Kategori: English

What you need: an empty milk carton, scissors, coloured pencils, craft glue, yarn in different colours. A barbecue stick, a straw and possibly some clothespins.

1. Drink up and wash out a milk carton.
2. Download the template (PDF, 82kB ) and cut out. The template includes one in colour and one that you can colour yourself. To make the rocket sturdy, cut out a piece of the milk carton that is the size of the malleable part.
3. Stick the rocket to the piece of milk carton and leave to dry.
4. Cut some fringes from fire-coloured yarn.
5. Cut a barbecue stick to about 11 cm. The barbecue sticks are soft and can be cut with a large pair of scissors.
6. Fold the rocket in half and put craft glue on the inside.

7. Place the barbecue stick all the way up to the fold. Then add the lashes to the bottom edge.
8. Press the rocket together, press it under something heavy or hold it together with clothespins until the glue has dried.
9. When the glue has dried, press more stick into a straw. Take a deep breath…

… and blow HARD and short! Reload and fire away again.

Thanks ARLA for the idea!

Build an adventure park for ants and present it to the others.

(You can also build the adventure park during a forest outing, using cones, stones and other natural materials. Indoors, you can build the adventure park out of Lego, for example.)

Why not at the same time let the children make a promotional campaign for why the ants should choose their adventure course?

We thank MOI – Monilukutaitoa opitaan ilolla for the tip.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Some insect ideas to tinker with:

• Haltia has some nice cards that if printed double-sided should have a picture of an insect on one side and a short description on the other. Might be something to take on a forest outing. Haltias card (PDF, 2MB)
• If you want to make insect crafts, check out this Finnish site: https://sarjakuvakeskus.fi/kurssit/kurssit/10-lasten-kurssit/1269-lastenlauantai-25-4-oetoekaet-etaetehtaevae
• And finally, an insect-style memory where the cards move around can be found in the app: Insects and Bugs for Toddlers and Kids

When children have limited social interaction, it’s harder for them to take on the perspective of others, which is an important way children build empathy. This activity introduces a creative way to get children to put themselves in another’s “shoes.”

Instructions

1. Ask children to come up with a list of at least three animals that walk or run. For example, a caterpillar, a crab, and a giraffe.
2. Invite children to move across the room as each of those three animals.
3. When all children have had a turn acting like each animal, spend some time reflecting as a group.

Consider asking these questions:

• How did you move your body differently to match each animal’s movement?
• How does crossing the room like this make you think differently?
• What about the animal’s walk was different from the way you normally walk?

Thanks Bay Area Discovery Museum for the idea!

• Cut clouds, sun and raindrops from felt fabric.
• Glue them on a fabric bag with textile glue.
• Paint different weather symbols on the stones and put them in the bag.
• Let the children pick a stone from the bag and come up with a story from the picture on the stone; for example, about a sunny day or a snowfall. What is the weather like? What is being put on? Are there any animals outside?

A small idea for when you go on an excursion.

Take an empty egg carton with task cards stuck on top. Then let them add in what the card shows. It could be putting in the same things, the same number, colour, shape, or maybe even something that starts with the same letter.

Materials to Make a Simple Paper Kite:

• Printer paper
• Scissors
• Yarn (This worked ok with me, but I wish I used a lighter string.)
• Tape
• Popsicle Stick
• Markers
• Hole Puncher
• Stapler
• Ruler

 

Directions to Make a Simple Paper Kite: 

 

1. Draw a design on both sides of your paper.  (Chuck and I did this collaboratively.)

   2.  Fold your paper in half. (Half the length.)

   3.  Using your ruler, make a mark at 2 1/2 ” and a mark at  3 1/2″ on the folded edge.

   4.  Now curve both corners of your paper down and staple them at the 2 1/2″ mark. (Don’t fold them down, make sure the paper is curved.) Your kite should now look like this.

5. Punch at hole at the 3 1/2″ mark.  Then, cut a long piece of string and tie it to your kite.

   6.  Tape the other end of your string down to a popsicle stick.  Wind your excess string around the Popsicle stick so it doesn’t get tangled.

Now  go fly your own kite!    It takes a strong gust of wind to lift your kite, but if you run around (or ride your bicycle really fast), your kite will float along beside you too.

Explore together concepts such as heavy and light, or heavier and lighter, using (unused) face masks.
Ok. You’ll need a clothes hanger too. And the face masks can be replaced with two equal-sized cans with handles if you want.
Hang one face mask on each end of the hanger. Be careful that they hang the same distance from the middle to get an accurate scale.
Then you can start compare different things. You can start by letting the children feel each hand and guess which one is heavier. First perhaps with things that have a little more difference, a raisin and an apple then you can try things closer together.
For a bigger challenge, swap the clothes hanger for a stick and work together to get the empty scale balanced first.

What you’ll need

• old pair of cotton socks
• plastic bags
• water
• tape

What to do

Instead of putting seeds into the bag, running around in socks is how they’ll collect the seeds – directly from nature. Depending on your location and where you want to do your “collecting,” you can decide whether to let the kids just wear socks or whether you want to put the socks over their shoes. If you’re just running around your yard or neighborhood, I suggest the former. If you want to take a long hike, I’d suggest the latter. Both are pretty fun for kids!

Start by having the kids put on a pair of old socks (on their feet or over shoes). Next, since you want the seeds to stick, get the socks wet. Have the kids step in a bucket of water or just spray their feet with the hose. Once their socks are wet, set the kids loose!

Encourage them to explore wooded areas, under trees and bushes and other low traffic areas. Make sure they squish their feet into the ground to pick up as many seeds as possible. Step on dandelions, shuffle through fallen leaves, walk gently through the garden. Finally, have them find a muddy area to squish their feet in! This will pick up a bit of dirt to help the seeds grow.

When the socks are nice and filthy, take them off and place each one in a plastic bag. Tape the plastic bag to a window that gets a good amount of daily sunlight. If the socks feel dry, add a small amount of water. Now all you have to do is wait!

When they’ll sprout

Within a few days, you should notice some sprouting. By two weeks, your socks should have some serious blooms.

If at first you don’t succeed, try it again.

Grow your socks

Growing your socks is such a fun and easy science project for kids. It teaches them all about germination and what plants need to grow. You can experiment by growing socks from various locations to see the differences in the types of plants you get. If you want to go a step further, try identifying the sprouts you’re growing and figure out what each plant will look like when fully grown.