Christmas Tree

Here's an activity that will get you and your child into the holiday spirit. With a little bit of help and imagination, your child can magically transform a simple magazine into a miniature Christmas tree that will bring holiday cheer to any room in the house. Kids will experience a sense of accomplishment and you will feel good about recycling and reusing materials gathered from around the house. And when the holidays are over, gently tuck your magazine Christmas tree into a box and save for next year, and many years to come.
This activity helps build your child’s fine motor skills, focus, creativity, and attention to detail.

What You Do:

Beginning with the first page after the magazine cover, have your child fold the top right corner of the page over so the top edge of the page rests along the spine and forms a triangle. This creates the branches of the tree.

Then have your child fold the bottom right corner in to create another, smaller triangle. The upper edge of the small triangle should be flush with the lower edge of the large triangle. This creates the base of the tree.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 with each page of the magazine until all the pages are folded.

Once the folding is done, help your child thoroughly coat the magazine with spray paint and allow it to dry overnight. Be sure to spray the magazine over old newspapers or a drop cloth to avoid a mess.

Apply a second coat of spray paint if necessary.

Now the tree is ready to decorate! Have your child use her imagination to embellish the tree with the small decorations; it can be as realistic or as stylized as she wants.

 

Christmas carols

 

Christmas is near, so I encourage children to listen this Christmas carols and sing it!

I am sure that they will love it!

And… MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Glogster activity

How I said in other publications, TIC’S are very important for children.

An enjoying application is Glogster, which is for do virtual murals. It is useful to work the reading after children have read a book. They will have to create the poster with sentences from the story, pictures, songs, characters, the title of the book, and whatever they want.

This is an example of a poster that twelve-year-old children did after they read “The three musketeers”.

If the teacher wants, pupils can expose their murals to the class.

http://almudenaescriba.edu.glogster.com/mosketeers/

Movie Marker activity

It's very important that children learn to work with TIC'S at the school. A good idea for this is the program Movie Marker. They can do a video with pictures and songs.

This is an example of a movie that children have done after they read the book “The Magician”. In this case, they have ordered cartoons basing on the reading and they have added a song of bottom.

Obviously, it can be done with another books or stories depending the pupils’ age.

Children enjoy a lot with this nice activity. 

 

Sparkling Crystals

Get your child excited about Earth science by showing him how to make borax crystals at home! Using just a few materials, your child can start his very own borax crystal collection. As the crystals form, he'll get to see the process of crystallization firsthand and will grow to better understand the formation and structure of crystalline rocks and minerals.

Note: Adult supervision is recommended during the steps involving boiling water. Also, be sure the Borax is not ingested.

What You Do:

Discuss with your child what shape he would like to create: A star, a heart, a spiral, a snowflake? Once he has decided, help him form his shape out of pipe cleaners, making sure it fits through the opening of the jar you're using.

While your child makes his pipe cleaner shape, bring a pot of water to boil.

Have your child knot one end of a length of string around the pipe cleaner shape and the other end around the pencil. Carefully lower the pipe cleaner shape into the jar, then lay the pencil across the rim of the jar. If the pipe cleaner touches the bottom of the jar, adjust the string so that the pipe cleaner hangs freely. Lift the pencil to remove the pipe cleaner shape from the jar, and then set it aside.

Carefully pour boiling water into the jar, filling it until it's about three-quarters full.

Have your child add borax to the water, one tablespoon at a time, stirring after adding each one is added. After 4 tablespoons have been added, check to see if the borax has begun to collect on the bottom of the jar. If not, have your child add more borax to the jar, one tablespoon at a time, until a small amount has collected on the bottom.

Explain to your child that hot water can hold more borax than cold water. The crystals will grow on the pipe cleaner as the water cools and begins to release the borax.

Have your child lower the pipe cleaner shape into the jar, laying the pencil on top as before. Make sure the pipe cleaner is fully submerged in the solution.

Using oven mitts, carefully move the jar to a safe place where it won't be disturbed.

Let the jar sit for 24 hours. Have your child periodically check the progress of his crystals to see how they are growing. Explain to your child that the borax molecules are attracted to each other even when they are in the water. First the molecules form small crystals and then larger ones as they attach themselves to the pipe cleaner. Once the pipe cleaner is covered in crystals, remove it from the solution.

Hang your crystal in a window and enjoy its sparkling beauty!

Andy Warhol-Inspired Prints

Pop artist, painter, printer, icon—the list goes on. Andy Warhol is an important figure in both American history and world art. Introduce your young child to this pop art legend by helping him create an everyday object print. Similar to Warhol’s famous soup can art, this art activity encourages him to turn a simple household item into a masterpiece. He'll explore the world of art and use basic artistic concepts such as shape, line, and space to design a meaningful piece of art in multiples.

What You Do:

Begin by discussing Andy Warhol as an artist. Show reproductions of his work to your child in books or web images. If you are lucky enough to have a museum nearby with one of his works, take a family art viewing field trip. Talk about the frequent use of everyday objects as subjects for his art.

Introduce the concept of printing and creating multiple images. Compare the process to using a stamp and ink pad.

Help him find a suitable and appropriate object for the subject matter. Does he have a favorite food such as soup, yogurt, or cereal? Is there a favorite toy that can be used?

Have him use a wooden stylus, a tooth pick, or even a craft stick to draw an image of the object on scratch foam or styrofoam. If he is using a styrofoam plate or tray, you may need to first cut the sides to make it flat. Make sure that your child is using enough pressure to see the image in the styrofoam. If he is struggling to draw what he sees, point out shapes and lines in the object that may be easier to recreate.

Use a roller or brayer to roll paint across the styrofoam plate. If you don't have one available, he can simply use a paint brush to cover the images. Young kids often want to press the paint down into the lines that have been etched into the plate. Explain to him that the print will not work if he does this. He should see the white etched lines after the paint has been applied.

Press a piece of construction paper down on top of the styrofoam plate. Have him press firmly across the entire piece of paper to transfer the painted print.

Pull the paper off and repeat multiple times.

Water experiment

Surface tension is one of water's most important properties. It's the reason that water collects in drops. It's also why water can travel up a plant stem, or get to your cells through the smallest blood vessels. Help your child understand surface tension by showing her how she can create a "skin" on the surface of water with this interesting surface tension experiment.

What You Do:

Fill a cup of water. Ask your child: “Do you think a paper clip will float in the water?” Drop one in the cup to find out. Since the paper clip is denser than the water, it will sink to the bottom of the cup.

Now find out if you can use surface tension to float the paper clip: Gently lay the paper clip flat on the surface of the water. This can be tricky—it may help to place a piece of paper towel slightly bigger than the paper clip in the water. Then lay the paper clip on top of it. In a minute or so, the paper towel will sink, leaving the paper clip floating on top of the water. Even though the paper clip is still denser than the water, the strong attraction between the water molecules on the surface forms a type of "skin" that supports the clip.

Now put a drop of dish soap in the water. This will bind with the water molecules, interfering with the surface tension. The paper clip will sink. The detergent disrupts the molecules and "breaks the tension.” You can try floating other things on top of the water if you want; pepper floats well until you add dish soap. Can you find any other lightweight items that will float?

What Happened?

Surface tension happens when hydrogen bonds are formed between water molecules. The bonds, which are formed when hydrogen atoms in one water molecule are attracted to oxygen atoms in another water molecule, create a strong and flexible film on the water’s surface.