Toy Thursday: Science Experiment - Rainbow in a Jar

Sometimes we have those random moments we need to fill to pass the time while sister is sleeping. This is a great opportunity to do a quick science experiment. In this case, we followed the instructions from Mudpies to Magnets: A Preschool Science Curriculum for "A Rainbow in a Jar."

In this relaxing activity, preschoolers can "watch colors float through water in beautiful designs and also see primary colors blend to create secondary colors." Put on some classical music to add to the fun.
Discuss colors diffusing together to create currents of shapes and designs. Find patterns, blend colors, and experiment.

Items Needed

Glass Jar
Food Coloring
Water

Instructions

Fill the clear glass jar or vase with water. Set the jar in a spot for a child to observe from all angles. Place one drop of each primary color of food coloring approximately three to five centimeters for the streams to go deeper. Observe the currents making patterns with the colors mixing them into designs.  This experiment works best if the water has been sitting overnight before adding colors. However, compare the water that has been sitting to a freshly filled jar. Expand your experiment to include ink, oil, or tempera paint.

This just might be your ticket to a pot of gold on a rainy, cold day.

Make Monday: Learning our Shapes

Judah is obsessed with those colorful, little craft pom poms. Anytime he sees them we have to get them out to play. So that is when I decided to turn it into a learning opportunity to practice gluing and learning about shapes.

We drew shapes onto white card stock; I let him pick the shapes as he named them. Then we put some Elmer's glue onto a paper plate so that he could dip the poms poms into the glue. We glued the pom poms onto the lines on the paper, making our shapes.

He had so much fun using the pom poms even if it was used to learn shapes. I let him pick out the colors. Judah still likes to show the shapes off to people, especially the letter "J" we made for his name. And now he refers to them when trying to draw his own shape designs as he attempted to do so the other day.

Think outside the box when it comes to learning. Take cues the kids may have and use them as basic educational means; I never would have thought of this idea until Judah wanted to play with the pom poms and make shapes. Learning can and should be fun.

And expand on your ideas. For example you could turn this project into a math lesson on patterns as well for older kids. Start a color pattern and have the child finish it with the correct color of pom poms. Or try some harder geometric shapes designs.

Make Monday: Customized Coloring Pages!

With all those crayola boxes of crayons you bought for back to school supplies for your kids, you can have fun making some customized coloring pages.

Crayola has magically designed a way to turn your summer photos into fun coloring pages. Relive your summer memories by turning your summer photos into a free coloring printout. Try it for free with a code in specially marked boxes of crayons or other crayola products.

These pages are great for upcoming rainy fall days or for birthdays gifts for family members and friends. You can print pictures out and save them for an activity at church or at home alike. These completed colorful pictures would look great on grandma's fridge.

For other fun pictures, older kids can also create their own pictures, print them out from the web site and then color them. This exercise would be fun for a computer home project.

Make Monday: Make it Yellow!

From time to time as a mom I have heard other people talk about doing a "color" day. This means you designate a day a specific color and do special activities and things to celebrate that color. Now that Judah knows his colors, I decided to do just that.

A while back, we had the perfect rainy day to celebrate yellow. This idea definitely brightened up our day (literally). And it reinforced the emphasis of yellow in everyday life. I kept it simple though for my toddler.

Since we had a bunch of old parenting magazines laying around, we started looking for yellow objects throughout the pages. I would ask Judah to find something yellow and when he pointed out items like a duck, a lion, a banana, the sun, corn, and a lemon, I would cut it out (or he tore it out). Together we would glue them onto a yellow piece of construction paper, making a yellow collage. We still have the picture hung upstairs as a reminder.

For lunch we talked about yellow foods as we ate. Our yellow lunch menu contained macaroni and cheese with corn and banana. We even wore yellow that day. And walked around the house pointing out anything that fit the spectrum of yellow.

Making a day, "yellow" helped pass the time more productively. We had fun discovering what objects were yellow and certainly learned about our colors in the process.

So for the next rainy day, we will schedule another color. Any ideas?

Toy Thursday: Color Your Bath Water!

We have our neighbors over for dinner several evenings during the week. In fact we often combine our efforts to make a complete meal for both families. After dinner, we visit until the kids get fussy and need to go to bed. On one of these occasions, our little neighbor boy (four years old) was on the verge of throwing a temper tantrum when his mom told him they had to walk back home for bath night. As I could see his face turn into a frown and arms go up, the light bulb turned on. I called him to follow me so that I could give him a color bath drop. And immediately his attitude changed as they went home.

Likewise, Judah has enjoyed playing with Crayola Color Bath Dropz. I actually discovered them by chance one day at Walmart in the soap section. I found a kit that contained a plastic frog that fits over your bath facet. Since our bathroom was decorated green frogs and Judah was hitting his head on the facet of late, I thought, "why not." The frog does work great by the way.

The real fun though lies in the three little dye drops that were included in the package. After we finished with the those colors, I checked back at the store for more. Sure enough I found a container full of them in the soap section for about $3.00.

When we tell Judah it is bath night, his response turns into the color he wants. We have combined the primary colors for orange, green, and purple water. We have also doubled the colors for dark blue, deep red, and bright yellow. He helps daddy feed the frog with the little drops allowing the colored to come out of the frog.

And the byproduct for mom is a stress free environment. He actually looks forward to his bath for once. He excitedly talks about the water changing color, learning his colors at the same time. The water drains leaving little (if any) dye residue stain that can be easily rinsed right off.

So why fight bath night? When we say, bath, the conversation turns to colors. Happy splashing!