It’s Friday! You have almost made it through another stay-at-home week. Today we are thinking about multiple ways children can use some of the same materials, engaging with multiple senses, and turning cleaning up into a game.
1) Fine Motor Invitation: Nuts and washer beading.
Invite your child to string nuts and washers on a string. Do several stings and tie them to a coat hanger and observe the sounds the creation makes when the washers and nuts bang into each other.
Questions to consider asking include: Which end of the string do you need to put “beads” on?
Why can’t you put “beads” on from the bottom? What do you need to be able to keep the b”beads” on the string?
The pedagogical intention behind this activity is to explore the connection between all supplies used and how they can and cannot remain a connected entity in regards to the forces applied to them. Also beading is a great exercise for fine motor precision and control.
2) Sensory Invitation: Water, Soap, and mason jar rings.
Fill up a plastic bin with soap and water and mason jar rings and maybe something to pour the water with. Then invite children to try to blow bubbles through the rings. This can also work with string.
Questions to ask might be: How can you make bubbles with these supplies? What happens if you blow too hard? Too soft? What do the bubbles look like to you? Why do bubbles pop?
Intention is to explore cause and effect relationships, increase natural sensory input for brain stimulation, drawing a connection between the sensory experience and cause/effect relationships. In other words, a child may think, “If I do “x,” then “y” happens. How do I know? Because I FEEL IT to be true.”
3) Art Invitation:
Use the mason jar rings and paint to make circle prints. OR dip string into paint and lay it onto paper. Dip the string to your heart’s content.
Ask: How does the Paint transfer to the paper? Tell me about your painting.
Intention here is to create space for the child’s cognitions to be as open ended and exploratory as the material being used. For example, we have already used the mason jar rings once in one way. SO, how could they be used in another way?
4) Music/Movement Invitation:
Pick a song from one of your child’s favorite playlists (or CDs). Ask your child, how would you move to this song? Change the song. Ask how would you move to THIS song? Are the two inspiring different movements?
The intention here is to increase proprioception and awareness of where one’s own body is in space, improve balance, maintain healthy circulation, and have fun doing it. Furthermore, specific to this activity, the child explores and identifies the moods associated with different tempo, different instruments, lyrics and tone of voice and is learning to interpret meaning behind those different moods.
5) Outdoor Invitation:
Messy Backyard
Gather as many balls as you have
(You could make balls with tape and paper). Mark a clearly defined space that if a ball is in that space it is “cleaned up.”
Scatter the balls all around the yard. Listen to a song. See if you can clean up the “messy backyard” before the song is over.
Intention is gross motor development, but to also use music as a motivator to clean up in hopefully a fun way.
