With all the talk of flu this season, many of us are wary about bringing our little ones to the public, indoor play spaces. If you’re stuck indoors, here some ideas to help keep the day moving along.
Odd and Even Ladybug Game
This game I found in Games For Math, by Peggy Kaye. It requires making the ladybug cards in advance, which took me about 20 minutes.
Have kids practice the concept of odd and even. On a piece of paper, write out the odd and even numbers, from 1-20.
Play the game like Memory. Place ladybug cards face down. Have each child decide if they want to be “odds or evens”. He will pick up a card and figure out if he gets to keep it, based on how many dots the ladybug has. You can make it competitive by leaving the last card and deciding which player has the most cards.
Gum Drop Structures
All you need is a bag of gum drops, or any sticky candy, and some toothpicks. This structure kept my son occupied for a half hour, and he was very pleased with the results.
The following activities were found in Science in Seconds for Kids, by Jean Potter, a book I highly recommend for quick and educational entertainment.
Why Does Light Make The Sky Blue?
Fill a clear, plastic cup with water. Add a few drops of milk so the water becomes cloudy. Darken the room. Hold flashlight in front of the cup so the beam shines through. Look into the cup from above. What happens to the milk?
When you added the milk drops to the water, the light became more visible because the particles reflected the light. The light in the milky water turned pale blue because the particles separated out the blue waves of light. Dust and drop of water are almost always in the earth’s atmosphere. These particles bend the light from the sun, causing the sky to look blue. When the sun rises or sets, the colors change because the light has to pass through more particles at different angles, so other light waves are bent toward your eyes.
What Happens to Air As It Is Heated and Cooled?
Fit a balloon over the mouth of a soda bottle. Fill one cake pan with very hot water and another with ice cold water. Put the balloon-covered bottle into the hot water pan and observe what happens. Move the bottle into the cold water pan and observe what happens.
The bottle looked empty, but was filled with air molecules. These molecules constantly move around inside the bottle. The hotter the molecules, the more they move around inside the bottle and the more room they occupy. When you put the bottle into the hot water, the balloon inflated, because the air molecules occupied more space. When you put the bottle into the ice water, the balloon deflated, because the molecules moved closer together and occupied less space.
