Baby/Toddlers – What are they learning from ART?

Creative people are often resourceful and thoughtful. If a baby feels safe and trusts her/his caregiver and the surroundings, they are more eager to explore and find out more.  Creativity is invaluable and should be encouraged in children.  A secure relationship with caregivers can provide a strong foundation for creativity.

There are a variety of art experience you can provide for children.  Babies have opportunities to use their senses to explore and create.  The process of squishing finger paint in their hands, tearing paper or scribbling with crayons is satisfying for babies and toddlers.  They are developing eye-hand coordination, and are making choices to change the way a drawing looks.  You can provide crayons, chalk, play dough and other materials for creativity and pre-writing skills.

At this age, children’s creations do not usually represent real objects unless we, as adults, label them so.  As they grow, children will attempt to create what they see in real life.  For now, they are simply enjoying the pleasure of creating and exploring the materials.

Teachers should use descriptive language as we discuss a child’s creations (“This painting has circular stokes:, “This color is bright!”)  By encouraging discussion about what has been made, we support children’s language development.  We focus on specific aspects (“How did you make this line so squiggly?”)  We strive to help them feel their work is respected and valued.  We often post the children’s creations for everyone to enjoy.

Teachers often encourage children to explore different art media. We might hang some sticky paper on the wall and have children enjoy sticking items to it to make collages. W e might have children paint with their bare feet.  These experiences let children explore real materials with their senses.  This is how babies and toddlers learn best.

Science and Learning

More Science through Plants

Carrot Top Garden – Sprouting Carrot Tops with Children

Carrots tops are one of the easiest plants to grow and requires no special equipment.  Children can see results in a matter of days, which is exciting for them.

Cut the tops off of three or four carrots.  Have your children place them in a shallow dish and water them daily.  The carrot tops should be sitting in at least 1/4 inch water at all times.  Sit back and watch the carrot tops sprout new green foliage.  This provides an excellent opportunity for questions and answers:

• What do they think will happen with they put the carrot in the water?
• How does it look a few days later?
• When it sprouts conversations on the process of growing and how things grow
• Encourage the children to talk about the changes of the plant
• Draw pictures
• Guess what is next

There is so much you can do with this activity.  Be creative.  While it is growing you can read some books and conduct nutrition activities using carrots. It is amazing that most children only know the baby carrots that are already cleaned and ready to eat.  May have not seen a carrot before all the processing.  See the next blog for some more ideas.

Growing Carrot Tops

 

 

 

Science Activities – Grass Seed Starters

The quickest and easiest sees to grow are grass or alfalfa.  They tend to grow almost anywhere as long as they are watered regularly and receive sunlight.  Here are some ideas for unusual planters.

Potato

Slice the top and bottom from a baking potato.  Scoop out the top, fill with moistened cotton balls, and sprinkle seeds.

Paper Cup

Fill a paper cup with potting soil and decorate it to resemble a face.  Sprinkle the soil with seeds and moisten it with water.  You children will enjoy watching the planter sprout hair.

Sponge

Soak a sponge in water, then sprinkle on seeds.  Moisten the sponge when dry, and soon it will be teeming with life.  Variation:  Try making sponge planters in different shapes.  Cooking cutters make excellent stencils for cutting sponges.

For more creative ideas visit the following websites:

http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/look-at-those-seeds-grow/

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/seedgermination.html

 

Preschoolers Learning About Science

Children begin learning about how things work and how things are made by experimenting with real objects.  We help children to be careful observers of nature and experiment to find out.  Using real materials and their senses, children explore textures, sizes, shapes and relationships.  Natural curiosity makes them active scientists.

Questioning is part of this curiosity.  Preschoolers ask lost of questions, especially, “Why?”  Although this can be nerve wracking, it is part of their scientific process.  Teachers respond to these questions by encouraging children to find out the answers for themselves.  They ask questions like, “What do you think?” or “How can we find out what would happen if…?”

We include many chances for children to touch and learn from real objects.  Classroom pets teach them about animals, their life cycles, their diets and their temperaments.  Field trips to a nature preserve or zoo allow children to learn about unusual animals.

