Animal Patterning
An important part of our S.T.E.M. curriculum at CEFA Early Learning schools is working with patterns. Understanding patterns is a foundational math skill.
Best Ages for This Activity
Three to five
How to Make It
You Will Need
Optional
- A laminator
- One sheet of laminating paper
Let’s Get Started
- Print one copy of the game on cardstock paper
- Cut the last row of animals (the ones with the dotted line around them) from your printed game, like this:
- Invite your child to complete the patterns on the sheet, using the four little animals you cut. If your child has difficulty, you can help by asking them to tell you what they see, then what comes next, and what comes next, etc. until they understand the pattern.
Learning Opportunities
Children will learn S.T.E.M., especially in the area of mathematics. In this game, the greatest learning opportunities are in reasoning, comparison and prediction. As always, the use of mathematical vocabulary greatly enriches these activities.
This activity also encourages your child to focus and stay on one task (increases attention span) which contributes to your child’s social and emotional development.
CEFA tip: Although patterning can be a great activity for your child to do alone (once the concept is clear), remember that at this age, children must always be supervised.
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Bottle Cap Magnetic Alphabet
This is one of our favourite alphabet activities at our CEFA Early Learning schools and I am sure it will provide hours of fun for your child at home too!
This printable game has two pages for you to cut out and glue on the inside of bottle caps. You don’t necessarily need the bottle caps either, you can just laminate the tiny circles and add a magnet to each one, but the bottle caps make it easier to manipulate I find. This game is very versatile and offers many learning opportunities:
- You can prepare just the first page (the one shown) and put it on your fridge for your child to practice the phonetic sounds of the letters; learn to place the letters in alphabetical order; learn the names of the animals and the sound that each letter makes.
- You can prepare both pages and also put them on the fridge for your child to match the letters to their phonetic letter bottle caps
- You can prepare just the second page (with letters only) and add it to your fridge (since it is magnetic) so your child can build words (you might need to print more than one of each letter). This will tremendously help your child learn to read (building words).
Once your child has all 52 bottle caps (phonetic ones and plain letter ones) they can play all the games mentioned above right on your fridge while you prepare dinner. This will provide them with an activity they can do on their own.
This activity is used at our CEFA Early Learning schools for our 2, 3 and 4 year old children (Junior Kindergarten One, Two and Three), so they have plenty of practice with alphabet letters at first, then start using the letters to build words.
If your child is not attending our schools (or if they are but like playing with this game) and you would like to try this game at home, make sure you supervise closely as the bottle caps can be a choking hazard. If you prefer, simply print the game on cardstock and use the letters without the bottle caps. I much prefer the bottle cap version (and so will your child) but you must supervise.
You can download the game here. I use water bottle caps, but you can use any caps you like.
If you are playing with your child, you can sing the alphabet song as you place the letters, or you can use the phonetic sound of the letters to refer to them: ah, b, k, d) rather than their names. This will teach your child to read sooner. Once your child can read, you can use the letters’ names (ay, bee, see, dee). Have fun!
Best Ages for This Activity
Two to Five
How to Make It
What You Will Need
- Paper
- A colour printer
- 52 bottle caps (start saving them from your water bottles!)
- 52 small (but strong) magnets
- Super glue (to stick the magnets to the outside of the bottle caps)
- Regular glue (to stick the images to the inside of the bottle caps)
Or:
- Cardstock (if you don’t want to use bottle caps)
- A colour printer
- A laminator to laminate the game and the letters (to make them more sturdy – you don’t have to. We do at our schools so the game can be used over and over again)
- 52 small (but strong) magnets
- Super glue (to stick the magnets to the laminated letters)
Let’s Get Started!
- Print the activity in colour if possible (here is my free printable):
- Cut all the circles on both pages
- Glue the image to the inside of a bottle cap, and the magnet on the outside of the bottle cap. Here is an example:
- This example shows metal bottle caps, which you can use if you prefer. We use plastic ones from water bottles.
- Once they are dry, put all the bottle caps on your fridge door, and invite your child to play. If your fridge is not magnetic, use a large baking tray We use these all the time at our schools. You can even attach them to your child’s wall in the bedroom and rotate the magnetic games you display from time to time. My sons had one and they loved playing with it!
- Invite your child to play with the letters:
- Which sound does each letter make?
- Can you match the letter to its letter sound? (this should be easy as both have the letter on them)
- What words can you make with these letters? Dad? Mom? Baby? (make sure you have enough letters)
- Let’s write something together!
