Lakewood Avenue Children's School

Preschool Ages 1-5

Lakewood at Home

Lakewood for PreK: April 20

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Welcome to another week of Lakewood at Home. We’re glad you’re here. Here are four invitations for preschoolers today.

Fine Motor Invitation: Cup and plate towers

For this activity you will need unbreakable cups and plates. You can use left over picnic or party supplies, as we did, or use yogurt cups and lids. Invite your child to stack them in different ways and see how high they can build.

This invitation encourages children to think like engineers and architects, exploring concepts in those areas as well as physics and motor skills.

Art Invitation: Watercolor paints

Liquid watercolors offer a different way to explore water color paints. If you have a few extra minutes today, you can make your own watercolor paints using dried out markers. The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is posting many wonderful making videos. One that caught our eyes was this how to video on making liquid watercolor paints from dried up markers. If paper supplies are running low, it is also interesting to use liquid water colors to dip-dye coffee filters or paper napkins.

You can also just get out some regular water colors, a cup of water, and some paper.

Watercolors are a wonderful medium for creative expression, exploring color, and increasing fine motor skills.

Large Motor Invitation: Yoga

Giselle at kidsyogastories.com recently shared a post on connecting with young children using yoga. You can read it here. We tested the partner yoga poses and everyone had quite a lot of fun.

Yoga helps children build balance and coordination skills while also increasing flexibility.

Outdoor Invitation: Engineering Puddles

It looks like the week might start with some rain. This is another opportunity to invite your child to explore how to control the flow of water and build pools and puddles. We recommend having some old towels handy for afterwards.

This science and nature investigation allows children to explore hydrology and natural sciences, and build small and large motor skills.

Lakewood for Middlers: April 20

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Welcome to another week of Lakewood at Home. It’s Monday and looks like it might be wet. Here are a few invitations for engaging busy 2’s and 3’s.

Sensory/fine motor Invitation: What items in your house can you use as a musical instrument that isn’t already an instrument?

Have your child explore items in your house that make noise that they can use to create music.

Intent: This intent is to further the investigation into sound and things that make noise. How can different types of materials make different sounds? The middlers enjoy exploring the music wall outside on the playground which includes various pots and pans. This activity incorporates fine motor development by using their hand muscles to move the pots, pans, and utensils to make different sounds.

Art Invitation: Finger paint!

Paint with your hands. Make handprints. What can you create while painting only using your hands? Can you use a painted handprint and create a drawing based on that?

Intent: We encourage middlers to paint at school with paint brushes. How does it feel when you use your hands to paint? Explore the feeling of the paint and the differences of how your art can be created with different utensils.

Outdoor/Nature/Gross Motor Invitation: Go on a bug hunt outside. Put on your raincoat and boots, if you have a magnifying glass bring it with you! What bugs can you find? How many different bugs can you find? How many ants can you count?

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

Lakewood for Toddlers: April 20

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Welcome to another week of activities for toddlers during Durham’s stay-at-home order.

Fine Motor Invitation: Building and knocking over towers

This invitation is perfect for lightweight blocks or loose parts such as clean plastic yogurt cups. See what your child does with them. They may be excited to build towers and knock them over, or they may want to nest the cups, or fill them with other items.

Children start working with schemas (theories about how the world works) at a very young age. This open-ended invitation offers ways to explore connecting and disconnecting schemas, build motor skills and coordination, and an opportunity to experience the joy of knocking things over.

Art Invitation: Crayons and paperboard or cardboard

Paperboard (like that found in cereal and cracker boxes) and cardboard can be novel ways for toddlers to explore the mark-making potential of crayons. You can flatten the box, or leave it more three-dimensional for a different experience.

Learning the language of mark-making opens the door for creative expression. This is also an opportunity explore the different characteristics of paperboard and cardboard.

Large motor/mindfulness Invitation: Yoga

The toddler class at LACS really enjoys doing yoga together. You can find many resources online through the Durham County Library Hoopla app.

Yoga builds mind-body awareness, stretches muscles, and enhances balance and coordination.

Outdoor Invitation: Exploring Puddles

It looks like the weather might be wet today. If there are no thunderstorms, it’s the perfect time to put on a rain jacket and boots and explore what the world is like when it is wet.

Young children are natural scientists and a wet garden is full of interesting things to explore. They will also build large motor skills as they walk in boots and splash in puddles. Have rag towels waiting by the door for when you come in.

Lakewood for Toddlers: April 17

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Happy Friday! We hope these invitation ideas have been helpful this week. Have a great weekend!

Fine Motor Invitation: Puzzles

Puzzles often seem like a simple fine motor exercise, but toddlers often find interesting and different ways to use the pieces. Two puzzle pieces with knobs can be clapped against one another like cymbals, for example. Children will also often use the pieces to act out imaginary games, driving vehicles around the table or making the sounds of the animals.

Art Invitation: Watercolors

Watercolor palettes can be challenging for toddlers because getting paint on the paper is a multi-step process: put the brush in water, then paint, then on to the paper. You can help your child to do the steps in that order, or set them up with the materials and see what they do.

Watercolor paints are a wonderful medium for creative expression, exploring cause and effect, and fine motor skills.

Music/Movement Invitation:    Scarf Dancing

If you do not have lightweight scarves in the house, you can use pieces of fabric, thick ribbons, or something else. Turn on some music and see what your toddler can do!

Dance is also a wonderful mode of creative expression and builds musicality and large motor skills.