homemade sidewalk paint

This activity is so fun, easy, and inexpensive.  The kids loved mixing up their paints and then creating their masterpieces in the driveway.

Materials needed:

Cornstarch

water

food coloring

container with lid

Directions:

Scoop a few spoonfuls of cornstarch into a container.  Add water and stir until it is the consistency you wish for  ( You may have to add more cornstarch and/or water until it is the desired thickness).  Add a few drops of food coloring and stir.

The paint dries almost immediately once it is painted on the concrete.  You can cover any leftover paint with your lid for your next painting adventure!  Just add water if it thickens up before the next use.

sensory caterpillars

This activity took us a while to complete but the kids loved doing it and were (surprisingly) very patient. This is a good sensory activity for preschoolers that I found in The Mailbox magazine.

Materials needed:

Several cut circles from construction paper
popsicle sticks or pipecleaners (for antennas)
glue
Different "sensory" materials ( we used cotton, aluminum foil, uncooked macaroni shells, glitter glue, foam stickers, and feathers)

Glue a different sensory material on each circle. As we were gluing we talked about how each material felt. Was it soft, smooth, sticky, etc.? You can also talk about what each object looks like....hard, shiny, sparkly, dull, etc. You may need to help younger children with the squirting of the glue.
Finish your caterpillar with a face that has antennas attached to the top. You could also add legs if you are really ambitious.....we stopped with the antennas.

Let your project dry for most of the day or overnight before displaying on a wall. This was indeed one of my kids favorite activities!

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whiteboard fun

Materials needed:
Whiteboard
Dry Erase Markers

This is another great activity to keep kids busy and practice writing & drawing. My kids can stay entertained for several minutes with their dry-erase boards and markers. You can practice shapes, numbers, or just have fun drawing with these nifty markers!

magnets

Materials Needed:
a large magnet
paper clips (and staples if you wish)
2 clean plastic containers (I used a juice bottle and bubbles bottle)
sand
water
recording sheet if you want to do predictions

Basic Activity:
Use a magnet to pick up paper clips. Extend the activity by placing paper clips in sand and water and observing if the magnet will still pick up the clips.

We first talked about how magnets pick up certain items and then I recorded our predictions on this page I got out of Mailbox magazine. You could just talk about these things and not record also.


After predicting, start the fun....
Pick up some clips with the magnets. It always thrills my son, time after time!


Next, place some clips into a bottle filled with sand. Shake the bottle well then try to move the clips with the magnet. Tip: We had to place the bottle on its side to see the clips move better.





Next, place some clips in water and see if you can move the clips!



When you are finished talk about whether your predictions were correct. Then have fun finding other magnetic items in the house!

We discovered the corncob holders that were on the table (since I had yet to clean the dishes from dinner) were magnetic.


We also discovered we had a magnetic door!!!