- Once they are engaged in the activity, leave them to work on their own but supervise to make sure they don’t put a bottle cap in their mouth. If you used your fridge as a board, then you can use the time to cook. Just make sure you supervise as the bottle caps are great to play with but may be a choking hazard.
Learning Opportunities
This activity will give your child literacy skills: they will learn fine motor skills as they manipulate the bottle caps and place them carefully side by side. This is harder than it looks for a young child. It also teaches them reading skills as they identify the letter and/or the sound it makes. Once they start forming words, it is an excellent reading and writing activity.
Extended Learning Opportunities
- Invite the child to place the letters in order from a to z on the fridge.
- Find out which letters are in your child’s name
- See which letters are in your name, in their siblings’ names, etc.
- Use the bottle caps to spell your child’s name
- Use the bottle caps to write simple words like mom or dad or bib (you will need to make more bottle caps, so you have more than one of each letter)
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S.T.E.M. Challenge: Building A Solar Oven
This is a great summer S.T.E.M. project that we do at CEFA Early Learning schools every year as part of our engineering program. It is quite easy for you to do at home with your child, it requires very few materials and it really works! Once you have built your solar oven, you can cook s’mores or even pizza inside it, and your child will feel the satisfaction of having built something useful all by themselves.
Here you will find a simplified version of the S.T.E.M. challenge we present at our CEFA Early Learning schools, which involves more steps, more collaboration between children and working as a group, more reasoning, trial and error and planning.
Best Ages for This Activity
Three to five
How to Make It
You Will Need
- A pizza box or other similar box
- Aluminium foil
- Plastic wrap
- One sheet of black paper (construction paper is fine)
- A wooden skewer or any stick (to prop the box open)
- Tape
- An x-acto knife (a paring knife works too)
- S’mores ingredients (graham crackers, one Hershey’s Bar or other chocolate and marshmallows)
Let’s Get Started!
- Invite your child to build an oven that can cook food using the energy of the sun
- As we will be using solar power, it is a great opportunity to talk about the Earth, and about conservation and wise use of energy resources. Your child can learn more about the energy of the sun in the video below:
- The concepts may be a little complex, but you can pause and explain as needed and depending on the interest level of your child. This can be done before or after the activity (even a few days after).
- Apply the engineering design process:
- Ask: How can we design a container that will use the energy of the sun to heat food?
- Research: How do ovens work? How would a solar oven work? (A solar oven works by absorbing more energy than it dissipates) How could we capture the energy of the sun?
- Imagine: Figure out a prototype – a way to build an oven that you think will work (here you can look at all the materials to use: the box will be the “oven”, the black paper is placed beneath to absorb heat, the aluminium foil is placed on top to reflect the sunlight into into the box, and the plastic wrap is to enclose the oven (once the food is in) so it keeps the heat in but lets the sunlight pass through.
- Plan: How could you build that oven? You can draw your prototype if you wish, or work with the materials to create a plan
- Create: Build your solar oven.
- Test: Try your oven by cooking s’mores or a mini pizza in it, to see if it works!
Here are some instructions for building your solar oven:
- Cut the lid of your pizza box as shown in this picture:
- Cover the bottom of the box with black paper (this will retain the heat):
- Cover the lid of the box with plastic wrap and the top with aluminium foil as shown in this picture:
- Now you can try your solar oven. Prepare your s’mores and put them inside your new solar oven (this may take 1 hour so get your timers ready for you children to measure time. Also add a thermometer inside the oven so they can see the temperature rise and measure that too – all great for math skills). Leave the aluminium-covered lid propped up (use the stick for this) so it works by reflecting the solar energy into your oven (see pictures below):
Learning Opportunities
This is a fun S.T.E.M. activity where your child can learn engineering (building and testing a functioning oven), math (measuring temperature, measuring time, geometry while cutting the box to specific measurements, angling the lid, etc.), technology (working with chronometers, working with tools, etc.) and science (especially melting marshmallows and chocolate, and cooking whatever else you decide to cook with your new oven). Following instructions will also teach them math and reading. Using solar energy will teach them about the environment and the Earth, as well as spend time outdoors.
Use as much math language as possible, introducing words like fast; slow; faster/slower than; hot/hotter, warm/warmer, cold/cool, etc.; high, low; higher/lower than; numbers; height; temperature; centimeters; millimeters; angle; measurement; etc.
Extended Learning Opportunities
- Invite your child to modify their oven and test it to see what works faster and what works slower. For example, try covering the entire box in aluminium foil to see if it works better than black paper at the bottom, or try not covering the top with plastic wrap and seeing what difference it makes. You have two ways to compare results: through measuring temperature and through measuring time to cook. You can even make several ovens at once so you can compare them beside each-other.
