Water play is always a huge hit, and this fun sensory bin has an added surprise element that will keep your little one entertained!

To make cloudy water:

1. Add water to a bin

2. Mix in the food coloring of choice

3. Add just enough corn starch to make the water opaque and mix

Next, add in loose parts and have your child search the water to find the pieces and sort them by color! Add in tweezers or scoops to help develop fine motor skills. We used Sorting Surprise Picnic Baskets for this bin!

We’ve talked about essential milestones for three-, four-, and five-year-olds, but the growth doesn’t stop there! Big kids are tackling some important tasks and becoming more independent with every passing day. From academic achievements to physical growth and development, the middle childhood years of six and seven can be exciting. Remembering that every child learns and grows at their own pace, read on to learn what your big kid might be doing over the next 12-24 months!

Social-Emotional Skills

Sixes and sevens are building their confidence and, in turn, becoming even more independent from their family members and caregivers. You can encourage their independence by assigning age-appropriate responsibilities and applauding their efforts to master things on their own, no matter the outcome. Over the next two years, your big kid is also likely:

• Becoming more compassionate, able not just to recognize emotions but to empathize, as well
• Making authentic connections, enabling them to make and keep good friends
• Cooperating with others while performing a task, playing a game, or working with a sports team
• Understanding fairness and rewards that are based on better or worse performance or effort

Language Skills

Speaking in complete sentences, your big kid can express themselves clearly, share thoughts and opinions verbally, and may even start to express themselves clearly in written form. They’ll also be working on:

• Building their vocabularies – to the tune of five to 10 new words a day
• Their sense of humor! Advanced language skills bring a better understanding of jokes and puns
• Proper punctuation in letters and other written communications (although not in texts!)
• Taking turns speaking – learning not to interrupt can’t come soon enough

Cognitive Skills

First graders are working on addition and subtraction, writing and spelling, shapes and measurement, etc. Practicing at home will help, especially with:

• Reading! Reading skills are blooming, so be sure to have plenty of books and magazines on hand
• Telling time days, learning the days of the week, and the months of the year
• Skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s and working with math manipulatives
• Counting coins and adding their sums

Physical Skills

Your six- or seven-year-old is getting a better feel for the things they enjoy and maybe pursuing hobbies and showing an interest in different sports. At this age, your child may be mastering:

• Passing and catching a ball by throwing or kicking
• Dancing to the rhythm and beat of their favorite music
• Riding a two-wheeled bike, which requires balance, coordination, and confidence
• Drawing, painting, and writing more clearly (a sign of solid fine motor skills)

Your support makes a world of difference in your child’s development, so keep reading, talking, playing educational games, counting change at the store, asking their opinion, and telling them how capable they are.

Use pattern block shapes to make a heart! Then count how many of each shape you used to make the heart. 

Print the Activity Here!

Whether you’ve seen enough snow to last a lifetime or would love to find a few flurries on your front porch, making your snowstorm is a seriously excellent science project, perfect for snow days and sunny play dates alike. Learn how science plays a role in your winter wonderland!

Materials

• Splashology!™ Water Lab
• Vegetable or baby oil
• White paint
• Glitter
• Alka Seltzer
• Clear jar or container – Mason jars are perfect

Getting Started

1. Start by pouring water into your jar until you’ve got about a ½ inch in the bottom.
2. Next, add a tablespoon or two white paint to the water—no need to stir.
3. Then, slowly pour your oil into the water mixture until your jar is almost full. Note that vegetable oil will turn your snowstorm a little bit yellow, while baby oil will keep it clear. Be sure to show your kiddos that the oil and water are not mixing.
4. Let your kids shake a bit of silver glitter into the jar. Ask them how they might go about making their snow and how they’d make that snowstorm – they’ll probably come up with some pretty great ideas!
5. Finally, break an Alka Seltzer tablet into a few large pieces and drop the first piece into the jar. Sit back, and watch the snow swirl! When the storm subsides, drop another piece in to get things started again.

The Science Behind the Snow

How does it work, you wonder? Well, there are a few different scientific principles at play here: First, you probably know that water and oil don’t mix. This is because water molecules (groups of atoms stuck together) are more attracted to other water molecules than oil molecules, so they stick together instead of socializing. Second, oil is also less dense than water, which means it will always float on top of the water’s surface. Third, Alka Seltzer tablets are made of baking soda and citric acid. Water activates a reaction between the acid and the baking soda, making it fizz and bubble. These bubbles of water and white paint push their way through the heavy oil to the surface of the jar, causing a snowstorm effect. When the bubbles pop, the water and paint sink back down to the bottom of the jar, where they started. The result looks like swirling snow!

Best of all, because the oil and water will never mix, you can reactivate your snowstorm any time you like – just pull it out, pop in another Alka Seltzer tablet, and watch it snow! How’s that for smart? 

Check out this experiment on Instagram! Follow us @learningresources

You may think your preschooler—or even your toddler—is too young for physics but think again! Little kids love explore and are constantly testing their own theories to help them understand the world around them. What will happen if they push the bowl over the edge of the highchair, for example? In addition to helping them make sense of their surroundings and gain a better understanding of how things work, exploring simple scientific principles early on lays the foundation for a future interest in STEAM learning, including science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics. Read on for four fun ways to start talking physics with your kids, today!

