Category: Activities

Materials

Piece of bubble wrap
Dot stickers (optional)

Directions

We all love to pop bubble wrap and it is an excellent fine motor activity for children.  Popping bubble wrap strengthens the fingers.  To extend the activity and add a new element, stick dot stickers onto the bubbles.  Encourage toddlers to press on the blue dots, red dots, green dots, etc. For preschool age children, write letters or numbers on the dot stickers and encourage your preschooler to find and press the letters in his name, match upper case to lower case letters, or complete addition or sutraction problems by pressing on numbers (i.e. 2 and 3 is 5).

Have fun and enjoy!

Ingredients

Favorite fruit juice (Apple Juice, White grape juice)
Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries
Popsicle holders or small paper cups and popsicle sticks

Directions

Cut the raspberries in half and the strawberries into chunks. Then fill the popsicle containers with the blueberries, raspberries and strawberry chunks. Fill the containers just short of the top with juice. Mott’s for Tots Apple White Grape Juice or Apple Juice are favorites. Freeze them overnight and have a fun, delicious treat on a hot summer day.  

Materials

Directions

Ingredients

Root Beer
Vanilla ice cream
Mug

Directions

Place a scoop of vanila ice cream in a mug. Slowly pour root beer over the ice cream. Your child will love watching foam appear in the mug. Serve with a spoon and straw.  A refreshing treat on a hot summer day!

Materials

Paper
Watercolor paints
Paint brush
Water in a cup

Directions

Invite your child to paint using the watercolor paints and a small paint brush. Demonstrate how to rinse off the brush in the cup of water when chaging colors and brush the paintbrush on the side of the cup before dipping it into another color. Allow your child to use their imagination and creativity.

Materials 

Model Magic in red, white, and blue or add red and blue food coloring to white Model Magic 
Straws 
Shoestring 

Directions 

Invite your child to explore the Model Magic. It is great for strengthening little fingers and is not messy or sticky. After having time to explore, show your child how to make small round balls in the three different colors. Take a straw and push it through the ball to make a hole. Allow the dough to dry overnight. Once the dough has hardened, invite your child to make patterns with the colored beads by stringing them onto the shoestring. Children can copy a pattern that you have made, extend the pattern, or generate their own. 

Ingredients

Strawberries
Blueberries
Bananas
Small bowls

Directions

Wash strawberries and blueberries.  Slice strawberries. Invite child to slice banana. Place blueberries, strawberry and banana slices in small bowls. Serve as a yummy fruit snack.

Materials 

2 small glasses or bud vases 
Water 
Red and blue food coloring 
White flowers – carnations work best 

Directions 

Invite your child to pour some water into the two glasses or small bud vases. Then add 8-10 drops of red food coloring to one vase and 8-10 drops of blue food coloring to the other vase. Place a flower into each glass and let them sit for a few hours or overnight. Observe. Ask your child what he sees after a few hours. The flowers will begin to change gradually into red and blue flowers. 

For added fun, cut the stem of the white carnations lengthwise, making the stem into two thin stems. Set the two glasses of colored water close together. Put half of the stem into the red water and the other half into the blue water. The carnation will look red, white, and blue after a few hours. Remove the carnation from the water mixtures. Wrap the stem back together with thread and place in clear water. Make several flowers for a beautiful red, white, and blue floral centerpiece. 

Materials 

Paper plate 
White tissue paper 
Red tissue paper 
Blue tissue paper 
Glittery silver foam stars or ribbon 
Pipe cleaner 
Glue 
Stapler 
Scissors 

Directions 

Cut out the center of the paper paper plate. Discard the center. Cut colored tissue into 6”x 6” squares. Invite your child to scrunch a piece of tissue up and dip it into the glue. Press the tissue onto the paper plate. Continue doing this, alternating colors, until the plate is filled. Some “sparkle” can be created by adding glittery silver foam stick-on stars or by wrapping ribbon around the wreath. Staple a pipe cleaner to the back of the wreath for hanging purposes. 

Ingredients

Directions

Pour glue into a bowl. To color slime, add several drops of food coloring or several squirts of liquid watercolor and stir well.  Add liquid starch to glue a few tablespoons at a time.  Stir thoroughly.  Continue to add liquid starch until slime no longer sticks to the sides of the container.  It should form a big clump in the center of the container.

Variations

Add glitter, pompoms, googly eyes, plastic spiders, foam shapes, beads, or other lightweight objects to the slime after it is made

For Patriotic Slime, add red, white, and blue sequins or blue and red glitter.