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Lakewood for Toddlers: April 30

April 30, 2020 by betsy Leave a Comment

Can you believe it’s the last day of April? Whether you are just joining us or have been using these invitations all month, we are so glad you are here. Below you will find three ideas for toddlers to explore on what looks like it will be a wet and possibly stormy day.

Sensory Invitation: Sensory bin with tubes and scoops

If you have not yet set up a sensory bin for your toddler, today is a great day for that. You can use an empty storage bin, a dish tub, or a cardboard box. You can set the bin on a low table or kitchen/dining chair so your child can stand and work (you can also set it on the floor, but it is likely your child will climb into the bin). For younger toddlers, it is often a good idea to set the sensory bin on a sheet, shower curtain, or tablecloth to make cleaning up easier. You can fill the bin with a variety of things: grass seed, birdseed, crinkled paper grass, sand, water (not in a cardboard box), leaves, etc.

Today we are wondering what toddlers will do with something that pours like sand or seeds, paper towel tubes, and scoops. Will they use the tubes to move the sand? Will they use them to make circles by stamping them into the sand? Will they use the seeds to make the tubes stand up like towers and fill them?

Sensory bins can be very soothing for children (and adults) to work in. They are also an opportunity to explore the properties of the physical world, experiment with gravity and cause and effect.

Building Invitation: Blocks with additional loose parts (cotton balls, sticks, etc.)

Blocks are a wonderful way for toddlers to explore different schema while building their design skills, hand-eye coordination and other motor skills. After so many weeks at home, it might be time to offer something new with your blocks. This could be as simple as some mason jar rings, paper towel tubes, or cotton balls, You could also add things from nature like sweet gum balls, leaves, or small sticks. What might your toddler do with these additional materials?

Art Invitation: Messing about with tape

We have been following the work of several inspirational programs across the globe during this crisis. One invitation we wanted to share with local toddlers is “Messing About with Tape” from Boulder Journey School. All you need is some tape (masking tape or painter’s tape is ideal because it peels cleanly off most surfaces).

Lakewood for Middlers: April 30

April 30, 2020 by betsy Leave a Comment

Can you believe it’s the last day of April? Whether you are just joining us or have been using these invitations all month, we are so glad you are here. Below you will find three ideas for twos and young threes to explore on what looks like it will be a wet and possibly stormy day.

Sensory Invitation: Water Play with Sponges
Gather any sponges you have available. Use a small plastic bin, bucket, or even the bathtub filled with enough water to cover the bottom surface. Show your child how to squeeze the sponge to release the water.
Have your child practice filling a small bucket or bowl from squeezing the water from the sponge.
Observe how the sponge floats.
Place small toys on the sponge to see if they sink or float.

Intent: This sensory activity is full of motor development. These repetitive motions of squeezing will help build fine motor strength. Playing with water can also be calming for your child to play with as well as a fun sensory experience.

Fine Motor Invitation: Tracing numbers and letters. Write out numbers 1-10 (or higher if you want) and have your child trace over them. They can use their favorite color marker or even finger paint to trace.

You could also write out your child’s name or letters that they are familiar with for them to trace, as well.

Intent: The middlers have become increasingly interested in letters recently, especially the letters in their names. This activity enhances fine motor development by using the hand muscles to move over the numbers and letters.

Art Invitation: Draw a picture for one of your friends, teachers, extended family, etc. and send it to them. This can be through email or snail mail.

Intent: We’re hoping to help provide connection and a sense of contribution to young children.

Outdoor/Nature/Gross Motor Invitation: Make your own bird feeder!
Use an empty toilet paper roll. Spread a small layer of peanut (or other nut) butter on the outside of the toilet paper roll. Then roll the whole covered roll in bird seed. When you’re done, add string through the roll and hang your bird feeder on a branch outside!

Intent: Get outside and enjoy the nice weather and beautiful spring scenery. We want to encourage the middlers to use all of their big body and fine motor muscles to enhance gross motor development.

