Magazines
#1 Give your child an old magazine and let him pick out a picture of an item. Tell him to cut it out and glue it to a piece of construction paper or a small poster board. He can then hunt for, cut out and add words that describe the picture. Teach your child that words that describe a noun are called adjectives. He can then design and write an advertisement for the item pictured, using plenty of adjectives.
#2 Let your child cut out pictures of food from magazines, and glue to a paper plate. Glue the whole thing to a piece of construction paper and discuss healthy food choices.
#3 Cut out pictures from magazines and glue to 3" x 5" index cards. Cover with clear Contact paper for durability. Use in a variety of ways, asking your child:
What letter sound does this thing begin with? End with?
Can you find two items that rhyme?
Can you find circles, triangles, etc.?
Sort by size and color
Which things are alive?
Which things fly in the air?
Which items might you wear in the winter?
Miscellaneous
Here is a lesson for a windy day. Fill a box with "wind testers". Include a feather, crepe paper, plastic bag, rock, stick, leaf, and/or other items. Read John 3:8. Talk about how the wind is like the Holy Spirit of God. We can't see the wind, but we can see its effects.
Let children test the wind with the various objects. Why does the same wind move different objects in different ways? Is there an object that the wind can't move? Does a light breeze move everything, or do some things need a stronger wind to move? What kind of a "wind catcher" do you think Jesus was? What kind are you?
Mushrooms
When you find a mushroom growing in your yard, very carefully pick it, and remove the stem. Gently lay it on top of two pencils, putting the pencils just under the edges, on top of a piece of white paper. Leave overnight. In the morning, you should find an intricate pattern of spores (mushroom seeds) which have released in the night. Remember, the kinds of mushrooms you find in the yard are just for looking at, not eating! They could be poisonous, so keep well out of reach of small children.
Newspaper
#1 Give your child a newspaper page with different sizes and styles of print on it. Challenge your child to find all of the "Y"s (or whatever letter you are working on), and X them. For advanced preschoolers and kindergarteners, you can tell your little one to "circle six M's, cross out four G's, underline three capital L's," etc.
#2 Show your child how to use the index to find editorials, comics, classifieds, etc. Give her questions and let her search the paper for the answers. Example: What is the weather expected to be tomorrow? How many sections are in the newspaper? Are there any chow puppies for sale? If so, how much do they cost? To what address would you send a letter to the editor?
#3 Let your child cut out interesting articles, and tape into a notebook, writing a short synopsis on each one. You can let him pick out whatever interests him, or choose only articles on specific themes, such as driving accidents (for your new driver), and what causes them; or animal stories, for your young children.
Paper cup
Poke holes in both sides of a paper cup, about ¼" from the bottom. Cover the holes with your fingers and fill cup with water. Take your fingers off the holes. Notice that the water just pours out. This is because gravity is pulling the water to the ground, and it is traveling through the holes in the cup. Gravity is pulling the cup, too, but your hand prevents it from falling. Now refill the same cup, using your fingers to cover the holes. Hold the cup up, still covering the holes, and then let go completely, letting the cup drop. The water will not come out of the holes until after the cup hits the ground. (This is a good experiment to do outside!)
The reason is "free fall". The cup and the water are falling at the same rate, because there is nothing holding them back. Gravity pulls things with large mass at the same rate as things with small mass. This is why large people and small people fall at the same rate on a roller coaster.
Try dropping a phone book and a pencil from an equal distance at the same time. They hit the floor at the same time. The reason that feathers, leaves, paper, etc., don't fall as fast as a rock is because they catch the air, which prevents them from free falling. If placed in a vacuum tube, a feather would fall at the same speed as you.
Perfume
With just a bottle of perfume and a few people, you can demonstrate how molecules move in the air.
Station people in different spots all around a room. One person stands in a corner and opens a bottle or sprays one spray of strong perfume. Each person raises their hand, or says "now" as soon as they can smell the perfume. You can see how the smell drifts around the room.
