Tagged with 'winter'

For this cute penguin craft, you will need:

• Room temperature butter
• Light corn syrup
• Powdered sugar
• Salt
• Food coloring of your choice
• Feel free to add sprinkles for the eyes or their cold-weather accessories

• Roll out some wax paper on a flat surface to make the dough.
• Add one teaspoon of butter to a bowl. This is no time to substitute – you will need the fat from the butter to make the dough come together. Margarine will not work.
• Add one tablespoon of light corn syrup. Not only will the corn syrup provide moisture, but it will also prevent the crystallization of the powdered sugar you will add in a few steps.
• Add 1/8 teaspoon of salt.
• Using a fork, mash the salt, corn syrup, and butter together.

• Next, measure out a cup of powdered sugar. Carefully add the sugar to the mixture, spoonful by spoonful, mixing it the entire time you go.
• Grab the dough out of the bowl and begin to knead it with your hands. Form it into a ball.
• Separate the dough into two parts. One part will remain white, while the other will get the food coloring treatment.
• Separate one of the halves again. You can use any food coloring you like for the flippers and head. Black or blue works perfectly. Then choose any color for the penguins’ accessories. Red was used here
• A drop of food coloring will go a long way with this dough. Work it through. Once you’ve completed one color, make sure you wash your hands for the next color!

• Then, squeeze a little dough off to make a beak with some orange food coloring. No orange? What two colors should you combine to make the shade?
• Roll the white dough into a ball for the penguin’s body. Then roll the black or blue dough into a smaller shape for its head.
• Fashion some flippers and a beak, and perhaps use sprinkles for the penguin’s eyes.
• This dough can get soft fast, so after we created our little black-and-white friends, we stuck them in the refrigerator. The kids figured the penguins felt pretty at home in the cold!

• All this penguin talk made them want to break out Penguins on Ice, one of their favorite math games from Learning Resources.
• This cool game helps the kids understand math patterns and sorting. There are little icebergs that the penguins stand on, which can form grids in groups of ten.
• The kids challenge each other by lining up the penguins in order. Taking away penguins or adding them reinforces basic math skills. Hours of fun!

Ever wondered what to do with those fun puffy peanuts you get in packages? We were inspired by prekinders.com to set up this melting snowmen activity, but we added an extra STEM twist by using some of our favorite Learning Resources scientific tools and turning it into an investigation.

Materials needed:

• Primary Science® Jumbo Tweezers
• Primary Science® Jumbo Magnifier
• Primary Science® Jumbo Eyedropper
• Biodegradable packing peanuts
• Tray along with one large bowl and three small bowls
• Water

• Permanent markers (we used acrylic paint markers, but Sharpies will also work)

How the Activity Works

I invited my 3 yr old to come and have a look at what was on the tray. Her first reaction was to fuss over how cute and little the snowmen were! She was very intrigued by them. I then asked a very simple question to start the investigation. I asked her whether she thought that adding water to the snowmen would make them melt or not. She went back and forth on her answer, at one point wondering if they might actually float on the water. She finally decided that she thought they would melt.

It was time to find out if she was right. She took her first snowman and put it in the big bowl. She then used the dropper to gradually add water. She got so excited when the snowman began to melt! It started as little holes but soon enough the markings were floating in the water and the snowman was a pile of mush!

I encouraged her to use the magnifying glass to take a closer look at the snowman, and I asked her to describe what she could see. Even though she is only 3, I think it is such a great opportunity to encourage her to develop fundamental scientific language through play activities like this. She was also exploring lots of great sensory vocabulary as well.

She proceeded to add more of the snowmen to the bowl, also adding more and more water each time. She enjoyed using the Jumbo Tweezers to try and pick up parts of the snowmen. She kept apologizing to them each time they fell apart in her grasp!

This was a great activity for working her fine motor skills, as well as her sensory exploration. She was constantly using the tools to transfer the water and pick up the melted snowmen. Strengthening those little hand muscles through hands-on learning like this is such a great way to prepare your child for writing, without them even realizing it.

