"Little Cloud" by Eric Carle, read by Nora
Join LCC teacher Nora Stone while she reads “Little Cloud,” by Eric Carle. This classic celebrates the possibilities of imagination and friendship all set against the beautiful sky blue background and paint strokes of white. Follow the story with an adventure outside to search for shapes in the clouds or get out something blue to paint little cloud shapes on.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!
This is a great literacy activity to add to reading the very popular Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book. Even if you do not physically own the book, you may find one of the many “read alouds” on YouTube:
Materials Needed:
Metal baking sheet
Green and brown paper
Pencil
Scissors
Tape
Magnetic letters
If you do not have some of these items, feel free to substitute as needed! If you don’t have the magnetic letters, you can make your own or if you have access to a printer you can print them out.
Directons:
Draw the palm fronds on the green paper and cut out. Then sketch the trunk of the tree on brown paper and cut out. You can also create coconuts to add to the tree (remember these don’t have to be perfect).
Tape the tree onto the cookie sheet.
Add the letters at the bottom.
Depending on the age of your kiddo, you can just place the book next to this activity somewhere in your house and simply let your kiddo explore, or you could have them place the corresponding letter on the tree as you read (or listen) to the book!
Another extension from this activity is to do a letter scavenger hunt!
Materials needed: paper and pencil
Choose a letter (or a few letters) to hunt for - the letters in your child’s name are a great place to start. Go around the house looking for examples of that letter in your environment. Possible locations could include: board game boxes, book spines, movies/CDs/records, pantry items like boxes of pasta, refrigerator items like milk, labels on appliances, bathroom items like shampoo bottles, t-shirts, welcome mats, home decor, wall calendar, stickers, shoeboxes, posters, shipping labels…the possibilities are endless. Practice writing the letter and keep a running count of how many examples you find!
Nature's Playground with Aaron
There are lots of ways to get gross motor activities into your life, even when you don’t have access to a playground. You can ride a bike, climb some dunes, or help your teacher stack firewood. One of my favorite ways is to go find Nature’s Playground. It might be anywhere, and the journey is half the fun. Here is what you need:
Access to the outdoors. If you don’t have an extended outdoor area near your house, there are many places nearby that can serve this purpose.
Good shoes and appropriate clothing — remember, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear!
Then keep your eyes peeled for something cool to climb on.
Fallen tree trunks: these make for great balance beams, and a surface to jump onto or off of.
Steep hills: these can be challenging to climb up.
Fallen tree tops: if you find a large tree that has fallen, the tops make a jungle gym type area that is a blast to climb through. Just make sure that the branches are thick enough and stable enough to hold the weight.
Streams: a thrilling challenge to jump across.
Rocks: Wait. Are there rocks here? I grew up in New Hampshire, and we had ROCKS. If you do find a large rock, the size and texture can be a good challenge for hand strength. And tell me where it is…I miss big rocks.
Climbing trees: these trees will have big, low branches that allow for hanging. climbing, stretching, and even relaxing. Be sure the branches are alive and sturdy.
Enjoy Nature’s Playground!
Fizzy fun!
Join LCC alumni Finn and Zander for a fizzy fun experiment! Kids will be fascinated with this colorful, fizzy, baking soda and vinegar experiment! You can set it up with just three common kitchen ingredients.
Materials Needed
vinegar
baking soda
food coloring
Make your own book at home with Rachael!
I go into detail of the simplest tasks so that your children can watch this and create along with me. I hope you have some basic art materials, and although this is not a fancy or novel project, I hope it inspires you to take it in other directions! Your children are usually very excited about book-making, and are pretty independent with portions of it! Have fun and maybe post a pic of your books!? Miss you all! XO Rachael
Hands are for clapping!
Hands are for clapping and toes are for tapping…follow along with Sara Maleski for this LCC favorite by Jim Gill.
Chalk Paint
When the sun peaks through and the air warms up, we take art outside! Try making this chalk paint at home and bring some joyful color to the day. Experiment by painting on different surfaces, making the chalk paint thicker or thinner, and perhaps display in a place that may bring a smile to people passing by. We'd love to see photos of your creations.
Step 1: Gather your ingredients: corn starch, food coloring, water, and jars.
Step 2: Put your cornstarch and food coloring into separate bowls.
Step 3: Add water and mix thoroughly (it can be as thick or thin as you like)
Step 4: Head outside and paint the sidewalk, driveway, or any hard surface.
Step 5: As the paint dries up, the colors will brighten.
Enjoy the day!
1: Gather your ingredients. Corn starch, food coloring, and water! Don’t forget a few paintbrushes!
Step 2: Put your cornstarch and food coloring into separate bowls.
Step 3: Add water and mix thoroughly (it can be as thick or thin as you like)
Step 4: Head outside and paint the sidewalk, driveway, or any hard surface.
Step 5: As the paint dries up, the colors will brighten. Enjoy the day and have fun!!
Helping Young Children Through Coronavirus Crisis.
Thank you to LCC parent and licensed master social worker Emily Kohler for sharing this helpful and important resource with us. https://zerotothrive.org/covid-19/covid-19-kids/
"Dinosailors" read by Rhonda Mack
Rhonda Mack reads “Dinosailors” by Deb Lund. Prepare for a high-rhyming, tummy-tickling, rip-snortingly hilarious tale of hijinks on the high seas when a crew of novice dinosailors set sail for adventur!
Sara's Nature Mobile
Follow along with Sara Tall as she creates a nature mobile out of simple found objects in her yard and home.