- Try cooking different foods like pizza, or cookie dough.
CEFA tip: Remember to wait long enough for your child to “figure out” what is happening, or how building it this way and that might yield better results. They will learn much more and understand it much better than if you rush in to explain the concepts to them. Give sufficient time for them to explore the materials without your involvement after each experiment. Don’t intervene if they use the materials in a different way, or if in the middle of the experiment they feel like doing something else entirely with the oven (they might decide melting a crayon is more fun). It is all part of the learning experience. Just come back to the experiment when they are ready.
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Fizzing Colours Experiment
This incredibly simple science experiment will truly mesmerize your child! Using only baking soda, vinegar and food colouring, your child can learn about chemical reactions. They will set off a bubbling, fizzing, colourful reaction, right before their eyes. Our students at CEFA Early Learning schools love it!
We like to do it over the light table, but it is not necessary.
Best Ages for This Activity
One to five
How to Make It
Ingredients
- A box of baking soda
- 2 cups of white vinegar
- Pipettes (these are the ones we use at CEFA Early Learning schools) – if you don’t have pipettes, get an old eye-dropper (they sometimes come in children’s medicine – please don’t use it for the medicine after you’ve used it for the experiment)
- 3 drops (per colour) of liquid food colouring of various colours (you can try it with just one colour, but I really encourage you to do it with at least 4 colours if not more). Any type of food colouring is fine.
- 1 container, tray or plate (use something that can get wet and can be washed)
- Small jars or an ice tray to put vinegar in (you will need one for each colour you are trying)
Let’s Get Started!
- Invite your child to try a science experiment
- Pour the baking soda into your container and shake it so it sits flat in your container and covers its surface as much as possible:
- Put a little vinegar in each jar (or in the ice tray) and add a few drops of food colouring in each container. Now you have your colour mixes.
- With the pipettes (you might want to use one per colour), encourage your child to pick up some vinegar solution and squeeze it over the baking soda… this will immediately start fizzing, to the amazement of your child:
- Did your child predict what was going to happen? What did happen?
- You can try it as many times as you want, each time adding a few drops of colourful vinegar to the baking soda.
Learning Opportunities
This is a thrilling S.T.E.M. activity where your child can see a chemical reaction as it happens. For better science learning, follow the steps of your scientific method with your child. Make sure you use as much math vocabulary as you can (for example, name the colours, observe if the colours mix, see if the bubbles get larger and faster if you put more vinegar on it, see what happens when you squish a whole pipette of liquid to the baking soda, etc.)
CEFA tip: Remember to let your child do as much of the process as they are capable of.
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Hands-on Counting with Ants Practice Sheet
This activity is fun and hands-on, and only requires this sheet and toy ants.
The children love it at our CEFA Early Learning schools, and it gives them an opportunity to gain math skills, like estimating quantities, measuring and counting. You can download the free practice sheet here and try it at home!
Best Ages for This Activity
Two to four
How to Make It
What You Will Need
- Paper
- A printer
- Toy ants (if you don’t want to use them, you can always draw and cut mini ants on paper or paint grains of rice black and pretend they are ants – both are a lot more work)
Let’s Get Started!
- Print the worksheet and get the ants ready in a little box or bowl
- Ask your child: I wonder how many ants it would take to reach the top of the hill? What do you think? (give them time to estimate the quantity first, write the possible answers)
- Invite your child to figure it out using the toy ants. Starting from the very bottom of the anthill, your child can put one and in front of the other until they reach the top of the hill (the hole).
- Then count the ants.
- Was it close to the number you estimated? Was it more? Was it less? (work on that math vocabulary, this is very important)
Learning Opportunities
This activity is designed to teach your child math (counting, estimating quantities, measuring) and math language which is an important part of our literacy program. They will practice their fine motor skills which are very important for writing.
Extended Learning Opportunities
- Try making an anthill with real mud outside and count how many ants it takes to reach it.
- You can also turn it into a sensory bin by adding moist soil to your sensory bin and adding the ants. Your child will delight in making hills of all sizes and shapes and count how many ants it takes to reach the top of each, providing hours of independent fun!
- Add a measuring tape to the activity so your child can begin measuring using centimetres.
- Go outside with a magnifying glass and try to find a real anthill to observe. Be careful not to hurt the ants, and not to destroy their habitat though.
