Mirrors, Sand, and Symmetry

Last year my mother bought a butterfly kit for my son from Insect Lore.  Unfortunately, the live caterpillars did not survive.  We recently purchased a new batch - perfect for a spring/summer project.  The entire experience was a huge hit!  We checked out books from the library, watched short videos about the life cycle of a butterfly, and took advantage of opportunities to play, create, and explore.  Once the butterflies emerged, we talked about symmetry.....which led to this fun activity.  I don't have a lot of pictures because it was pretty spontaneous - as the activity tray was already conveniently full of sand and held the mirrors as well.

Using the activity tray with mirrors, I showed him how to draw half of a butterfly in order to create reflected symmetry.  Then he tried.....

My son's butterfly....quite impressive considering he rarely to never draws....ever!

"Mommy, I need to draw the caterpillar in the chrysalis, too."

He drew a sun, too!

The fun continued and has been revisited since (sorry, no pics)....drawing shapes, clouds, rockets, and a flying ladybug.

**Colored sand can be purchased on amazon or in the craft section of Michaels craft store.**

PAHM AMAZON STORE

- AK (MESE, MECD)

Toddler Play Dough Play

I posted a while back on Infant Play Dough Play.  You can see that post here...

http://www.playathomemomllc.com/2012/06/infant-play-dough-play.html

I thought I would update to show Y'all where we are at now.  :-)  

Play-doh is probably the number one used medium in our house.  All three of my girls really enjoy it and play with it on a daily basis.  

To make your own Play Dough please see this recipe here...

http://www.playathomemomllc.com/2011/07/homemade-playdough.html

Here are some ideas for play.  My youngest is now 17 months.  

Homemade Dough

 We first talk about the texture, smell, temperature, etc.

We often use kool-aid or some other sort of extract to give the dough a yummy smell! 

The dough right after cooking is warm to the touch.  You can also throw it in the refrigerator for cool dough.  

Some of the tools that are in my youngest's play dough bucket. 

Toothpicks, beads, clay hammer, "pizza cutter", rolling pin, a few shapes, animals, etc. 

Using her cutters to make circles.

Play Dough Invitation

 The container on the left is pony beads and the container on the right is recycled bottle caps.  

To see a video on how this invitation plays out click here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyPhpqsVE-E

Pushing the beads in the dough

Counting

Increasing Vocabulary

We have a red turtle and a red penguin!  

My youngest loves nursery rhymes, singing etc.  

We often sing along to our dough creations.

"Twinkle Twinkle Litte Star"

"5 Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day"

Smooshing the play dough balls

 If you had a chance to check out the infant play... this has been a favorite of hers since she was 7 months old!  

Big, Bigger, Biggest

 RL 

Glass Gem Compilation

Glass gems have been a staple in our playrooms since our children were 6 months old.  We love how one "toy" can become so many different things.  Below, you can see some ways that we have explored them.  

Glass gems can be purchased at any craft store, Dollar Tree, Walmart, Target, etc.
**They present a choking hazard and should only be used with young children under close supervision.**

Most of these pictures have a blog post with more detailed information.  To see the entire post, click on the links below the pictures.  

Creative Play

Use gems with our letter/number templates.
LETTER/NUMBER TEMPLATES

Enlightening Math
ENLIGHTENING MATH

Sorting

Sensory Bin
SENSORY BINS

Illuminated Ornaments
ILLUMINATED ORNAMENTS

Color Recognition

Creative Play on the Light Panel

Great Big Giant Tree of Light
TREE OF LIGHT

Glass gems on a mirror.


Framed mirrors can be purchased at Dollar Tree.  

Glass Sculptures
GLASS SCULPTURES

Window Art
WINDOW ART

Glass Gems on clear plates. 

Clear plates can be purchased at Dollar Tree in a pack of 8.
Great for classrooms!  

Glass Pumpkin
GLASS PUMPKIN

Exploring Spacial Patterns
EXPLORING SPATIAL PATTERNS

Airplane Adventure

My days are often filled with the "vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv" sounds of airplanes flying around the playroom, garage, living room, etc.  My son LOVES all things airplanes.  We had a left over piece of wood in the playroom and one day my son took it out and sat on it, pretending to fly a plane.  I asked him if he would like to make some airplane controls (yes!).  We started by flipping through his airplane book making note of all the dials and knobs in the cockpit, then it was time for a trip to Walmart.  Once we found the aisle with switches and knobs I let him choose which ones he wanted for his controls.  When we got home, we created this - together.

We simply used screws to attach everything.  The wooden pieces have holes in the bottom, so we screwed in a screw (leaving some of it sticking out) and stuck the wooden pieces onto the screw.

The wood pieces can be purchased HERE.

"Flying" his airplane


Since posting the picture above over a year ago, a steering wheel (AKA apple cutter) has been added - by him - as a steering wheel.  He uses his controls often in our imaginary adventures.  They are a HUGE hit!



Click HERE for a video of one of his adventures.

Incorporating his controls into his space ship.

Hard at PLAY!

His space ship!  LOVE!