She spent ages at the end trying to salvage tiny parts of the snowmen, pouring water from bowl to bowl. Transfer activities have always appealed to her, but the added intrigue of the melting snowmen gave this a really fun scientific twist. We are looking forward to doing it again but next time I will ask her to try and draw her own little snowmen as well.

This is the time of year to be grateful, not wasteful. Used wrapping paper can tend to pile up during this special season of gift giving. Who amongst us hasn’t looked at a trash bag full of giftwrap and shook their head? There’s got to be a better use for all the paper, right? Below are a few clever ideas to get the kids involved in upcycling used gift wrap.

MYOB: Make Your Own Bunting. A delightful holiday design trend for several years now, bunting can be placed around the house to spruce up your season. Cut up your old wrapping paper in triangles using a template, tape it to a string, and have the kids come up with clever phrases, adding some deck to your halls.

Insist Your Toddler Cut Corners. For the toddler set, a whopping pile of paper and a pair of safety scissors is like heaven on Earth. Getting your preschooler practicing this important fine motor skill with all your leftover gift wrap. The paper is thinner, which might spark some cutting confidence. Pile it all up in a sensory bin and let them have at it!

A Little “Thank You” Goes a Long Way. So many presents, so many people to thank! Utilize the season’s remaining wrapping paper by having your kids fashion the cutest homemade thank you cards. This is a great busy activity in the dog days of winter break (you’ll thank us later).

A Place (setting) for Everything… Upcycle wrapping paper to create festive placemats for your holiday table. Not only will your tablescape showcase some extra holiday cheer, clean up will be a snap!

Winter Break Weaving. Paper weaving is a fun activity suitable for many age levels. Shred your remaining wrapping paper into strips. Using an x-acto knife, cut slits into construction paper. Be sure to do this step over an old magazine or cardboard. Weave the strips in and out of the slits. Use the creation for thank you cards, decoration, placemats, or anything where around the house that could use a little extra holiday style.

Exercise Those Engineering Skills This Winter 

Hooray! The holidays are here! Time for snuggly sweaters, snowy sleigh rides, hot apple cider, and… STEM? Yes! Winter break is a great time to slip in some STEM learning and the Learning Resources Playground Engineering & Design Building Set is a great way to do it!

First, a quick refresher on STEM.

STEM is simply a nationwide push to put more emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math in schools, to better prepare our kids for careers in these fields in the future. By exploring these subjects at home, in a playful, low-stress way, you’ll ignite your kids’ curiosity, fuel creative thinking, and problem-solving, and inspire confidence that will carry through to school and support what your kids are learning there.

So, what are you waiting for?

Pour a cup of cocoa, call the kids to the table, and get ready to build your own polar playground!

Open the box, and you’ll find lots of packaged parts and pieces, as well as a set of double-sided instruction cards and a little workbook. Start by unpacking all the pieces in groups and checking out the different playground equipment you and your kids can engineer! You’ll find posts, platforms, gears, connectors, and more – everything you’ll need to design your own simple machines!

Next, choose a card and review the pieces you’ll need to build that structure. Work together to gather them and set them aside. Then follow the photos on the cards to assemble the structure, piece by piece. Once it’s finished, test it out by placing one of the included figures inside.

Now, flip the card to find a building challenge related to that structure. This is a great time to introduce the engineering design process – you know, ask, imagine, plan, create, and improve. Let your little one take the lead on solving the problems on the back of each card – you’ll be impressed with their creative solutions!

Take your time building the different playground pieces. Talk about the process and share some of the science behind the fun. Gravity draws the figure down the inclined slide. Momentum keeps the merry-go-round spinning. You get the idea.

When you’re done with building fun, it’s time to get creative with some playground pretend play! Your kids will love walking the included figures through the playground and helping them try out each piece of equipment.

Building sets like the Playground Engineering & Design Building Set are a great way to engineer some serious STEM skills and to spend a snowy afternoon together.

