April 6, 2020

Bravo! this Week | April 6

It’s a new week– a fresh start, as we try to find rhythm in our new normal.

We’re sharing a brand new list of Happy at Home activities, adapted from our Bravo! Curriculum, to help inspire exploration and learning at home (and maybe a few moments of calm for moms and dads). We hope that these activities help to bring some happiness to your days this week. Share your #happyathome activities with us by tagging @DoodleBugsUSA on social – we would love to see you!

Infants & 1YOs

Stuff the Ball – Stuff an O-ball with strips of fabric or play scarves. Infants and 1YOs will work on their developing their fine motor skills as they try to take them out! Stuff again, and repeat.

Sensory Bottles – Fill an empty water bottle or two with some dried rice, dried pasta, or dried beans. Use hot glue to seal the caps onto the bottles, and then cover with tape for extra durability. Provide the bottles to infants and 1YOs to explore – shaking, rolling, and tipping up and down to hear the noises that are made.

Color Exploration – Fill a basket with toys and household materials that are the same color – red balls, red stacking cups, red rings, red rattles, etc. Give to infants and 1YOs to explore. As they play, you can talk about the color of the items and what else shares this color – animals, foods, etc. Repeat with different colors!

Toddlers

Baking Bin – Fill a shallow bin or bowl with flour and place on top of a table. Add tools that bakers would use – muffin tins, measuring cups, mixing bowls, whisks, etc. Have children wear a smock and invite them to pretend that they are baking!

Wet Chalk – Set up an easel or put paper on a table, along with chalk that you’ve run under water. Encourage children to use the chalk to color. Talk about what the chalk looks like as it dries, and how it looks different than when the chalk is wet.

Load & Tote – Provide children with a few large, empty cardboard boxes. Show children how to fill them with materials and push them around “for delivery” to another area of the house! This is a great way for children to exercise their gross motor skills and use up some energy indoors.

Preschool

Flour Piping – Mix flour and colored water in Ziploc bags until the consistency is as thick as you would like. Then, cut off the tip on one corner. Provide children with a baking tray, pie tins, bowls, or anything else you would like to add. They can pipe and squeeze the flour mixture, making designs or pretending to play bakery.

Float and Sink – Fill a tub or bucket (or even plug the sink) with water. Gather some items that you don’t mind getting wet, and pose a question to children – will this float on top of the water, or will it sink to the bottom? Invite children to experiment with the items, seeing which ones float and which ones sink, and figuring out why!

Shape Puzzles – Create shape puzzles using craft sticks (or pieces of cardboard cut into skinny rectangles) by drawing half of the shape on one side of the craft stick, and half on the other. When children put the two craft sticks together, it will create a whole shape!

Pre-K

Build and Measure – Provide children with a ruler, yardstick, or measuring tape to use as they are building with blocks, magnet tiles, or another type of building mater. Children can use these to see how many inches or feet tall their building is! Parents may need to support children as they learn how to use these measuring tools.

I-Spy Sensory Tub – Gather a collection of toys or other household objects (a few magnetic letters, some small animal toys, matchbox cars, dice, etc.). On index cards, draw a photo of each item that you gathered, and give it a written label. Fill a shallow bin (like a storage bin or baking pan) with a dry material like flour, cornmeal, or salt. Add the toys that you gathered to the bin and mix them around. Children can use the index cards to find each item.

Playdough Writing – Roll out playdough so it is smooth. Provide children with something that they could use as a writing tool – like a wooden dowel, skewer (with the end trimmed), or toothpick. Children can practice writing their letters, names, or any words in the playdough. When one side is full, flip the playdough over to the smooth side and start again.

School Age

Jump Rope Skills – Encourage children to try these new ways to jump rope:

Scissor Jumps: Land with one foot forward, then on the next jump switch feet.
Cross Jumps: Land with feet crossed like an X, then apart, then crossed again.
Duckie: Land with heels apart, toes and knees pointed in. On the next jump, put heels together and toes and knees pointed out.
Swing: Land on one foot and swing the opposite leg out to the side, then switch on the next jump.

Water Density Rainbow – You will need: cups, 1 cup measuring cup, sugar, tablespoon, food coloring, spoon, baster, and a mason jar or other clear container (the skinnier, the better).

Set out 6 cups, adding 1 cup of water into each cup. Add a few drops of food coloring to each glass, a different color for each. Measure and add a different amount of sugar to each cup of colored water, (0 Tbsp., 2 Tbsp., 4 Tbsp., etc.). Stir each one until as much of the sugar is dissolved as possible.

Start layering the sugar water into your clear container, starting with the water with the most sugar. Adding sugar to the water changes the density of the water – because each color of water has a different density, the colors of water will stack and won’t mix!

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