Mad Science Monday: Get Outside And...Into the Laboratory!

On most days, this area of our Play Garden is a Mud Kitchen--but on this particular day, a Tuesday, actually (because Monday had been quite rainy), it became a Scientist's Laboratory for the day! Stuff was gonna get colorful. Stuff was gonna get messy. Stuff was gonna 'splode! Oh YEAH!

The boys were greeted at the I Wonder Station by a sign with a question: Can you be a scientist? I set out some props and materials and let them have at it for as long as they wished. I am embarrassed proud to say that all three of us had to be lured back inside close to bedtime with edible treats.

And while the boys were definitely busy having fun, they were also learning. They were engaged in meaningful symbolic play about being a scientist. This led to some great observation of chemical reactions and colors mixing. It led as well to mathematical discoveries as they measured and estimated potions and concoctions. They developed their fine motor skills using pipettes and tongs and gross motor skills loading up the trunk of our red tricycle to drive some laboratory materials up the sidewalk. They had opportunities to practice social skills and problem solving when it came to sharing space, ideas and resources. They built vocabulary with big words like "laboratory" and "scientist" and even "horticulturalist" (S wanted to be a "scientist who works in the garden).

Folks, I'm not gonna lie--this was messy! This was also fun. This was kind of a self cleaning experiment as well if you consider the baking soda and vinegar factor--but I definitely did a lot of dishes that night and none of them were the ones we ate from! It was worth it and you know what? We'll probably do it again... And if you would like to turn your outdoor space into a Scientist's Laboratory for a day or two or even more, here's what you'll need:









The Bare Basics:

• Tools for filling, squeezing, pouring, grasping... I had a collection of plastic beakers from the Dollar Tree and added in some squeeze bottles, plastic tongs, pipettes, funnels and other tools and toys from our sensory bin tool collection. You can use whatever you have--even if it's from the recycling bin! You don't have to have "real" science tools (but you can use those if you do).
• Water
• White vinegar
• Food coloring or liquid water color 
• Baking soda
• A plastic bin, pan or sensory table

Optional Add-ons:

• lab coats
• goggles
• clipboards and paper, pens, pencils for documentation

Before you begin you'll want to fill some of your containers with water and some with vinegar. Initially I planned to do all of my starter containers with vinegar but we didn't have a lot left (this is in no way indicative of how many science experiments I do here). I decided that having a "control group" was a great way to incorporate scientific method to our activity and filled some containers with water. I added a couple of drops of different colored food coloring to each of my containers. I did not label which ones had water and which had vinegar--this was the fun and surprising part! Pour a generous amount of baking soda in the bottom of your bin/pan or sensory table. Let your little scientists in training have at it! Pretty quickly, the boys discovered that some bottles when squeezed or poured into the baking soda made bubbles and some did not. We talked about why, but then I really did step back and refrained from hijacking their play. I let them mix, concoct, explode, stir, scoop, squeeze, transfer and even snip bits of flowers and leaves from our snipping garden and add them into their potions and concoctions as well. 

By the time we were all football carried inside by Tatty who had lollipops for the shorter scientists (who'd already finished dinner) and some homemade vegetarian chilli cheese fries for the slightly taller scientist who hadn't had dinner yet, we were all covered in splashes of color, baking soda and mud. In other words, a great time was had by all. 

HAPPY PLAYING!

Get Outside And... Paint a Rainbow!

In my own efforts to get outside with my kids as often as possible, I'm kicking off a new recurring series on the blog, Get Outside And... These will be posts that include a simple to set up activity to bring outdoors with you. We get out plenty with no special reason, activity or destination. Sometimes it's fun and exciting to do something special while we're out there. As the weather warms up, the outdoors can be a great (safe) place to take messy play and art. Today's post is a perfect example, but I can't take the credit for the idea. I first saw the idea for Rainbow Rain Painting on Learn As You Play. We adapted the idea to bring outdoors (using a couple of inexpensive folding table-top easels we frequently bring on the go) and adding in spray bottles along with the pipettes and water. This would be a great activity to take to the sprinkler park in the summer or poolside. And, as an added bonus, those watercolor pallets that are all mixed up and dirty will have a fresh new start! If I ever go back to teaching, I'm going to do this with my students at the end of every school year!

You will need:

• easel or vertical surface 
• white paper (watercolor paper works best)
• watercolor pallet (the standard 8 color version is perfect)
• pipettes & a cup/jar of water
• spray bottles filled with water

To set up your Rainbow Rain Painting Stations, clip your paper and watercolor pallet to the easel. The kids simply fill and squeeze water from the pipettes onto each color or spray with water and watch as the colors drip and bleed down the page. We had so much fun with this one--even I spent a good long while spraying at the end!

Happy Spraying, I mean Playing!

Our Storytelling Tree: A Collaborative Mixed Medium Process Art Project Perfect for Tu B'Shevat!