- AK (MESE, MECD)

Glued Frames

I wasn't really sure if I should post this one since it's so similar to a couple of our posts.  If you haven't already, check out these fun ideas that inspired this...

WINDOW ART

GLUE CATCHERS

We love working with Dollar Tree picture frames.  I'm not sure what it is about them but my girls love using them.  For a buck you can't go wrong!  They make wonderful gifts and there is so much you can do with them.  

Since my girls enjoy doing the glue catchers so much, I wanted to give them something a little more permanent.  They just like to pour the glue on, but this is a great activity to do with an older child as well.  They can really get creative!  

The invitation

All you have to do is pop on the backing of the frame and leave the glass in.  Make sure you get the frames that have the little tabs to hold the glass in place.

I put a piece of white paper behind the frame so they could see a little better. 

The frames from Dollar Tree we used.  The one of left is ready to go.  

After you take the backing off, use a hot glue gun to seal the frame (I sealed the backside).  You may want to do two layers so it doesn't leak.  

Turn the frame around and start gluing!  

For the glue I used condiment bottles from Walmart (99 cents each).  Fill them with white glue and either food coloring or liquid water colors and shake shake shake.  

My 3 year old adding her glue.

Here is my 4 year old.

"I'm going to make a rainbow!"  

Squeezing the glue on.

Ready to dry. 

Ready to dry.

Up in the window!

These took about 3 days to dry completely.  

To hang them we used super glue to attach a couple suction cups... Also from Dollar Tree. 

RL  

Getting Creative with Push Pins

**You can purchase the letter templates at the bottom of this post**

My girls are always in my husbands office playing with the push pins on his cork board.  The other day my oldest started making some designs with them.  It's always great to see their minds at work!  During our next trip to the store we picked up some extra cork board and push pins.  We found some in Walmart (they also have them in target).... 4 boards for $6.00.  They are a little thin, so we just put two boards together.  We placed a piece of white paper on top of the board for a base.  My girls seem to do well with white backgrounds.  It also creates a fun print when you take the pins out!  I have no clue why I didn't take a picture of that (mental note to add one later).  There are so many different push pins out there.  We found some fun things on Amazon... butterflies, ducks, stars, etc.  They haven't arrived yet, but we are excited.  :-)  The pictures pretty much speak for themselves..

My 3 year old adding pins.  She usually HATES stuff like this.  It was a big hit for her!

My 4 year old

Her person taking a dog for a walk.

She always falls into such deep concentration.  A perfectionist for sure!

"I need to go put this up in my bedroom by my bed."

Warning... have plenty of pins/cork/foam/cardboard ready.  Neither of my girls wanted to disassemble their work.  

My oldest made an apple tree and a flower....still a work in progress.

My 3 year old working on the letter templates we created 

***Please see below for more information on the templates.*** 

Its always great when you find something both siblings love!

                         

WE ALSO CREATED PUSH PIN ART ON THE LIGHT PANEL USING TRANSLUCENT MATERIALS AND TRANSLUCENT PUSH PINS. 

We used a frame to create a "canvas" for the light panel push pin activities.  We used a cut piece of shower curtain liner for this one (Dollar Tree), but some other materials we thought might work are:  a piece of tarp (the same tarp we used to make our WATERBED), a page protector, panty hoes, or maybe even a piece of transparency paper.

Another thing to note is the depth of the frame.  It needs to be deep enough to accommodate the push pins.  I actually used the frame to a shadow box here.

wrap frame with chosen material

use a staple gun to affix material to frame

ready to go

The invitation - including transparent push pins as well as a new twist - sewing push pins with beads.

open ended push pin art

a truck

a better view of the sewing push pins through beads

our push pin circle sheet letters 

There are several options to stick the pins in.  After we ran out of cork board I searched the garage.  Any cardboard box will do.  

A soda case box

                           

An old postal box

                           

Since my girls loved this activity and LOVE their sticker circle sheets that you can see

HERE,

we decided to create new templates for the push pins. 

The document is 27 pages in length and includes the following:

UPPER CASE LETTERS:

LETTER/NUMBER SEARCH:

For this sheet, you write in the letters and numbers and create the KEY at the bottom.

LOWER CASE LETTERS:

NUMBERS 1-10:

COUNTING SHEETS 1-20

SHAPES:

BLANK SHEET FOR PATTERNS, DESIGNS, CREATIVITY:

COLOR MATCH:

The templates also work great with Q-tip painting....

and finger painting.

You can also make a busy book.

These are wonderful for a road trip, a gift for a new mommy with older children, or just to keep handy to pull out if you need to cook dinner, take a shower etc.

The book above contains both the push pin document and our letter/number templates.  I added Q-tips, paint, label stickers, and I am going to add a bingo dabber as well.  

The total price for the document is $5.00

It will be emailed to you from ejunkie and you will be able to download it instantly.  

To add Push Pin document  click on the Add To Cart Below.

This document will work with push pins and Q-Tip painting

To add the Letter/Number Template click on the Add to Cart Button Below

This document will work with Label Stickers, Bingo Dabbers, Bingo Chips, etc.