Smelly Flowers

I have seen examples all over blogland where people have used the bottom of a water bottle as a stamp for painting. We decided to do this but we took it a little further.

This week when we went to visit some family there was a neighbor that had planted some sunflowers that are now over 10 feet tall! Needless to say, my son was quite impressed with these giant plants.

So we decided to create some smelly sunflower paintings.

Supplies:
Empty water bottle
paint
paper
glue
coffee grounds

We stamped several sunflowers with the bottle and yellow paint. Next we went back and used our finger dipped in green paint to make the flower stems and leaves.

Lastly, we put a bit of glue in the middle of the sunflower and sprinkled coffee grounds on the glue.

Tuesday Teachings - Sensory Bins

If you have spent any time looking online at parent or teacher blogs then you know that themed sensory bins are a huge phenomenon! I love them and would love to personally play in several of them. There are some amazing and creative people out there that are designing these sensory bins.

Sensory bins are great for extending a theme in your classroom or home. There are three types of learners:
Auditory - meaning that you learn through listening. Verbal lectures, discussions and listening to what others have to say are the most beneficial for this type of learner. Auditory listeners are great at picking up the meaning of the speaker through listening to the tone and pitch of the lecture.
Visual - meaning that they need to see something to learn it. Visual learners not only need videos, flip charts, illustrations and diagrams but they also learn through the body and facial expressions of the speaker.
Kinesthetic - meaning they need a more hands on approach for learning. These learners typically have a hard time sitting still for long periods listening to lectures. They need to see, feel, and touch items to process. They need to move around to learn.

All learning styles can benefit from sensory bins but a Kinesthetic learner will really prosper with a sensory bin.

I have scoured the web looking for some of my favorite summer themed sensory bins and have included links below.

First, I have to include Counting Coconuts Blog. She has some amazing bins and does one each month for her son.

Weather Bin

Ice Cream Bin

Beach Sensory Bin

Garden Sensory Bin

Some other sources for Sensory Bins:



Ocean Sensory Bin from The Picky Apple

Camping Sensory Bin from Jada Roo Can Do

Pond Sensory Bin from Jada Roo Can Do

Lagoon Sensory Bin from Lightning Bug Lit

As you can see, there are some very creative bins out there. I will give you a few pointers though:

1) Make sure everything is age appropriate. If your child stills put everything in her mouth, be vigilant about the items you put in the bin.

2) Put cups, spoons, scoops or other items in the bins to let your child practice those skills.

3) Be prepared. Yes, it can get messy but we put down a cheap vinyl tablecloth and put the bin on top of that.

4) If you are afraid of huge messes, use some of the bins strictly outdoors.

5) It does not have to be expensive. Buy bins at the dollar store and supplies at the dollar store, goodwill, thrift stores or dollar spot at Target.

Read this article from Counting Coconuts about her FAQ on sensory bins. Have more questions? Post them below and we will answer them as soon as possible.

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Well, I finally did it. I had read about these ornaments for some time and my son was "rambunctious" this past weekend so we decided to make this craft. I was going to make it a Valentine's Day activity but could not find the heart cookie cutters so we improvised and made ornaments with other cutters.

To make the dough, everything I read said to use equal parts cinnamon to applesauce but I found that dough too sticky. I started off using 1 cup powdered cinnamon to one cup of applesauce, I ended up using at least another half cup of applesauce in order to be able to flatten the dough without it sticking.

We had tiny bear and elephant cutters, large butterflies, dragonflies and inchworm cutters. My son also decided that we needed to make a snowman and a snake. I free handed two hearts.

Once we cut out the shapes, I put them on a SILPAT on my cookie sheet and we baked the ornaments at 200F for 30 minutes and then flipped the ornaments. This was repeated 4 times. All in all, it was fun, the dough smells fabulous and I would probably do this again.

Draw a Bird

This activity is more a way to check a child's attention to detail than to actually teach him how to draw. My theory on art is that is a personal creative experience and you can not copy a picture and call it a creative outlet. This activity teaches a child to pay attention though because they have to recreate what they see.

The theory is to give a child a piece of paper, 4 crayons and the picture cards. You can do the cards one of two ways. Give them to the child unattached and they can put them in order before beginning or you can give them to them in order and attached in the corner.

The child is to re-create each card on thier own paper until they have a bird completely drawn.

Tuesday Teachings - Taste

Well, we have moved thru two of the senses and we are now going on to the sense of Taste. Obviously taste is very subjective but we all have things we love or hate.

Our first experiment will be about sweet or sour.
Let the kids make lemonade with you.

Supplies needed:
3 cups cold water
1/2 cup sugar
juice of four lemons
one lemon sliced in rings and then halved

Put the water, sugar and lemon juice in a pitcher and stir well to dissolve the sugar.

Pour each child a glass of lemonade and take a slice of lemon and give to them. First have the child suck on the lemon slice. How does it taste? Is it sweet or sour? Do you like the taste?

Now let the child taste the lemonade. How does it taste? Does it taste like the lemon? Is it sweet or sour? Do you like the taste?

Now we move on to sweet or salty.
Now hand each child a plate with pretzels and apple slices on it. Talk about the difference between sweet and salty then let the kids eat the pretzels and the apples. Which one tastes sweet? Which one tastes salty? Which one do you like best? What are some other things you like to eat that are sweet or salty?

Moving on to hot or cold food.
Now you will give each child a plate with a quarter of a grilled cheese sandwich and a quarter of a regular cheese sandwich on it. Which one is hot and which one is cold? What other foods do you prefer to be cold? What other foods do you prefer to be hot?