Storytelling, small worlds and dramatic play are a pretty big deal here, and I especially love involving the family in creating some of our own props. We also had so much fun on our last multi-medium process art experience over the winter break that even though school is back in session for S, I wanted to include more activities like this in our afternoon routines together.

The after nap hours during the week are often a little hectic. Everyone's energy is low. It's the end of the day. This time of year, it gets dark out quite early. We've been away from each other at work and school and everyone is eager to share this limited time together, but the pace can feel a bit rushed for big afternoon activities or outings. Engaging in art together is one way we are able to slow down the pace a bit, tune in to each other and be creative as a family. Even better if what we're doing isn't a project that is intended to be completed in one sitting. When I found this wooden tree sculpture on super sale post holiday season at our craft supply shop, I knew it was the perfect foundation for a collaborative art experience. I didn't exactly know yet what we would do to it, but it was going to make the perfect storytelling tree for our home and perhaps, in drier seasons, even our playgarden!

A few tips before you begin, should you decide to undertake this project or something similar:

• Choose a work space that will accommodate all of your family members comfortably. Our dining room table is the best option for us in terms of having enough space, being a good height for me and the boys alike (Y uses a high chair, S can sit or stand). 
• Cover your work space; this will get messy! I finally dedicated an old bedsheet to this purpose after throwing away the last of our super cheap shower curtains last month. It was on its way to the donation pile, but now its making its final stop in a new venue.
• Cover your artists if you wish. I have an apron I wear for messy art. S is willing to don an old t-shirt of mine over his clothes and Y loves his "sah-mock," a vinyl long sleeved child's smock. When our paints are washable, I give the option to cover up or just take precaution and push up sleeves.
• I try to have all of our materials gathered together and readily accessible at our work space. Sometimes when my plans are a bit more spur of the moment and spontaneous (as you will see), that means I take the risk of darting upstairs in the middle of a painting project knowing I could come down to a colorful surprise... 
• Include wet wash cloths in that list of materials! These will be handy for hands that are averse to being sticky or painty mid-project.
• Let loose and let go. This is a big one for me. Especially with a collaborative art project, know that everyone is going to have their own vision and ideas. It helps to slow down. To breathe deeply and take your time. To put on some soothing background music if you wish. Make sure you have a space of time and location that can accommodate this. It is as much about the experience as it is about the end results. 
• Clean up can be daunting, but I like to tackle it right away when we're done for the day. It's easiest to wash trays, bottles and brushes before everything has dried and caked on. What I've found to be true is that having spent a chunk of quality and intentional time with the boys beforehand, they are more willing to busy themselves for ten minutes without being (too) underfoot while I wash up dishes and hang up smocks. They can also help carry in materials or even wash them given some rags and soapy water in their sensory table or at the sink. I generally opt to do this part myself for the purpose of saving time and sanity at that point. If transitioning from messy art together to the clean up process and routines that follow is challenging, I highly recommend having a transitional activity set up for afterward--even if that's an ice pop or favorite TV show. Yes, you read that right.

On Day 1 I set out recycled sushi trays of acrylic paints in green, teal, white, black and brown. Some laminated paint sample cards helped us to visualize shades and hues of our colors. I also got out our textured roller sponge brushes. These are a favorite brush for both my boys--even S, who is not such a painting fan in and of itself loves to paint with these. I think I found them at Five and Below several years ago and we really can't get enough of them here!

I have to say that even after that first day, the tree looked so incredibly lovely with the colors blended as they were and the unique textures and designs left by the roller brushes that it almost seemed a shame to change it at all. But on Day 2, I had squeeze bottles filled with green, white and black washable tempera paints and empty ice cube trays plus a selection of thin paint brushes ready to go. With our shades and hues of green laminated paint sample cards out and ready for viewing, the boys (especially S) got busy squeezing and mixing colors. S made sections of white and green, black and green, and even black, white and green. Squeezing and mixing the colors definitely took precedent over anything else for him and he was not as interested in painting with them using our brushes. Y, on the other hand, loved dotting and dabbing and doodling with the paintbrushes and was eager to use up S's abundant supply.

Seeing how much joy both boys had in squeezing the paint right from the bottle made me think that it might be fun to squeeze it right on the tree. Our tempera paints are rather thin, though, so to thicken it a bit, I added a generous squirt of glue to each bottle (and an equally generous squirt of green paint to the black and white bottles) before letting them loose at the tree!

Unsurprisingly this resulted in some painty puddles! And then, in my typical If You Give a Mouse a Cookie fashion, I had a spark of inspiration. Combs would be a super fun way to spread and scrape the paint around. I'd like to say that I have a set of inexpensive plastic combs just for such occasions. Yes, I'd like to say that, but I can't--because I actually just have an inexpensive set of 3 combs total. For all of us. Myself included. So please don't judge the shades and hues of green you may or may not see in our hairdos over the weeks to come--I think I washed all the paint out. Y actually was so amused to see his comb at the table that he immediately grabbed it up, painty bristles and all and proceeded to comb his own hair! Oh dear...

