A Week of Weather: Day 2 - Clouds

In case you're just catching up, this week is all about weather!  My last post was all about wind and now we've moved on to clouds!  Some of these activities were done on different days in my preschool classes, but for the sake of organization, I've grouped them by weather type instead of when they actually occurred.

To get things started, we read It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw.  The kids absolutely loved this book - especially because the words are easy enough to memorize quickly and they can read the book to themselves.  The book also sparks conversations about things the kiddos have seen in the clouds; like the mermaid cloud I heard about today!

First up: Blot Art Clouds.  Yes, I know we just did blot art, but it's the perfect homage to the story, so we got started.

Just like our Blot Art Earths, we used paper with a crease already down the middle to assist in folding. Some white paint, spoons and we're off!

Some expert rubbing and then a look at what he's created.

Hmmmmm.......not really sure what this one might be.  We ventured a few guesses, but he decided to try again.

This kiddo ended up with what I think looks like a horse head, but whatever it was, he loved it so much he wanted to keep doing more!

This one looks just like the little cloud in the story, but my son insisted it was the Earth, maybe covered in snow??  He tried a few more times and ended up with a butterfly as well - what a great way to use our imaginations!

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Moving on.  Our next adventure in clouds was Puffy Paint Clouds.  This recipe is so easy and so fun, but I never measure, so you'll just have to wing it.  Mix white glue with shaving cream and food coloring until it looks like this and begin painting!  I always encourage the kiddos to leave lumps on their papers because when it dries, it really looks like clouds!  We use this paint for snowmen in the winter as well.

This is one time we do NOT wipe off the brush on the side of the bowl before we start painting!

All dry and puffy!  The kiddos LOVE to feel it, so don't be surprised if it ends up all smooshy, but that's alright - new sensory experience!

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Our last cloud activity isn't really very weather-y, but it's so fun that I couldn't resist putting it in this week.  Bubble Prints!!  I wasn't able to get any pictures of this activity this year, because my parent helper and I were blowing bubbles until we neared exhaustion.  Fortunately, I have pictures from last year.

I use 8x8 aluminum pans and large sheets of card stock to prevent the paper from winding up all the way in the water (though accidents still happen).  Just put a small amount of water in the bottom of the pan, add a good amount of dish soap (I told you I don't measure, maybe 1/4 c.?) and your desired color.  The more color you use, the darker your prints will be.  I used about 2-3 T of liquid water color this year and our results were amazing!

If you have older children, they can blow the bubbles themselves, but we had an unfortunately mishap last year with my little one, so I chose to have the adults do the blowing this year.

Blow enough bubbles to come over the top of the pan (ya know, like clouds!) and lay your paper on top.  When the bubbles pop, they will leave a lovely mark on the paper.  Repeat this with as many colors, as many times as you'd like.

Last year's results on canvas, sent to Grandma.

This year's results - with a ton more liquid water color!

Next up: Rain!!

10 Preschool Sensory Bin Ideas

 We always have plenty of sensory experiences here at Seedlings, but we love to go beyond the typical sand, water, potting soil, rice, birdseed, beans, etc.  Here are some examples of seasonal and anytime sensory bins.

Rainbow Bubbles

Spring/Easter Theme: shredded paper, plastic eggs, spring foam shapes, spoons, baskets.

 Cloud dough: 8c. flour, 1c. oil - I used baby oil

Bug Theme: shredded paper, wood blocks, plastic bugs and trees.

Pond Theme: Colored water, river rocks, frog life cycle models, magnifying glasses.

Gardening Theme: sand (or potting soil), garden tools, plastic planters, faux flowers.

Gardening/Flowers/Spring Theme: Lavender scented water, water beads, faux flowers, cups for scooping and pouring.

Christmas: Dyed rice, ornaments, gift boxes.

Arctic/Winter Theme: Tray covered with foil, vanilla-scented glitter play dough, Arctic TOOB

Arctic/Winter Theme: Salt in tray covered with foil, small arctic buttons (Hobby Lobby/Michael's) and blue and white pom-poms (not pictured).

Sensory Play for the Un-Perfect

I've been in the Early Childhood Education field in one way or another for more than half of my life; if you count my early babysitting business, that would make it about 21 years.  Throughout those years, I've taken college courses, attended conferences and completed required continuing education hours on a variety of child-related topics.

Recently, I've gotten involved in a program which supports in-home care providers like myself with resources and training.  I attended my first of (hopefully) many of said classes this past week and I must say, it was by far the best training I've been to in my entire education career.  It was all about sensory play and it was completely hands-on!  For nearly two hours, I got to act like a kid and just play with a wide variety of materials: goop, gak, doughs, sensory bags, sensory/discovery bottles, etc.  Although I've used all of these things in my preschool classrooms for years, there is something about being surrounded by other people who are as passionate about children and about learning how to provide new and amazing experiences for children as I am that heals the soul and inspires creativity.

Needless to say, I had big plans for class the next day!  I had purposely left our water beads from the previous day out with the hope that they'd dehydrate and we could start a discussion about what happened and what we could do next.....unfortunately, as is the way of things in Miss-Lindsey-World, that's not quite how it turned out.  The water beads did not dehydrate, they became a strange water bead jelly-like substance....hmmm, what to do with that?  Add some more water to it and wait and see what the kids make of it.

Everything started out just beautifully, they were scooping, transferring, pouring, and otherwise manipulating in a myriad of ways.







When I told my parent helper for the day that I was going to go inside and begin preparing our fruit salad for snack, things went a bit awry.  The children decided they should make fruit salad as well.  And their fruit salad definitely needed some cinnamon.

A little dirt/dust from the yard and voila!  Cinnamon has been added!

Mix, mix, stir, stir, shove some in a test tube for later experimentation.

Fruit salad, anyone?

Come on, now, we've all seen those pictures on Facebook, Pinterest and blogs of gorgeous invitations for sensory play.  The materials are placed beautifully in glass bowls on a pristine table surrounded by fresh flowers and perfectly placed mirrors for maximum reflection of ambient light.  Also, I'm fairly certain every blogger out there has taken photography classes.  Makes the rest of us feel a bit like underachievers, doesn't it?  I jest, I'm an avid follower of aforementioned bloggers and shall forever strive for such aesthetics.  However, at this moment in time, here I am shedding light on the real world of sensory play - it's messy - and not in a pretty, colors-always-blend-into-a-perfect-secondary kind of way.  Eventually, given enough time and enough children, everything is brown.

Sooooo, my solution for this particular kind of brown??
Rainbow Bubbles!!!  Inspired by my friend Liz over at Fit Kids Clubhouse.

Once the interest in fruit salad had waned a bit, I added some liquid dish soap to the water table and invited the children to swish it all about to make as many bubbles as they could.  When the table was completely filled with bubbly goodness, I drizzled liquid water color over the top and the children were immediately fascinated and couldn't wait to get their hands in there, swishing and swirling.

Lovely!

 Surely this activity is going to turn out exactly as expected!

And right when I thought I'd hit the sensory jackpot......the children remembered that today, for them, was all about cooking and that perhaps I'd done them a favor by adding a new and interesting ingredient.

 

 An ingredient that goes very well.....

 

  ....in fruit salad.