Social-Emotional Development
Calming Strategy-Buzz Breathing
Remember deep breathing helps regulate our emotions. Try Buzzing Breathing with your child. Take a deep breath in and exhale saying “buzz, buzz, buzz”.
Cognitive Development
Air Experiments
Materials: “air pushers” (baster, straw, paper fans, paper towel tube, empty disposable water bottle) small lightweight items like feathers, packing peanuts, small bit of tissue paper or small crumpled bit of paper
Place a lightweight item on a table. Ask your child to predict which “air pusher” they think will work best. Then have your child try different “air pushers” to see if they were correct.
Challenge: Tape a paper or plastic cup to the edge of the table and have your child try to blow the items into the cup. Discuss which of the “air pushers” works best for this task.
Language Development
Storytime
Recite this fun fingerplay about something that flies with wings that move with your child.
Here is the beehive
(make hand into a fist)
Where are all the bees?
Hidden inside where nobody sees
Soon they’ll come creeping
Out of the hive.
One, two, three, four, five
(fingers come out one by one)
Buzz!
(“fly” hand around wiggling fingers while buzzing)
Ask your child to identify the rhyming words in the fingerplay (bees-sees and hive-five. Come up with other words that rhyme with these pairs.
Physical Literacy
Go Fly A Kite
Have your child take the kite they made outside to test it out. Show your child how to run with the kite behind them to get it into the air, if they don’t know-how. This a great way to get your child running.
Creative Activity
Make a simple paper kite
Materials: piece of paper, crayons, markers or paint, pencil, stapler, long piece of string and a hole punch.
Have your child decorate their paper anyway they like. Both sides can be decorated if desired. Fold paper in half. At about 6 cm down the folded edge, fold back the corners of the paper and staple in place. Then make a hole at about 8 cm and attach the string. That’s it. It is ready for testing.
Additional Resources
https://www.weareteachers.com/best-virtual-field-trips/ – Live web cams in zoo animal enclosure, feeding of a giant octopus at the Seattle Aquarium, trip to the farm, exploring a coastal rainforest in a canoe, just to name a few.
https://www.gonoodle.com/good-energy-at-home-kids-games-and-videos/ check out these movement, yoga and mindfulness videos. You can also find off-screen home and curricular activities.