Yes, this is truly the joy and excitement of art together here. Having little to no plan but infinite amounts of spontaneous ideas and inspiration. I took one last squeeze to the tree before setting it to dry and washing out our bottles, brushes, trays and, um, combs.





S was eagerly recalling the day we used glue to paint and pour on small loose parts on our Frozen Mixed Medium Paintings when I first introduced this project, so I promised him our final step would include copious amounts of glue, glitter, baubles and bits. Day 3, our final day of painting brought us a tray of beads, glass gems, wooden letter tiles and rhinestones along with a couple of jars of clear gel glue mixed with two shades of green glitter and some wooden craft sticks for stirring, scooping, drizzling and scraping. Once our tree was bedazzled and be-dried, I took it out front to apply a coat of spray acrylic finish for added protection against the elements and we were done! But for this storytelling tree, that is not a means to an end, but rather its beginning. It shall be part and parcel to many a day of action and imagination here. And until then...

ta da!

Happy Playing!

Sprout Scouts Playcamp Bonus Activiity: Four Colorful Ways to (Re-) Use Your Old Seed Catalogs

We are getting ready for our first theme based week of Sprout Scouts Playcamp. Picking up a container of worms is actually on my list of things to do today and I can't wait to dig in to our Digging in the Dirt theme tomorrow morning with the boys! We have been starting our mornings with a table time activity both boys can do each day per S's request to have "Morning Work" as he did in his preschool classroom. Right before Shabbos this week, my husband retrieved a seed catalog I'd ordered from the mailbox. I pored over every colorful page on Friday night and the only way to keep us safe from me ordering a $400 plant tower with built in vermicomposting bin is for me to cut that thing up ASAP! So this morning, my husband took both boys out (THANK YOU!) and I curled up with a cup of coffee, scissors and my seed catalog and I introduce to you today...

Four Colorful Ways to Re-use Your Old Seed Catalogs:

Suggested Materials:

• seed catalogs
• scissors
• double sided tape
• clear contact paper
• glue or glue stick
• masking tape, painters tape or scotch tape
• washi tape (optional)
• large drawing paper
• markers, pencils, crayons
• DIY Rainbow Nature Journal 

A couple of things before we begin--
Children who are old enough to use scissors can definitely cut out pictures independently. It's a great cutting practice activity and recycled magazines and catalogs are a great addition to your scrap paper bin. Recycling, re-using and up-cycling are all integral parts of our Sprout Scouts Playcamp themes and our family values all year round. If you do not have a seed catalog or don't want to cut yours up (please send the Garden Tower 2 to the following address...), you can recycle any home and garden magazine, clippings from store ads, old seed packets or even print off pictures from your own photos or the internet. Many libraries also have old magazines on sale for less than a dollar. Your funds would support the library and give new life to an old publication.

Suggested Reading:

• Planting a Rainbow, Growing Vegetable Soup and Eating the Alphabet all by Lois Ehlert

When it comes to children's literature about nature and gardening, Lois Ehlert is one of my favorite author/illustrators! Her children's books truly inspire get outdoors and read with my kids in every season. These are just a few great titles to check out from your local library or add to your personal library.

• The Reason for a Flower by Ruth Heller
• A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Aston & Sylvia Long
• What Makes a Rainbow? by Betty Schwartz

I set our pictures in a bag hung over the doorhandle
right beside our sticky wall. You can store yours on a
shelf nearby or in a basket or tray depending on where
your sticky wall is located. You can also tape a large
envelope to the wall and store pictures inside.

1. What's Growing in Your Garden Sticky Wall: In our first activity, you'll set up a sticky wall using clear contact paper on any vertical surface at child level. You can tape it to your wall, a door or even an easel. I love using a colorful washi tape border to make it pop (otherwise it really blends in!), but you can just use masking tape, painters tape or even clear scotch tape. Using cut outs of colorful vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs and gardening supplies, children can stick pictures onto the sticky wall. This is especially geared toward the 2 and under crowd, but my almost 4 year old also loves the sticky wall!
2. Garden Wish Collage: In a variation of the previous theme, children plan and plot out their own dream garden using markers or crayons to draw the background and pictures cut out from seed catalogs to add what they wish or hope to grow. Older children can be shown garden plans and blueprints and you can even provide graph paper for a more realistic approach. Younger ones may be more inclined to glue on pictures and use markers or crayons for adding in background details.

