Thursday, July 28, 2011

Shaving Cream Fun!


Here is a great way to work on literacy skills and shape recognition in the summer, while enhancing creativity, too.

Put a big squirt of shaving cream on your picnic table and let your young artist explore.

You can add to the sensory fun by making shapes with the shaving cream or the letters of your child's name.
Painting – Be creative! Instead of just using a paint brush, let your child paint with different instruments such as rollers, matchbox cars, q-tips, or even their fingers!

You can even use those old apples to do stamp painting by cutting the apples in half and dipping them in paint.

If messy projects aren’t your favorite just give your child a new paint brush and a bucket of water and let them do their water art on the sidewalk!

You never know, you might be encouraging the next Picasso!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Playdough Fun

Sensory play is play that involves the use of one or more of the five senses, touch, sight, smell, taste and hearing. Children learn best when they can experience the world through all their senses. All week at Kangaroo Kids Summer Camp we are doing Messy But Meaningful projects!

Play dough is a good old standby, even for the toddlers! Mix the ingredients below and get out the cookie cutters and a rolling pin and let your child explore. Make a pretend birthday cake or form shapes and letters with the dough!

Play dough
1. 3 cups flour
2. 1 cup salt
3. 3 Tablespoons oil
4. 1 cup of water

You are involving your child’s sense of touch by allowing them to feel the soft flour and gooey mixture, their sense of smell by adding a little cinnamon to your playdough, their sense of site by all the creations and tools they use to make their playdough projects or mixing in different colors, their hearing by the discussion you have while creating the mixture and at times even their sense of taste as you redirect them from experiencing the taste of playdough.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Rover will like this Sensory Fun!

Here is an activity that will give you a sense of accomplishment while your child is having a fun sensory experience. Get a big bucket of water and the doggie shampoo and wash the dog together! You can teach your child about the fascinating chemistry of how the bubbles form (if you need a little help visithttp://chemistry.about.com/od/bubbles/a/bubblescience.htm ), or give your child a lesson in kindness to people and pets to reinforce social skills during the bathing!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Messy But Meaningful

Remember “Silly Putty” and “Slime?” If you enjoyed playing with either of these as a child here is a homemade version called "Goop" that you can make with your child. You may be encouraging a future scientist!

Goop
1. Two cups white glue
2. One cup liquid laundry starch

Mix together to an even consistency and have fun! Store Goop in the refrigerator.

Here is another recipe for a similar substance to Goop called "GAK". For those inquiring minds, see http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000039> for an explanation of the scientific principles involved in creating "GAK".

This week is “Messy But Meaningful at Kangaroo Kids,” so watch for lots of sensory activities you can do at home for some good educational fun!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Messy But Meaningful

If your child comes home from preschool looking picture perfect everyday, it is time to delve into the kinds of activities the class is doing during the day! Young children learn with all their senses and should have a variety of opportunities for exploration.

There will be times when children may get a little paint on their clothes or play dough under their fingernails, but in the process they are increasing their knowledge as well as developing their sense of creativity.

Children learn by mixing paints to create their individual artistic treasures, by splashing and playing in water to discover which objects sink or float, and by mixing the ingredients of their own special play dough to see how various substances integrate and how the combination changes the properties of the ingredients.

Next week’s theme at Kangaroo Kids Summer Camp is “Messy But Meaningful.” Log in all week to Kangaroo Kids Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kangaroo-Kids-Child-Care-and-Learning-Center/301126633639 to learn a little more about these wonderful projects, many of which you can do at home!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Healthy Snacks

This is Celebrity Chef Week at Kangaroo Kids so here are some healthy snack tips!

In our house, we always cut juice with about ½ amount of water, which cuts down on the sugar… and the best juices are the 100% variety, without sugar (not the diet kind). Of course, you can also freeze these as pops too, in an ice cube tray with popsicle sticks stuck in the middle. If your kids crave sodas, you can use sparkling water, in place of the ½ water as ‘replacement’ soda.

Unsweetened yogurt, with lots of berries mixed in is a great snack and can be eaten using low salt or unsalted pretzel sticks as ‘dippers’! This mixture can be frozen into popsicles with a pretzel used as the ‘stick’.

Fresh fruit smoothies are filling and nutritious and kids usually like them. Just fill up that blender with some ice and some of the fresh summer fruits, push the button and enjoy! Here are a few more smoothie recipes to keep you healthy all summer long! http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Drinks/Smoothies/Top.aspx

Muffins can be baked with bananas, carrots, zucchini and even sweet potatoes, so your child doesn’t even know they’re eating vegetables!

Kids usually like veggies with dips such as ranch dressing, hummus, and guacamole!

Popcorn with a sprinkling of nutritional yeast, gives the popcorn a ‘cheesy’ flavor, and adds B vitamins!

