The Explorers: Watermelon Smoothies (Summertime - Fun Time)

Cooking together is a great way of practicing taking turns and waiting turns, following directions, and a sequence, acquiring new vocabulary and learning how to compromise (e.g., "You can pour the juice in and I add the sugar."). It also may encourage picky eaters to try something new.

Today. we made "Watermelon Smoothies."

Here is the recipe:
3 cups of chopped watermelon

10 strawberries, cut

Juice of half a lemon

½ cup peach juice

1  tablespoon of sugar

Put all ingredients in blender and blend until mixed well.

After finishing the smoothies, we tried them. Most of us really liked them and we all thought the smoothie tasted like summer.

The Explorers: Cloud Sand (Summertime - Fun Time!)

Sensory/Science Project “Cloud Sand” : We made cloud sand today. Tip: Prepare a visual recipe so it's easy for the children to follow the steps independently.

Supplies:

-8 cups of flour
-1 cup of baby oil

Directions:
Measure ingredients with the help of a measuring cup. Pour in large container or bin. Mix the flour and baby oil together with a spoon and then your hands until the dough holds together when squeezed.  It could take 3-5 minutes of mixing.

“Sand Play”: We went outside and explored and experimented with the self-made cloud sand, e.g., using our hands to form the sand into different shapes, filling containers with shovels, letting the sand run through a big paper tube, etc. We had two bins going, one was filled with the cloud sand, one with craft sand. Since the craft sand is dry and the cloud sand more moist, both felt and behaved very differently.

The Explorers: Canvas Marble Painting

Canvas Marble Painting

We had a lot of fun with the marble painting on canvas. Using a canvas instead of the traditional method of using a deep tray and paper has the advantage that the activity requires more cooperation since the box with the canvas needs to be managed by multiple children.

Here is how it works:

Materials  needed: big self-made cardboard box to fit in the canvas, canvas, bowls of paint (different colors), variety of marbles, spoons.

• Build a cardboard box so that the canvas will fit into the box. 
• Split the kids into smaller group (max 4 per box). 
• Drop marbles into bowls of washable tempera paint (one kid at a time). Use the spoons to scoop out the marbles and drop them onto the canvas.  
• Let the kids pick up the box with the canvas Station kids around the sides of the canvas as well as the top and bottom. Encourage them to work together to move the canvas up and down causing the marbles to roll back and forth and around. Stop after a couple of minutes, put the marbles in the paint and back on the canvas, and repeat 

We stayed with the activity for a long time and therefore did not get to our Color Wheel game but we still had time to quickly play to of our favorite movement games, i.e., "Bop 'til You Drop" and "Hip Hop."

The Adventurers: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Water Balloon Valentine's Day Toss: It was a glorious, hot day today so we decided to open the water balloon season early this year. We partnered with a friend and balanced 2 water balloons on a tray and transported the balloons across the field. Then, we tossed the balloons onto targets. In the true spirit of Valentine's day, our targets were hearts and the balloons followed the red and pink Valentine's Day color scheme.

Valentine's Memory Game: We were divided into small groups and engaged in a memory game. The goal of the game was to find as many pairs of hearts as possible. We shuffled the cards and laid them in rows on the table. On each turn, the player, whose turn it was, turned over two cards and kept them if they matched. If we found a pair, we got to go again. When a player turned over two cards that did not match, we turned over those cards face down again and our turn was over. We worked on good sportsmanship during the game: A good sport does not tease another player, always plays fair, follows the rules and does not gloat when he or she wins! 

The Explorers: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Today, we took a hiatus from our weather theme to celebrate Valentine's day since this special day is all about friendship and kindness.

Valentine’s Day Jell-O: This was a fun sensory activity for everyone. We had two big bins filled with red Jell-O in honor of Valentine's Day. We were divided into small groups and explored the Jell-O. It was sticky and it smelled fruity. We noticed that the more we played with the Jell-O, the more liquid it got. There were little trinkets such as hearts and cupids hidden in the Jell-O and we had a great time looking for them with our Clubhouse friends.

Here are some tips for kids who don't like to touch sticky substances:

• Provide spoons/small shovels and containers so the tools can be used to explore the Jell-O.
• Scoop the Jell-O into a Ziploc bag and let the students touch the Jell-O through the bag.

 

Valentine’s Day Matching Games: Today, we played a bingo-type matching game. Each player had a board depicting hearts in different colors. The objective of the game was to find the matching hearts and place them on the board until all the matches were found. We worked on turn taking and following the rules of the game. Simple matching games are also a great way of promoting peer communication: We practiced asking questions such as "Who has a purple heart?" and responding to our friends.