January 2006 - Fun Things To Do | TRIS Project | SIU

Here are some fun things to do indoors with your child during January

This is a fun way to create many things. Your child can play and create all types of things with this playdough and you do not have to worry about them eating it and getting sick because it is made of food.

Edible Playdough

Edible playdough 1 can chocolate frosting mix (betty Crocker) 1 cup peanut butter 1 1/2 cups dry powdered milk Knead until right consistency. Should not be sticky. More peanut butter may be used but then use more dry powdered milk.

May be pinched off as clay, or rolled into balls, or shaped flat as cookies, etc.

This is a fun recipe you can allow the kids to do by themselves without the worry of getting burnt.

No Cook No Bake Snowball Cookies

Ingredients

Marshmellow fluff, creamy peanut butter, cereal (Rice Krispies or flakes), and powdered sugar.

Mix in a mixing bowl, 1 & ½ cups of marshmallow fluff/cream, 1 cup of creamy peanut butter, and a cereal (I like using Rice Krispies. If you use flake cereal you might want to crush it in a bag.) Have kids roll into small balls and then roll into powdered sugar.

A fun art project your child can do that uses items you might have around the house is food color art. The children can do most of the project by themselves.

Food color Art

What you need,

You might want rubber gloves to prevent food color stain on hands.

Fill the tub or cookie sheet with water almost full.

Have paper ready to dip in the water.

Have the child put drops of food color in the water.

Drop a paper on the water then pull it back out.

The color should blend and create a tie-die effect. You can explore what colors combine to create new colors. (Red + Blue = Purple, Yellow + Red = Orange, Blue + Yellow = Green)

Scavenger Hunt

A fun indoor or outdoor activity is scavenger hunts. Create a list of items on paper or on tape. You might take pictures of items to be collected and place them on a paper list. Allow you child a certain amount of time to locate the items. Before they begin to look have rewards for different amounts of items found. 1 item a hug, 2 items a special drink. List a reward for each amount of items found. This could be a great opportunity to allow them to use the phone and practice social or language skills.

Safe, fun and educational water play:

Mathematic concepts can be learned using a variety of inexpensive materials. Assorted containers and funnels can help children develop concepts such as empty/full, before/after, shallow/deep, and heavy/light. 
Individual water tubs at a table are great for enhancing fine motor skills.

For younger children, eye-hand coordination can be practiced by retrieving objects with tongs, aquarium nets, scoops, and fingers. Small muscles get a workout as plastic tubes are fitted to funnels and sponges are wrung dry. Very young children may also enjoy spending many happy moments repetitively filling and emptying containers.

Children can learn about measurement by using measuring cups or discovering the best way to squirt long and short distances using squeeze bottles or plant misters filled with water.

A child's vocabulary is enriched as she uses words such as funnel, surface, float, and strain. Adults can promote language acquisition by adding foam or rubber alphabet letters or numbers to a container filled with water to be fished out with nets. Name the letters or numbers they catch, spell out their names, or see who can catch the highest or lowest number.

Make cleaning up part of the learning experience using rags and short-handled mops to do "grown-up" work.

Create a dramatic play area for children to wash doll clothes in a tub of sudsy water and hang them up with clothespins to dry.

Even on cool days, children can "paint" with water. Set up a paint shop by providing a large paintbrush and partially fill a large can or small pail with water. They can pretend to "paint" a variety of surfaces.

Provide a water tub for experiments and projects. Boats can be made from found objects or heavy aluminum foil. Older preschoolers can try out predictions by determining which of a variety of seeds and assorted items will float.