3. Plant, Grow and Eat a Rainbow Collage: Although this involves a bit of prep work from adults or older children, it's a really fun way to explore the rainbow color by color. Before you begin, you'll need to use pencil to draw the outline of a rainbow onto large drawing paper. Provide enough sections for each color. If you are being true to the colors of the rainbow, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, you'll need seven sections. If you are combining indigo and violet, you'll need only six. I like to introduce one color in isolation when I do rainbow collages in this way or at least two non-consecutive colors so that it is easier for children to see where the materials belong. More advanced artists can likely do the whole collage in one sitting, but I prefer to do only one or two colors at a time--and with the very young (like Y) only one. You can provide glue or a glue stick or even prep the area yourself, but I love using double sided tape strips so that the area is sticky but not in danger of drying or spreading stickiness to unwanted areas before artists can finish their work. A little pro-tip with larger picture sizes is to cut them into multiple squares or rectangles so they will fit into your allotted space. Your finished work will make a lovely poster to hang indoors or even laminate and hang in your garden.

4 .Growing a Rainbow Nature Journal: We are using our Rainbow Nature Journals with seed catalog cut outs and double sided tape to collect pictures in each color that we particularly love. It's a beautiful way to capture the rainbow of things we can plant, grown and eat!

These are great filler activities and ones you can pull out or set out over the course of multiple days. I'll bet you can think of even more great ideas and I'd love to steal hear about them! Until then...

Happy Planting, Growing, Eating and PLAYING!

Make it At Home Monday: Rainbow Nature Journal

Hooray, hooray, it's finally today! The first "official" day of our Sprout Scouts Playcamp. I'll bet you think I had a million and two things planned out for today to kick off our amazing summer. You probably think I executed them all exquisitely in a graceful dance that resemble some freakish crossbreed between June Cleaver and Teacher Tom. Actually, no. Not even close. With all of the planning I have done for our Sprout Scouts Playcamp (insert shameless plug to join our Facebook group and share in our activities this summer), I really felt strongly that we all (myself included) need a week to ease into this whole being at home together thing. S has very mixed feelings about school ending. He is "nervous" about not having school (it's like we're related or something!), he misses his school friends and he wants things to be the same--including the routine of having "Morning Work."

All things we can deal with here! This morning, both boys sat at the little table (thank you, Tatty, for helping with this while I eased into the morning with some coffee and oatmeal) and played with playdough using our favorite garden playdough mats from Picklebums. Playdough is an activity that can easily captivate their attention for a whole morning, but today everyone was excited to pack up and head to our local Botanical Gardens. It's the kind of place I drool over. I have been quoted (accurately) in a preschool graduation speech as referring to it as "my perfect classroom." Yes, I would live there if we could but we shall have to settle for visiting as often as possible this summer (and all year round).

On my way out the door, I grabbed a book to bring along, Lois Ehlert's Planting a Rainbow, partly because I love this book, partly because it fit in my purse. We rarely need any take-along activities on our visits to the botanical gardens, but this was a good backup just in case, and both boys loved hearing it as we ate our picnic lunch.

While we were there, S and Y both tried their hands at some art under their giant tree house. Today's activity was watercolor painting at some makeshift easels. This reminded me of how much I have been dreaming of having an outdoor easel. I asked my husband if he could kind of DIY one for us this summer--even showed him a Pinterest photo--and he kind of chuckled the way he did when I asked for a wine bottle rack to store all of my sensory bottles... Nonetheless, as we all left the gardens somewhat reluctantly but sufficiently tuckered out, I had plans to figure out how to construct something in our own yard for outdoor painting and I also remembered this cute little project I did with S as a young toddler based on Planting a Rainbow. 






Well, a great miracle happened here and no one took an accidental car nap on the way home! Both boys fell asleep and I investigated the front and backyard contemplating ways to create an easel space. Ok, maybe my husband is right and we don't need any more junk really cool stuff loitering around our play garden and keeping our pop up greenhouse company... But then I remembered our door is magnetic. Our door is magnetic! Introducing the easiest, most portable outdoor easel ever, a magnetic bulldog clip!
Such a fine line between genius and madness, huh? The boys are eager to get back outside (especially S) and play in our own garden. I've set a couple of easel stations and some watercolors out for us and when we're done, cleanup is easy peasey lemon squeezy!

But I promised you a post about making your own Rainbow Nature Journal, not one about my excessive excitement with magnetic vertical surfaces...

One of the most exciting features in Lois Ehlert's Planting a Rainbow is the second half of the book that opens up ladder style into a rainbow of colorful blooms, ready to be picked and displayed. I love the idea of presenting both boys with a nature journal to begin our summer together, and I decided creating a couple of small, portable rainbow ladder books would be a great way to do that! I've done this on a larger scale before with S (pictured above) and they can be created in a number of ways. For the smaller versions I made today, I cut six sheets of cardstock in rainbow colors in half (width-wise). Next, I set each page overlapping the next with about an inch of border. Once they were all aligned, I folded the booklet in half. I hole punched about an inch inward from either end on the crease and tied a length of twine through the middle to bind the book. I glued the edge of each page down on the "cover" side and the first, red edge down in the center. The larger book (above) was made in a different way--rather than folding in half, the fold was made about 1/4 of the way in to create larger page space inside. Tape and glue were used to bind it rather than twine. You can do either method! How will you use it? Here's a few ideas...

