Lakewood Avenue Children's School

Preschool Ages 1-5

Lakewood at Home

Lakewood for Toddlers: April 6

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Good morning! It looks like the beautiful spring weather will continue today. Here are a few invitations to interest and engage toddlers.

Sensory Invitation:  Sand (pouring, scooping)

Sand is such a wonderful material for young children to explore. An empty dish tub or storage bin makes a perfect sensory bin. For easier clean-up, place the bin on a shower curtain liner, old sheet, or table cloth. A measuring spoon, tablespoon and a container are plenty of tools for scooping and dumping, filling and pouring.

Intent: Sensory activities such as interacting with sand build children’s fine motor skills, invite curiosity and exploration, and encourage cognitive development.

 

Art Invitation:  Markers and paper

At LACS, the toddler teachers present children with paper taped to trays or the tabletop and a small selection of washable markers in an acrylic cup. At this age, removing and replacing the caps on the markers is often more interesting than making marks. 

Intent: Build fine motor skills, provide materials for creative expression and mark making.

 

Music/Movement Invitation: Pom Na Tu Ri (Springtime Outing)

Sung here by Elizabeth Mitchell

This sweet Korean nursery song is a wonderful one to sing with young children and ties in with the outdoor offering of a springtime walk.

Intent: This song is an opportunity for movement, language development, and musicality. 

 

Outdoor Invitation:  Neighborhood Walk

Take a walk anywhere around your home! You can do this with your child riding in a wagon or stroller, or go at your toddler’s walking pace. During a nature walk take time to notice the world with your child: the sky, the trees, and ground. What are the signs of Spring you can see in your neighborhood?

Intent: Sometimes the walk is more important than the destination because it is where we observe the most.

Lakewood for Middlers: April 6

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It looks like the wonderful spring weather will continue today. We hope you can open some windows or go outside for awhile today. Here are a few invitations for you to consider. They range from low-mess to high-mess and low adult input to a higher level of set up.

 

Fine Motor Invitation: Sorting any small toys you have at home (by shape, color, size, material, etc). You will need a collection of small toys or objects (cars, farm animals, counting bears, large buttons, etc.) and a variety of small boxes, jars, or clean yogurt cups to sort into. Older children may enjoy using tongs to move the toys into the containers.

Intent: Children at this age are often drawn to sorting and categorizing in different ways. This invitation provides an opportunity for that while also building small motor skills.

 

Sensory Invitation: Gel sensory bag. For this invitation you will need a gallon zip-top bag (freezer bags are sturdier than storage bags) and a squishy substance to put in it. Aloe vera gel, hair gel, water cooked with cornstarch and cooled, and shampoo all work well. You can add food coloring if you would like or an assortment of small objects such as sequins. Seal the bag and let your child explore.

Intent: This invitation provides a way for children to increase small motor skills and explore the world in a different way.

 

Outdoor Invitation: Collecting materials to paint on. Find a box, bucket or basket your child can carry and invite them to collect things like pine cones, rocks, or large leaves from the ground. You can put out a tray, shower curtain, or rag towel for them to display their collection on when they are done.

Intent: Collecting walks help us all to slow down and look carefully at the world around us. This is an opportunity for children to feel different textures, notice smells and colors, and interact with the natural world.

 

Art Invitation: Painting/drawing on different items from nature (pinecones, rocks, leaves, etc.). Add child-safe paint and brushes to the area where your child has displayed their natural material finds. A wet rag nearby will help with cleanup.

Intent: This extension of the collection invitation opens up the materials to new life and allows the child creative expression.

Lakewood for Middlers: April 3

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It’s Friday! You have almost made it through another stay-at-home week. We hope there have been some moments of joy in your week. Here are a few invitations for today.

Sensory Invitation: Use your hands to paint!

This is a high-mess activity. Be prepared with old clothes and damp rags. Children can paint on paper, cardboard, or on a tray or other washable hard surface.

Possible Dialogue:
How does the paint feel?
Is it easy to paint with your hands?
What parts of your hands can you paint with? (finger tips, palm, fist, etc.)

Intent: Allowing middlers to paint in non-conventional ways. Exploring touch and feeling of items we don’t normally interact with on a daily basis.

Fine Motor Invitation: Painting – use paintbrushes, fingers, sponges, etc. to draw shapes, people, the three little pigs, (anything you want.)

Intent: Encouraging the middlers to use various methods of painting to enhance fine motor development.

Music/Movement Invitation: Singing and doing the movements for “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”

Here are the lyrics in Spanish as well.

“Cabeza, hombros, rodillas y pies
Rodillas y pies
Cabeza, hombros, rodillas y pies
Rodillas y pies.

Ojos, y orejas, y boca, y nariz.

Cabeza, hombros, rodillas y pies
Rodillas y pies.”

Intent: The children in this age group that we know LOVE singing all throughout the day. Singing is wonderful for language development, creative expression, and singing together builds connection.

Outdoor/Nature/Gross Motor Invitation: Go on a walk in your yard, neighborhood, or around the house. Walk, run, skip, jump. What can your body do? If you slow down and look closely, what can you find?

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 muscles to enhance gross motor development, and practice looking closely and carefully at the world around them.

Lakewood for Toddlers: April 3

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It’s Friday! We hope you have had some moments of joy during this stay-at-home week. Below are some activity invitations geared towards children age 12-30 months. Enjoy!

Sensory/Fine Motor Invitation: Exploring dirt

You will need a little bit of garden space or a pot of child-safe potting soil or dirt for this activity along with some digging tools (large spoons, small shovels, craft sticks) They can investigate what the tools do, how the dirt feels in their hands and what the earth looks like underneath the top surface. The Toddlers can manipulate the dirt in their hands or shovels, compare and contrast the texture of the dirt and use multiple senses to explore the dirt further. You can ask questions like, “How does the dirt feel in your hands?” (examples bumpy, smooth, etc) “Where else do you see dirt?” (look around in the yard)

 

Art Invitation: Finger Paint

Finger paint is a wonderful, and messy, way for toddlers to engage in sensory exploration and express themselves creatively.  They can investigate as many or as few colors as you would like. The toddlers can explore making shapes, lines and scribbles using the paint with their fingers. Have a wet rag or bathtub ready for when they are done. Some children dive in while others approach paint more slowly and carefully. What is your child’s approach?

 

Music/Movement Invitation: The Itsy Bitsy Spider

For a music invitation you can sing and do the gestures to The Itsy Bitsy Spider song. You can ask questions like, “Where do you think the spider was going?” “ What do you think the spider looked like?” “Do you think the spider has a name and if so what is it?”

 

Outdoor Invitation: Nature Hunt

Today might be a good day to go outside and collect different nature items. Children of this age love collecting things. You can provide your child with a bucket, cup or small paper bag to fill with their natural treasures. They can find things like leaves, sticks, pinecones, dandelions, tree bark and pine needles. You may ask questions like, “What kind of things did you find?” “How does it feel?” “ Where do you think _____ came from? “