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Drinking Water Like a Dog

Put down a towel. Fill a bowl with water. Kneel down and try to drink like a dog by lapping up the water.

It's hilarious and fun. Try it with your kids today!

Imagination: What would you do if you found a pot of gold?

Ask your child what they would do if they found a pot of gold. Where would it be? At the end of a rainbow? In a cave? What would they do next? Look for leprechauns, unicorns, or dragons? Keep asking them questions about the setting, what other things they might find, what they would do with the gold, where would they keep it? Let them explore this idea and ask questions to provoke other ideas

#imagination exercise #imagining with kids

Finding shapes: Circles

Ask your child to find as many things as they can that are circles. Use different vocabulary to describe the shapes (round, circular, sphere, etc.). If your child points to an object that is not a circle talk about the things that make it some other shape like the number of sides or points.

#finding shapes #finding circles

Tracing and building with imagination

Find a collection of things in different shapes and sizes around your house that are smaller than a piece of paper. Allow your child to place the items on the paper and trace around the shape. After removing the object, ask your child what the shape looks like. What can they make with that shape or what things in their world look like that shape. Have them complete the drawings by using their imaginations.

#tracing objects #imagination #creating pictures

Size: name 10 things larger than your tv

See if your child can name 10 things larger than your television set (if you don't have one of those substitute with something else in your house). Write them down. Can you come up with 15? 20? See how many more things you can think of.

#bigger or smaller?#size activity

Pencil & Paper: What can you find in the sky?

Get a pencil and paper and ask your child to draw things you can find in the sky. See how many they come up with. Brainstorm after to see if there are other things you think of.

Send us your drawings! We would love to see and post them!

#pencil and paper #drawing activity #drawing your world #kids drawing #kids drawing activity

Counting and Exercise

How many hops does it take to get from the front door to the bathroom?

How many steps does it take to get from the bathroom to the tree in the backyard?

How many baby steps does it take to get from the tree in the backyard to the garage?

How many skips does it take to get from the garage to the kitchen table?

Do the first couple then let your child decide where to go next and how they want to travel (hops, steps, jumps, etc). Let them estimate how many it will take. Compare their estimate to the actual number it took. Was the actual more or less than their estimate?

#counting #exercise #exercise and learning #exercise and counting

Is your child having trouble with a certain sound?

Make a game around it!

A certain someone at our house has a hard time with the s sound. So we made a game called "Snakes and Squirrels." Each person playing takes turns being the snake who runs around trying to get the squirrels (everyone else). The snake says "I'm the snake and I'm going to get you squirrels" then runs around hissing like a snake "sssssssssssssss". The child gets lots of practice on that hard sound in a fun way. Everyone gets some exercise and has some fun!

In the car: The Letter Game

Look outside the car at signs, addresses, license plates, on the sides of trucks, on bumper stickers to find the whole alphabet in order. Look for As, then Bs, then Cs, then Ds, and so on. Take turns trying to find them to give younger children a chance.

#alphabet #car activities #car activities for kids #finding letters #in the car #learning letters #learning the alphabet #letters

Talk to your child about lights and signs that can show them what they need to do. What do you do when the light is green? What do you do when the light is red? How do you know when it's safe to cross the street? What does the "walk sign" look like? What other icons are used in walk signs?

At home (or in the park), play the "Red light green light" game with them (basically, the kids run around and when you say "red light" they have to stop and when you say "green light" they keep going).

#traffic signals #traffic lights #walk signs #crossing the street #safety crossing the street #when to cross the street #red light #green light #red light green light #safety games

In the car: learning about gauges

Gauges can be fun and interested for kids. Talk to them about what each gauge in the dashboard of your car is. What does it measure? When you're driving see if your child can figure out what speed you're moving. Ask them how much gas you have or how much gas you need when you stop at the gas station. Next time you take a trip reset the trip meter so they can see how many miles away something is. Let them guess before you start the journey. Write it down and see who's estimate was the closest.

#in the car #stuff to do in the car #car activities #learning about gauges #teaching children about guages #measurements #measuring #estimating #estimates #how many #how much

In the car: The Number Game

Look outside the car at signs, addresses, license plates to find numbers in order. Look for 1s, then 2s, then 3s, then 4s, and so on. Take turns trying to find them to give younger children a chance. Involve everyone in the car.

#in the car #car activities #the number game #counting #finding numbers #car games

In the car: Learning about signs and shapes

The next time your in the car with your child, talk about the signs you pass along the way. Talk about what they mean and how colors, shapes, and words represent different things. Concentrate on finding signs of certain colors. Then concentrate on finding signs of certain shapes.

Color Meanings:

Green = guide or directional information

Red = stop, yield, do not enter, wrong way

Blue = motorist services guides, handicap parking

Orange = construction warning

Yellow = general warning

White = regulatory

Black = regulatory

Shape Meanings:

Octagon = Stop

Diamond = Warning

Rectangle (green) = Generally gives you an indication of direction or where you are

Rectangle (white) = Generally gives regulatory information. ie. speed, do not enter, etc.

Square (blue)= Generally directs you to commonly needed services. ie. phone, hospital, restrooms, etc.

Triangle = yield

What other shapes and colors can you find? What are your kids favorite road signs?

#in the car #driving activities #signs #shapes #road signs #colors #learning about signs #learning about road signs #learning in the car #road sign meanings

Show your child how to cut out a symmetrical heart out of paper.

First draw the half heart on the side of the fold. Then cut along the lines you made. Open your paper and see the heart.

Explore the idea further.

What happens if you cut on the side that doesn't have the fold.

What other shapes can you make by folding the paper in half?

Use the link to the blank calendar we made above or use one that you already have.

If you use the blank calendar you can work with your child to create themes for the month, schedule fun activities and holidays, and let them hang them in their room or somewhere at their level.

Talk about the months and the days of the week. You can also use the calendar to talk about seasons or track the weather with them. My kids love looking or stepping outside to investigate the weather for the day!

#calendar #month #day #year #2012 calendar #day of the week #months of the year #january #february #march #april #may #june #july #august #september #october #november #december #seasons #weather #calendaring for kids

Playing with the letter F

Start by saying the letter f followed by the sound. Do this several times. Then start saying words that start with the letter f. See if your child can think of some. For the rest of the day, when you come across a word that starts with f make a point to repeat it and make the f sound.

#letter #letters #f #the letter f #sounds #words #beginning sounds

Find Patterns in Everyday Life

Show your child some examples of patterns. Now see if you can find patterns in your home, in their bedroom, on their clothes, on walls, on furniture, in their books, when you're out and about, etc.

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