• Use some double sided tape and take a color scavenger hunt outdoors. Collect colorful petals, leaves and blooms that can be stuck onto each matching page of your journal.
• Using old magazines or seed catalogs, cut out pictures of colorful plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables to glue onto each page.
• Take and print photos of things in nature to glue onto each page.
• Use stickers of colorful items found in nature to stick to each page.

Or come up with your own great idea! And don't forget to share it...

Happy Playing!

Pesach, Pesach! Play All About It: Frog Prints & Some Little Tips to Keep You Hopping into the Holiday

We're in the final countdown to Pesach here! I'd love to tell you that our house is spic and span and ready to go, but people live in it. And some of those people are children. And one of them decided all on his own to ditch the diapers and give the potty a go this past Shabbos (woohoo!!!) so Pesach prep is a work in process. And speaking of process, here's a great Pesach themed process art activity that is just the right way to have a hopping good time (maybe before you finish cleaning for the holiday).



I think it can be so easy this time of year to make it so hard. As we prepare for a holiday that commemorates our redemption from slavery, we become enslaved to the very tasks that are necessary (and some that are not) to prepare for this holy experience. And in that, sometimes, we lose sight of the joy and the beauty that is our freedom--an exodus that not only our ancestors experienced, but that we experience again and again. This holiday is such a special one for our children. They are invited to our Seder tables and encouraged to ask questions. They are held up not only as leaders of our families on these nights, but as leaders of the Jewish nation. It can be hard to shift our task-driven focus to include the very little hands that will lead us, with G-d's help, to Jerusalem!

And so I find myself taking a breath and regaining that ever important mindset to approach this holiday b'simcha--with joy--and to include my tiny helpers in that preparation as well. Sometimes that means we all need a break to splash in some ooey gooey green paint!

Remember the incredible shades and hues of green paint S concocted in this process art activity? Everything goes to good use here, and I set out a variety of green paints for both boys to use in a tray with a paintbrush (should they choose to use it), some plastic frogs and a few other items for inspiration and creation. Each brother had a piece of light blue card stock and we used aleph bet stickers to spell out "tzfardeah," the plague of frogs in Hebrew. At that point, I let S have at it and gave Y a little help to navigate his painty frog to the paper (and not his mouth). S favored making his frogs hop along the paper and Y liked to drag them across and then use his own "flippers" instead of the frogs'! Both boys had a great time with this activity and it was a hands flippers-on way to jump right into the Pesach story.



With so much to be done and so little time, these final days approaching the holiday can be a little tricky. Every family has their own style and routine that works for them this time of year and here are a few little tips that work for us:

Utilize Your Helpers: S in particular is quite excited and eager to help Mommy and Tatty with anything and everything that needs to be done. These are opportunities to naturally involve kids in household tasks rather than trying to come up with ways to "entertain them" while you try to plow through on your own. Both boys got into cleaning our upstairs to get it ready for Pesach! Rags, squirt bottles, our "toy" cleaning supplies and real ones all got put to use as we worked together.
S was especially excited to hang up a door hanger he made at school and a few we made last year at home that designated the spaces we had cleaned as ready for Pesach!

This was from last year--check out that tiny
newborn Y in the background!

Make It a Shared Task AND a Learning Opportunity: With two little guys on the move here, shared playing areas and toys become a breeding ground for hidden chametz. Some toys do get put away and rotated out until after the holiday. It can be helpful to include children in choosing toys to rotate in and in our house we often raid the stash of yet to be opened Chanukah or birthday gifts in the closet... Nothing like something new to spark the excitement of the upcoming holiday.
Both boys love playing in the the kitchen set, though, and this is a great way to bring some learning into the mix as you prepare. We sort out the toy "chametz" and set up a soapy water sensory bin for a Toy Wash station to prepare any toys that will stay in the area for playing over Pesach.






Bring Them to the Table: Once the holiday finally starts, there is a brief sigh of relief until it's time for the Seder. This time of year, Sederim start late and it can be hard on the children (and the adults) to manage energy levels well past bedtime. In our house, it has worked best in these scenarios to include the children as much as possible at the actual seder and then to have a special "kinderlach seder" (kids' seder) on the second day that is geared toward the shorter set of folks in our house. We go at our own pace, make it playful and fun and really invite those thought provoking questions and observations. On most other nights, we don't allow books and toys at the table, but on this night, you might just see some 10 Makos Finger Puppets, sensory bottles, haggadahs made at home and at school and a variety of child-crafted Pesach props.

