#BlackHistoryMonth  presents a wonderful opportunity to discuss & expose race, civil rights, artists, musicians, authors, food, public figures, & so on to celebrate the groundbreaking impact that #BlackHistory  paved for so many. Educating children from a young age about the many achievements of Black History & how it has shaped cultures worldwide, provides for concrete learning experiences that permit children to build an understanding that will impact their learning, attitudes, & beliefs about diversity and multicultural education. One of our Artists of the Month is @kehindewiley , who is an African-American painter best known for portraits that feature African Americans in the traditional settings of old paintings with naturalistic brightly colored flowery backgrounds. After talking about who he is and his artwork along with looking at what he has created, we invited the children to recreate his art with loose parts. We provided fake grass as the base, fake flowers, aquarium plants, fake succulents, & wooden peg dolls to make their own inspired 3-D versions of his art. Most of us know that art is important for children. But beyond why it is important for them to create art it is just vital to expose children to famous artists. Art connects us all. It can take us through history, introduce us to other cultures, the world around us, & to ourselves. Therefore the more a child is exposed to the arts, the more techniques they are aware of, the more they can problem solve to think critically, the more they can creatively express themselves, the more accepting they are, & the more beauty they can see in the world around them. Art is one of the fundamental components of what makes us ALL uniquely human.

With so many musicians to honor for #blackhistorymonth  a great way to celebrate decades of influential music is learning about them. Whether it is Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, The Jackson 5, Kendrick Lamar, Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, A Tribe Called Quest or the Isley Brothers, there are decades of music to explore. Their voices & songs changed the world through so many genres.  Stevie Wonder's  music and activism make him an important figure in Black History Month becaus e  he has used his fame to highlight the contributions of Black people and to advocate for social justice .  There is no denying the importance and power of music in education. Music supports & ignites all areas of child development. Including but not limited to intellectual, social-emotional, motor, language, & overall literacy. The more a child is exposed to music early on the more they are able to learn the sounds & meaning of words. We read one of our favorite books, Little People, Big Dreams: Stevie Wonder by Quarto Kids , pulled out our Crosley Radio  Record Player, learned how it plays music & listened to some of his songs before creating some record player art. We placed paper plates on the record player, provided crayola markers , put the stylus on the edge, & invited the children to color on the paper plate while it spins & made designs with the markers all while listening to Stevie Wonder!

The  Book Robot in Love written by by T.L. McBeth  is a heartwarming story about a robot who creates gifts for another robot that he falls in love with. After reading this book we set out to create a 3-D Robot made out of recycled cardboard. After putting the robot together, I invited the children to paint, color, and decorate the robot however they wanted. With our favorite Colorations Tempera Paint Sticks, Paint, and Brushes they were able to get creative. Extending stories with art projects for children provides a multitude of benefits: fostering creativity, enhancing comprehension, developing fine motor skills, promoting emotional expression, and deepening engagement with the story through visual interpretation and imaginative play, all while allowing the children to actively participate in the narrative. So just like the story we were able to create a gift out of recycled items that we all fell in love with! Here is another way to explore the same story.

The story Pinch of Love by  Barry Timms  (Author),  Tisha Lee  (Illustrator) is about celebrating love that comes through baking, cooking, & sharing food through the warm bond of a diverse community. After reading the book I wanted to integrate the literacy experience by inviting the children to bake with love just like the special moments in the book.   To set this tuff tray play up I provided playdough, dessert & baking trays, whisks, cookie cutters, wooden rolling pins, loose parts (wooden/acrylics/sponge hearts), & pretend desserts. The children were invited to make, create, play, & bake a pinch of love however their heart desired.  Play-dough is a staple in early childhood. It is a powerful way to let a child use their imagination, strengthen the small muscles in their fingers, & encourage a child's language + literacy, science, math, & sensory skills. It is quite possibly one of the most powerful props for learning. Since children learn & retain information through their senses, integrating a sensory material such as playdough will deepen their comprehension & connection to the concepts of the story all through the power of their imagination by play! Providing loose parts in addition to the playdough inspires children with endless opportunities of creativity. Since loose parts are dynamic in nature, it brings about the authenticity of formulating ideas and you can see a child's creativity shine in their creations.

