Blog: Middlers

Happy 4th of July weekend! Celebrating the beginning of the United States of America is feeling increasingly complicated, especially in the middle of COVID-19. We hope you have a safe celebration this weekend. Here are three invitations for this first Friday in July.

Language/Literacy Invitation: Sulwe

This morning we would like to invite you and your child to share a beautiful book, Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o. It’s a lovely story and may spark some interesting conversations in your family.

Art/Sensory Invitation: clay/playdough on a mirror

Sometimes presenting familiar materials in novel places creates opportunities for new work. Today you might consider offering playdough or clay on a reflective surface. Working with clay and playdough exercises fine motor muscles, is a medium for creative expression, and builds sensory schema.

Sensory/Large Motor Invitation: Water play – toe diving

This invitation works with a large bin or a kiddie pool. Find some objects that sink and some that float and put them in the container with some water. Invite your child to fish the objects out using only their toes! This invitation uses balance, coordination, creativity and persistence.

Good morning! It looks like it is going to be another warm day. Here are three invitations for middlers today!

Fine Motor Invitation: Scissors and papers

Over the past few months, Caitlyn and Sarah have offered several invitations for children who are working on their scissor skills. Today you might consider offering an open-ended cutting station with scissors and a variety of paper. You can offer it in a large box or storage bin, or simply on a tray. Working with scissors involves high levels of coordination for children in this developmental range. It is also an opportunity for children to build and explore transforming schema.

Sensory/Fine Motor Invitation: Outside sticky wall (contact paper)

This invitation may be extra challenging outside with the humidity, you can also do it inside. If you do not have contact paper (also sometimes called clear shelf paper), you can use wide strips of painter’s or masking tape. Attach the contact paper (or tape) to a wall with the sticky side facing out. Invite your child to see what they can find outside that will stick to the contact paper (they could also use the papers they cut up in the previous invitation). What will they find? What kind of designs will they make?

Cooking Invitation: Make your own snack!

This morning, invite your child to help make their snack. Depending on your child’s thoughts on food, they might enjoy making a sandwich, a tortilla roll-up, or just cutting things and putting them on a snack plate. If you are making toast, a sandwich, or tortilla roll-up, they can help spread sunbutter, hummus, or peanut butter, cut soft fruit (strawberries, bananas, etc.) with a butterknife, and assemble their creation. Make sure to allow extra time and start before everyone is extremely hungry. This invitation builds self-help skills, fine motor skills, and creativity in the kitchen.

Good morning! Welcome to the final month of Lakewood at Home. School will be starting again at the beginning and we cannot wait! Here are three invitation offerings for middlers for the first day of July.

Science Invitation: Black ink chromatography

Over the course of the past three months, we have offered several invitations that explore how color moves along coffee filters or paper towels. To expand on those questions, we were curious about black ink chromatography. We love this detailed set of instructions from the Museum of Life and Science. It’s fascinating to watch the colors change.

We hope you will also check out their other Bite-sized Science experiments!

Large Motor/Cognitive Invitation: Color search adventure

What colors can your child find hiding in unexpected places in your home or outdoor space? Today, instead of matching colors, invite your child to investigate different places and mark down what hues they find using a similarly colored crayon or colored pencil.

What colors do you see if you:

• Look up
• Look under something (bed, couch, shrub)
• Examine something tall very closely
• Look at the bottom of your foot
• Look behind something close to you
• Look very closely at what you are standing on
• Examine the hair of someone close to you (or a doll)
• Find the closest living thing
• Find a flower close to you (a drawing of a flower or picture of a flower counts!)

 

Social-Emotional Invitation: Sending art to a friend/relative

As Safer-at-Home continues, it’s important for everyone to connect with other people. Today we invite you to help your child reach out to someone in your circle, maybe a neighbor, friend or relative. They can select a piece of art they have already made, or create something new to send. 

Good morning! Here are three invitations for middlers on a warm June day in Durham. It’s the end of Pride Month, but at LACS we value and honor all families and children’s unique selves all year.

We also want to share this parent resource from Resilience in Challenging Times. We are thinking about all the families who might be stressed and struggling right now.

Science/Sensory Invitation: Frozen Yogurt in a Bag

Small or quart-size ziplock bag

118 ml (½  cup) plain, yogurt

A selection of fruit (soft fruits such as berries work best)

Honey to taste (you can also use jam in place of the honey and fruit)

3.7-liter (1 gallon) ziplock bag (or a large mixing bowl)

473 ml (2 cups or 10-12 cubes) crushed ice

59 ml (¼ cup) salt (table, rock or Kosher)

Kitchen towel (optional)

Spoon (for tasting the yogurt)

 

In the small bag, combine the yogurt, fruit and honey (or jam). Seal the bag very well! In the large bag, combine the ice and salt, put the small bag into the large bag and seal the large bag well. You may want to wrap the large bag in a kitchen towel to protect small hands from the cold. Invite your child to shake the bag vigorously (you can turn on some dance music to make this even more fun). Shake for 10-15 minutes until the yogurt is firm. RINSE the smaller bag before opening. Your child can eat it straight out of the bag, or put it into a bowl.

Design/Fine Motor Invitation: Natural Materials and Frames

For this invitation you will need a collection of natural materials or other found objects, and an empty frame or two (take the glass out as well). If you have time and find joy in it, arrange the materials on a table by color, size, texture, or some other metric. Invite your child to make designs in the frames. You can offer a photo of a face, a vase of flowers, or some other object on the table as well as an inspiration. This invitation is a wonderful opportunity for fine motor work and creative expression.

Outdoor Invitation: Sprinkler rainbows

It is going to be warm again today, summer is really here! Today we invite you to set up a sprinkler, mister or hose set on mist in your yard. You can set this up near a part of your yard or garden that needs watering. Invite your child to explore the water misting out. If it’s sunny, will they be able to see rainbows? In exploring the water, will your child shriek and run and and jump? Will they twirl and turn? What motor skills do you see them exploring and building as they cool off?