Your own outdoor play area also provides children a ready-made science lesson.  We might grow flowers or herbs to help children learn about cause and effect, plant life, and the properties of soil.  Point out how the plan life changes with the seasons.  Observe insects and discuss how they live, collect food and build nests.

Children learn and remember so much when they have worked with the “real thing” and have discovered the answers on their own!

Encourage parents to let you know when a good “science lesson” such as the birth of a pet happens at home.  That way you can work together to make it a new learning experience!

Look for future blogs for some fun science activities for preschoolers.  If you have ideas you would like to share please let me know.

Happy Exploring!!

Science Quote

 

 

Bubble Blowers – Creative, Economical and Fun!

When you make your own bubbles it can be a fun activity for you and your children.  So what about some creative blowers besides the ones that come with commercial bubbles.  They work, but there are so many other ways you can send those bubbles into the air.  Here are some cost effective suggestions:

Soft Drink Holder

Dip a plastic six-pack drink holder into the bubble solution and twirl it around.

Straws 

Tape four to six straws together.  Dip one end and blow through the other end.

Pipe Cleaners

To create a bubble wand take one end of a pipe cleaner and bend it to form a circle approximately the size of a quarter or any size you desire.  Twist it together tightly so it stays locked in place.  This is a fun activity where you children can make their own wands.  Let them be creative, check to ensure they are together tightly and let the fun begin!!

Paper Cup

Cut a hole in the bottom of a paper cup.  Dip the larger end into the bubble solution and blow through the hole.

Wire

Bend a piece of wire into a loop.  (Be sure to cover any sharp edge with masking tape) Let your children dip the loop into the bubble solution and blow.

 

Come and Celebrate – My Plate Turns Five

There are many resources available to help promote healthy eating  following the recommendations of My Plate.  Get you children and families involved in promoting healthy eating.  Do some recipe demonstrations and taste testing…get your parents               involved.  Invite a local farmer to your classroom and discussing from Farming to Food on the Table.  Many children have only seen certain items in specific ways, such as baby carrots, how about the roots, stem, where they come from.  There are do many learning opportunities.  They tie it all together with a book and you can have the whole day planned with all activities celebrating the My Plate and food related activities.  From books, to guessing games, to taste testing, the ideas are infinite.  I hope you will share some on your ideas back to our site to share with other.

Downloadable MyPlate Mini Poster is available for printing and using in your classroom.

For More information on MyPlate and resources please visit:

http://blogs.usda.gov/2016/06/06/myplate-turns-five-celebrating-new-resources-in-2016/

Also celebrate your plate.  Take some pictures and share with us what you are doing in the classroom.

What is My Preschooler Learning From Music?

Young children love sound!  They enjoy making sounds and hearing them.  Music can be soothing and comforting to young children.  (Remember how babies love lullabies!) Including music in your program builds an appreciation of this art form and serves as a way to help with listening, language, and coordination skills.  Music is a great way to regularly signal a transition form one activity to another.

Playing with musical instruments allows children to explore cause and effect (if I press the keys, they make a sound).  It also helps them to focus on the difference in sound (these keys have a deeper sound than those).  You may even consider inviting a guest to visit your classroom and play and instrument and explain it to the children.

Finger plays (songs with accompanying finger movements) enhance finger control, which children need for writing and handling small objects.

Music can help children to feel and learn about emotions.  When you listen to classical music you might talk about how it sounds scary, sad or happy.  You might listen to cultural rhymes and talk about how they help people feel a sense of community.

Learning the lyrics to songs is a particularly effective way to enhance language.  Have you noticed how you can remember the words to old favorites.  Children’s brains, like yours, retain poetry better when it is used lyrically.

Music and dance are fun and help children be playful with their friends and teachers.  Let parents know if they have music favorites at home to bring them in and you can share them with all the children!  So let’s go make some music.

Better Brains for Babies – The Role of Music

When you hear a familiar song on the radio, how does it make you feel?  Often it brings fond memories, makes you smile or even can improve your mood.  It is funny how you can often remember every word of a song you learned when you were younger.

So does music have anything to do with early brain development?  Does it help children to be smarter?  What can you do to help nurture a child’s love of music?

The Role of Music

 

Sing a Song, Play a Musical Instrument, Make Music part of your Day!