The book Love Grows Everywhere by    Barry Timms   (Author),  Tisha Lee   (Illustrator) is about a family whose diverse community is bursting with love. The  story teaches us that love really does grow everywhere, in all shapes, forms, and sizes. After reading the story we set out to create our own love plants to extend the literacy experience through art. I cut out a whole bunch of hearts from recycled cardboard, then strung them on wooden kabob sticks with craft wooden beads, and placed them into styrofoam in a pot. Provided Colorations tempera paint, paint brushes, and stickers and invited the children to paint.   When children are able to paint on an assemblage of different art materials together they explore the concepts of: comparing items (shapes, textures, lines, height/width, size), negative space, spatial awareness, cognitive thinking, communication/collaboration, gravity + viscosity, fine + gross motor skills, hand eye coordination, all while empowering their creativity throughout the whole process. Art invitations such as this opens a child's mind to the many ways of creating art. When children are exposed to diverse types of art the more well rounded and creative they become. Art is a fundamental component of childhood, therefore continuous exposure leads to seeing the world in different ways, learning about all the beautiful forms of art, all while seeing that love will make a brighter world.

Dinos in the Snow!  by   Karma Wilson  (Author),  Laura Rader   (Illustrator) is a fun filled rhyming story where dinosaurs enjoy many snow activities, from building snowmen & having snowball fights to skiing & skating.  Since littles love dinos & we are still learning all about polar environments this story was perfect for creating an  #tufftrayplay invitation to extend the literacy experience. We placed Steve Spanglers Insta Snow from Discount School Supply in our #TuffTray. Took our dinosaur figurines & rubber banded Colorations craft sticks on the feet as skis + snowboards, placed bottle brush trees, & toy sleds. The children were invited to have the dinos enjoy snow activities just like story through play!  Extending literacy through hands-on play offers numerous benefits for children, including fostering creativity/imagination, enhancing communication skills, developing a love for reading, improving language comprehension, building confidence in using new vocabulary, & promoting a deeper understanding of literacy concepts through active engagement.  Here is another way to explore Dinosaurs in the Snow!

While we may not get snow in this part of the world setting up an invitation with insta snow & ice brings the magic of winter to us. To set this invitation we foraged some nature to freeze in water, provided insta snow, pots, pans, cupcake tins, bowls, utensils, & our sand +  water kit from Discount School Supply. The children were invited to create wintry treats in our mud kitchen + tuff tray.  Exploring & creating with these materials provides children endless possibilities for learning through play, letting their imaginations blossom, as well as enhancing so many areas of developmental (cognitive & physical).  The open-ended nature of this type of play encourages creative thinking which contributes to a child’s sense of self & helps to build a strong inner sense of competency. While they engage in this pretend play the social interactions fosters language development & communication skills. Emergent math +science skills + problem solving/critical thinking are practiced as children experiment, make comparisons, solve problems, test theories, make mixtures/recipes, observe different concepts, measure & count ingredients for their creations. The sensory play children partake in while playing allows them to engage in all their senses which promotes their sensory development. This type of play is important for children. It allows children to play at their own developmental level, meet the diverse needs & interests of all children, and is truly one of the most magical + imaginative ways children can play.

The story Sneezy the Snowman by  Maureen Wright  (Author),  Stephen Gilpin  (Illustrator) is about a snowman who is so cold! To get warm he first drinks hot cocoa, melts, sits in a hot tub, melts, goes near a warm fire, & melts! The children in the end figure out to build him up again & make him feel comfortable with some yummy ice cream.  To set this invitation that extended the literacy experience, in our tuff tray we placed hot cocoa (that they mixed), "hot tub" with warm water, wooden fire, play ice cream, & sensory materials to make a melted snowman.  First the children were invited to mix, pour, & create hot cocoa. Then after seeing the items that kept melting him in the story as props for story sequencing, we went all hands to create & explore a melted snowman. To make the snowman we poured cornstarch, water, & mini foam craft balls which made a textured oobleck. We also placed sticks, eyes, laminated  cutouts of clothing, & fake carrots.  The children were invited to explore the oobleck mixture that is a great sensory material that has scientific elements. Oobleck is that it’s neither a liquid nor a solid. It’s actually a suspension (Non-Newtonian Fluid) & will behave like either, depending on the amount of pressure you apply. When the children squeeze it in their hands it will feel like a solid, but when they open their hand, it will flow over & between the fingers like a liquid. Extending literacy through hands-on learning is a great way to actively engage children in experiences that directly build deeper comprehension, understand the literacy concepts through practical application, improve memory retention, further develop their vocabulary, enhance focus + motivation for learning, & all the while building lifelong lovers of reading!

