We're Going Places! Transportation Activities for Preschool

February was all about transportation at Seedlings!  Here is a look at what we were up to:

'Road' play dough with cars

Lots of vehicles in the classroom and tons of team city-building.

Transportation timeline.

Painting with cars.

Cars, blocks and....shaving cream? Sure! Why not?

Science exploration with homemade parachutes!

Race track flash cards!  Drive your car down the track and watch!

Where did your race car stop?

The kiddos loved this game!

Get driving!!

Color Bath Fun!

Monkey has been asking me for weeks for shaving cream paint in the bathtub.  I've made paint for him on a number of occasions in the past, but since the arrival of little brother, I've been hesitant to give him shaving cream since they usually bathe together - we love saving water around here!

Anyway, he'd been asking for so long, I thought, why not take it a step further and break out the theme baths we used to do pretty much every night when he went through a 'no bath' phase.

Since he is much older now, he got to pick the color ahead of time and then go on a 'treasure hunt' to find things of that color.  I'd assist by weeding out things that weren't bath-worthy and by making the desired color of shaving cream paint (which is just shaving cream and liquid watercolor or food coloring).

Of course, what color does he choose on the first day?? PINK!!  Ack!  How in the world is he going to find enough pink stuff to fill a bathtub??

I'm one of those Moms who believes colors are for everyone and while I'm not opposed to pink toys, most of our toys are wooden and the few non-wooden toys we do have are generally primary colors or green, which, for some reason is always lumped in with the primaries in the world of toys.

So, I sent him off with his little collection bag and he had a blast wandering around looking for pink stuff.  We had to raid the spring sensory bin stuff, which hadn't been put away yet, but he managed to cobble together quite an impressive collection.

And because I'm still a bit paranoid about Bear and the fact that he puts everything into his mouth, he got his own mini pink bath.

 "Mom, can I put the flower in the paint?"  Sure!!

"Look! I'm cracking eggs, see the yolk in there?"  The best part about this exploration is that the following day, he requested waffles for lunch and then asked, "Do we need eggs to make waffles?"  Yup!  "Can I crack them?"  Yup!  He's always refused to help with the eggs when we cook.  Maybe it's the addition of our chickens or maybe it's added confidence from a bath time practice session.

Monkey's second color choice this week was ORANGE!  Yet another color we don't have much of in our house, however, we were headed out to the Dollar Tree that day and I kept a lookout for things we could use.

I found a bunch of foam shapes and foam sheets that I cut into strips to make letters or pictures and some neat glow necklaces so he could take a bath in the dark.  We added all of that to the foam numbers and letters we already had and some more shaving cream paint and he was off!

Ok, I know you're wondering about that lobster, aren't you?  That, my friends, is an interesting tale.  A long while back, when we first started shopping at Trader Joe's, that lobster lived on a tree in the center of the peanut butter aisle.  Monkey was always asking me about what it was and why it lived on that tree - ummmmm, no idea???

One week, we went to TJ's and the lobster was gone - Monkey was distraught, he wanted to know where the lobster had gone.  I told him that if he wanted to know, he was going to have to ask someone who worked there.  At this point, he had yet to develop his compulsion to talk to every single person he sees and was a bit nervous to ask, so it took a few weeks to build up the courage.

Finally, after nearly a month of wondering where the lobster had gone, he asked the girl checking us out.  As the checkout girl was trying to explain that the lobster wasn't feeling well and had fallen down and that maybe someday he might be back on the tree, one of the managers overheard the discussion and said, "Hold on, I'll show you."  Before I knew what was happening, she came back with that lobster (which looks much smaller when it's hanging on a tree), handed it to Monkey and said, "He can go home with you, you can take baths together."

Well, Mr. Literal took that lobster home and has taken baths with him ever since.  I keep asking when we might return Lobster to his home at TJ's, but Monkey tends to ignore that line of questioning, so I guess he's here to stay.

Bear didn't get a lobster in his baby orange glow bath, but he does have his little Sophie the Giraffe in there, so we included the wildlife all around!

Monkey's last choice this week was red - of course, because I'd already used most of the red food coloring for the pink and orange baths!  So our red bath was more pink that the pink bath was, but everyone had a grand old time anyway!

The best part about red is that we could add all of Monkey's red Legos, which are always a hit in the tub!  I wasn't able to get too many pictures, but he was in his red bath until it was cold because he built a machine with those Legos and had an elaborate scene going on for quite sometime.

He also managed to find time for some cooking since we added our strainer and a plastic spice jar from our outdoor classroom.

And of course, no color bath would be complete without the shaving cream paint!




I'm really hoping for some green, blue and yellow this week, but we'll see!

A Week of Weather: Wind, Clouds and Rain

A Week of Weather - Day 3: Rain

 

This week, we've done some great activities with wind and explored clouds.  For our last weather explorations, we focused on rain!!  Yes, I'll say it again, it's the desert, we don't get rain, but the children enjoyed songs or books about rain anyway and they LOVED making their own rain.


Our first experiment was a Rain Jar.  I've been doing this experiment for years, always topping the jar of hot water with plastic wrap, which always left melting ice and a big mess, until I saw it done using a bowl on top of the jar - duh, Miss Lindsey!

So, this year, I set it up properly: start with a mason jar filled about halfway with almost-boiling water (keep little hands away, please!), place a bowl (I used a glass bowl that fit down inside the rim of the jar) on top and fill the bowl with ice.  Observe!

After a few minutes, the evaporating water will condense on the bottom of the bowl of ice, form droplets and then 'rain' back into the jar.  I have to say, I've never seen kids stare so intently at a jar of water than I did when we did this experiment.

The rain doesn't last long, and without a formal explanation of the water cycle, the children may not even know how it happened, but the point of this activity wasn't to learn the science of rain, it was to be awed by rain - which we desert-dwellers tend to be anyway.  It's about watching, waiting, anticipation and finally the excitement of seeing rain INSIDE a jar!!

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Next on the rainy agenda - Shaving Cream Clouds and Rainbow Rain, which I've seen floating about the web for quite a while and done very beautifully here.  

We read Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault.  I happen to really enjoy this book, both because the writing style is strangely soothing and also because the art style is unique.  After the book, we moved right into making our own rain.  

I filled mason jars about 2/3 full of water, then added shaving cream to the top.  The kiddos began adding liquid watercolors right away, but i think they were so fascinated with coloring the shaving cream, it took a little while before they realized the rainbow rain they were creating in their jars.

Everyone enjoyed adding colors and watching them swirl down into the water until the water was all black.  Even after that, the shaving cream was still lovely, and reminded me of some sort of tasty dessert, so I just took some pictures of the tops while the children finished coloring their clouds.

I hope you've enjoyed our Week of Weather!

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!!