Happy Earth Day

Earth Day 2012 is this
Sunday, April 22.

It's a great opportunity to teach little ones about conservation and protecting the earth's resources.  Even preschoolers and toddlers can participate.  Many local libraries even hold Earth Day Fairs; you can check for schedules on their web pages.

This week in my enrichment science class, I taught the four year olds what biodegradable means.  We discussed how our trash goes into the ground and can either harm or help the soil and earth.  We walked around and collected items in the school that can be recycled.  Then we took a nature treasure hunt outside.  We saw the trees' branches swaying in the wind as if they were waving to us and we waved back saying, "hi trees, we're going to help take care of you."

A great earth day craft is just emptying out the recycle bin and seeing what items can be used to create all sorts of things, even building cardboard box towers or cutting open a cereal box and using the inside of the cardboard to decorate, gluing on lids of cans to other materials, turning tp rolls into binoculars to spot the birds.

For more Earth Day craft ideas and activities check out Family Fun's page.

You can really get into the spirit be singing some of these Earth Day songs.

Pick an area around your community or neighborhood and help clean up any litter.

Have a picnic outside.

Plant some seeds.

Learn about the history of Earth Day and meet the Planet Pals.

It's important that we don't take our precious resources for granted and that we teach our children little ways to respect our planet.   Happy Earth Day!

Make your own sticky board

This activity kept my two and three year olds VERY busy today. It is soooooo simple.

Thanks to the awesome blog by make do and friend, all you have to do is apply some contact paper over any flat surface. I used the tops of plastic containers, sticky side up and used painters tape to tape the edges down. Then I gave the students bowls of plastic and rubber animals, legos, rubber pom-poms, plastic bugs and spiders - and they had a blast arranging them on the sticky board. I was really surprised at how long each student would stay at the activity.

Next time I'm going to use cut up colored plastic straws to build designs with.

Instant Snow!

This week my preschool class is learning all about winter. Living in Richmond, VA you don't get to experience a lot of snow. And even if we did, the fun would be mostly limited to outside, but instant snow making kits are excellent for inside winter fun in sensory tables, tubs or buckets.

You just add water to the snow polymer and like magic it puffs up into play snow. It has a soft texture and even feels a bit cold like real snow. If you put it in the freezer for several hours it will feel even more like real snow. It's super easy and the kids love to watch the "magic" happen. You can buy "blizzard" kits online or you can just buy the instant snow powder. Here is an example of the blizzard kit we have for our classroom. I know I sound like an infomercial, but even adults have a hard time not playing with it.

Family fun during meals or on the road

A while back I bought a Chat Pack for Kids. I think I bought mine at Ben Franklin (teacher discount). They are tiny laminated slips of questions like, "If you were creating a movie about toys coming to life, what type of toy would be the main character?" These are great for restaurants, weekend nights, family dinners, and road trips and fit easily into a small bag or purse. If you have younger toddlers, you can always simplify a question or when it's their turn just make up something like, "what's your favorite animal?" They love to participate too. We have a similar game from Discovery Toys we enjoy called "Wiz Kidz." It appears they have a newer game out called Speed Wiz that looks like fun as well.

Here is another game that looks like fun in or out of the house.

Kids Table Topics

For a more frugal option, you can make up your own questions and place them in a mason jar or other decorated container.

It's amazing how well these types of games and activities bring your family closer together, you don't have to worry about a winner or loser, and they can be played just about anywhere.