Whenever you get flowers, always save them when they are almost on their way out for children to explore. We used some old Valentine's Day Flower bouquets and got the last use out of them with this invitation to create love flower soup! In two big sensory bins, we provided a variety of containers filled with water and flowers, measuring cups, ladles, spoons, Colorations Liquid Water in Pink & Metallic Bio Color Paint in Gold. We invited the children to create and make pretend soup with all the beautiful and colorful flowers. Not only is this a great way for the children to enjoy some water play, it incorporates the exploration of nature and science. The children were able to scoop, pour, transfer, materials from the one container into another with a variety of kitchen utensils & containers. The assorted containers & kitchen utensils help encourage exploration of measuring & mixing. Whenever water play is incorporated in an invitation it fosters creativity & enables children to experiment with science & math concepts. Children begin to understand & investigate with ideas such as more/less, same/different, many/few, empty/full, before/after, greater than/less than. Children also learn physics principles such as the effects of force (increasing the water flow through increased force); effects of gravity (water runs downhill) etc. With all that math & science happening in an open ended way there is plenty of language development when a child discusses the ingredients, how they will create their mixtures, & so forth. The social learnings from water play include collaboration, concentration, turn taking, problem solving, perseverance, self-regulation, & more. Children also gain physical learning through water play, such as precision in pouring, eye-hand coordination, & other skills. Exploring water combined with nature is captivating, engaging, engrossing & absorbing to almost all children. Here are two other ways to get the last use of flowers through freezing them! Geometric Heart STEM Exploration Two Ways and Invitation to Explore Frozen Flowers on the Light Table.

The #gifted Play Pod Kinder Gym from Discount School Supply has been the perfect new addition to our infant/toddler room for the children to crawl, climb, and explore at anytime indoors! Researchers are uncovering the values of one of the most developmentally important forms of play - climbing. As humans from birth we’re explorers, thrill-seekers, problem-solvers, and above all, curious, therefore we are simply born to climb. We naturally don’t just love climbing for the excitement and the challenge - there are biological reasons at play that attract us to it. Climbing aids in mental & physical development, & has been shown to improve creativity, memory, & critical thinking abilities. Climbing works almost every major muscle group in the body, so children increase upper body strength (by using their arms and hands), their lower body (by using their legs), develop core stability, muscle control & balance when taking part in exploring a gym. Play Pod Kinder Gym inspires curious climbers & crawlers to be confident & enhance the agility for infants/toddlers as they explore the area. Not only is this great for climbing it enhances their gross motor skills overall. As they maneuver through the space they are working on gross motor skills that in turn helps a child gain strength and confidence in their body. It also helps them get exercise and physical activity, which is important for a healthy lifestyle. Developing these skills through gross motor play such as this helps a childs ability to do more complex skills in future activities.

Alma Woodsey Thomas was an American artist and educator whose exuberant colorful paintings used the techniques of pointillism and abstract expressionism. She became the first African-American woman at the age of 80 to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art. To honor her influential work for #blackhistorymonth an invitation to recreate her art work in order to inspire children to become creative just like Alma. Whether you print out images of her art work or read the books A Blaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas or Alma's Art they are both great ways to learn about her work. After reading those stories you can do any of these three art invitations that are inspired by her work. Textured Shape Collage: On a poster board glue wooden geo shapes in the designs of her artwork. Provide liquid water colors + paint brushes and let them paint! Tape Resist Art: On a poster board with blue tape create the designs of her art work. Provide liquid water colors + paint brushes and let them paint. After the paint dries remove the blue tape and voila. Bubble Wrap Canvas: On a poster board place bubble wrap to create a similar texture to her art work. Provide tempera paint + paint brushes and let them paint! Invitations such as these opens a child's mind to the many ways of creating art. When children learn about artists the more well rounded and creative they become. Art is a fundamental component of early childhood education therefore continuous exposure leads to seeing the world in different ways and learning about different forms of art. Here are two other ways to recreate her art Alma Woodsey Thomas Textured Water Color Art and Alma Woodsey Thomas Loose Parts Play

