Helping with Impromptu Child Care

  

What's In Your Cupboards and Drawers?

Preschool children are coming in half an hour for child care. No problem. You’re always well stocked. There are many educational toys found in your kitchen. Open up your low kitchen cupboards and drawers. They are full of mostly safe playthings for children and hide anything that is not safe.

   The first go-to toys are cans. Children may make low towers on the floor or higher ones if they have heavy shoes. Cans may be arranged to make houses and castles, or they may add folded heavy paper to make bridges.

  If they have brought figures, cars, or a few stuffed animals they can play raceway, house, or action figure adventures.  The activity will give you time

Empty the Cupboards

 to wash the can cabinet you have been putting off and get down on the floor to play, too.

Random Containers

  Your other drawers may hold plastic containers and lids.  They make excellent puzzlers.   Are there tops and bottoms that fit? If you have some that do not make a pair, they can be used for sandbox, beach play, or recycling later. They can turn the containers upside down and make a few drums using a wooden spoon to pound for a few minutes.

Empty the Cupboards

   Children can gather all of the containers and help set chairs and guard chairs next to the sink. Fill the sink or dish pan half way and add a few drops of soap and a cloth. It’s time for washing, rinsing, and drying dishes for about 15 minutes.

   While supervising the washing you can empty another drawer of wooden spoons, spatulas, other utensils. and gadgets. Double check for sharp edges on items like potato peelers and set those aside. You can explain the purpose for some of the odd looking gadgets as you add them to the washing water.

   While adding the items ask yourself, “Do I really need this?”  If not, out it goes into the donation bag.

Children Have Fun Filling Containers

 By now you should have cleaned, put away and culled at least four drawers, double dried these dishes, and have wet children.

   You can scoop up the little wet people, throw their clothes in the dryer, and head for the bathroom. There should just enough time for a warm bath with a few of the containers you are not going to use.

  Children have fun filling different sizes of containers. It’s similar to filling cups to equal a gallon.  Which containers will float? How many action figures will it take to sink a container boat? Teach children to check for hand and toe wrinkles. Then they will help decide it’s time to get out of the tub. put on warm dry clothes, and have a snack. For more see grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and 

wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons.

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

Make Learning Fun in Bottles

Young children can reuse clear plastic soda and water bottles to create interesting science, math, and art activities. They are handy for rainy days, quiet times, and birthday parties. Smaller bottles work best for very young children.

Experiment Adding Items to Bottles

   Gather some clean, clear plastic bottles and remove any labels. Add any of the items below and seal the bottle with hot glue, if desired.
Fill Bottles Creatively
  Fill half of a bottle with cooking or baby oil. Next add water until the bottle is ¾ full.  Add blue food coloring and a few small seashells. Shake.  What happens? Why?
  To make a tornado bottle, roll ten small pieces of tin foil into balls. Fill the bottle with water and a drop of detergent so the bottle is almost full. Twirl and lightly shake to make a tornado.
  Place Styrofoam pieces in an empty bottle and close it.  Rub the bottle on hair. Observe what happens and explain static electricity, the uncontrolled movement of electrons. Go into a dark closet.

Make a Rythmn Band of Bottles

Children may be able to see sparks.
  Add a piece of wet sponge into an open bottle. Sprinkle grass seed or some other sprouting seeds. Grass will sprout in two days. Discuss how plants grow.
 What floats or sinks?  Fill a bottle half full of water.  Drop in small items from around the house like small pieces of paper, paper clips, and tiny toys. If an item has more molecule than the water it replaces, it will sink.  Guess what will float or sink.
 Bottles of Fun
  Rain bottles make beautiful sounds. Fill a bottle with a box of toothpicks and uncooked rice.  Leave about two inches of air at the top.  When turned, rice falls through the toothpicks and sounds like a gentle rain. The bottle is a good addition to other musical instruments.
  Write a number on the outside of a bottle and fill with that number of tiny objects. Children can practice counting, adding, subtracting and counting again.
  Cover some bottles with black paper to make sound mystery bottles.  Collect items from

Make Bubbles

around the house like paper clips, rice, sand, water, pieces of paper, and marbles. Gently shake and guess the mystery sounds.
  Fill a bottle with magnetic and nonmagnetic items and sand. Rub the outside of the bottle with a magnet to attract the magnetic items.
  To make a bottle of bubble solution, gently stir 3/4 Dawn detergent and ¼ water or less.  Label the bottle “bubbles.” Fashion a long thin bubble maker from a hanger that will fit in the bottle. Show children how to blow bubbles. Use under supervision and store out of reach.
Photos, Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Making a Kid’s Indoor Golf Course

