Train Up a Child

Bath Play {The Sunday Showcase}

2013-05-18T02:00:00.000-07:00

Ideas for Bath Play featured on The Sunday Showcase

Welcome to The Sunday Showcase where YOUR CHILD CENTERED IDEAS are the STARS of the show!

If you are here for the first time please read this informational post for the full details.

Here's the quick cheat sheet version - This is a fun and relaxed linky with a few simple guidelines:

Anything kid friendly and/or child centered is welcome!
You are welcome to share more than one post, but we don't accept links for giveaways,
shops, or downloads for purchase, etc. They will be deleted.
If you're linking up we encourage you to visit some of the other link-ups. Everyone appreciates comments, encouragement, feedback, etc.

We appreciate you sharing with us, and we aim to spread your wonderful ideas. We pin your posts and share on Facebook.

Follow the Sunday Showcase Features board on Pinterest for more incredible ideas!

*Important*

Please note that by linking up you are giving us permission to use a photo (with proper link to you!) in our featured section! If you prefer not to be featured comment below or e-mail me.

Be sure and stop by and see the features from my co-hosts:

* Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas * Here Come the Girls * Inspiration Laboratories *

If you've been featured, grab a button:

A few favorite ideas for Bath Play from last week:

Shape Bath from Le Baby Bakery
Color Bath Fun from Seedlings Nursery School

Follow my Bathtime Play board on Pinterest for more ideas!

Ideas for Bath Play from Train Up a Child:

Stay in touch with Train Up a Child via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.

This post may include affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure policy HERE.

All About Colors {The Sunday Showcase}

2013-05-11T02:00:00.000-07:00

Activities that are All About Colors featured on The Sunday Showcase

Welcome to The Sunday Showcase where YOUR CHILD CENTERED IDEAS are the STARS of the show!

If you are here for the first time please read this informational post for the full details.

Here's the quick cheat sheet version - This is a fun and relaxed linky with a few simple guidelines:

Anything kid friendly and/or child centered is welcome!
You are welcome to share more than one post, but we don't accept links for giveaways,
shops, or downloads for purchase, etc. They will be deleted.
If you're linking up we encourage you to visit some of the other link-ups. Everyone appreciates comments, encouragement, feedback, etc.

We appreciate you sharing with us, and we aim to spread your wonderful ideas. We pin your posts and share on Facebook.

Follow the Sunday Showcase Features board on Pinterest for more incredible ideas!

*Important*

Please note that by linking up you are giving us permission to use a photo (with proper link to you!) in our featured section! If you prefer not to be featured comment below or e-mail me.

Be sure and stop by and see the features from my co-hosts:

* Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas * Here Come the Girls * Inspiration Laboratories * The Iowa Farmer's Wife *

If you've been featured, grab a button:

A few favorite activities that were all about colors from last week:

Coloring a Rainbow from And Next Comes L
Multisensory Process Art from Fun-A-Day
Musical Painting from Seattle Area Lifestyle Photographer
Learning Colors with Brown Bear: Brown from Craftulate
Paper Scrap Crowns from The Craft Train
Scented Sidewalk Paint from The Magnolia Barn
Jumping Colors from Gift of Curiosity
Spring Banners from Leaf and Flower Pounding from Buggy and Buddy
Color Matching from The Fairy and the Frog
Color Mixing Tic Tac Toe from Blog Me Mom
Making Your Own Volcano from The Measured Mom
Spring Weather Headband from JDaniel's Mom

Follow my Rainbow of Colors board on Pinterest for more ideas!

All About Color activities from Train Up a Child:

Stay in touch with Train Up a Child via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.

This post may include affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure policy HERE.

Science for Kids: Making a Spool Car

2013-05-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

Making a Spool Car with Kids

What an honor to have Chelsey of Buggy and Buddy guest posting today. Chelsey does so many creative activities with her children. One of my recent favorites was Go On a Sound Walk with ideas for outdoor play with a purpose. Chelsey included a free printable, so you can enjoy this activity with your children. Welcome Chelsey!

I'm so thrilled to be here at Train Up a Child to share one of our favorite science experiments with you~ making spool cars! I absolutely love doing science at home with the kids. It's such a wonderful way to promote critical thinking and problem solving while also having fun!

Making Spool Cars

Materials:

spool
rubberbands
washers
paperclip
tape
pencil

Procedure:

Pick up your spool and put a rubber band through the hole so it's coming out on both sides. (We used a toothpick to help push it through.)

2. Place a paperclip through one side of the rubber band and tape it in place.

3. On the other side, thread the rubber band end through two washers. Then stick a pencil through the loop in the rubber band.

4. Hold the spool securely with one hand, and with the index finger of your other hand, turn the unattached pencil around and around in a clockwise direction to wind the rubber band tightly.

5. Place the spool on a flat surface and release it. Watch it go!

Tips:

- We found using two washers works better than just one washer. - Experiment with different lengths of rubber bands to find the one that works best. - It may take a few tries to get it right~ don't give up!

Questions to Spark More Curiosity and Critical Thinking:

What do you think is making the spool car go? What is the purpose of the washers? Some observations and questions Lucy came up with as she was experimenting~ “I think the strength of the car makes it go. It's like a car motor." "I feel the rubberband getting tighter when I twist it!"

Lucy then discovered that putting the spool cars on their sides was fun to watch too.

"It's like a helicopter. The rubberband moves it." "I wonder if we put a feather on it if it would fly?"

Want to go even further?

Even more activities to inspire creativity and critical thinking for various ages.

Does the amount of times you twist the rubber band affect how the spool car works?
Try using something in place of the pencil like a toothpick or crayon. Does that affect how the spool car works?
Make a few spool cars and have a race with your friends!

