Tuesday, July 31, 2012

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The Perfect Plant to Grow With Preschoolers!

The perfect plant to grow with preschoolers grows quickly enough that you can measure new growth every day.  This is the one!!




Growing plants with preschoolers is a classic science activity that can tie into math, language, and so much more!  The entire lab gets even more exciting when you use the perfect plant:  green onions!

Green onions are relatively cheap, wonderfully useful, and grow much, much faster than many other plants.  The picture above shows how you will see the cuttings grow to a plant over a foot tall in a week.  Each day, you can measure about an inch of growth!

Here's the easy How-To:

1- Cut the green onions down to about four inches above roots.  (Make something yummy and healthy with top part!)

2- Place the 4"-long cuttings, root sides down, in a cup with enough water to cover half the cuttings.

3- If you're going to be measuring and tracking the growth, this is a great time to get your initial data.  It's especially fun to use the centimeter side of the ruler so your child can see several numbers worth of growth each day.

4- Place the cup in a sunny window!

5- The next day, take it down and measure it again!

6- Each day, dump out the water, rinse out the cup, rinse off the roots, and replace the water with fresh water.  This will help prevent mildew and mold on your plants.

7- You should be able to grow foot-tall onions and cut them back down to four inches at least twice before you lose a nice onion-y flavor.  You can continue to grow and cut them, but the flavor will get watered down.  Planting them in the soil (if your weather is right) will make the onion-y flavor last even longer.



This is also wonderful spring science!  You can review the way plants absorb water through the roots,  predict the growth, and practice measuring.  It's easy to see the difference in the roots and the stem. 

Are you trying to grow any plants with preschoolers??  I'd love to know!!




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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

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Teaching Math Skills through PLAY!!


Play is a powerful tool you can use to teach many skills to preschoolers.  They will discover and cope with their world as they play, and if you play with them you can take advantage of countless teaching opportunities.  Here's a few ways to teach young children math and counting skills through dramatic play:

1.  Store.  Both boys and girls love to set up toys and food to create an imaginary store, buy their goods, and even play the cashier.  In fact, I usually have to moderate turn-taking so we don't have any fights over who gets to be the cashier at any given moment!  You can use real money, a "bank card" (an expired gift card), real "fake" money, gold pirate coins, or a fistful of invisible money.  When you play with them, make sure they count out the coins, or count up to the cost of each item.  As children develop a stronger grasp of numbers, try over-paying them and asking for change.  You will have to help them figure it out the first time or two, but they will catch on very quickly!

2.  Restaurant (or picnic!).  Take turns being the customer and the waiter/waitress.  When you order, ask for things like half a cake, 3/4 a sandwich, or ten strawberries.  If you don't have plastic food (and you aren't having a picnic!), you can easily make paper food (cut out your weekly grocery ad) or just use blocks for food items.  Your kids won't mind a bit!  Remember to emphasize halves and quarters whenever you cut a sandwich, cake, or similar food in real life.  At lunch time, you can ask your child if he wants 1/4 (hold it up), 2/4 (hold them up), 3/4, or 4/4...a whole, every time you cut a sandwich.

3.   Superheroes.  Astronauts. Or any other make-believe game.  Include counting activities whenever you play with your children.  Is your little superhero taking off to save the day?  Take off on the count of 3!  Next time, take off on the count of 5.  When their space ship or boat or train is ready to depart, count down to blast off (from ten, of course!).  

Dramatic Play is wonderful because you are strengthening creative thinking, social, verbal, math, and many more skills all at the same time.  You can also use more structured games for math reinforcement also:

4.  Hide-n-Seek.  Consistently count one or two numbers higher than your child can count by herself...it's great practice!

5.  Board Games.  Research is showing that children who engage in board games twice a week for at least 15 minutes each time may perform measurably better in written math skills than their peers.

6.  Mother May I?  Another version of this is Mr. Wolf, What Time is it?  The wolf is "it" and you or other children ask, "Mr. Wolf, what time is it?"  The wolf replies, "3 o'clock" and everyone takes three steps toward him.  The game is repeated until the wolf replies, "Dinner time!" and chases down his dinner.

