Summer Challenges and Ideas #3

This week our challenges and ideas come from Mr. Johnson, Mrs. Seaton and me.

Nature walk- Take a bag with you and have your child fill the bag with as many rocks as they can. Now comes the educational part- have them classify or sort the rocks. This could be done by size, shape, color or any other way your child comes up with. Do you want to work on some math? Have your child count the rocks and add or subtract using the rocks. Have you ever heard of the new fad in the art world? It is called Rock Art! Okay, I just made that up. Here is what you can do to create some
ROCK ART- dump the rocks on the ground and have your child use his or her imagination to create a masterpiece.

Cloud Art- This is a fun one that I use to enjoy as a kid. Grab a beach towel or blanket and look for cloud patterns or pictures. See if anyone else can see what you are seeing. To put a fun twist on this challenge you can take a notebook out and draw all the cloud designs that you find.

The Playground Challenge: Turn the local playground into a child's very own Ninja Warrior challenge. If you are not sure what I am talking about just Google Ninja Warrior- it is a game show that is all about physical challenges. Time your kids doing certain challenges at the playground and then see if they can beat their own score. Let your mind go wild with creating these challenges for your children. The students then can chart or graph their times at the end of the day. If they do this daily they will be able to see how they are improving with their physical fitness, while also working on some math skills. I know Mr. Magill would love to see some of these charts and graphs when your child comes back to school.

Read a book and then have your child write and alternate ending for the story.

Here are some ideas for preschool and kindergarten students brought to you by Mrs. Seaton.
 1. Write in shaving cream, sand, dirt, mud.
2.  Collect some sticks, leaves, rocks, shells, etc. and then sort them by color, size, shape, texture, etc.  Then you can order them from largest to smallest or heaviest to lightest, etc.
3.  Look for letters and numbers you know everywhere you go. ( grocery, Walmart, park, in the car, on tv, etc)
4.  Help sort your laundry by color