I printed off a couple of sets of these adorable finger puppets. One I printed onto card stock and prepared as directed and the other I laminated and applied velcro dots so they could be used with a pair of gloves. Many families enjoy using a version of Bingo or a printable game board to keep track of the parts of the seder as they occur. This year I hope to also set out a small world scene of the Jewish people walking through the Nile in the middle of our table to spark some creative play and discussion during our kids' seder. If you're looking for some more inspiration, check out my previous Pesach posts from years past...

My final tip (to myself) is to breathe and slow down. If a task is urgent, I tend to it--maybe even pop in a fun video for the kids (I still love Bubbie's Boarding House!). If a task is not urgent, it can wait. (Maybe I need a break to watch Bubbie's Boarding House, too!)  I wish all who are celebrating a Chag Kasher v'Sameach and through Pesach and all year round....

Happy Playing!

It IS Easy Being Green: An Invitation to Explore Shades and Hues

Have you ever met a kid who doesn't LOVE to mix colors? Neither have I! I'm certain there is a special tone of brown reserved just for describing what happens when children have more than one color of playdough at their disposal. For those of us who might be a bit more prone to orderliness, painting, sculpting, watercolors and even coloring with young children can be a bit overwhelming. And yet, there is something so pleasurable about watching colors mix. That feeling I get in the morning when I see milk clouds in my coffee probably stems from early experiences with finger painting at the easel. There are more "traditional" methods of teaching about colors in our environment, but when it comes to exploring secondary colors and shades and hues of colors, a hands-on approach is invaluable. 

In every class I have ever taught, there is always that one kid who colors EVERYTHING black. What is the fascination with black? Fast forward to my own preschool aged son, and S is fascinated by black. It's dark, ominous, powerful. It can make things magically disappear in one fell swoop of a paintbrush. There are educators who remove black markers, crayons and paint from the setting altogether, but I prefer not only to give access, but to encourage the process of exploration. Shades of colors are created when black is added to a primary or secondary color and it darkens. Hues occur when white is added, and the color lightens. In this simple Invitation to Explore Shades and Hues, both my boys got to experience hands-on how shades and hues of green are formed.

We chose green since [this week] it is S's favorite color. I filled a plastic condiment bottle with green paint and provided two recycled baby food jars with black and white paint. I set out some paper and brushes, a container with water for rinsing and a rag for drying or wiping up splatters and spills. I also set out an old ice cube tray with a lid that we bought for freezing and storing homemade purees when S was a baby (boy was I a first time mom!) and a couple of plastic spoons for scooping paint out of the jars. There are a variety of ways you could set up this activity, but I love the unique fine-motor opportunities of squeezing the condiment bottle and scooping/transferring paint from the jars. I also added in some laminated paint samples that can visually demonstrate shades and hues of green. These are available for free at hardware supply stores and even Walmart and can be used in so many play and learning activities!

The only "directions" I verbalized were that we would be exploring how shades and hues are formed. I explained what they are and that the ice cube tray was where we would be able to mix and store our colors.

Y was ready to go, paint brush in hand. For him, I put a small scoop of white and black
paint on either side of a blob of green.  

Little ones will likely love the feeling of squeezing, squirting and scooping paint. Remember that this is part of the process, too! Paintbrushes and paper are really just the icing on the cake--this is the essence of process art! Using containers with lids that can be closed and stored allows this to be an experience you can return to without wasting supplies.

Hands-on fun and learning!

This is such a sweet and simple way to say yes to mixing colors! We now have a Crayola crayon box worthy palette of shades and hues of green paint to use and surely it will keep us busy painting for some time to come...

Happy Playing!

Playtime Post: Taking (and Making) Rainbows Beyond the Book

I think we all have a little case of the winter doldrums here. Our snow has melted and temperatures are back to a subtropical 65 degrees, but until this week, we were pretty cooped up indoors. Between winter break and snow days, re-acclimating to preschool and "normal" routine has taken some time and extra TLC. When S asked to do a story stretcher about rainbows (after re-reading a favorite book of his and his brother's, What Makes a Rainbow? by Betty Schwartz), I was game! And speaking of games--I felt like we all needed a little more playtime and movement in our day. So today's story stretcher will take us beyond the book of three of our favorite rainbow/colors themed children's books with an open play/gross motor twist! 

Our three target books are:

• What Makes a Rainbow? A Magic Ribbon Book by Betty Schwartz. In this cute ribbon/pop-up book, a little rabbit asks his mother what makes a rainbow after a rainstorm ends. His mother encourages him to ask his colorful friends, and as each one responds, a ribbon of color is added to the rainbow. There is a beautiful pop-up ending that brings a smile to both my boys each and every time!
• Alphaprints Colors by Jo Ryan, Sarah Powell and Pip Tinsley was a wonderful Chanukah gift to Y from my sister this year. We love the colorful illustrations and Y especially likes touching the unique textured pages. I particularly adore the illustrations that are made from fingerprints!
• My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss is one of my favorite ways to teach about the plethora of emotions we experience and move through in the course of a week or even a day (or sometimes even an hour). 

