Good morning! The wet weather looks like it will continue today. Here are three invitations we hope will engage your preschooler on a wet day in June.
Fine Motor/Sensory Invitation: Nature cutting bin
Gather some edible or non-toxic plants from your yard (or your refrigerator if you have some carrot tops or something similar). You can set this up by simply offering the leaves and a pair of child-size scissors in a storage tub or bowl, or stand the leaves upright in a lump of play dough. If you use herbs this invitation will make your house smell lovely.
Children will be exploring fine motor skills such as cutting and ripping while engaging their senses in this invitation.
Building Invitation: How high can you build?
This invitation was inspired by one from middler teachers Sarah and Caitlyn. You will need some blocks and painter’s tape and a wall. Invite your child to predict how high they can build with blocks and mark that height on the wall with the painter’s tape. You might have them make several predictions for different building methods or types of blocks. Then invite them to test their hypothesis. How high can they build? How else could they measure that height? Can they come up with a way to measure it?
Large Motor Invitation: Spoon and “egg” challenge
It looks like the weather might be pretty wet today. This invitation works well inside, or outside in the rain! You will need a spoon with a long handle and something egg-like. An egg shaker, small block, or ball will work well. If you are outside, you can try a water balloon. Set a starting point and a finish line and invite your child to navigate from one to the other balancing their “egg” on the spoon. You can add some obstacle course type elements to make this more challenging. If you would like, you can switch places and have your child come up with an egg balancing route for you!
This invitation builds balance and concentration skills.
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