Water, Sand, and Other Stuff Too Give your child opportunities to play with tools and materials for measuring, scooping, sifting, shoveling, and pouring. Place a big plastic storage box on an old plastic shower curtain or tablecloth. Fill it with one type of thing: dried beans, birdseed, rice, water, sand, etc. Add a few tools and toys: plastic animals, cars, rocks, shells, ladles, cups, funnels, pails, pitchers, spoons, etc. Watch him play for hours!
Touchy Feely Box Cut the feet off of two old socks, and two holes in the sides of a covered box. Attach the cut ends of the socks with duct tape to the holes in the box. Without your child seeing, put a variety of things in the box. Have her reach in and describe the objects by touch. With two children, put pairs of things in the box. Have one child reach in and describe an object, then have the other find it in the box by touch.
Dot-to-Dot Star Pictures Together with your child, observe the sky on a clear night. Look for patterns of stars. Draw the stars you see on a piece of paper and help him connect the dots to discover pictures of lions, dippers, hunters, or whatever you can imagine!
Colors Rising Help your child put about 20 drops of blue food coloring in one-quarter cup of water. Put the colored water in a glass, cut a piece of celery at a slant, and have her put the celery in the glass. Ask her to guess what will happen next. Throughout the day, watch the color rise!
What Floats? Fill a sink, pool, or tub with water. Offer your child a variety of small objects of varying weights and properties: a bar of soap, a toy car, a cork, an empty plastic container, an unopened can, etc. Have him pick out something to test. Before he puts it in the water, ask him to make a prediction: Will it float? Will it sink? Let him test his predictions.
Cricket Thermometer Use the help of a cricket to give you and your child an estimate of the temperature. The warmer the temperature, the faster a cricket will chirp; the cooler, the slower the chirps. Count the chirps for fifteen seconds. Add 40, and you will have the approximate temperature in Fahrenheit degrees.