On some occasions, I formally introduce a book and sit and read with the boys. On other occasions, I like to strategically place them around our play area near a relevant activity. If S asks to read one, I certainly do. If the boys want to look at the books, they may and if they just want to play with the toys in that area or do an activity that is set up, that's fine, too!

In our rug area, I've set up a play space to entice both boys in the theme of My Many Colored Days.



In one area, I've set up our Grimm's Rainbow and some rainbow colored wooden peg dolls I painted. I want to invite the boys to play imaginatively and S in particular enjoys dramatic play with peg dolls. I am so excited to see how both boys, at their own level, will explore the variety of uses for a Grimm's Rainbow and these little peg dolls! When using peg dolls with very little ones, do make sure they are large enough not to pose a choking hazard and that you carefully supervise.

Across the span of the room, I tied a large piece of yarn between two chairs (better seen from the top photo) and affixed a rainbow of colored scarves to the garland using wooden clothes pins. Each of my boys are at very different stages of gross motor development. S and I can play a game of Rainbow Scarf Limbo and practice getting under the garland in different ways. Y has enjoyed sitting beneath the garland and grasping a pulling scarves from the clothespins! (That's the bonus of waking up from his nap while I was still setting up...)

Around the space, I've also set out a basket of colorful squeeze blocks, stacking rings, sensory balls, bean bags and giant pom poms to inspire a rainbow of ways to play using large and small muscles. Y had a blast not napping playing with the balls and stacking rings and exploring each of the discovery baskets around him. This layout really encouraged him to get moving at his own level, from seated to tummy to his back, pivoting and rotating to reach things that caught his interest. In related news, he's now napping again, so I also set up a few centers that will appeal more to S when he wakes up from his nap! (This sounds like a game of Whack a Mole...)

 For our art and fine motor component, I set out a What Makes a Rainbow? Station with Model Magic Clay to which I added blue glitter and a collection of rainbow colored pipe cleaners. For the sake of a photo, I demonstrated my own way of building a rainbow, however for S I have merely set out the materials and a blob of clay to encourage him to build a rainbow in his own way. Model Magic has the texture and viscosity of real clay and can air dry into a permanent work of art. Clay is a great fine motor tool for preschool aged children and up and truly works those tiny little hand muscles. When S is done with his rainbow sculpture, we will allow it to dry and be able to put it on display!






Our Alphaprints Colors station is aimed to inspire some fingerprint creations of our own! When S was about Y's age, we worked together to create an entire set of alphabet pictures using his fingerprints. Now that he is older, he can more independently create fingerprint art using this giant washable ink pad and a variety of artists' pencils. Y will need a bit of help from me and I think we will all have fun!




Finally, for a sensory component, I set up our sensory table with rainbow colored waterbeads and a variety of fine motor tools for scooping, transferring, squeezing and pinching. I added a bit of lavender and peppermint oil to the waterbeads as I love including the sense of smell in our sensory play experiences. I do not recommend using waterbeads with young toddlers and infants, however they are great fun for preschool aged children and if you do wish to explore this medium in a taste-safe way, you can make your own using basil seeds.

If your day is in need of a splash of color or a bit of movement, these activities are all great in conjunction or as stand alone stations. Here's to an afternoon of colorful fun and, as always, happy playing!

Beyond the Book: "Gregory, the Terrible Eater" by Mitchell Sharmat

It's been a while since we did a story stretcher here, and with temperatures outside cold enough to ice your coffee--literally (see photo to the left), an afternoon indoors is definitely in order. S has been learning about health and nutrition in school this week. He is very happy to be back in preschool! He loves being there and gains a great deal from the experience. He is, nonetheless, often reluctant (as many children are) to share about his day after I pick him up. I am creative with how and when I ask questions. Open-ended questions right upon pick-up, like "how was your day?" or "what did you do today?" are often met with silence. For one thing, he is very ready for a nap at that point and this transition is a challenging one. For another, the question really puts him on the spot and one thing he can control at three years old is what, when, and how he answers. Many days I will simply ask "would you like to tell me about school now or later?" He often says "later," and sometimes he says "now!" I ask more specific questions on some days, like "what made you laugh?" or "who did you play with on the playground?" And on all days, the  best glimpse I get into S's school experience is through his play. He will play about, sing about and talk about his school day throughout his time at home--you simply have to catch him in the act!