The Northern Lights are also known as Auroral displays that appear in many colors, forms in patches or scattered clouds of shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow. The bright lights are collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere and are seen above magnets poles of the northern and southern hemisphere. Since we are continuing to explore polar environments we read the story  The Lights that Dance in the Night by Yuval Zommer ,  looked at images from around the world,  placed out our star projector   to showcase what the Northern Lights would look like in real life, & then invited the children to experiment with water colors to create auroral displays. At the base of our tuff tray we placed iridescent cellophane, then mixed white Colorations Liquid WaterColors with water and poured it as the base. In our paint strip jars we placed different liquid watercolors and provided pipettes. The children were invited to squirt the liquid watercolors into the white water. As they experimented, used their fine motor skills, explored color theory, they were able to create the most beautiful auroral displays just like the Northern Lights together! Here are three other ways to explore the Northern Lights: Rory: An Orca's Quest For The Northern Lights STEM Light Play , Invitation to Epxlore the Northern Lights 2 Ways , and Glow & The Dark Northern Lights Painting.

The beauty of celebrating different cultures is that you get to learn and create in so many different ways. With Lunar New Year just around the corner here are some invitation and activities to implement in your classroom or home. Whether it is celebrating art, music, food, symbols, traditions, and so on, exposing children different elements of a culture is essential and meaningful. The more children learn and are exposed to different cultures in the classroom and their homes, the more knowledge and understanding we provide for everyone while making every child feel seen and heard in their community. Here are 9 Lunar New Year Activities. Stay tuned for some new upcoming ones in the next couple of weeks. Invitation to Create Lunar New Year Dragons 2. Invitation to Create Lunar New Year Lanterns and Firecrackers 3. Lunar New Year Cuisine Sensory Bin Exploration 4. Lucky Animals PlayTray 5. Ten Little Dumplings 6. Dim Sum for Everyone 7. Invitation to Create Cherry Blossoms 8. Lunar New Year Mandarin Orange Sensory Soup 9. I Am Golden, Lunar New Year Mix Media Collage 10. Invitation to Create Lunar New Year Lanterns 11. Tastes of Lunar New Year Dramatic Play 12. Lunar New Year Dragons Two Ways 13. I nvitation to Create Amy Wu's Patchwork Dragon Lunar New Year Collaborative Recycled Cardboard Dragon & Snake 15 . 3-D Lunar New Year Lanterns

Exploring the winter through Small World Play, STEM/STEAM, Process art, Loose Parts, and more can be SNOW MUCH FUN. Below are ways to explore polar habitats and weather galore. Wintry Small World Play Invitations   Invitation to Explore the Northern Lights Two Ways   Snow Construction Small Word Play Igloo Small World Play Winter Sleep Hibernation STEM Building Arctic Small World Play Baby Beluga Sensory Tuff Tray Play Small World Play: Little Penguins   The Lights that Dance in the Night Dinosaurs in the Snow Three Snow Bears Small World Play Fizzing Arctic Penguins Wintry STEM/STEAM Invitations STEAM Tobogganing/Ice Skating Small World Play Snowball STEM Challenge Frozen Winter Excavation Insta Snow Three Ways   Snowball Sculptures   Snowball Maze   Snow Sphere Sensory Bin Melting Snowmen STEAM Art Rory: An Orca's Quest For The Northern Lights STEM Light Play Snow Ball Fine Motor Gym Wintry Loose Parts Invitations   Invitation to Create Snowflakes with Loose Parts Wintry Process Art Invitations Mixed Media Winter Collage Mixed Media Snow Collage STEAM Salt Snowflakes Invitation to Create Snowflakes Buildings in the Snow Glow and The Dark Northern Lights Painting Invitation to Paint on a 3-D Snow Sculptures Invitation to Paint on Ice Blocks Wintry Infant/Toddler Invitations   Invitation to Explore Winter Holiday Infant/Toddler Activities

This lyrical rhyme book wr itten by by   Sarah Cullen   (Author),  Carmen Ellis   (Author),  Zuzana Svobodova    (Author) dives into the enchanting ocean world of an Orca named Rory, where his dream is to see the beautiful Northern Lights. During his journey,  he meets a beluga whale,  polar bear, and a fox. Through teamwork and new friendships they were able to make Rory's dream come true.  To extend the literacy experience setting up an STEM light play invitation is a great way to make the book come to life. On a tuff tray iridescent blue fabric was placed as the water. For items to depict the northern lights:   Glow Construction Blocks ,  Illuminated Sensory Glow Pebbles ,  and   star projector .  Other items that were placed in the tuff tray were   bottle brush trees , animal figurines represented in the story, Excellerations® Mini Ice Blocks , and aquarium seaweed. The children were invited to build, play, explore, and recreate the story through this light play invitation.