Materials

• Wax paper
• Tape
• Plastic eye droppers (these can be purchased inexpensively at a drugstore) or pipettes (you can buy these online or at educational and/or science stores)
• Straws, condiment containers
• Food colouring (red, yellow & blue)
• 3 small containers or more if you are working with a large table and/or many children
• Water
• Smocks
• Cloths to clean up any spills

Directions

• Prior to staring we read these books:  The Great Blueness and Other Predicaments (Arnold Lobel) & The Color of Things (Vivienne Shalom) to get us thinking about colour.

• Tape down (overlapping them) strips of wax paper to cover your table.

• Don your smocks.

• Add food colouring to water, making three small containers of red, yellow and blue.  (With young children I wouldn’t fill them too full.)

• Put droplets of the coloured water onto the wax paper and have fun mixing the colours.  (e.g., blow the drops towards each other with the straws, create images with the water drops, race each other blowing droplets across the table, see if you can move them with your condiment squirter).

• When you are finished, wipe your water droplets up, allow your wax paper to dry and re-use it for another project such as: http://make-it-your-own.com/sun-catcher-peacock/

Purpose

• Developing a beginning understanding of colour theory .

Safety Notes

• Some tape may leave a residue when removed so you might want to use a picnic table or craft table.
• Food colouring may leave a stain, so keep this in mind in regards to the surface you work on, cloths you use for clean-up etc. and be sure to wear a smock.

Materials

• Fabric, felt or construction paper
• Scissors/ Fabric scissors
• Blanket

Directions

• Using felt and fabric scissors or construction paper, cut out things for your picnic (sandwiches, fruit and veggies, tea cups etc.)

•  Spread out a blanket for your picnic.

• Have a fun afternoon with your stuffies!

Purpose

• Re-creating familiar events.
• Imaginative play.

Safety Notes

• Use scissors with supervision.

“I find it SO interesting that it was likely the iPad games and puzzles he plays that influenced/inspired this idea. And that he is applying the “digital” ideas/rules/consequences to an “analog” game. Didn’t it used to be the other way around back in the day?”

As parents we are always hopeful that there is a transfer of knowledge from the screen into a real life application and this was a good example of such.  

Our children quite liked this concept and built their own maze right away.  We were very grateful for O. in sharing his idea and sent him a “maze like” game that we are learning and that my former students used to love.  Have an idea?  We would love for you to share it with us.  

Materials

• Building Blocks (LEGO, Duplo)
• Building Plate (for your base)
• Marble

Directions

• On your building plate, create a maze.  Depending on the age of your child, you can vary the complexity.  This might include several routes to the end, dead ends etc.

• Put your marble in at your starting point and tip your plate to move it around the maze, trying to get it to the end point.

• O.’s mom told us that he included all sorts of details such as adding his little LEGO people and various accompanying rules (if your marble hits a person, back to the start…).  Thus, you can see that this activity has amazing potential for personalization and inventiveness.

Extensions:

• Why not create a maze for a friend?  Or work on a maze collaboratively?

• Could you map out an idea on grid paper and then transfer it into building?

• How do your designs improve with each maze?  What did you learn with each iteration?

Purpose

• Developing spatial sense.

Safety Notes

• Marbles and small building blocks can be a choking hazard and should not be accessible to children 0-3 or who tend to put things in their mouths.
• No one likes to step on LEGO or vacuum it up…be sure to clear your floor space (or use a table) when done!
• When our neighbourhood friends realized that our son had chipped his tooth (well maybe teeth…) on LEGO they brought by a handy separator tool made by LEGO.  Such a great idea!