Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Eye Droppers
One of our favorite fine motor activities is using eye droppers
. We have a couple of different ways we use them.
Here you can see the kids have a few different colors of water and are dripping them onto coffee filters. Once these dry, they make pretty circles to hang up.
In addition to how great this is for building fine motor skills, this also offers the opportunity to experiment and talk about why the water spreads. The water spreads on the flat parts first, but slowly it will climb up the higher parts. I love when I can add in a little Science to an art project. We were also able to talk about what happens when the colors meet and start mixing.
Another fun activity that I borrowed from their Montessori school is moving all of the water from one small container to the other. These are small bowls and while at school they use glass, these are plastic. The kids may be great at taking care of their equipment, but Mommy is a klutz and tends to break or get hurt with glass. This takes a lot of patience and really builds those finger muscles that will later be important for writing, typing, playing piano, using chopsticks, and many other things in life.
These red trays are great. I got them at IKEA when they were on sale for 1/2 of their regular price. The kids can open and close them and they are the perfect height for doing art work over the tile. At the top they have two circles for cups (or for marker lids) and one long tray that we use for markers/crayons so they aren't rolling over the kids paper.
I also have visions of eating breakfast in bed on one of these trays, but since I refuse to get up and make breakfast before getting back in bed I don't think it will happen. haha
. We have a couple of different ways we use them.
Here you can see the kids have a few different colors of water and are dripping them onto coffee filters. Once these dry, they make pretty circles to hang up.
In addition to how great this is for building fine motor skills, this also offers the opportunity to experiment and talk about why the water spreads. The water spreads on the flat parts first, but slowly it will climb up the higher parts. I love when I can add in a little Science to an art project. We were also able to talk about what happens when the colors meet and start mixing.
Another fun activity that I borrowed from their Montessori school is moving all of the water from one small container to the other. These are small bowls and while at school they use glass, these are plastic. The kids may be great at taking care of their equipment, but Mommy is a klutz and tends to break or get hurt with glass. This takes a lot of patience and really builds those finger muscles that will later be important for writing, typing, playing piano, using chopsticks, and many other things in life.
These red trays are great. I got them at IKEA when they were on sale for 1/2 of their regular price. The kids can open and close them and they are the perfect height for doing art work over the tile. At the top they have two circles for cups (or for marker lids) and one long tray that we use for markers/crayons so they aren't rolling over the kids paper.
I also have visions of eating breakfast in bed on one of these trays, but since I refuse to get up and make breakfast before getting back in bed I don't think it will happen. haha
Friday, January 25, 2013
Winter Zoo Trip
Here's a great travel tip: The best time to visit the zoo is, of course, winter. The animals are out and active and the humans stay home so it's not crowded! This may not apply if you live in a really cold area, but visiting our zoo in the Summer when it's over 100F outside is awful and yet, that's when it's the most crowded.
Normally the giraffes only get this close if you have food. We are too cheap to buy the food, but without the crowds the animals are just happy to see people.
This animal is so cute we ended up taking him home. haha
We went walking along the giraffe area and they were following us. Sweet daughter was convinced it's because they wanted to play with her. She didn't understand why we wouldn't just set her on the other side of the fence.
Did I mention other people stay home when it's cold? It's wonderful! The kids can run in front of us without getting lost in a crowd, we can buy lunch without waiting in a line, and it's just more fun to feel like you are on a private tour of the zoo.
Yes, this is an elephant rump. If you hit it firmly you can hear different calls elephants make. Normally this attraction is so crowded my kids don't get a turn, but in the winter they can play for as long as they would like.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
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