Social-Emotional Development
Crisscross
Crossing the midline of the body integrates the left and right hemispheres of the brain, which energizes thinking. Lower your right elbow across your body and raise your left knee until the elbow and knee touch. Do the same thing for the left elbow and right knee. Repeat ten times or more.
https://ilslearningcorner.com/2015-11-why-crossing-the-midline-activities-helped-this-child-listen-to-his-teacher/
Cognitive Development
Counting Ducks
Materials: five yellow pom poms or five duck shaped pieces of paper (can be printed from the Internet), piece of blue paper or fabric and a paper cup.
Place a sheet of blue paper or fabric on a table to represent a pond with 5 yellow pom poms or duck pictures printed from the Internet. Instruct your child to close his eyes. Hide some of the ducks under a cup. Have him open his eyes and tell you how many ducks are missing. Continue with different combinations. Let your child have a turn to hide the ducks.
Physical Literacy
Here are a couple of skills to practice this week. Engage your child’s imagination by trying to gallop and jump over an obstacle, like a horse.
Language Development
On the Farm
Talk with your child about which animals live on the farm, what the farm animals eat, what sounds do the animals make, what services or products do farm animals produce and what farmers do. Have your child circle the letter h for hen and the letter c for cow in an old newspaper, flyer or magazine. A magnifying glass can add extra interest, if you have one. Encourage your child to draw a farm picture and with her permission write down her description of her work.
Creative Activity
Salt Painting
Using stiff paper or light cardboard, have your child create a design using white glue, squeezing it from the bottle. Have your child sprinkle salt over the glue design. Shake off the extra salt. Use watercolor paint and a paintbrush to dab paint onto the salt lines. Allow to dry. Hint: Watercolors can be made by soaking dried markers in a small amount of water or with food colouring and water. http://mericherry.com/2015/04/24/salt-painting-process-art-kids/
Here is a link for a recipe to make your own watercolours. Very simple.
https://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2014/05/easy-homemade-watercolors.html
Additional Resources
Check out this YouTube video by Dr. Jean Feldman. She shares lots of ideas of how to play with your child using simple items from around the house. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0xibLFsSNE
This website has a variety of activities for children. You will find games, jokes, recipes, crafts, answers to science questions, hidden pictures and more. https://www.highlightskids.com/
Learning at Home OSC Kidzone Week 1
Learning at Home Toddler Week 12
