Lakewood Avenue Children's School

Preschool Ages 1-5

Lakewood at Home

Lakewood for Middlers: May 18

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Welcome back to another week of Lakewood for Middlers! It looks like this week is going to be wet and possibly stormy. Here are three invitations from Caitlyn and Sarah for Monday, May 18.

Fine Motor Invitation: Shape sorting. Tape different shapes on the floor and find various objects in your house that are square, circle, triangle, etc. Sort the items by their shape.

Intent: This activity incorporates fine motor development by encouraging the middlers to use their hand muscles to pick up and place the items. It also incorporates cognitive development by identifying shapes and sorting them.

Art Invitation: Painting with pine cones
Have your child collect some pine cones from your yard or neighborhood
Separate the top portion of the pine cone with a knife or scissors (this is an adult job), leave three or four rows of leaves on the top portion
Pour paint (3-4 colors) into small jar lids/containers (big enough to fit the base of your cut pine cone)
Using the stem of the pine cone for a handle (or just gripping the top) have your child dip it into the paint and create their art on a piece of paper!
Ways to paint with pine cone:
Swipe the cone across the paper
rotate/spin the cone in a circular motion
Use the cone to stamp on the paper

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

Outdoor/Nature/Gross Motor Invitation: Sink and float experiment with natural materials. Find different natural materials outside such as leaves, flowers, rocks, sticks, etc. Fill a bin with water. Have your child predict if they think the item will sink or float before they put it in!

Intent: This invitation builds motor skills and encourages “thinking like a scientist.”

Lakewood for PreK: May 18

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Welcome back! We hope you had a great weekend. It looks like it will be a cooler, wet week. Here are some invitations for preschoolers today.

Fine Motor/Design Invitation: Designing with cool hues

Sometimes when we limit the color palette for design work, interesting things happen. What will your child create in cool colors today? You could also offer this invitation in warm colors, or black and white. Gather a variety of materials in whatever colors you have selected, your child can help you sort them. Put out a piece of paper to use as a background, or an empty frame (without glass).

This open-ended exploration of materials offers children an avenue for creative expression, fine motor work, and cognitive skill-building.

Art Invitation: Monochromatic materials

Building on the design work, offer your child a selection of art materials (colored pencils, markers, pastels, chalk, stamps, etc.) in one color. It could be black (a classic place to start), your child’s favorite color, or something else. Ask your child what they can make using only that color on white paper.

This invitation is a way for children to really delve deeply into the possibilities of a single color. What will they create? How will limiting the color affect what your child creates? What differences will they notice in shade and intensity between the different materials? You could make a rainbow of these pieces over several days.

Language/Literacy Invitation: When Pigasso Met Mootisse by Nina Laden

Thinking about color and color palettes made us think about how some Reggio-inspired schools study artists and illustrators with preschoolers. We cannot physically go to any museums at the moment, but here is a link to 17 museum virtual tours, or you can look at some of the Nasher Museum’s exhibits online.

We enjoyed this video of Eric Close reading Nina Laden’s book When Pigasso Met Mootisse. It nicely contrasts the two artists styles. Maybe you can find a Picasso or Matisse in one of the museum virtual tours!

Lakewood for Toddlers: May 18

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Welcome back! We hope you and your toddler enjoyed the warm weather this weekend. It looks like it will be cooler and cloudier today. Here are three ideas for engaging your toddler today.

Fine Motor Invitation: Scooping and transferring from bowls to an ice cube tray

For this invitation you will need at least three bowls, small measuring spoons, an empty ice cube tray, and some objects to go in the bowls. In our example we used some of the moon sand/dough from a previous post, pom poms, and smooth stones (the pom poms will probably be full of moon sand by the end of this and not reusable). Invite your toddler to move things from the bowls to the ice cube tray. Placing everything on a cookie sheet or tray displays the materials nicely and makes for slightly easier clean up.

These materials invite your toddler to explore moving, mixing, scooping and dumping all while building fine motor skills.

Art Invitation: Markers and paper

What kinds of marks will your toddler make today? Dots? Lines? Circles?

What colors will they use?

How will they hold the marker? Will they remove and replace the cap by themselves?

What are they looking at with curiosity as they explore these materials?

These are questions we consider when watching toddlers explore markers and mark-making. They are building skills for creative expression, exploring sound, touch, force, color and shape.

Sensory Invitation: Glitter gel bag

For this invitation you will need a gel-like substance (hair gel, aloe vera gel, etc.), a gallon zip-top bag, some glitter or food coloring, and strong tape to reinforce the seal and sides of the bag.

Put at least 1/2 cup of gel into the zip-top bag, add food coloring and/or glitter, squeeze the air out and seal the bag. You can use masking or other glass-safe tape to put the bag up on the window, or put it on a table. Invite your toddler to see what they can do with the gel in the bag. Can they make lines with their fingers? Can they make a hand print?

While exploring the texture of the gel, toddlers are building sensory schema, refining small motor skills, and exploring something new.

 

 

 

Lakewood for PreK: May 15

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Happy Friday! Here are three invitations we hope will help you make it to the weekend.

Fine Motor Invitation: Meditative painting with water on stones

This invitation is an exploration of evaporation as well as a calming meditative practice for young children. You will need a rock or stone, a small container of water, and a small paintbrush. Invite your child to paint designs on the rock and see what happens. On a warm day like today, the water should evaporate fairly quickly leaving space for new designs.

Watching the rock change from light to dark to light is calming and centering for children. Using a small brush to paint the designs is also an exercise for small muscles.

Nature/Science Invitation: Flowers in Ice Part 2: The Melting

Note: If you did not make a block of ice yesterday, you can do it today, or just get out some ice cubes.

Find a place where the ice can melt. This could be in an empty storage bin, an empty kiddie pool, or the kitchen sink. Put the ice in the larger container, you can take it out of its mold or leave it in. Your child might also want a pitcher or cup of water, a paintbrush, a dropper or turkey baster, etc. What do they predict will happen with the ice? How can they get it out of the mold? What happens if they put water on it? How long might it take to melt?

This is an opportunity to explore the properties of ice, to make predictions and think like a scientist, and to problem solve.

Large Motor Invitation: Dance Party

Friday is a great day to get some wiggles out with a dance party! Because it will be warm out, it could be a day for an outdoor sprinkler dance party. 

Dancing is a great medium for creative expression, encourages children to develop motor skills like balance, and connects children to the world.