: Monochromatic texture exploration
Gather materials that are the same color. Paper, cloth, string, blocks, chenille stems, can all be included in this invitation. Invite your toddler to explore the different textures and hues. How will they arrange things? What will they do with the materials? Take a picture or two of their work as it evolves.
Limiting the color palette of an invitation opens up explorations of texture, hue, and other properties. Children use their sense of touch when engaging the materials, and begin to build design language.
Dramatic Play/Science Invitation: Tea party
A cold, rainy day is perfect for a tea party. You can set up a pretend party with pretend cups and plates and invite your child to bring some baby dolls or stuffed animals to the party. You can also set this up as a sensory invitation with a small pitcher of water, an herbal tea bag (teas with hibiscus work really well), and some small cups. You will also want towels. Your toddler can put the tea bag in the pitcher of lukewarm or cool water and watch the water change color. Then they can pour cups of tea. You can also offer some snacks for your toddler to serve.
Pouring is an important fine motor skill for toddlers. This is also a science invitation as toddlers watch the tea infuse into the water.
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