This week at Strong Start the children enjoyed painting using string. We attached the string to a clothespin and the children enjoyed watching the changes with the use of something long.
“Look it’s a snake!”
“It’s changing colours!”
“Maybe the string is magic?”
This week at Strong Start the children have been painting using Q-tips. This activity is great at helping children develop their pincer grasp.
The pincer grasp is the coordination of the index finger and the thumb to hold an item. The pincer grasp represents further development of fine motor skills. These movements require precise control of small muscles in the hand.
Fine motor skills are the foundation that will later allow a child to write and use a computer mouse.
So let your children paint away with a variety of objects. They love the novelty and it’s also great exercise for growing muscles and minds.
This week the children at Strong Start experienced painting with plastic scrubbers. These can be found in the cleaning section of any dollar store.
The children enjoyed seeing the patterns the scrubbers made on the paper and also how the colours mixed and made rainbows.
A few days ago a child at Strong Start told me she wanted to paint. So we went to the art shelf and got out some paint and paper and paintbrushes. She then said how about if we don’t use paint brushes….
So we decided to put the paintbrushes away and explore painting in other ways.
This week the children explored painting with balloons
”It feels squishy “
”I can hear the water in the balloon”
“The colours are everywhere “
I hope you have been able to enjoy some of this beautiful weather and also have gotten to see some of the beautiful cherry blossoms. I encourage you and your children to stop and take a closer look, try to see something you never saw before when looking at the cherry blossom tree. What do you notice?
A fun art activity you can do at home is tracing your child’s hand on construction paper, then let them or you (depending on their age) cut it out and this will be the tree and branches of the cherry blossom tree. Now let them make the cherry blossoms using a Q-tip and a variety of pink paint.
If you are interested in some wonderful free parenting programs, please click on the link below to view the current opportunities offered entirely online by Burnaby Family Life
https://bflgrowscommunity.org/confident-parenting
Information Children is also offering free online story times and parenting workshops, for information on these great opportunities please view the link below
https://www.informationchildren.com/parenting-workshops-events/
I hope you are all staying healthy!
As always if you have any questions or want to talk, please email me anytime at
Lisa.parr@burnabyschools.ca
The children at Strong Start have been busy planting carrots in the sand box.
Some children were focused on how the sand moved through the pots.
Where other children were working together and sharing their understanding of how to grow carrots.
“First we need the seeds and you put them in the dirt, then you need more dirt on top and some water”
“Look we got carrots “ “Lets eat them!”
If your child is interested in planting things at home some fun activities you can try are…
Put a bean into a wet paper towel and put it into a ziplock bag. Tape it onto a window with sun light and watch.
Put popcorn kernels into some dirt, then water them and place them near the sun light and see if they grow.
Also when you are outside walking with your children search for things growing.
It has been so wonderful seeing you all at Strong Start and playing together 💗. I look forward to seeing you all again soon 😊
The children at Strong Start have been greatly enjoying exploring with our current Play Scapes.
To make your own moon sand at home it is very simple. Add 1 cup of oil – any kind will work (I used baby oil because I love the smell) and put in 8 cups of all purpose flour and mix together. That’s it! Simple and fun!!!
Also if you are interested in some free online parenting programs please check out The Burnaby Neighborhood House Website for some wonderful programs.
https://bflgrowscommunity.org/confident
Stay safe and look forward to seeing you soon 💗
Happy New Year!
I hope you all enjoyed some quality time with your families over the break. My family and I shared lots of great card games and spent many hours baking yummy treats together. I am currently working on the new schedule for your Strong Start sessions and will be emailing you all by the end of this week with your next session date. If for some reason by Friday you haven’t received my email please feel free to email me at Lisa.Parr@burnabyschools.ca.
Looking forward to seeing you all again soon 💖
The last few weeks at Strong Start have been filled with decorating trees and lots of fun festive experiences. As this year comes to an end, I wanted to share how grateful I am for all of you and all of the wonderful moments we shared together at Strong Start! I look forward to seeing you all in 2021!
❤️Ms. Lisa
Happy December!
What a beautiful day for another scavenger hunt!
I have created a second scavenger hunt for you. Go outside and see how many things you can find in your neighborhood.
Something fun you can do at home is make Salt Dough Ornaments. My favourite ornaments on our Christmas tree are ornaments my daughters made when they were little. Salt dough is very easy to make – even easier than the playdough we make at Strong Start. The recipe and instructions are below. Have Fun exploring and creating together 💕
Salt Dough Ornaments
Ingredients
*4 cups all purpose flour
*1 cup salt
*1 1/2 cups warm water
* paint, glitter & ribbon for decorating
To make the dough add the flour and salt in a large bowl and then add in the warm water. Mix it until it forms a ball and kneed it until it’s soft usually takes a few minutes.
Then roll out the dough with a rolling pin to about 1/8” thick and cut out shapes with cookie cutters or even a large drinking glass. Use a straw or tooth puck to poke a hole for the ribbon to go through to hang the ornaments.
Bake for 1 hour on a cookie sheet at 300 F
Once cooled you can decorate them with paint and glitter.
Another fun thing to do is press your child’s hand or foot into the dough to make a print.
