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Monthly Archives: November 2020

FINE MOTOR PLAY: NATURE EDITION

The children collected some leaves in their wagon while playing outdoors. When play time was over, I had them pull the wagon to their table, which was prepped with scissors ✂️, magnifying glasses, 🕵️‍♀️ and hole punchers. What ensued was pure magic. 🌟 We enjoyed a beautiful afternoon outdoors ☀️ 🍃 while doing something educational. We’ll definitely be repeating this activity in the future…

MAKING FALL TREES WITH FINGER PAINT OR Q-TIPS

I found a free printable on-line, set up some fall colored paint, and added Q-tips to the mix so B could experiment painting with a novel item. We could even call it pointillism. 😉 She enjoyed the Q-tips so much that I had to print out a 2nd blank tree, and she decided to use her fingertips to make leaves this time. When your kid enjoys an activity…

SENSORY LETTERS AND SHAPES

Although there is a time and a place for paper and pencil activities, I implore you to open yourself up to other options. Kids can practice their writing skills using their fingers in sand, shaving cream, and (as pictured here) hair gel. Thinking outside the box allows your children to view academic activities as fun. More importantly, they simply see an opportunity to play. As both a parent and a…

HOW TO MAKE TASTE SAFE SNOW IN FLORIDA ⛄️

MATERIALS:• 1 cup baking soda• 1/2 cup sugar• 1/2 cup corn starch• 1 tbs cream of tartar• 4 tbsp of water• Whisk• Mixing bowl PROCEDURE:• Pour the baking soda, sugar, corn starch, and cream of tartar into a bowl. Mix well.• Add 2 tbsp of water and mix well.• If needed, add 2 more tbsp of water until the texture is fluffy.• Place in refrigerator until cool. ❄️ Confession…

CRAFT STICK MATCHING PUZZLES 🧩

This is an activity I borrowed from @fun2learnwithus that took me less than 10 minutes to set up. It works on color and pattern matching, as well as turn-taking skills if you’re working with multiple children at a time. MATERIALS:• Craft sticks• Markers Since these kiddos are 3, I chose to use colored craft sticks, but if your children want a challenge or you simply don’t have…

GIVE A CHILD A PAIR OF SCISSORS ✂️ AND THEY’LL ASK WHAT THEY CAN CUT

In case anyone was wondering what we did with the extra pieces of tissue paper from our snowflake ❄️ activity earlier today (see previous post), here it is. ✂️ Use what you have and try never to miss a learning opportunity. Cutting through different textures and thicknesses gives kids a whole lot of fine motor skills practice while exploring and having fun. If you have leftover scraps laying around, you may just…