Kategori: English

Design a mythical animal through collage and illustration! This activity builds creativity as children combine items in new ways.

Materials Required

• Blank paper
• Pens, pencils, markers, or crayons (something to write and draw with)
• Color copies of animal photos from books, magazines or the Internet

Instructions

Children can approach the Animal Remix activity in two ways:

• building a collage or
• using their imagination.

For the collage method:

• Using pictures of animals from magazines, paste together the front of one animal with the back of a different animal to invent a new, imaginary animal.
• Describe the creature’s special features and why they are cool or important to its survival.
• Create a name for the animal.

For the imagination method:

• Compile a list of animals.
• Write down the most exciting aspects of the animal on a piece of paper. Below are sample animal characteristics and habitats

.Characteristics & Abilities (Some real, others imagined)	Habitats (Some real, others imagined)
Tough armor-like skin covering	Rocky seashore
Extendable toes	Polar ice cap
Sharp teeth	Redwood forest
Unbreakable shell	Storm cloud
Lightning-fast color change	Desert cactus flower
Suction cup feet	Rainforest floor

• Decide where their animal will live, what it will eat, and how it will move. These decisions can help inform the features of the creature. For example, if an animal lives in the Arctic it might need very thick fur to keep warm. (The imaginary creature does not need to be realistic.)
• Draw a picture of the imaginary animal with some of the interesting characteristics in its habitat.
• Describe the creature’s special features and why they are cool or important to its survival.
• Create a name for the animal.

Additional Tips

Try these add-on activities:

• Invent a myth or a fable that tells the story of your animal.
• Imagine what your creature’s life is like. What adventures might it have while in its natural habitat? Who or what does it eat? Who eats your animal? Where does it sleep? How does it play? Does it live alone or in a group?
• Turn the imaginary animal into a three-dimensional sculpture with blocks, papiermâché, glue and fabric.

Copyright © 2020 Bay Area Discovery Museum Inc. All rights reserved.

Make a code table where each letter has a code (let the children help you figure it out). Make simple things that can be drawn. Make sure they are clearly distinguishable.

Can look like (not the whole alphabet in my example):

Step 2. Translate the message. So A becomes , D becomes etc.

Step 3.         Write the message on the card and send it with a decoding table so that the message can be deciphered.

The card may look like:

For the experiment you need:

• bicarbonate of soda
• food vinegar
• a teaspoon
• for measuring liquids: a syringe or decilitre measure
• a transparent jar or drinking glass
• an empty balloon
• an empty bottle (0.5 l)
• a funnel (you can also make a funnel out of baking paper, for example)

Instructions

• First, observe the reaction of the bicarbonate mixed with the vinegar.
  Put two teaspoons of bicarbonate in the jar. Then measure out 10 ml of vinegar into the syringe. Squirt the vinegar over the bicarbonate and observe: what do you see? What do you hear? How would you describe your observations?
• For the following, measure out 30 ml of vinegar into the bottle. Then put five teaspoons of bicarbonate into the balloon. Then thread the opening of the balloon over the opening of the bottle. Hold the balloon up so that the bicarbonate flows into the bottle. What observations can you make?
• Think together about why the balloon is growing. How could the balloon be made even bigger?
• Photograph and film the different stages of the experiment with the child. Think about which parts of the experiment are important to present. How should they be presented so that the reader gets as clear a picture as possible of what has been done?

To support the adult:

• Encourage the child to describe their observations at each stage. Observations can be documented, for example, by drawing, recording comments, photographing and filming.

The balloon grows because the bicarbonate and the vinegar create a reaction that forms gas. The gas formed is carbon dioxide.

It can be fun to have a countdown to the summer or the spring party and see how it’s getting closer. Or to a disco, to a parent-meeting, or whatever you make up.
Gives some math practice in counting down, then on the day’s note you can have something else you want to bring up. The example below has one movement challenge per day
From @mitt_digiloga_classroom (Instagram)

If you want to do it digitally, there is a free app ”Pixmas Countdown” where you can make calendars on your own with a photo and text for each day. You can also choose which day you want it to open for, whether you want it Monday-Friday, or just one day a week…

Jump and measure how far you jump on different surfaces using
different jumping methods.

What you need

• Data sheet
• Pencil
• Tape measure or other measuring tool
• Partner

What to do

1. Find an open surface to do your jumping. (Use surfaces like cement, dirt
   and wood.)
2. Make a starting line.
3. Estimate how far you think you can jump.
4. Jump as far as you can from the starting line.
5. Measure the length of this jump and record it on the data chart.
6. Continue to jump, but use different jumping styles (standing, from a squat and on one foot) on the different surfaces.
7. Measure the length of each jump using different jumping styles and record on the data chart.

What to ask

• How far do you think you can jump?
• Which jumping style do you think will work the best? Why?
• How did your estimates compare with your actual results?

Datasheet is included here: Jump Like a Frog (PDF, 416 kB)

Thanks to the Children’s Museum of Houston for the idea.

Purpose:
Designing your own game takes a lot of creative problem solving to make it work and provides a fun way to use everyday materials to create something original. Children will design a tabletop maze using materials from the household recycling bin. The maze will be grounds for a ping pong ball race. The movement of the ping pong balls will be powered by air blown through straws.

Getting Started:

Supplies needed:

• Drinking straws (enough for each participant to have one)
• Two ping pong balls
• Large base for your maze to be built on (i.e., a large flat piece of cardboard or foam)
• Materials to repurpose such as coffee sleeves, cardboard, cereal boxes, or paper tubes
• Paper-backed tape such as masking tape or painter’s tape
• Scissors or x-acto knife
• Optional: aluminum foil or pipe cleaners

Players: can be done individually, with a partner, or with a small team Time needed: 15+ minutes

Instructions:

1. It’s time to start planning the maze. Will you sketch it out in advance or dive right in and start adding materials to your base? That’s up to you and your design team.

• Make sure you choose a start and a finish. The start and finish must be on the base of your maze.
• Use as many different materials as you can to create as many twists, turns, and obstacles as you can in your ping pong ball maze.
• Be sure to make your paths wide enough for a ping pong ball to travel through.
• There is no height limit for the paths in your maze.

2. Test the maze. Push your ball along by blowing air through a straw to make the ball move.
3. Blow your ball from start to finish.

Time yourself or one another as you race against the clock to move your ball from start to finish.

1. Cut a 15 x 60 cm piece of cardboard.
2. Cut four 15 x 15 cm pieces of different patterned paper, and glue these four pieces to the larger piece of cardboard.
3. Make a picture of the sun, a picture of a cloud, a picture of a raindrop and a picture of a snowflake.
4. Glue these four images onto four different pieces of patterned paper.
5. Cut an arrow out of white cardboard and glue it to the clothespin.
6. Put an arrow to show what the weather is like outside.

Combine shapes to draw a self-portrait. Start with the circle for the head. Add rectangles of different sizes for the neck, body, arms and legs.

Then add small shapes for your facial features.

Put labels next to each shape.

The idea is taken from iPads’ tips documentation.

Working with sequencing is an important part of kindergarten and preschool mathematics. These two worksheets I found work with this in a visual way.

Just print, cut out the suggestions so they are loose and fold the correct solution back and the material is ready.

Vad kommer sen? (PDF, 6.81MB)

Vad kommer sen? 2 (PDF, 9,46 MB)

Today’s idea is taken from STEAMPoweredFamily.com:

All you need is found in this PDF: Christmas Math Puzzles STEAMPoweredFamily(PDF, 1,33 MB)