Kids Konnect kids know the outdoors. At both locations of Kids Konnect, we think outdoor play is vital for your child’s well-rounded development. Spring is a great time for preschoolers and our teachers to reconnect with the wet and wild of the outdoors. Parents often ask us for ideas to take home. Here are three great "spring welcome" preschool activities:
Touching Nature
The experts at Natural Learning Initiative (NLI) inspire us to embrace rainy weather, as thunder and lightning are not unleashed, with these preschool activities:
- Peaceful Puddles—Dress your preschooler for rainy weather and then let her or him splash, watch reflections, study raindrops and ripples, test buoyancy and more.
- Mud Mirth—Dressed for active play, let your junior scientist learn about viscosity, adhesion, surface tension and more just by playing in mud.
- Rainforest—Dress your explorer for maximum protection and send her or him off to see earthworms surface in the rain, rainbows form from drops of oil on puddles, and how plants shed excess water. Where are dry spots?
Fair weather preschool activities are many and merry: encourage your child to observe insects, examine leaf edges and listen for bird calls.
Flowering Fingers
This idea from Childfun is charming and will be a treasured keepsake. Trace your child’s outstretched hand on colorful construction paper, then cut the handprint out. Use a pencil to curl the fingers, then curl the handprint vertically so the fingers curl outwards, like flower petals.
Assemble two flowering fingers onto a drinking straw with some paper leaves; make a bouquet of five straw flowers. These make charming gifts for family members!
Seasonal Tilt
Preschoolers can learn and play with this NASA-based activity. Gather the family with a big kid or a parent as the sun in the center. Give your child a large, lightweight, plastic play ball.
- Easy: Earth is a planet that goes around the sun; help earth by walking in a big circle around the sun!
- Hard: Stop! Slowly spin the ball, because earth spins on its axis!
- Harder: Can you do both? Move around the sun and slowly spin the ball!
- Hardest: Earth tilts, causing four seasons; can you revolve around the sun, slowly spin, and tilt the ball as you go?
At Kids Konnect we are always open to new ideas. What clever ways have you brought Spring to your preschooler? Please share your preschool activities below.