There are so many possibilities and ways to involve math in your play time.  Do you have any favorites?


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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

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Science Experiment: Alka Seltzer Eruption


Eruptions, explosions, science experiments, and glitter are some of my daughter's favorite School Time topics.  She can tell you about quite a few reactions and, today, with the help of this science project, she learned about a new one:  the Alka Seltzer Eruption.

Once she saw all the ingredients, she couldn't wait to begin experimenting.  They were all familiar to her expect the Alka Seltzer.  I explained that when it dissolved in water, it released carbon dioxide bubbles.  She knows about bubbles.  She also decided that we were missing an ingredient:  sparkly glitter glue.  (Of course!)  Once she had that, she was ready to go!





Eruption #1:  
1. Fill the vase about 2/3 full of water and add 4-5 drops of food coloring.
2. Add about an inch of oil.
3. Squeeze in some sparkly glitter glue.
4.  You only want about 1/2 inch of space at the top of the vase.  Feel free to add more water, oil, or try another liquid!
5. Add 2 Alka Seltzer tablets, broken into quarters.  This is a great step for younger siblings who like to help.

Eruption #2:


1.  Fill the vase about 1/2 full of water and add 4-5 drops of food coloring.
2.  Add about an inch of oil.
3.  Squeeze in some sparkly glitter glue.
4.  Squeeze in about 1/2 in inch of dish soap.
5.  You only want about 1/2 inch of space at the top of the vase.  Feel free to add more water, oil, or try another liquid!

6.  Add 2 Alka Seltzer tablets, broken into quarters.  Use a long skinny spoon to push the Alka Seltzer down if it gets stuck on top of the soap.
Of course, we did many more than two eruptions, but they were all variations on those two mixtures.  Finally, we had one last experiment:

Experiment #3:


Explore the strange mixture in the pan that has been catching the science experiment mess.  This is harmless to touch (unless your children have soap allergies), but should not be put in their mouths (it is Alka Seltzer).  We also had even more fun with this science project by dropping more Alka Seltzer tablets into the pan and finding them (hint: the extra bubbles give away their location)!



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Saturday, July 14, 2012

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Monster Melon!!

It's watermelon season, and everybody loves a monster!  Inspired by the many shark-melons I've seen lately, I decided to make a Monster Melon...partly because I knew my kids would love it, and partly because when I tried to make a shark it looked much more like a monster!


To make this lovely monster, start with half a watermelon.  Hollow out the edible red part and set it aside.  Flip the melon upside down and carve out the mouth, using a serrated edge knife.  (It feels a bit like Halloween in July.)



The trickiest part for me was getting the mouth out.  It helped to cut the mouth shape, and then remove it in 4-5 smaller pieces.

Set the head in a bowl big enough to hold it and the fruit.  Carve out two small holes for the eyes.  Use two "trash" pieces of rind to make the eyes: cut off all red parts, and cut them so they will wedge inside the two eye holes.  Add raisins for the eyes.  Cut the fruit and dump it in the mouth.



Let your little monsters get their fruit!

And for an awesome shark tutorial, check out Kate's blog here!



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Friday, July 13, 2012

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Teach Me Tuesday Update

Well, friends, this post is really hard for me to write and, yet, it's exciting too.

Some of you have asked about Teach Me Tuesday this week (and last week).  The short answer is, it's not here.

The long answer is, I have some really exciting news that I can't wait to tell everyone about and it makes my days go by incredibly fast because it makes me so tired that I have to take naps and even go to bed before midnight but it leaves me totally drained and really scatter-brained and very prone to extremely run-on sentences.  And, besides, I'm pretty sure the picture gave it away.  ;)  We're expecting our third child in January!!!

