Too hot outside? Here’s a fun activity to try at home with the kids!

At our school, we have a new theme each week. We’ve done everything from C is for camping to R is for restaurants and Th is for theater week! We teach different aspects of the theme in each core segment of our day. In drama, where we role-play and act out scenes from a book that relate to the theme, we make sure to set up our drama room so that it looks just like our story. Children love to navigate through all the different costumes and props we have and listen to the related story. This week, for instance, we had three different types of homes set up as the children went on to act out the story of the Three Little Pigs!

As the Goldfish cohort (two’s) educator at our school, we do lots of sensory play. Sensory play is important at that age because it can help a child become exposed to new textures they have never experienced. This, in turn, allows them to be more comfortable in a variety of environments but also allows them to become more adventurous eaters, believe it or not. Sensory play helps with motor skills and even encourages children to think creatively and imagine.

During this activity, we brought up the word GLAND. You might say, “why would I bring that word up to a 2-year-old?” I say, “why not?” Using not-so-common words may not only increase your child’s vocabulary but may help encourage that inquisitive side in them. By discussing what a gland is, and perhaps what it might look like, we encourage depth of a conversation which will likely generate some inquisitive questions with older children such as, “why do pigs sweat and some animals don’t?”

We believe that activities done at school can be extended to home to broaden the lesson further. Here are sensory activities related to our theme of the week that kids of all ages can enjoy. This can take anywhere from five minutes to twenty minutes.

Start by reading or listening to the story of The Three Little Pigs.  Some questions you may want to ask are:

·      Why did the wolf want to blow the pigs’ house down?

·      What do you think the pigs can use to make a strong home?

·      Did you know that pigs cannot sweat?

These questions can help lead the activity as you teach your child that pigs can hardly sweat! They barely have any glands that allow them to sweat so in order to cool off, they roll around in the mud.

What you will need:

·      Picture of a pig can be drawn or printed out or cardstock. Or you can draw a pig on a piece of cardboard

·      One large Ziploc bag per child

·      Shaving cream

·      Brown paint

Cut out and color your pig. Add the pig to the bag. Squirt in equal parts paints and shaving cream. Zip the bag shut and rub the cream/paint mix all over the pig to cool them off. Once they are done, you can take the piggy photo out and let it dry.

We hope you enjoy this! Let us know how it goes by tagging @theindylab on your creations!

-Ms. Paula, Lead Spanish Language Educator @ The Indy Lab