room the activity room

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1 the activity room April s June s Activity Activity Plans Plans for for Toddlers Toddlers & Preschoolers Preschoolers H A N D S O N A S W E G R O W. C O M

2 April Activity Plan Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Weekend / Spray Letters Rolling Egg Art Play War Soapy Sensory Jars Go on a walk around the neighborhood to take in nature. Just get outside and burn off some energy! Don t be afraid to join the kids! page 9 page 0 page page 4 Ribbon Egg Craft Step Measurements /9 Poke Pipe Cleaners Jello Sensory page page 4 page 5 page 6 Make it an egg decorating day! Get the whole family creating. Go for a family bike ride around town, or on a local trail, for 0 minutes. Try to find a place where you can all speed up a bit to get your heart racing. 0 Marbled Easter Eggs Post-It Shape Sorting 4 5/6 Tape Jumping Game Fruit Loop Necklace Plant a tree! Play a round of frisbee for 0 minutes in the backyard, or open space. Run and chase after it to try to catch it every time! page 7 page 8 page 9 page Spring Tree Craft Play Dough & Straw Letters page page page page / Tape Color Challenge Toy Wash Host a brunch for local family and friends. Get outside and do some yard work together for an hour. Pick up sticks, clean out the landscaping, trim trees and bushes and haul away the trimmings! 4 Member Activity 5 Underwater Octopus Art Nature Sensory Bag /0 Nature Scavenger Hunt Make A Telescope Have every family member do a random act of kindness to someone else in the family. Do a yoga routine (look up on YouTube) together in the morning for 0 minutes. page 5 page 7 page 8 page 9 this month s theme: Exercise Together

3 April: Supply List Full Supply List In each week of activities, there s a supply list. You can quickly scan the list to see what you need for the week. Most items are supplies from the home (office, kitchen, kids toys, etc). Below is a list of supplies to do every activity in the month of April. Craft Items: paper butcher paper pastel-colored paper canvas or cardstock tissue paper scissors glue super glue tape painter s tape sticky notes googly eyes chalk paint paintbrush (optional) glitter (optional) pipe cleaners string colored tape, or ribbons Kitchen Items: knife colander (strainer) pie plate or tray paper towel dish soap straws plastic bottle large plastic jars w/ lids containers small containers with lids gallon-size freezer baggy Pantry Items: Jello hard-boiled eggs o-shaped cereal food coloring water Around the House: sponge or toothbrush hair gel or clear gelatin play dough tub or bucket basket or bucket spray bottle shaving cream Other: plastic Easter eggs nature small objects toys chalkboard or sidewalk letter blocks (optional) deck of cards just your legs open space

4 April Activity Plan: Week One 7 Monday: Draw several letters on a chalkboard in chalk. Call out a letter to find. Spray with water to erase it! chalk chalkboard or sidewalk letter blocks (optional) water spray bottle Tuesday: Lay out a large piece of paper and set out a few containers of paint. Dip a plastic Easter egg in the paint and roll on the paper to create abstract art! Wednesday: Deal a deck of cards between players to play War. Stack your cards in a pile, face down. Each player flips top card up to see who has the highest card (A is high)! That player wins those cards, and repeat! When original stack runs out, use won cards to continue play. Thursday: Fill plastic jars / with water and some dish soap. Add food coloring and glitter! Seal the lid on with glue and shake, shake, shake! butcher paper (or paper taped together) paint containers plastic Easter eggs deck of cards large plastic jars w/ lids dish soap water food coloring (optional) glitter (optional) super glue Friday: Go on a walk around the neighborhood to take in nature. / Over the Weekend: Just get outside and burn off some energy! Don t be afraid to join the kids! this month s theme: Exercise Together

5 April Activity Plan: Week Two Monday: Cut several egg shapes from pastel-colored paper, in different sizes. Using ribbon and glue, decorate the eggs! pastel-colored paper ribbons glue scissors 4 Tuesday: Measure distances by counting the steps. How many steps is it from one tree to another? How many hops? Is it more steps when you run, or less? just your legs open space 5 Wednesday: Poke pipe cleaners through holes in a colander. pipe cleaners colander (strainer) 6 Thursday: Make several sensory jars! Put small toys in small containers (one per container) and pour made Jello over the toy to fill the container and let set. Once set, explore the Jello and toys! Dig in! small containers with lids small objects Jello 7 Friday: Make it an egg decorating day! Get the whole family creating. 8/9 Over the Weekend: Over the weekend: Go for a family bike ride around town, or on a local trail, for 0 minutes. Try to find a place where you can all speed up a bit to get your heart racing. this month s theme: Exercise Together

