Social-Emotional Development
Painter’s Reach
Have your child pretend to hold a paintbrush in their right hand and paint on a pretend canvas. Have them start by reaching as high as they can reach with their right hand to the left side of their canvas and then paint all the way down to the ground on their right side, moving diagonally across their body. After a few strokes, have the children change hands and begin painting with their left hand high on their right side of the canvas and down across their body to the ground on their left side. Have your child inhale as they reach and exhale as they move their pretend brush toward the ground.
Cognitive Development
Nature Hunt and Count
You will need sidewalk chalk and two dice. Head outside and invite your child to roll the dice. Have them add the two dice together and write the number on the sidewalk with chalk. Then encourage them to find that number of nature items and place by the chalk number. For example, if they rolled 1 and 4, they would write the number 5 on the sidewalk and look for 5 items (rocks, pine cones, leaves, sticks, etc.) to place by the number 5 that they wrote on the sidewalk. You might want to provide a small bucket or other container to carry the items in. They can continue rolling and hunting for items as long as they are interested.
Language Development
Show your child a picture of Claude Monet’s Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437127 Ask your child, “What is going on here?” and let your child talk about the painting. When they run out of things to say, ask a couple of questions to keep the conversation going. For example, “What colour are the flowers you see?”, “What kind of water do you see (lake, pond, ocean)?”, “Where do you think the artist Monet was when he painted this picture?”, “Where do you think the bridge leads to?”.
You could talk about the time of day and what season it is in the painting.
Physical Literacy
Painting with Water
Provide your child with a broom or a large paintbrush and a bucket of water and encourage them to “paint the sidewalk”. They could also try using a large paintbrush and water to “paint” on an outside wall on your house or building or on a fence.
Creative Activity
Fingerprint Bridge Art
With your child mix 1/3 cup corn starch, ¼ cup vegetable oil. Divide into small containers and use food colouring to make a few colours of paint. Encourage your child to place masking tape on a piece of paper to resemble the bridge in Monet’s Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies painting (like a ladder). Invite your child to use their finger to dab the paint all over their paper. When the paint is dry carefully remove tape to reveal the bridge in the picture.
http://spatulatta.com/ – Take a visit to this site for recipes to get your child cooking.