Exploring Math: Sorting!

Find a variety of plastic containers and lids, encourage your child to sort them from smallest to biggest or biggest to smallest! Start with a few and add more as they get better at it.

Exploring Science: Will it sink or float?

Fill a tub with water and then see if different objects sink or float. Try a leaf, coin, sponge, and crayon.

Exploring Science: Air

Grab a blow dryer, set it on cool and see what the air can push!

You can use, scarves, tissues, ping pong balls, cotton balls etc.

Predictive questions: Grab a bunch of items and ask your child if they think it will float or not. Why might something not get pushed up by the air?

Exploring technology:

• Encourage children to play with toys that have wheels, do you have any with broken wheels so they can compare?

• The paintbrushes and popsicle sticks from the previous tasks are tools! What ways can these tools be used in other activities? Is there a wrong or right way to use them?

Exploring Science: Reflection

Reflection is a tricky concept because babies develop self-awareness in stages so you will see them starting to understand mirrors a little at a time.

Activity-

1. Allow your baby to explore mirrors with your supervision. This is best done during tummy time or you can hold the mirror above their face as they lie on their backs.
2. Talk about their reflection as they look, point to parts of their face, describe it!
3. Make funny faces together or express different emotions – working on imitation skills, which helps babies and toddlers begin to understand empathy.

• Babies about 2 months realize there are things external to them so they begin reaching for things and can’t always tell how far away something is.

• Young babies up to 18 months don’t exactly know who they are seeing in the mirror often they believe it is another child and will try to touch the “other” baby in the mirror. Same goes for something reflected in the mirror with them, rather than finding it next to them they will reach toward the mirror.

• 15-24 months babies begin realizing the image in the mirror is not a part of their environment and then begin to realize that their reflection is in fact their face! If you place something beside them and they see it reflected in the mirror but they reach for it next to them rather than through the mirror you know they are understanding what is happening. Similarly, if you put a sticker on their shirt and they look down for it.

Exploring Art and Science: Painting with water:

You will need:

• cups or buckets of water
• paintbrushes or fingers

Head outside and start "painting" the sidewalk with water.

Predictive questions to ask: What do you think will happen to the water on the sidewalk? Why do you think the water is disappearing?

You will want to talk to your child about evaporation, the water's state changes from liquid to gas as the heat.

Exploring Art: Ice cube painting:

Put food coloring in water, add a popsicle stick (we cover the tray in saran wrap and then stick the popsicle sticks through so they stand up). Then freeze it!

Take them out of the freezer and let your child "draw" with their ice cubes. You can do this outside or on paper on the floor.

Talk to your child about how the colors mix, what is happening to the ice cube the longer it is out of the freezer, what is happening to the paper you are drawing on?

Exploring Science: Shadows

You will need:

• Small toys
• Flashlight
• Blank wall or poster board
• Cardboard box (optional) We cut out a cardboard box to make a stage for our toys.

Turn off the lights, turn on the flashlight and place toys in front of the flashlight to create a shadow on the wall or board.

Move objects further from the light and closer to the light, what happens? Have your child pick objects to try.

Science of a shadow: A shadow is the absence of light, it cannot get through an object. The shape of an object determines the shape of the shadow.