Home Activities: Bath Playdough

Note: During the COVID-19 crisis, we are sharing original content with our community via social media in an effort to support families at home with their young children. We are republishing some of this content on our blog.

Bath Playdough is quick and easy to mix up and it lasts for a long time when sealed in an airtight container. You can use it outside of the bath like regular playdough over and over again, or in the bath for a one-time sensory experience. We recommend giving this a try during water play outdoors as well! It’s fun in a pool or basin.

What You’ll Need:

• 1/4 cup bubble bath or liquid soap

• 1/2 cup cornstarch

• 1 tsp coconut oil or grapeseed oil

• 3 drops essential oil (optional)

• 1-4 drops coloring

Melt the coconut oil and then combine with the bubble bath, essential oil, and coloring. Add in cornstarch a bit at a time, mixing with your hands as you go until reaching a smooth, non-sticky texture. Now you’re good to go! Have fun.

Home Activities: Elephant Toothpaste

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Elephant Toothpaste is an experiment with a chemical reaction.

What You’ll Need:

• Safety goggles

• An empty jar or bottle

• Hydrogen Peroxide (1/2 cup)

• Yeast (1 tbsp)

• Warm water (3 tbsp)

• Dish liquid (one big squirt)

• Food coloring

Pour the hydrogen peroxide into the jar or bottle. Add a big squirt of the dish liquid and a few drops of food coloring. Mix the yeast with warm water and then pour into the jar or bottle when you’re ready to create the foam!

Home Activities: No-Bake Cookies

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What You Need:

• Crushed Graham Crackers (2 cups)

• Peanut Butter (1/3 cup)

• Banana (one)

• Optional: additional mix-ins like chocolate chips, raisins, coconut, nuts

Process:

Mix together all of the ingredients, scoop the dough by teaspoons onto a cookie sheet, chill in the freezer for 30 minutes or more. Enjoy!

Home Activities: Tweeze Seeds

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When it comes to engaging toddlers, keep it simple! Put away those toys that light up and make noise and introduce basics like containers and lids, washing and wiping things with rags, sweeping, and water play. These are the things that allow children to engage deeply and encourage their creativity, focus, and persistence.

This activity is so simple that it doesn’t feel quite right to even call it an “activity,” but it’s shockingly engaging and can be scaffolded further. Tweeze the seeds and COUNT them. Tweeze the seeds and then examine them with a magnifying glass. Plant the seeds. Do some brainstorming about what other fruits and vegetables have seeds! Conduct a seed investigation. What else can you think of?

Bell pepper seeds and ribs and a pair of tweezers is all you really need for this simple activity.

Save the seeds, allow them to dry, and then plant them! Grow your own peppers.

Pango loves green bell peppers.

Home Activities: Ocean In A Jar

Note: During the COVID-19 crisis, we are sharing original content with our community via social media in an effort to support families at home with their young children. We are republishing some of this content on our blog.

So simple to assemble and so soothing to play with. Simply fill a jar two-thirds of the way to the top with water. Add a few drops of food coloring. Fill the remaining third of the jar with oil. Shake and observe the bubbles!

Here is a little science: oil is less dense than water, which is why it will float to the top when it settles.

Water molecules are polar: they have a positive charge on one end and a negative charge on the other. They are more attracted to one another (and stick together) than to oil molecules, which are non-polar and have no charge.

You can make oil and water mix together by adding an emulsifier to the mix. You could also experiment with making oil temporarily sink by sprinkling in some salt. The salt will make a ball with the oil and sink down through the water ... Until it dissolves and the oil returns to the top.

Add some additional interest to your jar with some small toys or shells or beads!

Home Activities: Planting Some Seeds

Note: During the COVID-19 crisis, we are sharing original content with our community via social media in an effort to support families at home with their young children. We are republishing some of this content on our blog.

There is nothing better for our well-being than to get outside and work in a garden. Even in a small space, you can plant a few seeds.

At Nature’s Explorers, we always say that our seeds and plants need three things most of all: sunshine, water, and kindness.

Home Activities: I Spy 2

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Another round of I Spy! What do you spy with your little eye?

Home Activities: Corks In a Box

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Make your own simple toy at home that creates hours of open-ended fun for toddlers.

Note: supervision required.

What you need:

• Empty ice cream container

• Corks

• Scissors or knife

Home Activities: I Spy

Note: During the COVID-19 crisis, we are sharing original content with our community via social media in an effort to support families at home with their young children. We are republishing some of this content on our blog.

Join us in a round of “I Spy” and see if you can spy with your little eye …

Home Activities: No-Bake Protein Bites

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What you need:

• Oats (1 1/4 cups)

• Power seeds (2 tablespoons)

• Nut butter (1/2 cup)

• Sticky sweetness (1/3 cup)

• Mix-ins (1/2 cup)

• Vanilla (1 teaspoon)

Home Activities: Foam Soap!

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Make some Foam Soap/Bubble Foam/Soap Foam at home! This is fun for the bath or for water play outdoors.

What you need:

• Dish soap or tear-free shampoo

• Hand mixer

• Water

One part soap to two parts water. Optionally, you can add color by using liquid watercolors or food dye.

Home Activities: Kinetic Sand

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Here is an easy recipe to create an imitation of kinetic sand at home for a wonderful sensory experience! You can experiment with the ratios in this recipe to create a texture that is most pleasing to your audience.

What you need:

• Baking Soda

• Baking Powder

• Dish soap

Home Activities: Explore Surface Tension

Note: During the COVID-19 crisis, we are sharing original content with our community via social media in an effort to support families at home with their young children. We are republishing some of this content on our blog.

This is a fun experiment to do at home that explores the concept of surface tension and allows you to play with some mesmerizing materials, creating beautiful swirls of color and even some bubbles.

What you need:

* A sheet pan or tray.

* Toothpicks or popsicle sticks.

* Food coloring.

* Enough milk to cover the tray in a thin layer.

* A small amount of dish soap.

Scatter some drops of food coloring across the sheet pan or tray of milk.

"When liquid dish soap is added to milk with drops of food coloring on the surface, the soap reduces the surface tension of the milk and reacts with the fat....

Use the toothpicks or popsicle sticks to swirl the soap and coloring through the milk, creating a mesmerizing work of ephemeral art.