- Use the ants to measure different things in the house. For example, put a sandwich in the middle of the table, and ask your child how many ants it would take to reach that sandwich and eat it.
- Together, learn about ants and their habitat.
Canada Day Handprint T-Shirts
I wish I had thought of this when my children were little, I would have done one every year just to see how big their handprints got over time!
You don’t have to use special materials if you don’t have them. You can just use regular paint on a t-shirt your child already has.
Best Ages for This Activity
Zero to five
How to Make It
You will need
- A white t-shirt your child can wear.
- Red fabric paint (fabric paint resists many washes so your child can wear their masterpiece on other occasions too. If you don’t have red fabric paint, or if you plan to wear the t-shirt just once for Canada Day, just use red paint instead which costs less, but remember that you cannot wash it!)
Let’s Get Started!
- Invite your child to make their own t-shirts to wear on Canada Day. Show them how it would look like:
- Tell them they can use their handprint instead for the leaf.
- Start with the handprint: help your child paint their left hand red (they will love this part. You can talk about how the paint feels on their hand. This is a good sensory learning experience):
- Help your child place their handprint in the top center of the white t-shirt. Talk about what the center is (the middle) and help them figure out how to ensure their handprint will be in the centre, rather than guiding their hand towards it. This will teach them mathematics.
- Once they make their handprint, ask them what else is missing to make the Canadian flag (assuming their handprint is the maple leaf).
- Paint the two red strips on the side of the t-shirt, just like in the picture:
- And voilà! Let it dry and wear it proudly all day.
Learning Opportunities
Children will learn S.T.E.M. while mathematically figuring out how to recreate the flag on their shirt. This activity also requires hand-eye coordination skills and fine motor skills, a precursor to writing. It is also a good sensory learning activity.
Doing this activity together also is a great opportunity for you and your child to connect and to learn about this holiday. You can talk about Canada’s birthday, and share some of our country’s history.
Making their own “clothes” to wear and cleaning the workspace (and their very messy hand) afterwards are essential life skills.
Extended Learning Opportunities
Your child could make t-shirts for you to wear as well as for themselves, giving them an opportunity to contribute.
CEFA tip: Remember to let your child do as much of the process as they are capable of.
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How to Make Canada Day Watermelon Snacks
This is a healthy and delicious treat that your child can prepare on their own and serve to the whole family. Plus, it helps them practice fine motor skills, which are essential for writing! Of course, you can make these anytime using any cookie cutter shape you like, but for Canada Day, I thought it would be nice to use the maple leaf, from our Canadian flag.
Best Ages for This Activity
One to five
How to Make It
Ingredients
- A fresh watermelon
- A cookie cutter in the shape of our flag’s maple leaf
You will also need
- A large knife to cut the watermelon in slices first
- A plate (to serve)
- Popsicle sticks (optional, see below)
Let’s Get Started!
- On Canada Day, invite your child to make snacks for the whole family
- Slice the watermelon (yourself) and place each slice on a cutting board or plate for your child to access.
- Invite your child to use the maple leaf cookie cutter to cut into each slice of the watermelon and make as many “maple leaves” as they can, like this (actually, this one is from a very small watermelon, so it only gives you one leaf per slice):
- Your child can carefully place each leaf on a plate and serve it to family and guests:
- If you wish, you can add a popsicle stick or kebob stick to each maple leaf, like this:
- Or add them to your cups for a festive drink:
Learning Opportunities
I love helping children learn to cook (even a simple dish like this one) because it is a great life skill and an incredible way to contribute, to give of yourself to others, to do something for someone other than yourself, which children both love doing and need to do. By cooking with you, children feel great pride and benefit from a healthy self-esteem. They also learn to be independent and responsible. Children will learn S.T.E.M. while counting, estimating, and positioning their creations on cups or popsicle sticks. This activity also requires hand-eye coordination skills and fine motor skills, a precursor to writing.
Doing this activity together also is a great opportunity for you and your child to connect and to learn about this holiday. You can talk about Canada’s birthday, and share some of our country’s history.
Making the special snacks, cleaning the workspace and the dishes are essential life skills. Cooking in itself is also an important life skill and sharing what they cooked with the rest of the family teaches your child the habit of contribution and thinking of others.
CEFA tip: Remember to let your child do as much of the process as they are capable of.
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Canada Day Sensory Bin
This is a very simple sensory that will provide days of fun for your child. We prepare it at our CEFA Early Learning schools for the week surrounding Canada Day. Sensory play is essential in young children, and so much fun!
