Welcome back to the
here on Play Create Explore!
GREEN WEEK
The first thing I did was simply gather all the green toys and kid friendly objects in the house and put them into a green bucket. We explored this bucket all week long. We focused on the color of course, but also worked on identifying the names of the objects.
Split Pea Sensory Bin
Our first sensory bin was very simple..just a small bucket of dry split peas with a few green cups and things for pouring and transferring.
Green Key Lime Pie Scented Play Dough
I made some green key lime pie scented play dough which smelled delicious! We played with our green play dough a few times throughout the week. To see how I dyed and scented the play dough, click HERE!
GREEN THEMED BATH
Our Themed Baths are always such a fun activity and for green I simply used washable paint to make some trees on the wall, added green food coloring to the water along with some green balloons and lots of other green toys! I also made some special Green Shaving Cream Paint which is always so much fun in the tub! To see all of our past themed baths, click HERE!
Our Green Shaving Cream Paint was made by simply adding green food coloring to shaving cream. I also added a bit green glitter and a few drops of Eucalyptus essential oil. If your child is sensitive to shaving cream, see how to make the Homemade Paint I created for Sensitive Skin!
Just look at this sweet face!
Green Messy Play Sensory Bin
Our second green sensory bin was some great messy play! We made some green "dirt dough" by mixing baking soda with a bit of water and green food coloring. I found this idea via Bath Activities for Kids.
and as always, if little B can fit in the sensory bin he WILL get in it :)
Shaving Cream Color Mixing Sensory Bags
We did another fun and totally UNmessy activity using shaving cream and green food coloring in a ziplock bag. After I got all the air out of the bag, I duct taped the ziplock part to prevent leaks. Then I let little B squeeze and smoosh the bag to his hearts content!
Since my oldest L (4 1/2) usually joins in on our color activities, I created another bag for him with a bit of a higher learning element by putting a few drops of yellow and blue in the bag so he could CREATE green by color mixing.
They sort of look bluish in these pics, but they were very green!
I let the mixture sit in the bags for a day, then we followed up with the fun activity below!
Green Animals
We have a lot of plastic toy animals and so gathered our green ones up and I talked about "green animals" with both boys. With little B (19 mo) it was as simple as "This is a green frog, "This snake is green," "This is how a green grasshopper hops!," etc, but with my oldest, we explored "green animals" a bit further on this web page called Amazing Green Animals.
To follow up with our exploration of green animals,
we did a few activities.....
A simple frog pond sensory bin
I used a few drops of green food coloring and green floral gems along with some craft foam cut like a shamrock for a floating lilly pad and a few frogs we had in our animal collection.
So simple, but both kids loved it! My youngest just liked splashing and picking the gems out, and my oldest loved it for it's pretend play element.
and
Toy Snake Painting
which was a total blast! Click HERE to see the fun we had painting with our green toy snakes!
Green Chocolate Mint Scented Rice
This was a super simple sensory bin, but the kids had fun with it and it smelled heavenly!
To see how I made Green Chocolate Mint Scented Rice, click HERE.
Green Sponge Painting
I bought a cheap green sponge for B to paint with using green paint (of course).
The sponge was really squishy but had a fabulous texture and reminded me of grass which produced a similar pattern when he painted.
He liked to rub it back and forth on the paper and then squish it, which was especially fun when it was saturated with paint! (bath time immediately followed!)
Green Foods
We have lots of fake plastic foods so I gathered the green foods and put them together.
I sat with little B and worked on identifying each food.
We also did a special sensory bin for St. Patrick's Day which of course was mostly...GREEN!
Click HERE to see!
What else did we do?
Here are a few other very simple ways we focused on "green" this week
--We identified green ALL over the place. If something was green, I identified it and said it outloud.
-We read our books with green covers, and of course, "Green Eggs and Ham"
-We picked a day to wear green shirts
-We ate green foods such as green apples, green pudding, broccoli and green grapes
-We found and listened to THIS "green themed" kindergarten song on Youtube.
-We went outside to identify natural green things...grass, trees, bugs, etc.
