| Turn your home into a magical world of scientific | | | | containers such as film canisters or small plastic |
| exploration and let your child develop his senses, his | | | | bottles. If necessary, cover the outside with a strip of |
| concentration and his vocabulary while having lots of | | | | card. Put a small piece of cotton wool inside and add a |
| (messy) fun. It just takes a little imagination and time to | | | | smell - perhaps lemon juice, lavender essential oil, |
| turn your kitchen or bath into a learning experience for | | | | washing up liquid, dried rosemary. Don't use anything |
| your littlest ones - and everyone gets to have fun in | | | | toxic! See if your child can identify the smells. Which do |
| the process! | | | | they enjoy? |
| Pre-school children need plenty of time to feel, smell, | | | | Hearing: |
| think and explore. Remember that they can become | | | | Spend a fixed amount of time concentrating on the |
| easily overwhelmed, especially if they start out tired. | | | | sounds around you. Is it really quiet, or can you hear |
| Use the ideas below to gather together collections | | | | birds, traffic, neighbors, animals, pipework, breathing? |
| from around your house, trying to provide contrast and | | | | Do sounds change if you shut your eyes? What about |
| interest without over-stimulating. Supervise your child | | | | if you open your mouth? Can you hear yourself? |
| carefully at all times - and join in while he explores! | | | | What sounds can you make? |
| Water: | | | | Gather some objects together and see what noises |
| Young children can play for a long time with water. | | | | you can make with them. Try kitchen objects such a |
| Gather a collection of utensils - small buckets, scoops, | | | | wooden spoons, saucepans and plastic containers. |
| spoons, pots, plastic beakers, whisks, sieves and so on, | | | | Make sure you add some "quiet" objects such as |
| checking them carefully for safety. Then fill up a large | | | | fabric, paper or tissue so that your child can |
| dishpan or other container with warm water, sit it in | | | | experiment with those too. |
| front of them on a towel, and let them have fun! If you | | | | Extension - make some "musical instruments" out of |
| include plastic jugs and bottles you can do all sorts of | | | | cardboard boxes, dried beans and rubber bands! Try |
| volume experiments. Ask questions! Which jug holds | | | | greaseproof paper folded over a plastic comb (a |
| more water? How many cups of water do you need | | | | "harmonica") or a set of drums using cardboard boxes |
| to fill up the big bottle? Can you fit all the water in the | | | | and wooden spoons. |
| big bottle into the little bottle? Why not? What | | | | Making Mixtures and Potions: |
| happens? | | | | My son's favorite activity as a toddler was making |
| For obvious reasons, this is a good activity for summer | | | | potions - actually it was one of the only things that |
| afternoons in the garden! Put a picnic rug on the grass | | | | would keep him occupied for more than 10 minutes at |
| and enjoy. | | | | a time! Find an assortment of containers and then fill |
| Touch: | | | | them with bits and pieces from the kitchen. This is an |
| Find a collection of objects which will provide contrast | | | | especially useful activity if you find dry goods which |
| for your child - a smooth towel, a soft teddy, a hard | | | | have passed their use-by date! Think about lentils, dried |
| brick, a shiny metal spoon, and so on. Hold them | | | | peas and beans, rice, dried herbs and so on - try to |
| against your cheeks, bang them on the table, sort | | | | get a good variety of sizes and shapes and even |
| them and enjoy them! Ask questions, and develop | | | | smells. Powdered poster paint can be fun too, in small |
| vocabulary as you try this, using color words and other | | | | quantities. Give your child a tray and some empty |
| descriptive words according to your objects. | | | | containers, and a few utensils to stir with, and see |
| Extension - shut your eyes and explore! | | | | what happens. Many children will stir their mixtures |
| Further extension - make a "feelie bag" out of a | | | | around very happily - it is strangely therapeutic! |
| drawstring bag or an old pillowcase and encourage | | | | After a while, if you are feeling brave, you can add a |
| your child to guess what is in it by feeling the objects | | | | few more liquid ingredients to the mix! Try washing up |
| only. | | | | liquid, colored water or even a little milk. Make sure that |
| Smell: | | | | you supervise at all times, and warn your child that |
| Spend some time concentrating on smells! Go for a | | | | nothing goes in the mouth! If you added poster paint in |
| walk outside and smell the grass, the flowers, the | | | | the last stage, things will get quite coloring now! |
| leaves, the bark, the wind, the rain, the sun. Walk | | | | Obviously you usually end with a big sticky brown |
| around the house and look for smelly objects. What | | | | mess - but this is all part of the fun. If you need to |
| smells good? Soap? What smells bad? The bin? Smell | | | | rescue the containers and utensils, empty out the |
| each other! Do smells change if you have your eyes | | | | worst of it into the bin and then let your child wash |
| closed? What about if you open your mouth? | | | | everything up! |
| Extension - "Smell Jars". Collect together some small | | | | |