6 April Activity Plan: Week Three 0 Monday: Fill a pie plate with shaving cream and add several drops of different colors of food coloring (don t mix). Drop in a hard-boiled egg into the shaving cream and roll it around until covered. Remove and let sit. Wipe shaving cream off with paper towel. Tuesday: Draw big shapes on pieces of paper. Draw many of the same shapes on the sticky notes. Stick the matching sticky notes to the matching shape on the paper. Wednesday: Tape lines of tape on the floor equal distances apart and challenge the kids to a jumping game. Measure how far they can jump. hard-boiled eggs pie plate or tray shaving cream food coloring paper towel sticky notes marker paper tape painter s tape Thursday: Make a necklace by threading o-shaped cereal on a string. Tape the string to a surface to secure it for threading. When complete, knot the ends together. o-shaped cereal ribbon or string tape (optional) 4 Friday: Plant a tree! 5/6 Over the Weekend: Play a round of frisbee for 0 minutes in the backyard, or open space. Run and chase after it to try to catch it every time! this month s theme: Exercise Together

7 April Activity Plan: Week Four Monday: Cut and glue a brown tree trunk onto a piece of cardstock. Add torn pink paper, bits of pink and white yarn, and pink tissue paper with glue to make a crab apple tree. Tuesday: Grab some play dough and cut up some drinking straws. Draw a letter in the play dough. Trace the lines with the straws. Wednesday: Tie a string taut between two objects about foot off the ground. Hang different colors of tape (or tape ribbon) across the string. Use a kicking motion to touch each tape color that is called out, jump over the string, or kick or roll a ball at each flag color. Thursday: Use a tub of soapy water to wash favorite toys. paper tissue paper scissors glue play dough straws scissors string colored tape, or ribbons tub or bucket sponge or toothbrush water dish soap toys Friday: Host a brunch for local family and friends. / Over the Weekend: Get outside and do some yard work together for an hour. Pick up sticks, clean out the landscaping, trim trees and bushes and haul away the trimmings! this month s theme: Exercise Together

8 April Activity Plan: Week Five Monday: Paint an entire canvas in the color desired for an octopus, let dry. Cut out octupus clip art and tape over entirely, cut the tape around octopus shape just enough to stick it to the canvas. Tape onto canvas and paint the entire canvas again with ocean colors, let dry. Remove octopus and glue on googly eyes. Tuesday: Create a sensory bag with hair gel in a baggy. Add nature items, such as flowers, grass and leaves. Tape it to the window to explore in the sunlight. Wednesday: Hunt for nature. Use colors and shapes as clues. canvas or cardstock paint paintbrush (optional) painter s tape octopus clip art (included) googly eyes glue nature hair gel or clear gelatin gallon-size freezer baggy tape basket or bucket (optional) 7 Thursday: Make a telescope from a plastic bottle. Cut off the bottom of the bottle. Decorate the sides with markers or colorful tape. plastic bottle knife markers or tape 8 Friday: Have every family member do a random act of kindness to someone else in the family. 9/0 Over the Weekend: Do a yoga routine (look up on YouTube) together in the morning for 0 minutes. this month s theme: Exercise Together

9 Spray Letters chalk chalkboard or sidewalk letter blocks (optional) water spray bottle Write several letters on a chalkboard using chalk. Call out a letter that you wrote for your child to find. Spray the letter with a bottle of water to erase it. You could also add in an element of using letter blocks (or magnets) to choose which letter. Put them in a bucket to draw from. What else could you squirt to erase? Numbers, their name, shapes, sight words and so on! No squirt bottle? Use a paintbrush and water instead and trace the letters to erase them.

10 Rolling Egg Art butcher paper (or paper taped together) paint containers plastic Easter eggs Lay out a long piece of butcher paper on the ground. Set out several different tubs of paint. Dip plastic Easter eggs into the paint. Roll on the paper to create abstract art. This activity can get messy, try taking it outside if possible, or laying down a sheet first. It s fun to do this on a slight slant if at all possible. If nature is that way outside, perfect. Inside you can use a piece of cardboard as a base (unfold a box) and then prop up one end. Let this be all about the process and not worry about the colors mixing and making a mess. Have fun!