-Make some Green Goop for totally fun messy sensory play!
Ideas from others
Here are a few other fun GREEN ideas i've found!
Green Sensory Bin from Handmade Beginnings
Green Sensory Bottle from Our Homespun Haven
-Fun "Green" Activities from Learning 4 Kids
Exploring the Color Green from LalyMom
To see ALL of our Color of the Week Series,
Click the photo below!
Make sure you join me next Monday (3/18/13) as the
Color of the Week Series continues with RED!
I let the mixture sit in the bags for a day, then we followed up with the fun activity below!
I thought we'd have some fun and get another activity out of our shaving cream bags so I tied a rubber band around the top of each bag to make it easier to squeeze the colored shaving cream.
I then snipped a tiny hole in a corner of each bag and put a few layers of easel paper on the table. You could use newspaper, or just have then squeeze it onto a cookie sheet or in a bowl even!
To see the fun we had with these, click HERE!
To follow up with our exploration of green animals,
we did a few activities.....
A simple frog pond sensory bin
I used a few drops of green food coloring and green floral gems along with some craft foam cut like a shamrock for a floating lilly pad and a few frogs we had in our animal collection.
So simple, but both kids loved it! My youngest just liked splashing and picking the gems out, and my oldest loved it for it's pretend play element.
and
Toy Snake Painting
which was a total blast! Click HERE to see the fun we had painting with our green toy snakes!
Green Chocolate Mint Scented Rice
This was a super simple sensory bin, but the kids had fun with it and it smelled heavenly!
To see how I made Green Chocolate Mint Scented Rice, click HERE.
Green Sponge Painting
I bought a cheap green sponge for B to paint with using green paint (of course).
The sponge was really squishy but had a fabulous texture and reminded me of grass which produced a similar pattern when he painted.
He liked to rub it back and forth on the paper and then squish it, which was especially fun when it was saturated with paint! (bath time immediately followed!)
Green Foods
I sat with little B and worked on identifying each food.
We also did a special sensory bin for St. Patrick's Day which of course was mostly...GREEN!
Click HERE to see!
What else did we do?
Here are a few other very simple ways we focused on "green" this week
--We identified green ALL over the place. If something was green, I identified it and said it outloud.
"The apple is green." "This book is green." "What color is your shirt? Your shirt is green!"
You can never have too much repetition! However, we didn't leave out or ignore other colors though. In our everyday play I still identified other colors, I just put a lot of focus on green specifically!
-We read our books with green covers, and of course, "Green Eggs and Ham"
-We picked a day to wear green shirts
-We ate green foods such as green apples, green pudding, broccoli and green grapes
-We found and listened to THIS "green themed" kindergarten song on Youtube.
-We went outside to identify natural green things...grass, trees, bugs, etc.
-Make some Green Goop for totally fun messy sensory play!
Ideas from others
Here are a few other fun GREEN ideas i've found!
Green Sensory Bin from Handmade Beginnings
Green Sensory Bottle from Our Homespun Haven
-Fun "Green" Activities from Learning 4 Kids
Exploring the Color Green from LalyMom
To see ALL of our Color of the Week Series,
Click the photo below!
Make sure you join me next Monday (3/18/13) as the
Color of the Week Series continues with RED!
More Ways to Follow the Fun!
I love the colour of the week series! Do you have any secrets for keeping the little ones from eating the rice in your sensory bins without frustrating them too much?
ReplyDeleteFinding your colour of the week series brilliant as we are just starting colours with my little one! Thanks for the inspiration :)
ReplyDeleteI did this today with the 3 & 2 year old that I aupair for here in Germany except that we didn't have ziploc bags so I had to use regular bags and tie them up. It worked ok until the 2 year old decided to take a bite out of the bag and pink shaving cream came flying out LOL. Then I decided just to make the colored shaving cream into bath paint (can't remember where I saw that activity) and they loved that! Thanks for all your ideas!
ReplyDeleteWhat a week you had! I love the bath activities! Wonderful!
ReplyDelete