It’s Wednesday! It looks like it is going to be warm again today. Feel free to take these invitations outside.
Sensory/Science Invitation: Making granola
Toddlers are often very interested in what is happening in the kitchen. The toddlers at Lakewood spend a lot of time working with the pretend food and dishes in the classroom as they explore what it might be like to cook and serve food. This granola recipe is very flexible and easy to adjust to suit your taste. It’s simple enough that it can be made with a lot of help from little hands.
Simple Maple Granola
- 5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- ½ cup flaked coconut
- ½ cup wheat germ (optional)
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 250-degrees F. In a really large bowl, combine oats, coconut, wheat germ, sunflower seeds and salt. Give your child a large spoon and invite them to mix everything together. It is okay if some of the dry ingredients fly out of the bowl.
In another large bowl, mix together the maple syrup, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Pour this mixture into the bowl of oats and stir until everything is mixed together.
Pour the mixture onto a rimmed cookie sheet and bake 2 hours at 250-degrees.
Allow to cool before storing in a tightly sealed container. You can add dried fruit after it is cooled.
Dramatic Play Invitation: Setting the table
For this invitation you will need some unbreakable dishes (leftover party or picnic supplies work well) and a blanket to use as a picnic blanket or an empty table or countertop. Invite your toddler to set the table for themselves and perhaps a sibling or stuffed animal. When they have organized things to suit themselves, you can offer them a snack or lunch on the dishes they have set out.
This invitation is a way for toddlers to practice helpful household skills, acting out actions they see in everyday life. It is also an exploration of one-to-one correspondence, an early math skill.
Outdoor/Sensory Invitation: Backyard texture search
You can offer this invitation inside your home if you do not have access to outdoor space. Challenge your child to find as many different textures as they can around the space. Can they find something:
- Soft
- Rough
- Squishy
- Smooth
- Thin
- Prickly
This invitation gives children vocabulary to match with what they are feeling with their fingers. It also encourages children to explore the world in a different way using a sense other than sight.