In fact, there are lots of playful ways to help your kids love learning and develop the skills they need for success. Work a holiday-themed puzzle, dissolve a candy cane, freeze and melt colored ice cubes… There are always ways to learn where you play – especially during the holidays!

The kids’ table is THE place to be this holiday. Allow time for the adults to enjoy seconds at the big table by breaking out some STEM fun with the kids. Mini marshmallow and gumdrop structures are this holiday’s time enhancer–and it couldn’t be easier!

Simple setup + simple materials = BIG scientific impact

You will need:

• Lots of toothpicks
• Gumdrops
• Mini marshmallows

Without realizing it, your kids (and kid guests) will begin to think like engineers who are facing a two-part challenge:

What to make?

How to improve on what you’ve already made?

Begin by challenging kids to create simple structures, like shapes. Try octagons, triangles, ladders, etc. Will these serve as building blocks to something more three-dimensional?

Without the children realizing it, building these gumdrops and marshmallow shapes is a unique way to practice fine motor skills. Dexterity, grasp, and coordination are necessary to construct up, up, up – no matter the age!

Next, watch kids as they critically examine how to improve upon what they’ve already created. What step is needed to take it (literally) to the next level?

What about the structural composition of the connectors? As the kids begin to build, are the marshmallows easier to stab with the toothpick? Which seems to keep your three-dimensional shapes in place better?

As they build, remind children that failure is definitely an option, here. That your shape may shift and your tower may topple! The attempt to rebuild by lessons from their first misstep is just as important of a takeaway.

Lastly–and most delightful to watch as parents–might be the natural drive for table collaboration. “If we attach our structures together, it will be even bigger and better and more interesting!

The possibilities are endless (and so are the fun and laughs!). 

Season’s Greetings from Learning Resources!

There are so many fun new materials for little hands to explore at this time of year. One of my favorite quick-to-set-up activities is to provide my preschooler with a selection of festive loose parts, a few containers or cups, and some Learning Resources, Fine Motor Tools. The freedom to explore in her way always inspires so much creative play.

Materials needed:

• Primary Science® Jumbo Tweezers
• Squeezy Tweezers®
• Large container (we used an IKEA GLIS container)
• Small cups and silicone cupcake liners
• Christmas loose parts - jingle bells, mini bows, and mini presents (all from Dollar Tree)

The Set-Up

This couldn’t be any easier to set up; simply put the materials and fine motor tools in the container! I chose to color code the loose parts and containers as an added sorting element to the tinker box. It is worth noting that, of course, if your little one still mouths items, then avoid any small loose parts in your tinker box as they could be a choking hazard. 

How the Activity Works

Tinker boxes or trays are simply an open-ended selection of materials that encourage your child to experiment and explore. There is no expected outcome or a particular way to play with the materials. Instead, the focus is more on your child having the opportunity to use each material however they wish. The really interesting thing is to see how your child combines the materials and uses them to drive their play.

When my 3-year-old opened the box, she gave the cutest little gasp. She was so excited to get her hands on all these loose parts without any restrictions.

Straight away, she set up some of the cups and started transferring materials. Moving the bells from one place to another may not seem like learning, but so many skills are being developed here.

She was working on her fine motor skills each time she moved a bell and used her senses to explore the materials and then develop a vocabulary to express what she was experiencing.

Adding fine motor tools to a setup like this helps extend the play by adding a different element of challenge. My little one experimented with if she could pick up the various loose parts with each tool. This offered an opportunity for some problem-solving. 

For example, the presents were too big to fit inside the Squeezy Tweezers, so she had to switch to using the Jumbo Tweezers. She also realized after a while that she could fit more than one bell inside the Squeezy Tweezers, which made filling the cups with bells much faster!

Due to the fact that the set contained only three colors- red, green, and gold, there was lots of focused color sorting. This led in turn to an excellent opportunity to work on some counting skills.

As she filled the cupcake liners and cups, she would count the items in. She also then spent time comparing the group sizes of each color. This is such a great early numeracy link as phrases like bigger and smaller and more than and less than were often used.

