Lakewood at Home

It’s Tuesday! It looks like the warm weather has left us for a few days, today will probably feel really chilly. Here are three invitations for preschool-aged children to investigate this morning.

Language/Literacy Invitation: Michelle Obama reads Mrs. Maple’s Seeds

These days there are so many amazing things happening online it can be difficult to decide what to share with our young children. We have really enjoyed Monday’s with Michelle Obama and were thrilled to see she is reading one of our favorite books this week. Mrs Maple’s Seeds by Eliza Wheeler is about caring for one another and finding a good place to grow. What will this story inspire in your child? You can follow the book with an indoor or outdoor seed hunt.

Art Invitation: Seed pictures

There are at least two variations to this invitation. The first is to invite your child to draw some seeds. This can be an observational drawing, or seeds from their imaginations. What do they think the seeds will grow into? 

The second variation is to find seeds or seed pods around your house. These could be leftover from planting a garden, seeds from an apple from breakfast, or seeds from nature (acorns, maple seeds, etc.). Offer the seeds to your child along with paper, glue, and colored pencils or crayons. What will they create? Will they make a seed collage, or use the seeds as the starting point for a magical garden?

Both of these invitations are an opportunity for creative expression, fine motor skill-building, and critical thinking. 

Science/Outdoor Invitation: Planting seeds

A key part of Lakewood’s Outdoor Learning Initiative is planting and caring for the school’s edible garden. This helps children connect with where fruits and vegetables come from, how much joy there is in the work of helping things grow, and often leads to tasting new things. Today, invite your child to plane some seeds. If you do not have vegetable seeds or a garden, there are many things you can grow indoors. Avocado pits are fairly easy to sprout suspended partway in a cup of water (use toothpicks to keep the pit from getting submerged), you can also plant orange or lemon seeds in a container of potting soil. Have your child plant the seeds ½” deep in the soil, set it in a sunny place, and water them so the soil stays moist. The seeds will take a few weeks to sprout, but orange and lemon trees can grow quite large. They can live outdoors in the summer, but need to overwinter inside in NC.

It’s Monday! We hope you had a wonderful weekend and were able to make time for self-care. As teachers, we have been thinking, reading, and discussing mental health for adults and children while we are all under additional stress. One theme that keeps coming up is making sure adults take a moment (or more!) for self-care on a regular basis. Where are you finding those moments for yourself these days?

Revisiting light and shadow: Where can you find shadows?

One of the hallmarks of the preschools and infant-toddler centers of Reggio Emilia is the projects that evolve over long periods of time. Some people use the image of teachers and children tossing a ball back and forth to describe the way themes and threads emerge. Today we are curious about how children’s theories of light and shadow may have changed or evolved since our previous invitations. It’s especially challenging doing this work when teachers and children are not in the same place, so we are offering new takes and extensions of certain ideas so children can revisit them.

Find a clipboard or other portable flat surface and clip on a piece of blank paper. Your child will also need a pencil or pen. Ask them to carry the clipboard around and stop when there is an interesting shadow on it. Can they draw the shadow? Is it still like the ones we made using a flashlight, or does it move? Why might this shadow move?

Art Invitation: Exploring NCMA Kusama’s Light of Life

In 2018, Yayoi Kusama’s exhibit at NCMA was extremely popular. Her work “Light of Life” is very accessible for young children. This NCMA page has photos of the work and interesting ideas for bringing it to life at home.

This invitation to explore a famous contemporary work of art expands children’s ideas about creative expression. The activities from NCMA are opportunities to build large and fine motor skills.

Science Invitation: Moving light with mirrors/ experimenting with reflections 

Kusama’s work and the light/shadow invitation explore concepts related to light and reflection. In this invitation, give your child a small, handheld mirror or other item with a reflective surface. Ask them if they can find ways to reflect light using the mirror.

We’re hoping this invitation engages children’s curiosity in light and the possibilities of reflection.