Preschool teachers have many good suggestions for making child care easier for parents and grandparents. They recommend alternating short active and quiet activities between meals, nutritious snacks, naps, and reading. Quiet activities are easy indoors, but active ones can be easy, also, when weather is inclement.  Almost any sport can be adapted for indoor play with recycled materials.
Indoor Mini Golf
  To make an indoor miniature golf course collect small boxes, plastic containers, small rugs, cardboard tubes and pieces, duct tape, paint stir sticks, cups, stuffed animals, and small balls.
  Conversation and planning together are so important while creating the obstacles for a miniature golf course. If children have never been to one, search on You Tube or Google images for miniature golf courses. Make a list of obstacles. Then think of ones you can create with materials around the house. If you make the obstacles in small modules they can be stored in a few bins and taken out again later.
Construction Plan
  Design your course together and make a map of your plan. You’re teaching children that a plan is needed whenever they do a project. Do children want a theme of princesses, teddy bears, Star Wars, or cars? What is the course’s name?
  Real miniature golf courses often have obstacles with an entry and an exit.  Children can choose boxes, decorate, and plan placement while adults cut the openings. An empty oatmeal cylinder makes a good tunnel.
  Courses often have ramps. These can be made with blocks or small boxes and a wide strip of cardboard or wood.  Look among the toys.  Perhaps children can make Lego or large block bridges and ramps. The construction time is another means to create time for family discussion and vocabulary building.
   Talk about gravity and ramp height. While making ramps, add cardboard and duct tape fences along the edges to keep the ball on the ramp. The toy box might also have plastic train parts that can be curved ramps for the ball.  Some ramps might lead to nowhere with a cup at the end.
  Stuffed animals, dolls, and action figures are excellent for guiding the ball’s path and decorating the course.  Each section can be named for a character.
  Courses also have rough areas. Use a rug and make small bumps. Stuff newspapers or small blankets under rugs or sheets to make the curves and hills. The difficulty can easily be adjusted.
  Golf clubs may be a small hockey stick or a paint stick with a rolled newspaper or cardboard attached with duct tape. Balls can be made from newspaper surrounded by tape.
The last step of playtime is cleaning up so toys can be found again.
Photo: Fran Darling; Sketch: Nowicki
More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Pressed Flower II -- Fun with Kids

Photo: fdarling fotos, Fran Darling

It doesn’t matter what activities adults choose to do with young children. It only matters that adults do them often and have fun and talk together.  Pressed (dried) flower projects are good choices in late summer.

  These glass luminary candles with pressed flowers are beautiful gifts.

Materials Needed:

  You’ll need glass votive candle holders, thin clear tissue or facial tissue, white glue thinned with a little water, small pressed flowers or leaves.

  Coat the outside of the glass with the glue and water mixture and cover with tissue.

Arrange pressed materials on the tissue covered votive and brush on another coat of glue. Cover the entire outside with another tissue and glue to hold the flower or leaf in place.

  Coat with 3 or 4 more layers of glue to seal it making sure you let it dry between coats. You can use a few coats of spray on acrylic sealer or other sealer that dries clear. The glass will have a frosted look. Dry thoroughly. When the candle is lit, the light shines through the pressed materials for a beautiful effect.  Young children can substitute tea lights lit by a battery for safety.

Frames, notes, and Bookmarks

 Framed pressed flowers make very delicate pictures that do not fade. Children can use watercolors to paint wavy lines and swirls on paper. Spatter some water on the paper or run through a dripping water faucet to blend the paint.  They can be used for thank you notes when dried and ironed on low.

Photo: fdarling fotos, Fran Darling

  While the paper is drying, children can choose some small dried flowers, dried ferns and burning bush leaves. Apply a few dots of white glue on the back of the foliage.  Wipe off any excess glue that may seep around it. Then place a heavy book on top and let dry overnight. Insert the picture in a small frame when dry.

  Pressed flower cards and bookmarks are made the same way. Use card stock paper so the paper will not flop around from the weight of the dried material. Place a heavy book on top and dry overnight.

  Search children’s poetry books for a few poetic lines or make up your own.

Use colored markers to make designs around the flowers or add a short quote or note. You can then write your message on the card and send it to someone special, or you keep it for future use to be given for occasion. Pressed flowers can also be used to decorate gift packages, rock paperweights, and magnets. Notes will not go through the mail because they are lumpy. Place inside a gift box.

More Ideas and Activities...

See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org.

Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.

 

Children Love Container Gardening

fdarling fotos

When there is a weird weather year, container gardening is a good solution for a family who has a small space, poor soil, or simply wants to start gardening. Container planting is perfect for children and a great family teaching tool. The pots can be moved around as needed.

What To Do:

  Check out library books about plants and gardening. Draw some plant parts and discuss their jobs. Teach young children some vocabulary.  Annuals only grow one year, but kids may collect the seeds of annuals like marigolds and plant them again next year. Perennials like daisies and coneflowers may come back next year if left in a warm garage.

  Show children how to study the back of seed packets. How long will the plants take to grow? Look for the shortest growing season. How much space will they need?  Follow packet directions.  

   Start with just a few containers and try your luck. Practically any type of container can be used to grow plants as long as it holds potting soil (not garden soil), a little plant fertilizer, can drain water, and is large enough to accommodate the growing plants and roots.

Teach Principles of Growing

  Most plants need about six hours of sunshine. Lettuce and spinach need a little less. Place the plants in a space where they will not be too hot and killed. They can be moved if children discover it is the wrong spot.

 Vegetables require larger pots than annual flowers. Tomatoes, for example, grow well in 5-gallon buckets. Peppers will grow in containers about 8 inches in diameter and 10 inches tall. Beets need eight inches of soil. Carrots need twelve inches for their long roots.

fdarling fotos

 Containers filled with plants like mixed lettuce seeds are a good way to start young children gardening. Choose several large pots. Mix small seeds with a little soil. Fill pots with potting soil, plant seeds, and water gently. Cover the pots with plastic wrap secured with a large rubber band until seeds start sprouting. Then move the pots into the sun.

Plant Care

  Plants need just the right amount of water and fertilizer. Teach children not to drown plants in mud nor let them wilt. The soil should make a moist crumbly ball. Children can stick their finger in the soil to test for moisture and then wash their hands.

  Children may not like to eat lettuce yet, but they will enjoy cutting fresh lettuce for family meals. Mixed greens offer a variety of colors and tastes.  Even if they only eat one leaf, teach children to wash the edible plants and their hands before eating. 

   Other easy plants to grow are beans, peas, herbs, gourds for fall decoration and to sell, petunias, and small sunflowers. To discourage rabbits, deer, and squirrels plant marigolds, too. (Planting part two is next time.)

For more information see grandparentsteachtoo.org.

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

Ideas and Activities See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.