Have you ever tried using a tinker box with your child? It’s so fascinating to see how they use the materials and combine them with their imaginative play ideas. Using Learning Resources fine motor tools is a great way to extend the play and add an extra challenge to transferring the materials. So much open-ended fun!

Your holiday guests will be delighted as they arrive to your doorstep on a cold night greeted by these frosty, glowing lanterns. Oh what fun it will be when they learn your little scientists created the evening’s entryway décor!

It goes without saying that these lanterns work best in freezing temperatures. Should you choose to use them to light your holiday table, make sure to place them in a bowl for when they begin to melt!

This experiment involves the change of matter from a liquid to a solid (and eventually back to a liquid).

You will need:

• Plastic red cups

• Smaller plastic cups that can fit inside

• Decorations - glitter pipe cleaners, craft pom poms, glitter, pine sprigs, etc.

• Water

• Tape

• Food coloring

• Candles (battery-operated is probably best)

Grab one of your red cups, and twist pipe cleaners up the length of the cup. This part requires some engineering inspiration and small hands. How do you get them to stay up? If you choose, add some craft pom poms. Working on the pom poms to stay suspended in the pipe cleaners also creates a unique challenge. Think!

Next, pull out a long piece of tape and attach it to one side of the cup near the lip. The tape will be the important piece that will hold down the second cup, so it doesn’t float. Basically, have the tape ready before you pour in the water.

Fill the cup about half full with water. Add a few drops of food coloring if you would like at this time.

Place the smaller cup into the bigger, red cup. Pour your water in between the two cups, so it fills until about a half inch below the rim. You’ll want to push down on the smaller cup the entire time because the goal is to have the two rims even with each other.

Secure your second cup in place with the tape.

Place in the freezer overnight.

When you are ready to place your lanterns out for all to enjoy, remove them from the fridge and give yourself about 5 minutes. This is the perfect time to discuss the scientific changes you observe.

• The water is now frozen.

• The frozen water has pushed the small cup up.

• The frozen water has perhaps even changed the shape of the outer cup.

Remove the inner cup with a little tug and turn the red cup upside down to shake out the ice lantern. Time is not on your side handling the frozen lanterns, as they will melt quickly.

Showcase them with a battery-operated candle any place around the house where you’d like to wow your guests!

Who doesn’t love a good snow globe? Each one is a spellbinding combination of swirling, swishing liquid, and falling glitter that is perfect for sensory play. As mesmerizing as they are, did you know that snow globes are actually an experiment regarding the scientific principle of viscosity?

Let’s apply the standard of viscosity by creating a Snowman Snow Globe. We’ll put it together and then explain why it works.

You will need the following:

• A water bottle (a clear glass water bottle was used here)
• Clear glue
• Tap water
• Glitter
• Black tape for the snowman’s top hat
• Markers, paper, and pipe cleaners to make the snowman face
• Craft items for the “floaters” inside the globe, like snowflakes, stars, buttons, or jingle bells

First, let’s get our snow globe looking like a snowman. Using a sharpie marker, draw on the eyes and buttons.

Second, you can draw on the carrot nose, but we used leftover orange sticky craft paper here.

Next, select a pipe cleaner to tie around under his carrot nose for a little scarf.

The man needs a top hat, right? Wrap the cap in black tape for his hat.

Now that he’s dressed and ready to go, squirt the clear glue into the bottle. We added more glue to one of our bottles. Will more thick glue make the glitter move slower or faster?

Next, sprinkle in your glitter and drop in the items that will float.

Now it’s time to watch the snow fly!

So what does viscosity mean for the snow globe?

The viscosity of a fluid is its relative “thickness.” Think of glue or maple syrup. Both are thick and slow. Viscosity is measured by its resistance to a stress factor. In the case of our snow globe, the stress is the water and shaking motion. Compared to the water, it is much thicker, slowing the fall of our glitter, snowflakes, and jingle bells.