Author: admin

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Paper Plate Teddy Bear

Materials
2 Paper plate
Stapler
Bown tempera paint 
White school glue
Shaving cream
Paint brush
Plastic fork
Construction paper
Scissors
Glue stick

Directions
Mix paint by adding equal parts of school glue with shaving cream.  Add brown tempera paint to the mixture. Cut two small circles for the ears out of one of the paper plates.  Staple the ears to the top of the other paper plate. Invite your child to use a sponge brush or regular paint brush to paint the paper plate and ears. Ecourage your child to make the paint thick on the plates.  Once the paint is dry, add details by gluing construction paper onto the plate: meke eyes, inside of the ears, nose, and use a Sharpie marker to make a mouth. 

Read a teddy bear book together!

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Sorting Teddy Grahams

Materials
2 different kinds of teddy grahams (chocolate, honey)
1 plate
2 small containers (we used cupcake baking cups)

Directions
Pour a few of each kind of teddy grahams onto a paper plate. Invite your child to sort the teddy grahams iby color (flavor), placing all the chocolate teddy grahams in one of the cupcake baking cups and all of the honey teddy grahams into the other baking cup. Count each cup. Which one has more? Which one is your child’s favorite teddy graham?

Lesson Extensions 
1. Sort the teddy grahams by front and back. When pouring a few onto the plate, sort into two piles – teddy grahams facing up and teddy grahamns facing down. 
2. Make patterns with the teddy grahams. 

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Sponge Paint on Teddy Bear Shape

Materials
Teddy bear shape – cut from construction paper
Brown Tempera Paint
Construction Paper (small scraps)
Large googly eyes (optional)
Sponge paint brush
Sharpie marker
Scissors
Glue stick

Directions
Cover workspace with newspaper. Place brown paint on a paper plate or small plastic container. Invite your child to use a sponge paint brush and paint the surface of the teddy bear shape. Once the paint has dried, cut a small triangle for the nose, glue on googly eyes (or cut circles for the eyes), and draw a mouth using a Sharpie marker. Display.

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Teddy Bear Sorting

Materials
Variety of teddy bears in various sizes and colors

Directions
Encourage your child to sort the teddy bears in a variety of ways – size (small, medium, large), color, clothing vs. no clothing.  Ask your preschooler if he can think of a new way to sort the teddy bears.

After sorting, curl up with a favorite teddy bear and read a teddy bear story.

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Exploring Fall Leaves

Materials
Fall Leaf Collection
Book: Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

Directions
Read the book, Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert.  Let your child know you are going to go on a leaf hunt and collect a variety of beautiful, colorful autumn leaves.  Once you return from your walk, lay the leaves out on a table to examine, sort, count, and make designs and pictures. Preschool age children will expecially enjoy trying to make faces, animals, and other pictures using the leaves. 

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Playdough and Cheerios

Materials
Ball of playdough (we used brown chocolate scented playdough for Brown Week)
Long pieces of uncooked spaghetti
Cheerios

Directions
Place balls of playdough on a hard surface. Provide uncooked spaghetti and Cheerios. Invite your child to explore with the materials, placing the spaghetti into the playdough and threading Cheerios onto it.  

This is a great activity for practicing eye/hand coordination and strengthening the pincer grasp, which is a fine motor skill needed for writing.

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Shake, Rattle, and Roll (6 months and up)

Materials
Small, emply, clean plastic bottles (spice bottles, make-up remover bottles)
Sand, dried beans, pebbles, cereal, etc.

Directions
Fill the small plastic bottles with various noise-making materials. Secure the top with glue and/or duct tape. Place the containers in front of your baby. Encourage him to pick up and shake the containers.  He will be amazed at the different sounds they make. 

This toy boosts awareness of cause and effect, listening, and helps your baby grow in his sense of rhythm. 

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Kitchen Fun (3 months and up)

Materials
Sets of plastic measuring cups and measuring spoons

Directions
Place the cups and spoons on the floor around your baby. Observe as he reaches to grab the toys.  If his aim isn’t quite accurate yet, place the measuring spoons in his hand and encourage him to hold them. Most likely the spoons or cups will go right in his mouth since gumming and mouthing  objects is how babies learn about the world at this age. 

As your baby manipulates the cups and spoons by dropping them, picking them up, and placing them in his mouth, your baby learns about using his arms and hands. Exploring objects by mouth helps a baby learn about physical properties such as smooth, rough, cold, hard, heavy, and light. 

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Pushing Game (6 months and up)

Materials
Bath towel

Directions
Place your baby on his tummy on a carpeted area. Using a rolled bath towel, give you baby a boost in moving forward by placing the towel or your hands at the end of his feet and let him push against them with his feet. Don’t push, but support his fet with your hands as he inches forward each time. Soon, your baby will be moving down the path toward greater mobility. 

This exercise helps strengthen your baby’s legs and gives him a taste of what it takes to get some forward motion. 

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Roll Me Over

Movement Practice

Materials
Baby blanket

Directions
Place your baby on her stomach or back on one side of a towel or blanket and gently lift it a bit, so she rolls onto her side. Or, gently push her back and forth so she learns how to swing her weight correctly. You may need to help your baby lift her arm out of the way as she starts to roll. 

Learning how to roll over is usually preceded by several weeks of rocking from side to side. it’s generally not until a baby is about five months old that she is strong and coordinated enough to go from back to stomach or stomach to back.  This activity helps babies practice using both sides of their bodies which is required for this basic movement.