Lakewood at Home

Lakewood for Toddlers: June 8

June 8, 2020 by betsy Leave a Comment

Good morning! We hope you had some lovely moments over the weekend. It looks like it is going to be a warm week, so we have lots of invitations planned that will work inside or outside.

Large Motor/Outdoor Invitation: Toddler walk

This morning, before it gets too warm, we invite you to go on a walk with your toddler. Proceed at their pace, stop when they stop, examine what they examine. What will you both discover about the world in this way? What does your child notice? Where do they want to go?

Art/Outdoor Invitation: Sidewalk chalk

You could take your sidewalk chalk with you and write encouraging messages in front of a neighbor’s house, or use them at home to transform rocks or bricks. Children can find wonderful and interesting things to do with sidewalk chalk. It might be a form of mark making and creative expression, it might be more of a fine motor building experience, or even a large motor exploration.

Sensory Invitation: Washing baby dolls

When the day is warmer, pull out a clean, empty storage bin or even an old baby bathtub, add some water, a washcloth, and invite your child to give one of their baby dolls a bath. Watch how they approach the task. What connections do you see between the way they bathe their baby and your toddler’s bathtime? This simple-seeming care routine is rich in opportunities to connect, use cognitive and motor skills, and solve problems.

Lakewood for Toddlers: June 5

June 5, 2020 by betsy Leave a Comment

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. The target audience for this is slightly older children, but it might be helpful for families of children of all ages.

Here is the link with more information:

Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism

And now three invitations for toddlers for a warm Friday.

Building Invitation: Building with blocks

Today we are curious about whether and how your child’s building with blocks has evolved over the past months. Do you notice anything different they are doing? How are their structures the same or different?

Building with blocks develops planning skills, is a place for creative expression, and builds fine motor control.

Outdoor/Sensory Invitation: Digging for treasure

This invitation takes a little forethought, but can be very engaging for young children. Without your child, find a place outside where you and your little one can dig, make a hole and place some “treasure” in it. This could be a box with some large plastic coins, or some washable animal figures, or a child-safe necklace or bracelet, anything bright and easily washable. Cover it back up. Invite your child to go on a treasure hunt. See if they can find the place you were digging and let them dig up the treasure. You can also do this in a sensory bin or flower pot with child-safe potting soil or other sensory bin materials.

This invitation builds sensory awareness, uses small motor muscles, and invites your child to use their imagination.

Outdoor/Large Motor Invitation: Obstacle course scavenger hunt

This invitation can be done inside or outside, just adjust the things you ask your child to find/do to suit the location. An obstacle course scavenger hunt is an interesting way for children to use a variety of motor skills and muscles and can be customized to your situation.

Here are a few suggestions of things to invite your child to find/do:

Something to jump over
Something to walk along like a balance beam (you can set this up with a strip of painter’s tape on the floor)
A place to do a yoga pose
A place to roll
Something heavy to lift
Something safe to kick
A place to cool off

Lakewood for PreK: June 5

June 5, 2020 by betsy Leave a Comment

Here is the link with more information:

Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism

And here are three invitations for preschoolers on a warm Friday in June.

Large Motor Invitation: Sheet bubbles and stuffed animals

This invitation requires partnership between a parent or older child and your preschooler. You will also need a larger sheet (flat works best, but a fitted sheet will also work), some open floor space at least as large as the sheet, and some stuffed animals.

Spread the sheet out on the floor and sit next to it on one side, move the sheet up and down, creating waves or bubbles of air. Invite your child to jump in the waves, pop the bubbles with their bodies or the stuffed animals. You can also use the sheet to play parachute games.

Jumping uses many motor skills and this invitation also creates space for you and your child to connect and use your imaginations together.

Art/small motor invitation: Self-portrait

This morning we extend the observational drawing invitations to include drawing self-portraits. Your child will need a mirror, piece of paper and pencil or fine-tipped black pen. Invite them to look in the mirror. What do they see? What shapes? What details? What is the texture of their hair like? What shape are their eyebrows? How can they replicate some of their features on the paper? This is an opportunity to think and draw like a scientist and an artist at the same time. What will your child discover about their face today?

Fine motor/math Invitation: Water Wall

Constructing a water wall is a simple way to create a space for water exploration outside. You will need a section of fence or other space where you can attach things (the side of a play structure might work as well), a large bin or bucket, some empty water bottles or similar clean recyclables, string or zip ties and some scissors. Cut the bottoms off of the bottles and attach them upside down to the fence using the string or zip ties. Have your child test it and see where the water goes and then attach more bottles and things. Position the bucket underneath to catch the water.

Thank you to middler teachers Sarah and Caitlyn for this invitation!

Lakewood for Middlers: June 5

June 5, 2020 by betsy Leave a Comment

Here is the link with more information:

Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism

Here are three invitations for middlers from Caitlyn and Sarah for this warm Friday.

Sensory Invitation: Pour different colors of washable paint into a bin and have your child spread out the paint with their hands. When they are done place a sheet of paper on top of the paint so they can save their work! Rinse out the bin with a water hose when finished (your child can help with this too!)

Intent: This sensory activity allows for middlers to explore the senses of sight and touch.

Fine Motor Invitation: Threading activity
Using toilet paper tubes or paper towel tubes, create holes using a hole puncher in the sides. Your child could also help make the holes with the hole puncher for more fine motor development and strengthening of the finger and hand muscles. Then present your child with straws or pipe cleaners and ask them to thread them through the holes in the cardboard tube– in one side and out the other.

Intent: This activity incorporates fine motor development by focusing on the process of using hand and finger muscles to punch holes with the hole puncher. This also allows for practice with hand-eye-coordination while putting the straws or pipe cleaners through the holes.

Outdoor/Nature/Gross Motor Invitation: Water and Sponges
With the heat coming this week we wanted to incorporate water into our outdoor activities. Here are some invitations for using water and sponges today!

Sponge toss – using sponges drenched in water, practice tossing them with your child. You could also have your child practice tossing the wet sponges into a bucket or container for hand-eye-coordination work.

Fill the bucket water game – Fill one bucket with water and have another (or more if you wish to join the game) without water. Starting in the bucket with water, drench your sponge. Then run to the empty bucket and squeeze the water out into that bucket! Repeat this until you have filled up your empty bucket. You could turn this game into a competition or have it be more mellow and focus on the gross motor development of squeezing the water out of the sponge.

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