Portland Metro Area Child Care News

Even though the leaves are dying, and fall has wrapped its chilly fingers around us all, it’s the perfect time to grow something new.  Herbs are perfect for winter growing because they can be sustained in the house during the cold months, and they add a fresh flavor to everyday cooking.  Growing herbs in the house have also been shown to boost your mood during the grayness of fall and winter.  In the spirit of living green, here is a recycle-reuse project your daycare kiddos are sure to love all season long.

What you’ll need:

1 milk jug cleaned and dried

Potting soil

Seeds

Plastic wrap

Old plate or other planter bottom to keep the water from leaking

FOR THE TEACHER ONLY:

Scissors

irst, cut the bottom half of the milk jug off.

Next, poke three or four holes in the bottom for drainage.

Put the planter on the plate, or whatever you’re using to catch excess water.

Then, fill with potting soil and sprinkle with seeds.  Water.

Cover with plastic wrap until the seeds germinate.  Make sure not to let the soil dry out.

Remove plastic wrap when the plants come through the soil and keep watered until seedlings are old enough to transplant.

This is a wonderful project to add to your curriculum.  Have students observe, discuss, and predict.

As a parent, it’s hard to come up with ideas to boost your child’s imagination.  With so many parents turning to home schooling and charter schools, it’s easy to see that the education system is flawed.  It’s up to parents to pick up the ball where the schools drop it, and one of the strongest areas children need to be encouraged to grow is their imaginations.  Boosting a child’s imagination and creativity gives them problem solving skills that cannot be learned without experiencing trial and error.  Here are some useful ideas to help boost your child’s imagination:

• Free Crafting-
  So many moms pour through craft books, print out pre-made pictures from the Internet, and buy little craft kits. Sure, they’re beautiful and creative, but they’re controlled. Less mess, more follow the dotted line, and voila, there’s your pom-pom turkey! There’s nothing wrong with doing those things, but how far does it stretch the imagination? Give them an arsenal of art mediums to work with such as foam, pipe cleaners, colored pencils, paper punchies, stickers, glue, glitter, or any other little bits you can think of. Don’t give them any direction, just let them go. Usually the first time, they have no idea what to do, and might draw a picture and stick a piece of foam on it, but over time, the projects that come out of their minds are amazing! Full sculptures, hats, masks, and anything else you can think of! They not only get to exercise that imagination of theirs, but they learn that if something doesn’t turn out the way you want it, it’s okay to start over and try it a different way. It’s this thinking that promotes imagination and problem solving skills.

• Shared Stories-
  If you have more than one school-aged child, or you are a teacher, daycare provider, or you just want to sit down and remember how fun it is to be a kid, this is a perfect brain boosting project. First, give every child a blank piece of paper and a pencil. If you are doing this one-on-one with your child, you get a piece, and your child gets a piece. Set a timer for fifteen seconds. During that time, have the children draw a picture or start a story. When the timer goes off, everyone must stop what they are doing and hand their paper to the left. Set the timer again, and it’s time to either continue the story or picture you have been passed. Repeat this until every person has the original story or picture that they started. If you are doing this alone with your child, pass it back and fourth five times before stopping. Read the stories to each other, or discuss the pictures. Another version of this game that’s perfect for road trips or camp fires is to have one person start a story, and take turns adding one sentence at a time. These exercises help children learn to break out of the box and expand their thinking.

• Picture Connections-
  Another imagination booster is called Picture Connections. Open a magazine and take out three random pictures that aren’t connected at all, then post them on the wall, or in a place where your child (ren) can see them. Give your child(ren) a few minutes to come up with a story that strings the pictures together. Come up with your own story as well. After writing them down, share stories, and talk about them.

It’s amazing how far a child’s mind will stretch when you loosen up the traditional control of exact directions and teach them how to think on a more expansive level. The world is magical to them, and it’s our job to teach them how to hold on to that for as long as they can. Children who have developed the skills learned in these exercises are also much less stressed out when they are faced with an obstacle.  Instead, they’re more relaxed and have a bigger sense of accomplishment when they get excited about something they came up all by themselves.

 It’s very important to teach children in your care about recycling and reusing.  Milk jugs are the perfect material to use for many crafts, and one of the most fun is Paper Mache Masks.  This project is perfect to make and give away as Christmas gifts, and dads really love them as Father’s Day presents.  Children of all ages can participate in this project, and it’s very easy to work into your curriculum.

What you’ll need:

1 plastic milk jug per student washed and dried

Strips of newspaper

Any other Paper Mache mixture

Paint

Dried moss or other dried foliage for hair

FOR THE TEACHER ONLY:

Scissors

Exacto knife

Spray on sealant

  1.Before the project, the teacher will have to cut all of the plastic milk jugs in half.

2.We will be using the half with the handle, as it will become the nose of the mask. 

3.Cut 2 holes for eyes on either side of the handle, and a hole or the mouth below it. 

4.Have students dip the newspaper in your paper mache mix and create their masks.

5.After the paper mache dries, students can then paint and decorate their masks.  When the paint dries, spray the masks with a clear sealant.  When this dries, the students can glue on the dried foliage as hair.