The reason is that molecules in the perfume travel through the air and connect to tiny hairs in the nose, which trigger the brain to interpret it as a smell. This is why people with severe allergies can get sick from just smelling the allergen--because the smell is actually tiny molecules from the original that get into the body through the nose.
Phone Book
Teach your children basic life skills using the phone book. Ask your child:
How many names are listed in this phone book? Can you find the name and number of your friend, your relatives, your church, your favorite restaurant, your local library?
Find the zip codes for three of your favorite places.
What is the name of your phone company?
What cities are listed in your local phone book?
How do you call phone numbers that have letters in them (for example, 23-PIZZA)?
Pizza Boxes
Clean and save your pizza boxes. These can store art supplies and puzzle pieces. If you don't have drying space for art projects, you can put the projects in the pizza boxes and stack them, without ruining the project.
Plastic wrap
Cut a square out of the center of a small piece of heavy cardboard. Cover the opening with clear plastic wrap, and tape down sides. Put a drop of water in the center of the wrap and look through it. The water magnifies!
Popcorn
#1 Give children a kernel of unpopped popcorn, and one popped piece, and let them examine closely. Explain that, even though the kernel feels dry, there is a tiny bit of moisture trapped inside. When the moisture heats up, it expands, turns to a vapor, and pushes to come out. This makes the cornPOP! Notice that the corn flips inside-out, noting the inside of the popped piece. If you don't have a popper with a view of the popping corn, see if you can borrow one for this lesson. Children are thrilled with this process, and watch in anticipation of the pop.
#2 Taste testing. Try different and unusual ways to eat popcorn. Add to soup, salads, or other foods. Sprinkle with different toppings--oregano, garlic, grated cheese, nutmeg, or cinnamon sugar (not all at once!), and record which is your favorite. Have your child poll family and friends and graph the results of the taste testing.
Roll-on Deoderant Bottles
Pop out the ball of an empty roll-on deoderant bottle. Wash and dry and fill with glue. Replace ball and cap tightly. Use for craft projects, just like a glue stick, only doesn't cost as much or dry out as fast.
Siblings
You can make a simple lever with a flat board, a fat stick and a sibling (or other fairly heavy object).
First, have your child try to lift her sister. Now put down the stick, lay the board across it, and place a child on one end. Have the other child push down on the end of the board and see how much easier it is to lift her sister now!
The reason is mechanical advantage. The lever is a beam that turns on a fixed point. The fixed point (stick) is called a fulcrum. The closer the fulcrum is to the object, the bigger the mechanical advantage, and the easier it is to lift.
Be sure to stay right with your little ones throughout this whole experiment, in case they start to fall!
Shoe boxes
#1 Keep a supply of your junk mail, pencils, stickers, and used cards and envelopes in a shoebox. Let your little ones open the junk mail, and pretend to write letters, order school supplies, and pay bills.
#2 Give your child a shoebox and some cardboard. Let her draw, color and cut out pictures of family members, pets and furniture from the cardboard, and glue into the shoebox. Tape people figures to an upside-down "T" shaped piece of cardboard for standing people upright, but moveable, like paper dolls. Wrapping paper can be used for wallpaper and carpeting. Talk about how each member of a family cares for one another, and how God put you together and cares for you all.
#3 Cut one of the ends off of your shoeboxes (not the top or the bottom). They can then be stacked in the closet or on a shelf for storage and the contents can be seen and removed easily. Let your child sort his socks by color, or categorize her toys.
#4 Look up constellations in a book or on the internet, and pick one you like. Spray-paint the inside of a shoebox black. Then, using the star chart as a guide, poke small holes in the back of the box with a compass or pen point, in the order of the constellation. Decorate the outside of the box, without covering the holes. Go into a dark room and shine a flashlight through the back of the box to view the constellation. Or put a light (not fire) inside the box, and let the constellation shine on the ceiling.
