Social-Emotional Development
Calming Strategy
Iguana Panting
For this calming strategy, have your child pretend that they are an iguana panting to cool off. Demonstrate how to pant. Have your child pant like an iguana. Explain that panting for humans brings oxygen into the lungs to help us feel more alert and think more clearly.
Now encourage your child to take a few deep breaths to calm themselves.
Cognitive Development
Leaf Hunt
Cut out 9 leaf shapes from paper and write the numerals 1-9 on them. Using a muffin tin or recycled egg carton label the holes 1-9. Hide the 9 leaves around the house. Invite your child to go find the leaves. Once they find a leaf, ask them to name the numeral on the leaf and place it in the matching hole in the egg carton. The search continues until all leaves are found. Start out with easy hiding places. Move to harder hiding places, if your child is still interested.
Language Development
Iguanas and Worms
Visit BrightPath Storytime to listen to Sara Sidney’s Special Day.
Using photos of an earthworm and an iguana from the Internet, encourage your child to compare these two animals (skin covering, legs, no legs, head, tail). Introduce the word scales as the hard plate-like protective skin covering lizards, iguanas and snakes. Discuss how these two animals move. Encourage your child to walk like an iguana and wriggle like an earthworm. Write the letter S on a quarter sheet of paper. Use sequins or small circles from a hole puncher and glue to cover the letter S like scales.
Physical Literacy
Balloon Batting
Inflate a balloon. If inside, clear a space of obstacles. Invite your child to keep the balloon in the air by batting it with their hand. To increase difficulty have them use an empty paper towel tube. This activity develops eye-hand coordination and timing.
https://www.kidscreativechaos.com/2011/12/new-years-eve-stories-and-crafts.html?m=1
Creative Activity
Worm Painting
Have your child dip the worms (string or a few pieces of leftover cooled spaghetti) into the paint and drag it across a paper to create a painting.
Additional Resources
www.stevespanglerscience.com – Click on the Free at Home Experiments in the upper right-hand corner to access hundreds of at home science experiments.
https://www.seussville.com/ – Dr. Seuss themed printable pages, activities, crafts and more.