Blog: PreK

Good morning! It’s going to be another warm day today. Here are three invitations for engaging preschoolers today.

Fine Motor Invitation: Making roads with tape or sidewalk chalk 

You can set up this invitation inside with painter’s tape, or outside with sidewalk chalk. In either case you will also need some small cars, people or animals to travel the roads your child creates. They might also want to make some stop signs or other accessories for their trail/road/path system.

This invitation incorporates planning, motor skills, and dramatic play.

Art Invitation: Collage

This invitation requires small pieces of paper, ribbon, etc., some form of glue, and a piece of thick paper or cardboard. Invite your child to see what they can create from the small pieces. While Eric Carle is probably the best-known collage artist in children’s experience, you could also share some of the work of these artists. The Seattle Public Library also has a list of 27 children’s books illustrated with collage.

Collage is an interesting medium for creative expression that also builds small motor skills and sensory schema.

Sensory/Outdoor Invitation: Exploring ice forms

During a warm part of the day, take the ice form your started yesterday out of the freezer. How does it look? You can invite your child to help unwrap it, or do it yourself. Remove the tape from the top and the rocks from the center. If the container in the middle does not come out easily, you can put a little warm water in it. Do the same on the outside until the ice form is free. Put it on a tray or an outdoor table. You can fill it with water, ice cubes, or something else like a shaker of salt. Invite your child to explore the form. What will happen to it outside on such a warm day? What will happen if they fill it with water? What if they fill it with ice? What happens if they sprinkle it with a little salt?

Good morning! It’s going to be warm again today, really starting to feel like the beginning of summer. One of the invitations today is to create something that will help your child cool off tomorrow.

Science/Sensory Invitation: Prepping ice forms

For this invitation you will need two buckets (plastic or metal) that nest with around a 1” gap, some edible or non-toxic leaves and flowers, a few rocks, painter’s tape, and water. Food coloring is optional, but can be fun. 

Have your child set the smaller container inside the larger one and arrange the leaves and flowers in the gap between them. Have them set the rocks in the smaller container. Help them put tape across the top in several directions to help keep the smaller container centered. Pour water into the gap until it is ½” to 1” below the rim. Your child can add drops of food coloring to the water as well if they would like. Freeze overnight.

This invitation gives children creative control over something they will explore the next day. It also asks them to make predictions. What do they think will happen overnight? What will this be like tomorrow?

Fine Motor Invitation: DIY light table

Middler teachers Sarah and Caitlyn found this idea for creating a light table at home.. The children at Lakewood really enjoy exploring the different possibilities that come from doing design work on a light table. Commercial light tables are expensive, but you can make one from an empty clear storage bin, a strand of mini-lights, and some tissue paper. Firmly attach the tissue paper to the underside of the lid of the bin, arrange the lights inside so the cord sticks out at one corner, but the lights are far away from the lid. Turn on the light and get out some transparent and translucent things for your child to explore.

Note: you can also purchase a tracing pad for much less than a light table. It will not be as durable, but will still provide a space for light/shadow design.

Large Motor Invitation: Avoid the shark (the floor is lava)

You can present this invitation inside or outside. It’s perfect for siblings as well. This type of game is played in many places around the world, with different names in different places. The premise is the same, to navigate from one side of a space (living room, backyard, etc.) to the other without touching the floor. You can provide towels or pillows inside or discs outside to help create stepping stones. This is a cooperative game where everyone is working together to cross the space. It involves large motor skills, problem solving and cooperation.

Good morning! We hope you had some lovely moments in your weekend and are ready for another week. Here are three invitations for preschoolers on this Monday.

Art Invitation: Colored pencils and paper

In this invitation we are hoping to delve deeper into the concept of self-portraiture and thinking about children’s understanding of skin color. We recommend reading a book about skin color such as All the Colors We Are by Katie Kissinger and then talking with your child about their skin color. Bring out colored pencils, markers, or crayons and see if your child can find one that matches their skin tone. What about some of the other tones from the book? What about their friends or neighbors? They could do a new self-portrait or color the black and white one they may have done last week.

This could also be the beginning of a conversation about race. This list of books has some other excellent children’s book titles on this topic.

Science Invitation: Cornstarch and water with a podcast

Wow! In the World recently did an episode about non-newtonian fluids such as oobleck. While they do not recommend filling a swimming pool with cornstarch and water (and neither do we), you can fill a bowl or tub with cornstarch and invite your child to add water to create oobleck and explore this fascinating fluid for themselves while listening to Mindy, Guy Raz, Dennis and Reggie. 

Fine Motor/Outdoor Invitation: Paper airplanes

Do you remember how to make a paper airplane? What technique do you use? Today invite your child to create and test paper airplanes. Paper, crayons, and maybe a piece of tape are all you need for this simple invitation.

Making paper airplanes requires fine motor skill and control, scientific thought and problem solving.

Good morning. We want to take a moment to share an opportunity for children and families.  Tomorrow there will be 60-minute special called, “Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism. A CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall for Kids and Families” on Saturday, June 6, at 10 a.m. ET.