Best Ages for This Activity
One to five
How to Make It
You Will Need
- White shaving cream – you may need more than one, depending on the size of your sensory bin
- Red water beads (if you do not have red water beads, you can use any red objects, like red frozen paint cubes, red pom poms, red toys, red regular beads, etc.)
- A sensory bin. Use anything you might already have at home. I like the ones with lids because they are easy to store and put away when you need (under the bed is the perfect place). We use these bins for so many different sensory activities in the classrooms. If you don’t have something to use around the house, you can purchase one here.
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Let’s Get Started!
- Set up the sensory bin in an area that is easy to clean (in other words, not on your Persian rug)
- Add the shaving cream
- Add the red and white beads (or just red beads)
- Invite your child to play!
- After they played for a while, or even after a day or two, you can add containers or spoons, or anything they can scoop and pour with.
Learning Opportunities
This sensory bin is specifically designed to offer your child a great opportunity for sensory learning. Children can feel the beads and the shaving cream between their fingers, roll the breads, describe the textures they feel, while using their sense of touch. They will also use their sense of smell by smelling the shaving cream, and see the colours of the Canadian flag, using their sense of sight.
Sensory learning is especially important for writing. While you play with your child, use vocabulary to describe:
- How the beads and the foam feel
- How the foam smells
- What colours they are
Don’t forget to use math vocabulary such as colours and counting (if they count the beads).
Describing while using vocabulary is one of the most important learning outcomes at this age. It teaches them reading and mathematics.
This activity also teaches your child about the colours of Canadian flag and while you play you’re your child, you can teach them a little more about Canada. Such as how old the country is, what animals live in Canada, what different weather we can observe, what foods we eat and where Canada is in the map. This will teach your child about Canadian culture and geography.
Extended Learning Opportunities
- Using a laminator, laminate a printed copy of the Canadian flag. Add it to the side of the sensory bin and invite your child to use the pincer grip (thumb and index finger) to take the red slippery beads from the bin and cover the red parts of the flag with them. Then the white beads until the whole flag is covered. This is a fantastic activity to teach your child fine motor skills and spatial awareness.
CEFA WARNING: This experiment requires adult supervision at all times. Make sure you stay close to your child so they do not ingest the beads or shaving foam as they can be toxic.
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How to Make Ribbon Wands
Ribbon wands are so easy to make, all you need is a stick and some ribbon. They are so much fun to use for dancing, swirling and swinging them around, indoors or outside! They will take less than ten minutes to make, from start to finish, but provide hours and hours of fun.
This is a great dramatic play activity, for those of you who have aspiring wizards, fairies, princesses and magicians. They are so great to take outside on a windy day and see how the ribbons dance and move to the breeze. At our CEFA Early Learning schools. We use them often for our dance program as well.
Best Ages for This Activity
One to five
How to Make It
Ingredients
- A stick (it can even be a branch)
- Ribbon of any kind
Let’s Get Started!
- Invite your child to make a ribbon wand
- Explain what you will need and look for the materials with your child. A stick can be found at home, or in nature. Ribbon can be found at home (I like sewing, and I like presents, so I have ribbons I saved from gift wraps and ribbons I used for sewing. If you don’t have either, you can find some at the dollar store, or at any fabric store (they have scraps and ribbon ends so you can get a few different ones for your wand.
- Once you have the materials, make the wand by tying a knot with the ribbon around the wand. Repeat for each ribbon. You can use as many ribbons as you wish, or as few as three. You can even make several wands with different colours, lengths, or types of ribbons. You can even add a small bell to the knot so it makes a nice sound as well. Here are some examples:
Learning Opportunities
This is a very simple activity, but it teaches your child life skills (they are building a simple toy). It also teaches them fine motor skills (essential for learning to write). It also teaches art, as they make the ribbon wand to their own liking. You can teach them to tie a knot (another life skill) and to use scissors to cut the ribbon (more fine motor skills). Once the ribbon is made, you can use it for dance, for dramatic play, for outdoor play, for gross motor skills, and for a million other things.
Doing this activity together also is a great opportunity for you and your child to connect. You can share life stories, ask them about themselves, their plans, and get closer. You can ask, for example:
- What will you do with it once your ribbon wand is ready?
- Why did you choose those particular ribbons?
- Why that length?
- What are favourite colours for the ribbons?
- Would you like to make another ribbon wand to gift to someone? Who?
CEFA tip: Remember to let your child do as much of the process as they are capable of. Also please be careful when running with sticks. If your child is very young, try using a ring instead of a stick, or even a small popsicle stick, so they can run freely with their new toy. Here are some examples:
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