Happy Friday!
Our last bundle of the school week is toddler approved! Each activity has suggestions for how to make it more or less challenging for different age groups.
Enjoy and we will see you here again Monday morning.
SOAPY TOY STEM CHALLENGE
Bear with me here, it might just seem like I am suggesting you have your children clean their own toys (and that’s only partially true) but this activity is not only practical, it meets the sensory needs of all children and can actually be really fun!
Supplies:
Toys that can survive a dunking
A bucket or bin
Soapy water
Brushes, sponges or washcloths
For our youngest kids, this activity will help engage their senses (touch, smell, sight and sound) and their motor skills (using those muscles!) to learn, play and explore. When sensory and motor skills are combined, young children are able to learn about the world around them more deeply.
This activity can be as simple as playing with their favorite toys in a new way with bubbles and water. And labeled praise for how kind it is that they are helping clean their toys is a bonus.
For older children, you could make this activity more challenging by performing a STEM activity called “Sink or Float.”
Choose a variety of toys that can all go in water. Before dunking them, make a list of your predictions about which items will sink and which will float. If your child wants to practice some literacy skills, this would be a great opportunity to help them write these lists themselves.
Once the predictions are complete, start putting items into the water and see if you predicted correctly. Mark your predictions on your list. Maybe the correct ones get a star or get circled in your favorite color?
Have fun, scientists!
“MRS. WISHY WASHY’S FARM” BY JOY COWLEY
A book about giving some very messy animals a soapy bath and some awesome animal sounds.
“I HAD A LITTLE FROG” SONG
Let’s keep the soapy water theme going with this song about a little frog who drinks up all the bathwater and eats all the soap and….oops, he burped from a bubble in his throat! Excuuuuse me!
I had a little frog
His name was Tiny Tim
I put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim!
He drank up all the water
He ate up all the soap
Then he burped last night from a bubble in his throat.
Excuuuuuse me!
Hint: One verse of this song is about 20 seconds long so it is a super fun one to sing while your child is washing their hands!
Here are some key words from the song in sign language if you would like to practice!
FROG
SWIM
WATER
SOAP
BUBBLE
EXCUSE ME
“SONGS from the CIRCLE” with HUGH HANLEY
This 28-minute sing along video is our media suggestion for the day. There are exciting new songs like “Five Little Hot Dogs” and “The Elevator Song.”
This video has lots of opportunities to make some silly noises with your voices and movements with different parts of your bodies to help keep even the youngest listeners engaged.
Have a good weekend everyone and we will see you here on Monday with another Activity Bundle!