Lakewood Avenue Children's School

Preschool Ages 1-5

Lakewood at Home

Lakewood for PreK: May 22

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Happy Friday! It looks like the rain might ease off today, just in time for the long weekend.

Several of these invitations relate to patterns which are an important exploration for the language of mathematics.

Math/Cooking Invitation: Pattern Pie

This very simple cooking project was inspired by a recipe from a Kiwi Crate.

Ingredients

  • Premade pie crust (pre-baked regular crust or graham cracker or whatever you have)
  • 2 cups plain Greek yogurt
  • ¼ cup honey (to taste)
  • 1 cup fruit (berries, banana, pitted cherries, dried fruit)

In a large bowl, mix the yogurt and honey until smooth. Scoop into the crust and smooth the top with a spatula or butter knife. Invite your child to make a pattern or design on top of the yogurt using the fruit. Serve immediately.

Math/Fine Motor Invitation: Making patterns with natural materials

If your child does not have a collection of rocks, sticks, pinecones, maple seed helicopters, etc., you can invite them to gather some things, or use blocks or other materials. Challenge your child to create an A, B, A, B pattern using the materials. Perhaps they can create a more complex pattern as well.

Pattern recognition and the ability to create and replicate patterns are important for math and literacy.

Art/Sensory Invitation: Finger paint

Finger paint is a wonderfully sensory art material. It is very immersive for young children and is a different way to explore painting that they may not have done since they were toddlers. If you do not have any finger paints, you can use other washable paint, or try the recipe from this toddler post.

We were really delighted to find this short video about Iris Scott who is a finger painting artist. We love the texture in her work and the dog paintings made us laugh. What might her work inspire in your preschooler? 

 

Lakewood for Middlers: May 22

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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.

 

Lakewood for Toddlers: May 22

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Happy Friday! You have almost made it through an extremely wet and cold week! Here are three invitations for toddlers today. Hope you have a wonderful long weekend!

Art Invitation: Play dough sculpting

This morning we are curious about what toddlers will do with play dough and a dull butter knife. Cutting clay or play dough with a butter knife is a way for young children to explore this skill and build coordination and motor control. You can demonstrate rolling the dough into balls and long cylinders which are interesting to cut. This invitation builds another skill to children’s work with sculpting materials.

Sensory Invitation: Water play with sieves and things

It looks like we might have a few dry moments today, but there is probably a lot of water available outside for this invitation. You can also offer it in the sink or bathtub inside. Gather some easily washable objects (plastic animals, sticks, larger lids, etc.), and a sieve or two. Your child can drop the objects in the water and fish them out with the sieve. 

Through this invitation children are encouraged to engage with more predictive work (will an object sink or float) and problem solve how to get things back out of the water using the sieve.

Remember to stay near your child when they are engaged in water explorations.

Movement/Language Invitation: Yoga story

Your toddler may have spent extra time inside this week due to the wet weather. Yoga is a great way to build motor skills, stretch muscles, and build self-regulation skills. Older toddlers may be ready to lead a yoga story themselves, younger toddlers can help fill in a familiar story like the three little pigs, or help create poses to act out a beloved book.

Lakewood for Middlers: May 21

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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.