Explanation: When you twist the rubber band you're storing potential energy (energy that can do work in the future.) As the rubber band unwinds, the potential energy turns into kinetic energy (energy of a moving object.) The paperclip taped to the spool turns, turning the spool. The unattached pencil next to the washers does not turn and is dragged across the surface as the turning spool moves forward. I'd like to invite you to come visit our Science Invitation Saturday series full of many other exciting science experiments to do at home!

Chelsey is a former elementary teacher and is now staying home with her two children. She blogs over at Buggy and Buddy sharing crafts, learning activities and art projects. You can follow Chelsey on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Simple Small Worlds: Dinosaurs and Sticky Mud

2013-05-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

Dinosaur Small World Play

I am delighted to have Asia of Fun at Home with Kids guest posting today. Her site is full of wonderful ideas for sensory and creative play. Most recently she shared a series called Play on a Budget with frugal ideas for play and sensory materials. Please join me in welcoming Asia. I have no doubt you will be inspired by her.

My daughter, S, loves playing with the dinosaur bones we bought for making our own fossils, so I thought I might make a small world for them to play in. Cornstarch and water is one of my favorite sensory materials, and though we've played with it a lot ourselves, I'd never used it in a small world before. Because it tends to get a bit messy, I thought it would be nice to include a filler that would help contain any overflow. Staying true to the theme of my simple small worlds (you can read about our other simple small worlds here), I wanted to use an easy material - and landed on paper bags. S had a chance to practice her scissor skills by helping me cut two paper bags into small squares or "dried leaves" for our little dinosaur world.

I mixed several different colors of our liquid watercolors together until I got a dark brown color (though for the record, they do sell a brown liquid watercolor!). If you have a younger toddler playing with this set up who may be tempted to taste, you could accomplish the same dark brown color by mixing food coloring (or you could even do plain cornstarch and water and call it quicksand!).

I used a glass cake pan to mix the cornstarch, water, and brown liquid watercolors and just set it directly into the center of our sensory bin (a plastic underbed storage container). When adding water to cornstarch, err on the side of too little water. For it to be "sticky", you'll want just enough water to hydrate it. It should be nice and thick, as you can see in the pictures below.

S dove right in - dripping sticky mud on the dinosaurs with her hands, mixing the color further into the mud, and pulling the dinosaurs in and out of the mud pit.

She loved using her fingers to drip the ribbons of mud onto the poor mired dinosaurs.

She also enjoyed just feeling the "mud".

I love the dramatic drips afforded by the cornstarch and water mixture!

Taking a closer look at one of her goopy guys.

By the end, as with most of our sensory experiences, some cute little feet made their way in (along with some fish, a pterodactyl, and I believe a rogue penguin). She loved squishing her toes in the mud and "painting" her feet. Cornstarch and water rinses off easily in the sink, and as I'd hoped, the paper bags absorbed most of the overflow. Our only other "trick" for playing with cornstarch and water is to lay out a sheet on which to play (alternatively, you could play with it in the bathtub or outside). After we're done, I just throw the sheet and any clothing with the cornstarch on it in the washing machine and it makes clean up a breeze!

A. Citro is a SAHM to two young kids: X (an infant) and S (a preschooler). As a former science teacher, she knows how important it is for kids to be able to explore and ask questions about the world around them. She places a high value on creativity and being able to "think outside the box". To that end, she strives to engage her children in open-ended play that encourages exploration and fosters their creativity. Visit www.funathomewithkids.com or her Facebook or Google+ pages to follow along!

Sensory Activities {The Sunday Showcase}

2013-05-04T02:00:00.000-07:00

Sensory Activities featured on The Sunday Showcase

Welcome to The Sunday Showcase where YOUR CHILD CENTERED IDEAS are the STARS of the show!

If you are here for the first time please read this informational post for the full details.

Here's the quick cheat sheet version - This is a fun and relaxed linky with a few simple guidelines:

Anything kid friendly and/or child centered is welcome!
You are welcome to share more than one post, but we don't accept links for giveaways,
shops, or downloads for purchase, etc. They will be deleted.
If you're linking up we encourage you to visit some of the other link-ups. Everyone appreciates comments, encouragement, feedback, etc.

We appreciate you sharing with us, and we aim to spread your wonderful ideas. We pin your posts and share on Facebook.

Follow the Sunday Showcase Features board on Pinterest for more incredible ideas!

*Important*

Please note that by linking up you are giving us permission to use a photo (with proper link to you!) in our featured section! If you prefer not to be featured comment below or e-mail me.

Be sure and stop by and see the features from my co-hosts:

* Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas * Here Come the Girls * Inspiration Laboratories * The Iowa Farmer's Wife *

If you've been featured, grab a button:

A few favorite sensory activities from last week:

Sensory Bins Using Invisible Letters and Numbers from And Next Comes L
DIY Baby Sensory Board from Wildflower Ramblings
Two Fine Motor Ideas for In Hand Manipulation from Sugar Ants
Baby Friendly Bug Small World Play from House of Burke
Treasure Baskets from Our Playful Journey
Spring Sense of Touch Activity from The Pleasantest Thing
Bead Sensory Bin from Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes
Playing with Rocks from StrongStart
Mud Play from Mess for Less
Salt Box Discoveries from @Gift of Curiosity
Earth Sensory Table from Little Bins for Little Hands
Garden Sensory Bin from The Chaos and the Clutter
Sensory Gardening with Children from Little Wonders Days
Magic Mud Rainbows with Nature from Seedlings Nursery School

Follow my Sensory Activities board on Pinterest for more ideas!

Sensory Activities from Train Up a Child:

Stay in touch with Train Up a Child via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.

This post may include affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure policy HERE.