Lots of relaxing but productive activities have been planned for school-age children this month. On any days that we can get outside, we will make Sidewalk Shadows, an outline of the youngster which can be colored in with chalk to make them into the community helper of their choice. Kids will have lots of opportunities to make and exchange valentines with friends, families, and community members.
- Feb 3 – 7 – The Groundhog will be looking for his shadow and we have lots of shadow related activities planned to. We will make and cut out silhouettes and try to identify children by their shadows. With Valentine’s Day coming soon, children will be encouraged to write and illustrate a list or book of people and things they love.
- Feb 10 – 17 –Magnets attract some metals and all children. What fun to have tubs of magnets to explore and nuts, bolts, and other junk to test and sort. We’ll have a contest to see who can attach the most paper clips to a magnet. Children will experiment with different textures to make heart rubbings, and make and send valentines to city workers. Children will discuss all the advantages of their lives including hard-working parents as they write and illustrate “Thank You Books”.
- Feb 17 – 21 – Just in case we have any aspiring Furniture Movers, we will provide tape measures and yardsticks so children can measure furniture and possible placement spaces to see if we can fit the furniture in any nook or cranny. Children will experiment with mixing white and colored paint to make gradations of color and then use potato prints to make a border of sequenced color patterns. In honor of President’s Day, we will encourage to imagine and record what they would do if they were elected president.
- Feb 24 – 28- Here is a math challenge for you…how many times in your life has your heartbeat? Well, we will count our pulse for 1 minute, multiply times 60 to get the number of beats in an hour, then multiply that times 24 to get the number of beats in a day, then multiply that times the number of days we have been alive. WOW! Okay – we may cheat a little and use calculators. We will create our own shapes and shadows by cutting and pasting black and white paper and see how many words we can find in Valentine’s Day, or President’s Day, or Ground Hog’s Day. Give it a try and let us know if you found words we didn’t