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At Home, Room to Room
Stumped for Play Ideas around your House? Let’s go room to room and see
what we can think up!
All of the activities are designed to start conversations with
your children.
Be sure to ask open-ended questions:
"How did this happen?"
"Why is it turning green?"
"What do you think is going to happen?"
Kitchen
Edible Concoctions – Children love to create and experiment. They
also love to eat. Why don’t we combine these two wonderful past times
into some yummy fun for you and your children.
Peanut Butter Play Dough – Make some play dough your children can
enjoy eating as much as they enjoy playing this it. Work together to mix
in a large bowl 2 1/2 c. peanut butter,1/4 c. honey and1 1/2 c. powdered
milk. Then dump it on a clean counter and enjoy cutting, rolling, and
creating as you play with and eat with yummy project.
Edible Finger Paint – Young children especially love to finger
paint. This is a wonderful sensory experience as they wiggle and squish
the gooey paint through their fingers. The biggest problem is keeping
the paint out of their mouths. Well here is a finger paint recipe were
you don’t have to worry if they put their fingers in their mouths. All
you will need is a piece of finger paint paper, a dollop of think corn
syrup and a couple drops of food coloring. Explore this ooey gooey
texture together as you create a beautiful work of art.
Bathroom
Bathtub Experiments – Your bathtub is a perfect place to
create and experiment with your child. All those gooey messy experiments
can be enjoyed and then washed down the drain.
 Volcanoes – You will need a tall plastic glass, baking soda, and
vinegar. Pour a small amount of baking soda into the bottom of the tall
plastic glass. Get ready. Pour a small amount of vinegar into the baking
soda. Watch you bathtub volcano erupt. Test out different amounts of
baking soda and vinegar, how does this change the reaction?
Finger Paint Experiments – Use regular washable paint or powder
paint and combine, liquid starch, corn syrup, dish soap or/and shampoo.
Paint as you compare textures of the different liquids.
Dining Room
Dining Room – Children love to pretend to feed and take care of
their stuffed animals. Use your dinning room to help create the best tea
party ever.
Tea Party – Set your dining room table with a table cloth, cups,
saucers, and plates. Invite your children and their stuffed animals.
Together with your child make tea, hot chocolate or apple cider. Any warm beverage you children
enjoy. Make sandwiches, cut up fruit, etc. Then sit down and have a
fantastic tea party.
Bedrooms
Camp-In – Make tents, and have a "camp out" indoors. Work together
to collect tent making supplies, sheets, string, pillows, etc. Then
discuss your tent design and construct you architectural masterpiece.
Once your tent is erected, collect all your camp-in essentials: snacks,
drinks, books, sleeping bags, etc. Whatever supplies your family needs for
a night of fun. Then snuggle up and enjoy telling stories,
playing games and eating s’mores (you can make them in your Microwave).
Family Room
Put on a Play – Children are natural performers. Work together to explore this talent by putting on a performance.
Pick a storybook and bring it to life. Make costumes or puppets from
construction paper. Grown-ups, if you aren’t excited about acting don’t
worry, your "actors" need someone to do sound, set design, and an
audience.
Backyard
Body Painting – Take Finger painting to the next level. On a warm
day put your children in some old clothing. Get a large piece of paper
and let them paint using their fingers, feet, elbows and whatever other
body parts they want. Once they are done you can put the picture in a
safe spot and then turn the sprinkler on and let you children clean
themselves off.
Soda Geyser – If you can’t make the trip to Yellow Stone National
Park this year
try this experiment out in your own back yard. You will
need one two-liter bottle of soda, a packet of Mentos®,
and a test tube (or other long thin tube). The goal is to drop all of
the Mentos® into the bottle
of soda at the same time, this isn’t always easy. One method for doing
this is to roll a piece of paper into a tube just big enough to hold the
loose Mentos®. You'll want
to be able to position the tube directly over the mouth of the bottle so
that all of the candies drop into the bottle at the same time. Practice
with an empty bottle before the actual experiment.
Other CMC Family Learning Page Links:
Family Learning
Happening in Each Exhibit and Beyond
Creative
Play: It’s For Everyone
Free Choice Learning:
A Family Affair
Creative Play Tips
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