Tag Archives: activity

Make Your Own Play Dough

Play dough is the perfect modeling material for children. Their small hands can pat, poke, pinch, roll and knead it into many shapes. Keep it in an airtight container to use another day, or let it air dry into favorite shapes.

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Measure 2 cups of flour, one cup of salt and 4 teaspoons of cream of tartar into a bowl. Add 1/4 cup of oil to one cup of water in a separate bowl then add the mixture to the dry ingredients. For colored play dough, squeeze 10-20 drops of food coloring into the water before you add it to the mixture. Cook the dough at low heat in a wide pan, stirring constantly until it becomes rubbery. Remove the dough from the heat and knead it for a few minutes. When it cools the kids can play too!

Photo: Kevin Jarrett (Flickr)

Visit a zoo or aquarium this month!

Zoo and Aquarium Month

Visit your local zoo or aquarium or set up a pretend zoo with play animals and blocks. Invite the host parents to visit your pretend zoo. Read One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish or If I Ran the Zoo, both by Dr. Seuss. Encourage the children to make up their own animals and draw them. Think of all the animal sounds you can and play a game guessing what animal you are. You may find that the same animal says one thing in America and something quite different in your own country!

Find out more about the National Zoo at  http://nationalzoo.si.edu/

Do you like to act?

Many children love to be the center of attention so being on stage is natural for them. Choose 4 or five things that don’t go together and put them in a bag. Work with the children to make up a story to act out using the things in the bag. It can be very funny! Be sure to join in the fun with them, and give them a chance to choose objects for the bag for you. (Suitable for children 7 and up)

Play post office!

On this day in 1792 the first postal service was created in the United States. Preschool and young elementary age children will love to create their own post office at home. Buy some valentines on clearance or use what is around the house. You need envelopes (you can use new ones or save the return envelopes from junk mail), a rubber stamp and inkpad, stickers and some paper. Children can write a note or draw a picture to put in the envelope. They can use the stickers as stamps and the rubber stamp to make the “postmark.” They can deliver the mail to bedrooms or you can create mailboxes by stacking a few empty shoeboxes on their sides. There can also be a box to mail letters – use a larger shoebox or a small cardboard box with the top closed and cut a slot to put the letters through.