Blog: Middlers

Happy Friday! Monday is Memorial Day, so we will be taking the day off. We will be back on Tuesday with more invitations from Caitlyn and Sarah. Have a great long weekend!

Sensory Invitation: Making bubbles and playing with bubbles
Using a bucket, you and your child can work together to add water and some dish soap. Using kitchen utensils have your child stir and mix up the water and soap to make sudsy bubbles. They can then play with the bubbles, scooping with kitchen utensils and using their hands to explore the texture of the bubbles and water. They can also use the bubbles to ‘clean’ toys or other materials.

Intent: This sensory activity uses the sense of touch. It also allows for the visual exploration of how liquid soap and water can create foamy bubbles.

Fine Motor Invitation: Making Patterns
Using legos, duplos, or other colored toys, have your child practice making patterns. You can create the pattern for your child or have them create their own patterns. You can use a clean muffin tin or lay them out on a table or the floor.

Intent: This activity incorporates fine motor development by focusing on the process of filling and emptying and lets your child practice the pincer grip. This activity also promotes matching and sorting and problem solving.

Art Invitation: Splat Art Gravity Painting.
Set up a big piece of paper on the ground or floor. Dip pom-poms or cotton balls in paint and smash, drop, or throw the pom-poms on the paper.

*This will be a messy activity so you may want to set this up outside or in a garage if it’s raining. You could also put the paper inside a bin or in a bathtub for an easier clean up if you decide to do it inside.*

Intent: This activity allows for a different way to explore art and creative expression. This activity also includes fine motor development by using hand muscles to throw or drop the pom-poms.

 

Good morning! It looks like it is going to be yet another wet day today. Here are three ideas from Sarah and Caitlyn for middlers today.

Sensory Invitation: Squishy Color Mixing Bags Read Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxN8-rWdn88) After reading/listening to the book, set up this activity to explore mixing colors! You will need three medium sized ziploc bags. Add blue and yellow paint to bag 1, blue and red to bag 2, and yellow and red to bag 3 (like pictured below) Tape the edges of the bags where they seal so the paint doesn’t spill out! Lay the bags on the table (or a tray for less possible mess) and have your child squish the bags to mix the colors and explore what colors are created. Intent: This sensory activity explores mixing colors. It has a literary exploration to go along. This experiment helps children develop an understanding for mixing and the primary colors.

Art Invitation: Raised salt paint.

Materials: 

-card stock/thick paper is ideal, but you can use regular paper as well

-squeeze glue

-salt

-watercolor paint/paint brush

Squeeze glue in any design all over the paper. Sprinkle the whole paper with salt until all of the glue is covered. Shake off the excess salt. Dip your paint brush into liquid watercolor paint then gently touch to the salt-covered glue lines. Watch the paint “magically” travel in both directions! Let it dry thoroughly – this may take a couple of days. 

Intent: This activity allows for fine motor development by using the hand muscles to squeeze the glue and paint.

Outdoor/Nature/Gross Motor Invitation: Splashing in Puddles!!!

Read Big Sarah’s Little Boots by Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjRVoAVLWVk) and then go outside and splash in the puddles with your rain boots!

Intent: We want to encourage the middlers to use all of their big body and fine motor muscles to enhance gross motor development.

Good morning! It’s Wednesday and supposed to be rainy again. Here are three invitations from the Lakewood middler teachers for today.

Sensory Invitation: Exploring Smells
Either when you’re cooking or just for fun, invite your child to smell different spices from the cabinet. Be careful not to label any of the smells as good or bad, but instead “big” and “small” smells, “spicy” or “sweet” smells. Maybe some of the smells will tickle your child’s nose, or make them think of foods that usually have that spice in them. You can also have them compare fresh herbs and spices with their dried counterparts.

Intent: This sensory activity explores smells. This smelling activity will help them understand smells in a new way which can help with eating new foods too.

Fine Motor Invitation: Sorting drop box.
Cut slots into a cardboard box and have your child drop paper through them. If you have different color paper you can color code the slots to add a sorting variation.

Intent: This activity incorporates fine motor development by encouraging the middlers to use their hand muscles and pincer grip to pick up and drop the paper in the slots. This could also be used as a mailbox for a dramatic play activity.

Music and Movement Invitation: Sing and dance to “Sleeping Bunnies”

“See the sleeping bunnies,

Sleep ‘til nearly noon,

Let us try to wake them with a cheerful tune,

Up little bunnies and hop, hop, hop,

Up little bunnies and hop, hop, hop,

Up little bunnies and hop, hop, hop”

 

*You can alternate animals. We have done lions, unicorns, frogs, & elephants*

 

Intent: This activity encourages big body movements, imagination, and self-regulation.

Good morning! It looks like it will be a very wet Tuesday in Durham. Sarah and Caitlyn have three invitation ideas for middlers today.

Sensory Invitation: Ice Cream in a Bag
Materials:
2 small resealable bags
1 large freezer bag
Dish/hand towel

Ingredients:
½ cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
4 cups ice
6 tablespoons salt
For extra flavor add in your favorite pureed fruit (we’ve added strawberries in the past)

In a small resealable bag add in the half-and-half and sugar. Add vanilla extract and/or fruit if you choose. Seal the bag, getting rid of as much air as you can. Next, double-bag it inside a similar-sized bag. Add crushed or cubed ice with the salt into a large freezer bag. You can use any kind of salt, as you won’t actually be eating it. The salt is there to lower the freezing point. Place the double bag in the larger bag, then seal it up, getting rid of as much air as possible.
Wrap the bag in a towel and SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE for five minutes or more until it thickens. Enjoy!.
*If you have not done this before, here is the link below for more details*
https://www.tablespoon.com/meals/dessert/how-to-make-ice-cream-in-a-bag

Intent: Some of our middler friends have often talked about how much they love ice cream. This activity allows further sensory exploration for touch, sight, hearing, smell, and taste.

Fine Motor/Building Invitation: Building with blocks. Using any blocks that you have build a playground structure!

Intent: We miss playgrounds so much! Hopefully this activity will bring back fond memories of being with friends and making new ones in shared spaces!

This activity incorporates fine motor development by encouraging the middlers to use their hand muscles to pick up and place the blocks.

Art Invitation: Leaf Printings
You will need:
A variety of leaves; large flat (have your child collect these leaves outside and dry them off)
Washable markers (fat tipped markers work the best)
Printer paper or card stock

Lay your leaf flat on a piece of paper or paper towel. Start coloring your leaf on the veiny side. Try to add color evenly over the entire leaf, switching up colors as you go. Once your leaf is completely covered you’re ready to print! Take a damp paper towel and wipe across the blank paper (You want the paper damp, not soggy). Turn the colored part of the leaf onto the paper and press down all over so the colors from the leaf transfer to the paper. Carefully remove the leaf to reveal your design!

Intent: This art activity introduces natural materials found outside into a creative project.