11 Play War deck of cards Deal a deck of cards equally in stacks between players ( or more). From each player s stack of cards, turn over the top card. The higher card wins and gets all the cards turned over. Repeat until cards are gone (reuse the won cards). This is fantastic for kids that already know their number values, remove face cards for kids just learning. For older kids, use addition (or subtraction, or multiplication) by using two cards for each hand and then compare the sum. For toddlers, forget War and play a matching game with the cards!

12 Soapy Sensory Jars large plastic jars w/ lids dish soap water food coloring (optional) glitter (optional) super glue In a large plastic jar, fill with / water and a squirt of dish soap. Add food coloring and glitter, if desired. Seal the lid on tightly with glue. Shake and watch the soap bubble up and watch them disappear. Repeat! Gluing the lid on is completely optional, I never have. If you re worried about your toddler unscrewing the lid, then glue it! You can use this simple sensory jar as a calm down jar to watch the bubbles disappear. You can add other small objects to the bottle, like sequins and pom poms. Older kids could use it as an I Spy jar.

13 Ribbon Egg Craft pastel-colored paper ribbons glue scissors Cut several egg shapes from pastelcolored papers, in different sizes. Use glue and ribbons to decorate the eggs! Trim ribbon that hangs over the edge of the paper egg. Let dry and display! If you don t have ribbon scraps, just use colored paper. An adult may need to cut the ribbons, they re tough. String these up in a garland to hang in the window! They re so pretty!

14 Step Measurements just your legs open space Determine starting distance and an ending distance (Point A and B). Count how many steps is it from Point A to B? Repeat! How many hops? Backwards? How about when you run? Walk along with younger kids and count for them, encouraging them to join in! Choose two points closer together for younger kids, and further about for older. Older kids can count by s when they hop ( feet=), or count down from 00 going when walking (or running) backwards.

15 Poke Pipe Cleaners pipe cleaners colander (strainer) Set out a colander with pipe cleaners. Have your child poke a pipe cleaner through a hole in the colander. Keep at it! This activity seems to either grab a child s attention, or not. If your child is not into it, let it sit out to see if they ll come back to it later. Show your child how to do a few! Poke a few pipe cleaners in yourself to get it going. Once you ve put a bunch in, work on colors by asking your child to pull out a certain color pipe cleaner.

16 Jello Sensory small containers with lids small objects Jello Put a small toy in a small container. Make several. Pour Jello over the toy to fill the container. Let set. Once set, set out to explore the Jello and dig out the toys! This is a messy activity, prepare by taking this outside, or setting down a tablecloth or sheet first for easy cleanup. This activity is perfect for young toddlers. For older kids, add difficulty with using tweezers. You can also make this on a larger scale in a cake pan with several toys and play a game of I-Spy (and dig out that toy).

17 Marbled Easter Eggs hard-boiled eggs pie plate or tray shaving cream food coloring paper towel Fill a pie plate with shaving cream and add several drops of different colors of food coloring (don t mix it yet). Drop in hard-boiled eggs, one at a time, into the shaving cream mixtures and roll it around until it is full covered (or longer, if desired). Remove and let sit for a while. Wipe shaving cream off with paper towel and let dry! Use a spoon or your hands to physically move the egg around in the mixture, this is amazing sensory fun for the kids. Be sure to cover the eggs well with coloring. Let them play and decorate each Easter egg as long as they like! Best to use two colors that look good when mixed together. Don t use colors as that may lead to brown eggs.

18 Post-It Shape Sorting sticky notes marker paper tape Draw big shapes on a piece of paper and label them. Draw several of each of the same shapes on sticky notes. Stick the matching sticky note to the shape on the paper! Instead of sorting by shapes, focus on colors, numbers, letters, counting. For a variation, this could be done on a vertical surface as well (like a wall). No sticky notes? Just use small pieces of paper and tape!

19 Tape Jumping Game painter s tape Tape 6 lines of tape on the floor, approximately a foot apart (no need to be precise). Start at the first line and see how far they can jump, how many lines? Hop from one line to the next, lay down and measure how many lines long your child is, see how far they can stretch their legs apart, and so on! Take this outside with sidewalk chalk on the sidewalk or driveway too! Socks and slippery floors don t mix, so test before jumping too far! Let them wear shoes for this if it s a problem.