Shopping List
Dictate a list of grocery items for your child to write for you. If you have a lot to buy, and your child is little, just let him add a few things to the list. Help with spelling, if necessary. Older kids can categorize lists to make items easier to find. For example, all of the produce together, all of the paper items together, etc.
Soda bottles
You can make a rain gauge by cutting a pint sized plastic bottle about an inch below where it begins to narrow. Invert the top and place into the bottle to form an inside funnel. Tape the edges. Mark the sides of the bottle from the bottom up in quarter inch divisions, and set outside to measure rainfall.
Spices
Let your child put some blobs of glue on index cards. Generously sprinkle a different spice on each card, and label. When dry, see if your child can identify the spice with her eyes closed, by the smell.
String
#1 To display good work and fine crayon art, tie a length of string between two nails or hooks on the wall, and secure papers with colorful clothespins.
#2 Tie one end of a length of string around a big, heavy book and the other end to a strong rubber band. Put the book on the floor. Gently pull on the rubber band. The rubber band stretches a lot until the book begins to move, then doesn't stretch as much as the book is moving. The reason is inertia. Inertia tends to keep motionless things motionless. It takes more energy to get a motionless object to begin moving than to keep a moving object moving.
Throwaways
#1 If you have room, save up a few empty, small sized, cereal boxes, shampoo bottles, tissue boxes, etc. Set up a "store" with price labels on each item. Give your child play (or real) money and let her go "shopping". Discuss the choices she makes, and whether or not she has enough money to buy what she wants. Discuss which items have sales tax, and why. Teach her to round up and estimate costs. Let her make change. For older kids, you can mark things "20% off", and let them figure the new price. Or mark something "4 for $1.00" and ask how much one item costs.
#2 Use the plastic containers from fast food "shaker" salads or sundaes for miniature terrariums or bug study containers. If you use it for bugs, punch a few small holes in the lid with a nut pick or cuticle scissors.
Yarn
Make simple line drawings on cardboard. The inserts that come in shirts work great, and so do plain paper plates or large index cards. Color and cover with clear Contact paper if desired. Then poke holes along the lines with a hole puncher, compass, or sharpened pencil. Cut a long piece of yarn, and thread through one end of the card. Knot the end, so it doesn't slip through. Cover the other end of the yarn with a small piece of tape, so it is easy to thread (think of the end of a shoestring). Your child can "sew" with the simple card. Make up several, so your child has variety. Straight lines work best for beginners. Try keeping a few in a shoebox in your car for long trips.
Walking
#1 When walking, notice patterns in nature (like in ferns) and man-made patterns (like in brick walls). Recognizing patterns aids in mathematical thinking. Take along a magnifying glass, and identify shapes and patterns in plants and bugs.
#2 To bolster logic skills, play "I spy" with your children while walking. For example, "I spy something that helps us cross the street" (stop sign). Or, "I spy an animal with no legs" (worm). Make the clues as difficult as your children can figure, and let them take turns trying to stump you.
#3 Take a sack or small bucket with you on your walk. Collect samples of leaves, seeds, rocks, etc., for nature activities when you get home.
Make a nature collage.
Make leaf rubbings.
Look up the leaves in a nature book and identify.
Glue rocks together to make "pets". Decorate with twigs, moss or markers.
#4 You or your child can make Bingo cards using pictures of things you might see on a walk (squirrel, stop sign, flower, bug, etc.), instead of letters and numbers. Draw the pictures, use a computer, or cut and paste pictures from magazines. Make several different cards and cover with clear Contac paper for durability. Let the children search for items on your walk. When an item is found, the child covers that square with a sticker or a piece of tape. When the card is completely filled, the child yells, "Bingo!" and gets a hug.
You can make each card a different category, such as:
THINGS THAT ARE LIVING: grass, flower, person, cat, lizard
THINGS THAT HELP US: traffic signs, sidewalk, fence, garden hose, ladder
THINGS WITH WHEELS: car, bicycle, wheelbarrow, toy, skates
You could try colors and shapes, too. This idea is very adaptable.
