sNOw more

The snow finally melted and sunny days are upon us. Sean savored every inch of snow down to the last drop. On the last day of the snow I brought in 2 pans full from the top of our patio table to setup an invitation to play. An invitation is something that I stumbled upon when I first started reading blogs about play and parenting. They are simply ways to encourage free exploration of a skill or topic. Typically you would place a tray with the items for the invitation out for your child to explore on their own when they choose to. Since Sean recently finished a unit on colors at his Gymboree art class I decided to setup a color invitation with the snow. Olivia got to participate with exploring just the snow without colors.

Setup:

Tray- Dollar Store from a previous party

Snow in 2 cake pans (you could sub the snow for blended/crushed ice, GrowSnow, or clear Jello)

Food coloring- I used primary colors so Sean could further explore making secondary colors. I mixed a few drops of each color in water

Dropper

Spoons/scoopers

Process:

While Olivia scooped and ate snow, Sean immediately began dropping various colors onto his pile of snow. While he mixed and played he noted the change of colors and we tried to create as many combinations and discovered that when you mix all the colors you get brown. Next I gave him some salt to pour on top and talked about the effects it has on the snow. To end he scooped piles of snow into the food coloring containers and this was fine. When I first started doing invitations and sensory play with Sean my Type A nature would kick in and I had to learn to fight the urge to help him or clean up…it is EXPLORATION after all-wink! Over time he learned how to explore and have fun within his given space and help clean up when finished.



 

Invitations are a great way to encourage children to think, question, and try new things.

After playing in the snow we created The Snowy Day inspired art work. First Sean and I shared our favorite snow activity and then we drew a picture of it using crayons. Next we used water color paints to paint over the crayon. The wax repels/resists the water colors so the drawing stands out from the beautiful soft watercolors. This technique looks amazing with any drawing.

 
 

Hopefully we are done with our winter weather mix  here in Atlanta. It was certainly fun while it lasted but something I only need to experience once a year!

 

 

Snow Babies

I guess all of the books about snow days that Sean and I have been reading over the past few weeks have awoken the snow gods because Hotlanta got SNOW!!! It hasn’t snowed since the year Sean was born so the excitement was unreal. We were home to catch the first snowflakes, watch the soft fluffy flakes pile on top of leaves, and played for hours.

I love the connection that Sean was able to make from our snow day and the story The Snowy Day.  We made tracks in the snow, threw snow balls, made snow angels, and built a small snowman just like Peter. In the morning we woke up to snow still on the ground and he was so excited as he noted that the sun hadn’t melted the snow yet like in his book.

When I was in the classroom I noticed a huge discrepancy between my readers and nonreaders. Those students who loved to read and had a tendency to be stronger readers had vast background knowledge (also called prior knowledge) to topics we were studying because they had been exposed to similar experiences outside of the classroom. These experiences gave them a leg up over their peers who lacked exposure to a variety of topics in vocabulary and comprehension. Because they already had prior knowledge they were able to dig deeper and be more inquisitive than those who spent their time just trying to get the basics of the topic.  As a teacher I promised myself that when I had kids of my own I would try my best to provide them with opportunities to explore their surroundings, various people, and situations out of the 4 walls in a room. I often use books, songs, and nature to help Sean build connections from what he learns and experiences. This was a perfect ending to all of our stories on winter days.  

One of my favorite things about living in the southeast is that we truly get to experience all 4 seasons and the splendor each one brings. This was a magical time for both my babes.

Olivia didn’t quite enjoy wearing all the layers I stuffed her in, but it was so cute to watch her explore how the snow felt on her fingers and the taste of it on her tongue. She even braved sledding on daddy’s make-shift box lid sled.

 

Tomorrow will probably be the last of our snow this season, as the temperature will be rising so I plan on bringing a pan of snow in the house for Sean to “paint” with food colored water and a medicine dropper. We will also be making an Ezra Jack Keats inspired “Snowy Day” illustration of our own. Sean will use crayons to draw a picture of his favorite snowy day activity (with the help of mommy) and then he will use water color paints to wash over his drawing.

If you and your little one would like to join us in our snowy day activities checkout the author’s webpage for a free read aloud, games, and activities for the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.

http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org/the-snowy-day-fun-and-games/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smitten with Mittens

Missing Mitten Mystery

Baby it’s STILL cold outside, so we’re still indulging in chilly stories. This week we’ve been smitten by mittens… Missing Mitten Mystery that is! This Steven Kellogg story tells of little Annie’s search for her missing red mitten. She retraces her steps from the day and daydreams of places her mitten could be, only to discover it in an unlikely place.

The missing mitten was Annie’s 5^th one she had lost, so before reading the book I “hid” 5 red paper mittens around the playroom. After we read the story I had Sean hunt for all 5 mittens and then put them in numerical order.

 
 

 

Next, Sean and I played a mitten memory game. Very simple, I just cut out mitten shapes from various scrapbook papers in pairs. Then like any traditional memory game we flipped the mittens upside down and took turns flipping them over to try to find matching patterns.

 

Annie’s missing mitten was found, as the heart, in the snowman that she built with her friends earlier in the day. The final project was a snowman puppet. Sean’s grandparents had taken him to the Atlanta Center for Puppetry Arts last week to see a play about a snowman that fell in love with a stove; he was given a snowman kit to make his own puppet. We used the template provided and I let Sean decorate it to his liking.

Extending stories for toddlers and preschool aged children is fun and easy. I always preview the story first and find some element of the story that I can connect with art, math, science, movement, colors, vocabulary, or letters. It doesn’t take much to make meaningful learning through play, reading, and art.