Paper Chain

Materials Scissors Tape, glue, or stapler Any kind of paper: look for slightly thicker paper, but anything will work. Try construction paper (especially random half-colored on pages), old coloring book pages, magazine covers/pages, junk mail, wrapping paper, paper from your office recycling bin Setup and How Make for your child two sample strips first so […]

Coin Rubbings

Materials Loose change Random old crayons with the wrappers off Printer paper Something for an underlay to keep the crayon marks off your table SetupOptional: cut the paper into strips. How–Optional Introductions If you have time-Talk through with your child what the different coins are. -Have them describe all the differences among the coins. If […]

Making a Crown

MaterialsAny kind of paper or tagboardScissorsSomething to color withAny kind of tape How-Cut the paper lengthwise into two or three strips. Keep the strips the same width: a width between two and six inches works well. -Tape the strips together lengthwise to make one long strip.-Measure your child’s head with the strips and cut, leaving […]

Knot Tying Frame

MaterialsFile folder, preferably without pockets, does not need to be newTwo shoelaces or pieces of yarn (or any kind of thick-ish string)Scissors Setup HowClose the folder. Step by step, show your child how to tie a knot, two or three times. Keep the knots rather loose, so they’ll be easy to undo.Then have them practice. […]

Rainbow Coloring

SetupDraw a rudimentary rainbow with six stripes.Have your child find six crayons/colored pencils/markers in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. HowIf your child knows rainbow order, ask them to color in the rainbow in rainbow order.If not, make a tiny rainbow on the bottom corner of the page showing rainbow order, and see if […]

Cutout Letters

SetupFrom printer paper or construction paper, or even old magazine pages, cut out the letters of your child’s name. How Early Literacy Development-You can work on letter recognition, having the child trace the letters with their pointer fingers.-The child can describe what the letters look like, what part are straight, what parts curve, what the […]

Play Dough

This is the recipe I always use. The recipe still works even if you don’t have the cream of tartar. SetupSince you have to cook it on the stove for a couple minutes, my technique is to first get out a few kitchen drawer tools for the kids on the table: plastic cookie cutters rolling […]