Blind Taste Testers
Now you will want a sampling of foods that your child will be able to identify by taste alone. You may want to try crackers, apples, bananas and some of the foods above. Have the kids gather around the table and ask them to close their eyes and open their mouths. Put a small piece of the food in their mouths and ask them to chew and open their eyes. Can they identify the food? Give them hints if necessary. Do they think the food is sweet, salty, sour, hot or cold? Do they like the food?

A good extension of this project will be to talk the kids into trying new foods to see of they are sweet or salty or sour. It is all in the name of science and they may just find something new that they like.

Tuesday Teachings - Feeling

As we continue with the senses we will go on to the sense of feel this week. Many people are very texture oriented whether it be with their hands or their mouths. For example, I have a need to touch most things and it is important to me that clothes and other material items in my home not be of a scratchy material. I want them to be soft and I touch anything to decide whether it makes the cut. I am the same way with food, I can not eat watermelon because it feels strange in my mouth.

This week we are going to show you some things to do to introduce the feeling of touch to your kids. As you ask the questions the kids can write down their answers on a piece of paper and if they can not write yet, you can write it for them.

First up is sandpaper letters. I purchased these letters a year or so ago on EBay. You do not have to have these exact letters to do this experiment. You could put down a thick layer of glue in the letter shapes on a thin piece of craft wood. Then cover the glue with clean sand and let dry. You could also cut out sandpaper using letter stencils and glue them to thin craft wood. The point of this is to let your kids trace the letters with their finger. Let them feel the bumpiness of the sandpaper and then let them trace a letter that you wrote on a piece of paper.

Ask them questions about the different feel of the sandpaper and the written letter. Let them use their own words to explain the texture changes.

Next we will do a few small bowls of different texture materials. You may want to do this experiment on a vinyl tablecloth to contain some of the mess. Just remember that the whole point is to feel these things.

First is the left over Easter grass. Put a handful in a bowl and then hand it to the child to feel it and rub it together in their hands. Encourage the child to take it out of the bowl and really squeeze it. Does it make any sound when you squeeze it? Does it feel sticky or soft? Ask lots of questions.

Now hand your child another bowl with some modeling material that is not play d'oh in it. I am using Bubber but their are other products out there. How does this feel when you squeeze it? Does it make any sound? Is it sticky or soft?

Now we move on to the bowl of pom poms. How do these feel? Does it make any sound? Is it sticky or soft when you squeeze it?

Now we finish up with Play Doh. How does this feel? Is it sticky or soft? Does it make any sound?

Once your child has felt all of the containers by themselves, let them try them all out together, They can line up the bowls and move from one texture to another and really get a feel for the variety of textures. If you do not have all of these materials available to you, you can also try a variety of fabric samples. If you go with fabric be sure there is a high rate of texture changes between the fabrics you choose.

Some follow up trials for you and the kids could include: finger painting, digging in the dirt and helping out in the kitchen. It is okay for the kids to make a mess as this is a learning experience.

We hope you have enjoyed this week's Tuesday Teachings. Please post and let us know how your experiments go or how you teach your kids about the feeling of touch.

Tuesday Teachings - Hearing

When children are born their hearing is tested and for most babies their hearing is fine. It is our job as parents and teachers to give children the knowledge to pick out different sounds and fine tune their hearing. There are numerous things we can do to help children learn about their hearing.

Making Sound Jars

Start with four plastic jars with screw on lids (plastic peanut butter jars are perfect for this). Remove all labeling and clean the jars thoroughly. Next you will fill each jar halfway with one of these items: cotton balls, rocks/pebbles, dried beans or pasta and sand. If you think your child will remove the lids you can put glue around the rims of the jars prior to replacing the lids. Set out the sound jars for the kids. Have your children close their eyes while you shake the jars. Ask them questions about the sounds they hear.

• Is this a loud sound or a soft sound?
• Does this sound make your ears hurt?

Now have the children open their eyes and hand them the jars. Let them shake the jars and put them in order by softest sounds to loudest sounds. As your child’s hearing recognition improves you can add more sound jars with different items in them like: nuts and bolts, jingle bells, marbles, bouncy balls, small plastic toys or pennies. This will assist your child in knowing what an appropriate sound is for indoors and what an appropriate sound for outdoors is.

Making a Sound

Make lists of sounds that your children will be able to recognize and imitate, such as dogs barking, drumming, cats meowing, cars honking, people clapping and doors slamming. Now make a tape of all of these noises. Play the sounds one at a time for the kids, asking them to name the sound. It may take a couple of plays for them to get it right. Once they guess the sound, ask them to imitate the sound. Repeat with the other sounds.

How Do I Sound?

Get out a tape recorder and a blank tape for the kids. Ask the kids questions and record them as they answer. They can be any questions you want as the questions are not what is important. Once they have answered the questions, play the tape back for them to see if they can recognize their voices on tape. A person does not always sound the same on tape as they do in person.

How Do Others Sound?

Now take the tape recorder to a grandparent or close family friend along with a favorite book of the child. Ask them to tape themselves reading the book to your child with cues to turn the pages. Once that is complete, give the tape and the book to the child to listen too. Ask them if they know who is reading the book to them. This will help them to recognize other people’s voices and to listen closely so they know when to turn the page for the story. It will also give them a closer relationship and recognition of someone that they may not see on a daily basis.

Next week we will move onto another of the five senses. As you try this out you will find that the kids will get tremendous enjoyment from hearing themselves on the tape recording. Most toddler are egocentric and love looking at themselves and listening to themselves. I frequently walk into my three year old’s bedroom and see him kissing himself in the mirror. Have a great week!