Lakewood for PreK: April 30

April 30, 2020 by betsy Leave a Comment

Can you believe it’s the last day of April? Whether you are just joining us or have been using these invitations all month, we are so glad you are here. Below you will find three ideas for Preschoolers to explore on what looks like it will be a wet and possibly stormy day.

Outdoor/Nature Invitation: Adventure Day Scavenger Hunt

Thursday is Adventure Day for the preschoolers at LACS. If the weather is stormy, like it looks like it will be today, they stay closer to school. Today might be a good day for an indoor adventure. You can invite them to go on an adventure in their imagination. Perhaps they would like to turn a chair into a boat and sail the seas, or make a couch cushion obstacle course across the floor. You can challenge your child to bring back the following from their adventure:

Something round
Something that would hold liquid
Something they found under something else
Something that could be used to tie two things together
The first letter of their first name
Something soft
Something that makes a nice sound
Something they could use when creating art

This invitation might expand your child’s imagination, ask them to look closely, to think about shapes, location, texture and sound.

Art/Science Invitation: Observational Drawing

What did your child find on their scavenger hunt? Invite them to arrange their collection in a way that appeals to them and to use their observer skills to draw those items. What shapes do they see? How have they arranged things?

Observational drawing asks children to look closely, to notice, to examine their subject in a more scientific way. It also strengthens fine motor skills.

Sensory Invitation: Cornstarch and colored water

This invitation works well in a large dish tub or storage bin. You will need a container of cornstarch, water, two or three clean empty bottles (ketchup bottles or similar are perfect), and food coloring. Pour around ½ cup water into each bottle and add a few drops of food coloring. Make each bottle a different color. Put the tops back on and invite your child to squeeze the water into the bin of cornstarch and see what happens. Depending on the amount of cornstarch you have, you may need to refill the water bottles. Invite your child to stir the mixture and explore non-Newtonian fluids, transformation, and color theory.

Lakewood for PreK: April 29

April 29, 2020 by betsy Leave a Comment

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, the middle of another week. Here are three invitations we hope will engage your preschool-aged child today.

Language/Literacy Invitation: Animal Storytelling

Invite your child to select three animals (stuffed, figures, or drawings) to be the main characters of their story. They can create a scene or setting for the story, or pretend the couch is a mountain or the family room floor is an ocean. How will the animals get across? Where are they going? What will they encounter along the way?

The intent of this invitation is to encourage children to create and tell stories. Using animals as the main characters and having them act it out makes this invitation accessible for children at many stages of development. You can extend this activity by making a video or series of photos and having your child edit the video or make the photos into a story book. They might also want to illustrate the story once they have acted it out with animals.

Outdoor/Art Invitation: Brighten someone’s day with a sidewalk chalk message/art piece

The teachers at Lakewood Avenue Children’s School are always thinking about how children are an important part of the larger community. During a recent staff conversation, teachers wondered how children can contribute during this difficult time. One idea that came from Durham Mutual Aid was for children to create works of art and words of encouragement in sidewalk chalk to brighten the days of passersby. This invitation requires adult supervision for children working on /near sidewalks. Ask your child what words and drawings might cheer someone up after a difficult day. Invite them to draw those pictures and write or dictate those words in sidewalk chalk on the sidewalk.

This invitation builds empathy and community mindedness. It also uses fine and large motor skills.

Nature/Science Invitation: Backyard/window/neighborhood bird/animal watch

All you need for this invitation is a place where your child can see outside, a piece of paper, and a pencil. You can make a chart, or just invite them to sketch what they see. We are wondering:

What kinds of birds and other wildlife can you see if you sit still and watch? Will you see a bright red cardinal or a blue jay? What about a reddish-purple house finch? Maybe you will see a big, fat carpenter bee buzzing around. How might you keep track of what animals you see?

If your child, or you, are excited about this invitation, you might check out iNaturalist.

This invitation encourages children to stop, breathe, and notice the natural world that can be found in even the most urban of environments. It asks them to use their scientist skills and might involve chart-making or sketching.