Water Painting

Did you do anything today with your child that you want to share?
I spent about 30 minutes in the backyard with my son water painting!  We had a bucket full of water and some paint brushes and paint sponges.  We painted the bricks on the ground.  We talked about why the bricks in the sun dried quicker than the ones in the shade.  Then my son moved on to painting others things, like his cars, trains, chairs...It was a fun, cool way to spend the afternoon!

B is for BUBBLES Part 2

After making the bubble art, we played a bubble game using the song, Ten Little Bubbles.  I did this in my class and the kids LOVED it!
I cut out ten circles from construction paper, all different colors and different sizes.  The kids had to put the 10 "colored bubbles" in order from smallest to biggest.  We taped them to the wall to see the bubbles getting bigger.  Then as we counted them I wrote the number on the bubble.  Then we sang our song, Ten Little Bubbles.  We sang the song from one to ten and then counted backwards from ten to one.  I passed out a small, soft squishy ball to each child.  As we sang the second verse over and over again, "Pop those, pop those, pop those bubbles" the kids had to throw their ball and try and hit the bubbles on the wall.  They we squealing with excitement.  While they were throwing the balls, I would  say, "pop the red bubble" or "pop the biggest bubble" or "who can pop bubble with the number two on it?".  It was fun!!!

B is for BUBBLES

Everyone loves bubbles, even our dog.  Our family spends a lot of time in the backyard blowing bubbles.  Today we poured bubble solution in 3 plastic cups and put about 8 drops of food coloring into each cup, one red, one blue, and one yellow.  We stirred it around then blew colored bubbles onto white paper. 
Extension Activity:  Talk about the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) and then find out what would happen if you pour the blue bubble solution into the red cup???  Pour the yellow into the blue or the yellow into the red?  Kids love exploring with color and are excited to create new colors.

We had fun singing this bubble song...the second verse gets exciting!

Ten Little Bubbles 

Tune: "Ten Little Indians"

One little, two little, three little bubbles.
Four little, five little, six little bubbles.
Seven little, eight little, nine little bubbles.
Ten bubbles floating to the ground.

Pop those, pop those, pop those bubbles. 
Pop those, pop those, pop those bubbles. 
Pop those, pop those, pop those bubbles. 
Ten little bubbles go POP! POP! POP!

mini environment

It is July 5 in "sunny" San Clemente and you'd think we would be at the pool or the beach...think again!  The sun has not appeared and we are all in pants and sweatshirts.
What to do today????  I decided to make a trip to the store for a small clear bin with a lid and some small plastic animals.  I found dinosaurs.  On the way home I scooped up some sand from the park for my bin.  Then, my son and I assembled our dinosaur environment.   Shay loved paying with his mini sandbox!  He was making dinosaur sounds as he played.  Some were "hiding" under the rocks and shells and others were "eating" the trees.  What a great way to build vocabulary and creative play.  The best part was that when he was done playing, I put on the lid and stored it in the garage for another day.  I figure in the future I can find other animals to create different environments and put in in the backyard when the sun finally decides to shine!
This was well worth the $6.00 investment!