Look at your little one’s hands. Yes—they're adorable (and maybe a little sticky), but did you also know that they’re working really, really hard?
That’s because our hands grow the most when we’re between ages 0 and 5 years old. And as a result, our little one’s hands do a lot of work to get stronger, more flexible, and more adept at skills we eventually need... like using scissors.
Today’s at home activity video is all about enhancing those skills.
Secret Puzzle Game is a simple, outside-the-box way of sitting with the words, feelings, and thoughts we’re experiencing during this wild time. Think of a word or image, keep it secret, draw it on the back of a cereal box that you’ll cut up to make your own puzzle. Then, hide the pieces around the room and hunt for the rest of your family’s pieces.
Today’s at home activity lets your children show off their literacy skills by finding items beginning with every letter of the alphabet. So explain the rules, maybe provide an example, and let them explore your space to find each object.
And while they do, take a minute to sip some coffee, look out the window, or even just stare at the wall for a little bit.
At around 3 pm every afternoon, we find ourselves just wanting to lie down for a bit.
Today’s at home activity not only requires you and your little ones to lie down—it turns sprawling out on the floor into a fun art exercise designed to sharpen children’s gross and fine motor skills, as well as their observational abilities and creativity!
Today's Chicago Children’s Museum parent PSA: not every at home art project requires drawing or crafting.
If you’re worried about running low on art supplies, or simply just not feeling up for more traditional arts and crafts activities, Scrub a Dub has you covered! Simply find a spot that’s safe for splashing (think kitchens, bathrooms, or even outside), fill up a couple of buckets or bowls with water and dish soap, and let the foam sculpting begin.
What comes to mind when you think of mindfulness? This much-talked-about coping strategy can conjure up images of quiet meditation or solitary thought exercises—often practiced by grownups.
However, mindfulness is also a powerful way for children to calm their anxieties and accept the present moment. And while silent meditation and breathing are definitely ways to practice mindfulness, there are also ways to bring play into your mindfulness activities—for grownups and little ones.
What’s a bubbleologist, you ask?
Simply put, a bubbleologist is an expert in all things bubbles—and kids are natural bubbleologists.
Today’s at home activity takes bubbles to a whole new level. Not only do the activities below allow your little ones to play with bubbles (which is obviously a blast), they’re designed to build important skills like trial and error and cause and effect. Plus, by following the directions below, kids explore geometry and shape-building, physical properties, and their own creativity.
We’re taking #chalkthewalk to a whole new level.
This at home art activity for kids comes from Chicago Children’s Museum Lead Arts Educator Liz Rosenberg (@lizziemaerose on Instagram). Follow along as Liz brings our Art Studio to you, and share your pics of what you create with us!
During all this social distancing, our worlds have gotten much smaller—our morning coffee, dinner dates, family outings, staff meetings, workouts, and children’s educations all take place in the same spot: our homes.
And as much as our lives have changed, so have our children’s lives, especially if they’re school-aged.
But what if we told you that, in the height of the Coronavirus quarantine, you can make your world seem as big as outer space?
Since the days of just sending our little ones outside to play with the neighbors are at a halt for now, today’s at home activity focuses on something you can do with your littles outside: search for animal tracks!
This guided activity lets you and your little ones tap into your Discovery Channel sensibilities. Exploring the mud (or dare we even mention it this late in the year, snow!) is a great way to pique your children’s curiosities about animals, nature, and biology. Plus, you might learn a few things along the way.
… the scent of smell, also known as the olfactory sense, is powerful. In fact, it’s the scent most attributed to memory formation—which is why a smell may trigger an intense, vivid memory, sometimes out of the blue.
Smell is also deeply connected to emotion—our brains form strong connections between particular scents and powerful emotions, which is why smelling something can feel so suddenly intense.
What does this have to do with your kids, or parenting, or play? Well, we’re bringing you an at home activity that is all about how you can explore this powerful (and often overlooked) sense with your kids in the comfort of your own home (while reinforcing and building literacy skills).
This time of uncertainty might be the perfect time to explore one of math’s most kid-friendly concepts: estimation.
Practicing estimation skills with your kids is a great way to infuse math learning and play. With activities like the one below, children will begin to understand spatial reasoning in terms of height, weight, and length, and they’ll also start sharpening their educated guessing skills.
Today we’re sharing an activity that is all about how you and your littles can take the most familiar objects around you and turn them into something brand new. And since we’re all about quality play at Chicago Children’s Museum (that’s also a blast)—today’s activity also allows your kids to flex their imagination and literacy skills at the same time.
Another thing we keep hearing over and over again during the COVID-19 quarantine:
Fake it until you make it.
In trying times, experts encourage us to slap a smile on our face and pretend that things are easier than they are—and sometimes, we might even start believing it.
Lucky for parents and caregivers—our kids are natural pretenders.
We keep hearing it and thinking it over and over again: these are unprecedented times—and they are. But despite the quiet air of social distancing across our neighborhoods and towns, there’s also quite a bit of noise—24-hour news channels, Twitter feeds, daily press conferences, and more.
We’re here to summarize some of that noise for you! And to round-up some quality links that we know you can trust.
