Happy Friday! It looks like the rain might ease off today, just in time for the long weekend.
Several of these invitations relate to patterns which are an important exploration for the language of mathematics.
Math/Cooking Invitation: Pattern Pie
This very simple cooking project was inspired by a recipe from a Kiwi Crate.
Ingredients
- Premade pie crust (pre-baked regular crust or graham cracker or whatever you have)
- 2 cups plain Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup honey (to taste)
- 1 cup fruit (berries, banana, pitted cherries, dried fruit)
In a large bowl, mix the yogurt and honey until smooth. Scoop into the crust and smooth the top with a spatula or butter knife. Invite your child to make a pattern or design on top of the yogurt using the fruit. Serve immediately.
Math/Fine Motor Invitation: Making patterns with natural materials
If your child does not have a collection of rocks, sticks, pinecones, maple seed helicopters, etc., you can invite them to gather some things, or use blocks or other materials. Challenge your child to create an A, B, A, B pattern using the materials. Perhaps they can create a more complex pattern as well.
Pattern recognition and the ability to create and replicate patterns are important for math and literacy.
Art/Sensory Invitation: Finger paint
Finger paint is a wonderfully sensory art material. It is very immersive for young children and is a different way to explore painting that they may not have done since they were toddlers. If you do not have any finger paints, you can use other washable paint, or try the recipe from this toddler post.
We were really delighted to find this short video about Iris Scott who is a finger painting artist. We love the texture in her work and the dog paintings made us laugh. What might her work inspire in your preschooler?
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