20 Fruit Loop Necklace o-shaped cereal ribbon or string tape (optional) Secure a string to a surface with tape. Thread o-shaped cereal onto the string as long as desired. Knot the ends of the string together to form a necklace. Cheerios and Fruit Loops are great cereals to use for this activity. Add in patterning and counting for older kids. For young kids, you may need to hold onto the end of the string as they thread the cereal onto it.

21 Spring Tree Craft paper tissue paper scissors glue Cut a tree trunk and main branches from brown paper, glue onto cardstock. Rip pink paper scraps into small pieces. Bunch pieces of pink tissue paper into small balls. Cut bits of pink and white yarn. Glue paper scraps, yarn and tissue paper onto tree trunk for a crab apple tree. Add glitter if desired. Add an extra touch of fun and trace their hand and forearm to make the tree trunk and branches! Let kids tear the paper, this is a great fine motor skill. Show kids where to glue the crab apples onto the tree trunk, however, let them be creative.

22 Play Dough & Straw Letters play dough straws scissors Set out play dough with cut up drinking straws. Draw a letter in the play dough. Trace the letter by poking the straws along the lines. Instead of letters, practice shapes, sight words, numbers and so much more! Involve the kids in cutting the straws! It s a fantastic medium for beginner cutters! Double down and have your child draw the letter and then trace it! Double the learning!

23 Tape Color Challenge string colored tape, or ribbons Tie a string taut between two objects about foot off the ground. Hang different colors of tape (or simply tape some ribbon) across the string. Play games by kicking a color that s called out, jump over the string at that color, or kick or roll a ball at each color. This is a great activity to do inside or outside! Encourage younger kids to name the colors. Older kids can assign points to each color and play to 0.

24 One Year Activity: Old Activity April Toy Wash tub or bucket sponge or toothbrush water dish soap toys Mix up a batch of soapy water in a tub or bucket. Have your child collect some of their favorite, most used, toys (that are hard). Clean those toys with a sponge or toothbrush! For less mess, take this outside or lay out a shower curtain or large towel. This can be done with both big and little toys! The big toys will probably just not fit in the tub! Add a toothbrush to the toy wash for details cleaning (and fine motor control)!

25 Member Underwater Octopus Art by member, Mindy canvas or cardstock paint paintbrush (optional) painter s tape octopus clip art (included on next page) googly eyes glue Paint over an entire canvas (or cardstock) in the color desired for the octopus and let dry completely. Print and cut out an octopus clip art, tape over the edge and cut around leaving enough around edges to stick to canvas. Place on canvas where desired. Paint over the entire canvas again, this time in the color desired for the water. Let dry, remove octupus and tape. Glue on googly eyes. Search Octupus Clip Art to find different variations to use, or do fish or starfish! Have fun with it. Young kids can do finger painting with this project! Or older kids can use a paintbrush and create a scene in the water for their octopus! Do this on a canvas for artwork for their room, or on cardstock for fun!

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27 Nature Sensory Bag nature hair gel or clear gelatin gallon-size freezer baggy tape Squirt hair gel into a large baggy. Add nature items, such as flowers, grass and leaves. Tape it to the window so the sunlight shines through it. Explore and move the nature around inside the sensory bag. Add enough hair gel in the baggy so that it covers the baggy when lying flat. But not too full that it can t be moved around. (Half of a bottle is plenty). To secure the sensory bag, you can either tape the top of the baggy shut, or double bag it. Young togglers may try to bite at the baggy, please use supervision at all times. Or make with clear gelatin instead of hair gel.

28 Nature Scavenger Hunt basket or bucket (optional) Head outside with a basket to hunt for nature. Give them clues to find certain colors, or shapes, or textures. Collect your findings in a basket, if desired. Clues can be simple, such as: Can you find something blue? Can you find something pokey? Can you find a purple flower? Young kids can be asked to find an object (flower) where older kids can find something that s more descriptive (pokey). Collect your findings and stick them to contact paper to make a suncatcher!

29 Make a Telescope plastic bottle knife markers or tape Cut the bottom off a bottle with a knife. Decorate the sides of the bottle with decorative tape, markers, or paint. Look through the top of the bottle to use a telescope! The telescope can be decorated as much or as little as your child would like. They may want to use it first and then add to their decorations later. Please have an adult cut the bottom of the bottle off. Obviously, this telescope is just for pretend play and does not provide any magnification of objects.