Another area that is a hot bed for three year old control is eating. I am here to tell you thirty years after being S's age that I am a fully recovered Terrible Eater. Before I was a parent, I vowed I would not be a short order cook the way my own mother was, often preparing three different dinners and barely sitting down to one herself. Y has been a total chow-hound these days, yet to meet a food he does not love. S began in much the same way, but around the age of two began to show preferences about foods. When his nutrition was less than optimal, we supplemented with homemade smoothies, which he still loves. He eats a variety of healthy foods (and enjoys a variety of less healthy ones), but he is definitely particular still and often reluctant to try new things. He will down a green smoothie, but won't eat a hotdog. He wants the same thing for breakfast and lunch each day. He wants a variety of options for dinner and none of them include what's on our family menu. My husband and I quickly decided not to allow mealtimes to be battlegrounds in our home. The energy level by dinner time is dwindling and it is also a family time after a long day of school, work, and other activities. It feels more important to have peaceful time as a family where there is something for everyone to eat than for everyone to eat the same something.

Gregory, the Terrible Eater by Mitchell Sharmat, illustrated by Jose Aruego and Ariana Dewey is a wonderful, classic children's tale of a goat who adamantly refuses to eat the foods his parents want him to eat. What child or parent can't relate to this? The only difference here is that Gregory favors fruits and vegetables while his parents would prefer he eat the shoelaces and cardboard being served at the family table.

This afternoon, we will enjoy laughing our way through this favorite book along with some fun extension activities. It likely won't change our dinnertime much here, but you never know...

 Eat a Rainbow of Fruits & Veggies Sorting Game

In this DIY sorting activity, I printed and laminated a collection of photos of fruits and vegetables in a rainbow of colors. I also printed off color coded words to label each of six brown paper lunch bags. Alternatively, you can use and label paper plates, use colored gift bags or canvas bags or even color code a six-sectioned party tray. S will have the task to sort the colorful fruits and vegetables into their correct bag. This is a great opportunity to talk about fruits and veggies your family likes or does not like as well as to introduce vocabulary around fruits and veggies you may not have tried yet. You can talk about how important it is to eat a variety of different foods in different colors.

Want to do more? If you have a toy shopping cart or basket or even a recycled/reusable shopping bag, send your little ones on a scavenger hunt through the toy kitchen (or even your real kitchen) to find more foods in each of the colors.

Take a Family Field Trip to the grocery or produce store and let your children choose a new fruit or vegetable to try. If it is something you've never had before, it can be fun to choose a recipe together to prepare it. S is often reluctant to try new foods at first, but if he chooses it, it's a game changer. Additionally, involving him in the preparation process also inspires a brave pallet. When he is particularly averse to trying something, I might offer him to touch it with his tongue. I do not force children (my own or students) to try foods and I also believe there is value in being honest with them about trying new foods. I do use language like "you may like it and you may not like it but you won't know if you like it unless you try it." I also tell them honestly about foods I don't care for as much or examples of times I used to not like something but liked it after trying it several times (like sushi!). Many enthusiasts on the topic steer clear of adults discussing foods they do not like in front of children, but I feel it is helpful to be honest and also to point out that different people like different things at different times and that's OK! It also opens up important conversations about how to politely decline or discuss foods that are not one's favorite.

Dramatic play is a big part of our afternoon fun here. S has been particularly into small world play and this miniature goat, chair and table and our collection of miniature toy food will undoubtedly inspire a great story drama! Y can join in the fun as well with this larger play set with a plush goat and toy food and dishes.

Color, Paste and Taste the Rainbow!

I found a great free printable on Teachers Pay Teachers to use as a template for this activity. I did a bit of prep work to save on time by color coding, but depending on your little ones' level of ability or your availability to assist, you can definitely leave this to them. You can provide printed pictures of fruits, veggies or other foods, stickers or magazine pictures to glue on and crayons for additional coloring.

Want to do even more? My favorite recipes to make each year when parashas Noach comes are rainbow fruit salad and rainbow vegetable salad.  S may prefer the taste of the rainbow in his favorite candy, jelly beans, but he also loves fruit and many vegetables as well. Presenting foods in novel ways is a great way to encourage your own terrible eaters or even just particular/opinionated ones!

There are so many studies to support the benefits of involving children in family nutrition. From farm to store to kitchen to table, participation gives them a connection to the important process of feeding and nourishing their bodies. S really loves to help in the kitchen. Y loves to be in there with me as well (especially if eating is involved or loudly banging pots and pans). For those times when I need to plow through a stack of dishes or prepare dinner with fewer cooks in the kitchen, the sensory table (also in the kitchen) is a great lure. In this simple sensory bin, just add soapy water and let your little hands scrub some fruits and veggies in a rainbow of colors! S has also enjoyed scrubbing actual fruits and veggies in the past (which is particularly helpful when I am making vegetable soup or a salad!) but soapy water and some interesting sponges or scrub brushes are always fun for little hands, no matter what is in the bin along with it.

We're off to an afternoon of good reading and food for thought. Happy Playing!