The first trimester is always really hard on me.  I've learned the hard way that if I don't get enough rest I get a complicated pregnancy and delivery...and I don't want another one of those!  My second baby was very un-complicated, but involved much, much more rest.  So, I'm trying to learn my lesson and have another "easy" (ha!) pregnancy.  Unfortunately, all my blogging time used to happen during naps and after the kids went to bed.  Suddenly, that time has disappeared.  Hopefully, it comes back a little at a time.

In the meantime, the biggest bloggy time-consumer I had was the linky party.  It's also been one of my favorite parts of blogging because I've got to know so many amazing ladies and families through it.  Still, there comes a time when reason takes over, and you know it just has to wait.

Waiting is key...I plan on resurrecting the linky party early next year when my time and energy levels begin to resurface!!  I will still put up fun and educational preschool posts and freebies 1-2 times a week...reason only goes so far, and Preschool Powol Packets is here to stay!!  I'm also on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/PreschoolPowolPackets) and would love to see you there! 



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Tuesday, July 10, 2012

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How to make a Firetruck Cake



Firetrucks, dump trucks, cement trucks, and all other trucks are major themes in my son's little life.  He turned two in May, and I knew a firetruck birthday cake would be perfect.  I had a ton of fun making it, and thought I'd share an easy how-to for anyone else with little boys in their lives!

First, make three cakes (each in a pan about 8" x 10").  Leave Cake #1 its original size, cut about 2 inches off of Cake #2, and cut Cake #3 in half.  Cover two pieces of cardboard in aluminum foil--one piece the same size as Cake #1, and one piece big enough to hold the whole cake.  Then, assemble the cake as shown in the picture below (click on the picture to be able to read the text):


Use frosting as glue and cover the whole cake in a "primer" layer.  Place the whole thing in the fridge for at least 20-30 minutes, or until the white frosting doesn't smear if you touch it lightly.  Then cover the truck body with a layer of red** frosting.  Draw the wheels on Oreo cookies and glue those to the cake with more frosting.  Return the cake to the refrigerator so the frosting can harden again.

**To make a brighter red with less food coloring, you can stir a package of Kool-aid powder into your frosting.  Just beware that your frosting will have a Fruit Punch or Cherry (or whatever red flavor you use!) flavor too!


Use white frosting and a cake decorator tip (or just a baggie with the corner cut off!) to draw the windows, grill, buttons, door, side ladder, ropes, and front lights.  Outline hinge and the bottom of the fire truck in grey.  Use candies for the lights!




Make a ladder for the top from cut popsickle sticks (or buy a fancy ladder from a cake decorating store), and write your Happy Birthday sign!  Ta da!  Store the cake overnight in the refrigerator.


My two-year old was very happy about his cake--he still sees pictures of it and starts talking, "Truck! Cake!  Truck!  Cake!"  I think we might be visiting a fire station soon, lol!  Do you have any little boys obsessed with trucks?  I'd love to know!



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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

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Patriotic Puffy Paints



Happy 4th of July!!  

We had a wonderful time making Patriotic Puffy Paints today...it would even work well tomorrow if you want a last minute sensory, science experiment-y, patriotic craft! The homemade paints puff up in the microwave as they dry in seconds!  Check out the close-up above!


The Simple Supplies:
* construction paper 
* black crayon
* 1/4 cup flour
* 1/4 cup salt
* 4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 cup water 
* 6-8 drops food coloring

The Easy How-to:
1- Prepare a piece of construction paper or cardboard by drawing a flag outline in black crayon.

2- Mix all the other ingredients into a tin to make the paint.  To make ours patriotic, we mixed two tins: one red and one blue.  The recipe makes quite a lot, so if you only have one or two children you may want to mix the ingredients, separate it into more than one tin, and then add the food coloring.  The ingredients are harmless, so letting your children mix them, feel them, and taste them (yuck!) are all wonderful sensory activities!  Wear aprons because food coloring can stain.

3- When you are done painting, cook it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.  The baking powder makes the paints puff--let your children feel the new textures!  Mine even had fun "popping" some of the "bubbles!"




Final masterpieces (flags, fireworks, and flowers!):







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