1. Drop a Block! Introduce the concept of gravity by dropping a variety of differently sized objects to show your kids that everything falls. What goes up must come down! Why? There’s a force that draws all things to the ground and this force is called gravity. Gravity is what keeps your kiddo’s feet on the floor and what brings them back to the floor, no matter how light they are or how high they jump.
2. Roll a Ball! Introduce the concepts of motion, inertia, and friction with a little ball game. Sit down facing your child and place a ball between you. Does it move? No. Why? Because it’s impacted by inertia, a rule that says things will keep on doing what they’re already doing unless something happens to them that puts them in motion. So, give the ball a gentle push. Now it moves! How far does it go? What happens if you push it harder? Does it travel farther? What makes it stop? Friction does! Friction is what happens when two things rub against each other. In this case, the friction caused by the surface you are rolling your ball on causes resistance to the ball’s motion. So, the less friction, the farther your ball will roll. What would happen if you rolled your ball on ice instead of carpet?
3. Float a Fork! Now that your kids understand the concept of force, you can introduce buoyancy and density! Fill a tub with water and add a variety of objects. Why does a rock sink when a plastic spoon floats? Because water is a force that pushes against an object in it. If the object is less dense than the water, it floats. If it’s denser than the water, it sinks! Okay, so what’s density? Simply put, density refers to how compact an object is, or how close the insides of an object are to each other. If they’re very close, they’re very dense. If they’re more spread out, with room for air in between, they’re not very dense. Aluminum foil is a great way to demonstrate this concept. Ball one sheet of foil loosely and another tightly, drop them in the water, and see what happens.
4. Make a Simple Machine! And we mean simple! Use a book to make a ramp and roll a marble down. Stack a few books and use a butter knife to make a lever and lift one of the books. Use a shoelace to lift a small bucket of sand over the park railing – voila, a pulley!

Play first, then explain the concept in the simplest terms, using the proper vocabulary and soon your sweetie will be a full-fledged scientist!

Level up snow play with a colorful science experiment! Ice Balloons are fun to play with and easy to teach kids how water turns to ice. Even if you don't have snow, this experiment is still fun to do using a freezer! Ice balloons are simply frozen water balloons. Once you peel the balloon away and are left with a superb solid ball of ice, add color and level up the magic factor of this experiment!

Get kiddos involved in the whole experience by using the Splashology Water Lab Set! Splashology has all the tools you need to take science discovery into uncharted waters. Encourage them to use the different beakers and tools to mix the colors and fill the balloons!

Once the balloons are frozen, discuss the science behind the water freezing.
- Take temperatures in each location and how long it takes each ice balloon to freeze.
- Have the kids describe the ice balls. How do they feel? What do they look like? What shape are they? Do they roll? Are they heavy or light?
- You can also bring the ice balls inside to let them melt in a bowl. Time how long it takes for the water to return to its previous state (liquid).

Can you believe it is already the 100th day of school? This is an exciting time in the elementary classroom! Whether your student is in-person, virtual, or hybrid, this is still a celebration of academic achievement. Take a look at these activities that will help celebrate your student's 100th day!

Math

In the elementary years, developing basic numeracy skills is a critical component of math instruction. With that in mind, it’s easy to see how the 100th day of class is a great opportunity to test those skills in a fun and exciting ways. Here are just a few examples:

• Count 100 with Snap Cubes! Easy for little hands to connect and twist apart. Great for counting to 100 by ones and tens, grouping, and one-to-one correspondence.
• The Hundred Activity Mat is a great hands-on math tool that will get all your students movin’ and groovin’ with math!
• Count to 100 with Money Activity Set 2. Realistic bills and coins will help your child learn how to add, subtract, and make changes.
• Estimation Station. Challenge your kid's estimation skills with this fun estimation station math invitation. 
• Sing, move, dance, and count your way to 100 with these 6 YouTube videos.

Gym

Get kiddos up and moving with 100 themed activities! Let's get moving:

• Get the whole body moving with 100 jumping jacks or 100 giant steps around the house or even outside.
• 100 Days of School workout. Enjoy a fun workout for you and your kiddos on the 100th day of school!

Language Arts

Incorporate reading and language arts activities that center on this all-important number with these ideas:

• Read, write, and sort 100 words! Students can play independently to test their skills or pair up to compete against a partner, drawing words and using them in a sentence.
• Incorporate a “100 days”–themed book into your daily read-aloud time to practice comprehension skills while counting to 100. Check out these recommended book lists from Apples4theteacher.com and This Reading Mama for a few ideas.

Writing

The opportunities that this day presents to test your students’ writing skills! Try one of these activities with your students:

• Have kids draw pictures and/or write answers to questions like, “What would you do with $100?” “How could you take care of 100 puppies?” “What if you were 100 feet tall? or “What will the world be like when you’re 100 years old?” Let each student choose which question to answer.
• Write out 100 sight words with Sight Words Swat!

STEM

There are tons of fun STEM challenges that inspire critical thinking for your kiddos. Check out these great examples:

• Code with Botley 2.0! Challenge your little coder to build a coding sequence with 100 steps.
• Use 100 pieces of Gears! Gears! Gears!^® Movin' Monkeys^™ Building Set to build a moving jungle playground.
• Weigh-in on 100. Use a classroom scale to determine the weight of 100 dried beans, 100 counters, 100 pennies, or anything else.
• Build a cup tower. Keep things interesting by tasking your students with building the tallest tower, or make it a speed challenge by timing your learners. See if anyone successfully uses 100 cups.

Looking for more ways to celebrate the 100th day of school? You can find all of these ideas (and more) on our 100 Days of School - Virtual Celebration Pinterest Board and It’s the 100th Day of School Blog!

Do you have a child who loves small world play? Small worlds are fantastic for nurturing children's imagination from a young age. This kind of play provides them with an opportunity to explore new materials, act out scenarios from real life, build language, practice social skills, and gain an understanding of the world. Small world play is also great to do independently or in a group. After the small world play is over, build up early sorting and critical thinking skills as kiddos sort and match! The opportunities for building new skills with these Mini Must-Haves!