Color INSIDE the Box

**Set a large cardboard box in the middle of the living room for their discovery, with a box of crayons inside. Watch what happens next!**

Balance Beam

**Place a stripe of masking tape across the floor for your child to practice walking on. Once that is mastered, she is ready to move on to a curb.**

Build a Fort

**Pull out a few sheets and blankets and build a good old fashioned fort together in the living room. Beyond structure and architecture, climb inside and read a good book together by flashlight.**

Finals Week Notice

I'm getting into finals week for the last time ever. I am one week away from graduating with high honors in the field of early childhood education! Please forgive my condensed activities until I can resume regular posting.

**Find 10 things in your house that are BLUE (or your child's favorite color.)**

Adopt a Tree

Meet my adopted tree, above. At first, I was a little hesitant to jump on this activity as a preschool activity, but I realize it's important to show children change over time. Select a tree nearby that you can observe throughout a year. It can be informal, as in talking about it each time you walk by. Or you can be formal "scientists" taking samples, collecting measurements, researching it, taking its picture, drawing it, and even getting crayon rubbings of the bark and leaves.

A fun book to read with this activity is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Harper & Row, 1964.

Mentos in Diet Coke; Cause and Effect

Parents: I recommend your supervision while doing

the following activities with preschoolers.

Here's how I spent 30 seconds of my last science and math class. Have a little fun with cause and effect and drop some mint Mentos into a rolled up paper tube and release into Diet Coke!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_Coke_and_Mentos_eruption

*Variations: Explore the reaction of vinegar and baking soda. Or fill a film canister 1/3 full with water and drop in an Alka-Seltzer. Replace the lid and flip it over, setting it down on the lid. Wait for the POP as it blasts off!

Sun Prints

**Arrange a few interesting items on black construction paper and leave in the sun for about 1 hour. The sun will fade the paper leaving nice prints behind.**