This spinach ball recipe is a great way to gets kids to eat their greens! And you can freeze them, and pop them in the microwave as needed - http://kidscooking.about.com/od/snacksdipsappetizers/r/Spinach-Balls-Recipe.htm. You can cut cheese into shapes with cookie cutters to make them more interesting to your kids!

Happy Snacking!

Friday, July 8, 2011

A Great Day for Water Play!

In the Waddler Room children enjoyed water adventures! Water play is good for children’s physical, cognitive, & social-emotional growth. When children pour water, they improve their physical dexterity & eye-hand coordination. By playing with others they develop social skills. They explore why certain objects sink in water and others float. Children learn concepts such as empty/full, before/after, shallow/deep, and heavy/light in a hands-on way. Children learn new words that go along with water play, such as funnel, surface, float, and strain.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Stranger Danger Education

‘STRANGER DANGER’
Summer is a time of adventure and outdoor activities and it is a good time to teach your child safety tips around strangers.
It is important to realize that children who have been shown pictures of grandmotherly, or pretty women, or kindly looking men, do not often consider these people strangers. Children only thought of the pictures that were made to look scary or dangerous as ‘strangers’. Here is a link for a quiz for children to recognize ‘strangers’: http://pediatrics.about.com/od/parentingquizzes/l/bl_strngdngr.htm
Also, a child is much more likely to be hurt by someone they know rather than a stranger, so it’s important to teach them ‘safe’ boundaries. i.e… When a relative/friend comes to visit, do not force your child to kiss or touch the person, unless they want to. They can be polite to adults, say hello without allowing physical contact. There are many ways to politely greet another person such as a hand shake, a wave, or a high five. If the child feels comfortable with the person/friend, they will naturally go to that person. ALLOW them to politely decline physical contact. This way they learn that there are times when it is okay to just say No to touching.
Teach your child to be polite, but that they have the right to say no, if something makes them really uncomfortable.
As far as strangers go, teach them the basics. Let them be aware not to speak to, go with, or accept gifts/candy from ANYONE they don’t know, even if that person is beautiful, kind looking. Let them know that it’s okay if you are with them to wave to or smile at a stranger in the grocery store, etc, but that if you are NOT present, it is important for them not to interact with strangers.
Let them know if they ever get ‘grabbed’ that it is important to make lots of noise; falling on the ground, kicking, screaming, fighting as hard as they can is okay in such a situation.
Also let them know that if someone threatens to hurt their parents or loved ones, if they say anything, that it is only an empty threat, and that their loved ones will be safe and protected from the ‘abuser.’
Practice scenarios with them at home. Giving them cues, i.e. . . . verbally saying “Will you help me look for my lost puppy?” And show what they should do. You can make a game of it, and have them ask you to help look for the puppy and you can run away screaming, so they laugh but get the message. Don’t just do this once, practice makes perfect!
Be calm and explain that the likelihood of this happening to them is small, but that it does not hurt to be aware just in case. Do not let your fear frighten them. Let them know that worrying won’t keep them safe, but knowing how to act can help protect them. An excellent video for children on Stranger Danger is produced by The Safe Side. It teaches about stranger danger without being scary and is presented in a fun, light manner. For more information you can go to http://www.thesafeside.com/?gclid=COCsgq3t0akCFcFo4Aodykt_6g

On a final note: If the child is lost in a store, let them know it is okay to go to a register and ask a store clerk for help, and if they are lost in the woods on a camping trip or something, that a fireman, policewoman, may be trying to help them. There have been cases where a child is so afraid of talking to strangers, that they will hide from ‘rescuers’ unless it is someone they know.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Learning A Second Language Can Boost Brain Power!

Did you know that bilinguals may have an advantage beyond just communicating with more diversity? Research shows that it may be better for your brain. Some preliminary evidence shows that being bilingual may actually physically remodel parts of the brain.

Knowing two or more languages truly gives kids so many advantages in life. Bilingual kids have the advantage of knowing two cultures, of being able to communicate with a wider variety of people, and the possibility of economic advantages in their future. An acquaintance of mine has a 28 year old son who just got passed over for a promotion because one of his competitors (who didn’t have the stellar business record that her son did) got the promotion solely because his advantage was speaking two languages.

There used to be a common misconception that children exposed to two languages from birth would become confused, or fall behind monolingual children. But new studies show that it may actually boost your brain power.

The advantages of bilingualism may be more than just ‘mental fitness.’ It may enhance the ability to multi-task. And there has been recent research that being bilingual may help stave off Alzheimer’s by at least 4 or more years!

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/04/135043787/being-bilingual-may-boost-your-brain-power

Research has shown that second language study offers many benefits to students in terms of improved communicative ability, cognitive development, cultural awareness, and job opportunities. Society as a whole also profits economically, politically, and socially when its citizens can communicate with and appreciate people from other countries and cultures. Parents and educators would be wise to take advantage of the many available opportunities and resources for second language learning for the benefit of children coming of age in the 21st century. http://www.childhoodaffirmations.com/general/child/5-6/language-1.html