They paved the way for artists to come by breaking down barriers and making a huge impact on what they contributed through music. Ma Rainey, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin are just a few female Black Blues/Jazz artists who made music history. To honor these pioneers for #BlackHistoryMonthy we have been reading books about the artist, listening to their music, and we invited the children to paint the 'blues' with musical instrument paint brushes to connect to the arts. Blues music gets its name from its original association with melancholy subjects and sounds and the 'blue notes" used, so we decided to provide blue, white, and black tempera paint as the colors to create with. This invitation to paint is a multilevel sensory exploration process. Through listening to the music playing on the speaker, using out of the norm paint brushes with instruments that provide even more sound, maneuvering their fine and large motor skills as they paint all over, and exploring the cool blue colors on canvas through their hands, offers children the opportunity to use multiple senses as they create. Since children are naturally born sensory seekers, an experience such as this ignites their curiosity, provides the ability to retain even more information to make deeper connections in learning, and engages them for longer periods of time. Giving a child a canvas with intentional unique tools pushes their imagination to limitless boundaries and honors their mind to always seek wonder in anything they do.

Seating in an early childhood classroom is something that at times goes unnoticed. Adding the Children's Factory MyPosture™ Chairs to one of our classrooms at our largest center has been such a great enhancement in their space. The chairs provide external postural lumbar support to help maintain the natural curve of the spine and offset the muscle fatigue that can lead to slouching. This makes for great chairs to be able to eat snack, lunch, play, create, explore, and learn. Below are two fun invitations we did to break in the chairs! Loose Parts Hearts// To let the children explore the formation and shape of hearts we drew out a whole bunch of different sized hearts on butcher paper and provided the children with loose parts to trace the hearts creatively. When a child uses loose parts to create drawn out images, shapes, or designs invitations, it gives opportunities to work on spatial awareness, exposes them to different formations of shapes/lines/letters/numbers, paying attention to detail, & enhancing their language skills as they communicate what they see or what they are doing in an open ended way. As they manipulate the loose parts to fit inside, outside, or around the designs they are enhancing their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, & shape recognition as well. There is great importance of loose parts play in the early years. Since loose parts are dynamic in nature, it brings about the authenticity of formulating ideas while taking the pressure off. The more variables an object offers the more possibilities & opportunities the object will provide a child's learning. As they experiment/explore with the loose parts they enter an environment of “what if” that promotes problem solving and theoretical reasoning which helps them understand how things work on their own time. This is the foundation we want to establish early on in children: to have a higher level of learning and understanding of how things work while honoring their ability to think imaginatively and empower them to figure things out. Loose parts play really breaks away from stereotypical thinking/creating and empowers children to explore, learn, create, wonder, and play in a variety of ways. Process Art Heart Shape Printing // Children love creating with out of the norm painting tools. We took recycled paper rolls and pinched some of it down to form a heart shape stamp. We provided a large piece of butcher paper, tempera paint, and dot markers as another painting tool to get creative. The children were amazed that the paper rolls created prints of hearts! As colors and prints became more and more vibrant the children were loving the process. Process-oriented art like this focuses on the creative, exploring a material, or trying something new. It’s all about the process. There are fewer ‘rules’: no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to create with this approach. There’s something so freeing about just creating around with new materials or trying a new technique without having to worry about how it will look at the end, and it’s a wonderful way to encourage children to be creative without pressure.

These two STEM experiments are such a great way to explore the shape of a heart through science. Frozen Fizzy Hearts// In a bowl mix baking soda, water, and Colorations Liquid Water Colors. Fill silicone heart mounds and place in freezer over night. In a sensory bin of tray provide pipettes , basters, or these twisty droppers and a cup or two of vinegar. Place the frozen hearts in the tray and invite the children to experiment with the chemicals to make fizzy hearts! As they squirt the components away they will experience seeing and creating a chemical reaction. This gives the opportunity to explore their environments as they learn about cause and effect, cycles of nature, the ability to make comparisons, chemical and physical reactions and exposure to the properties of matter. Frozen Heart Flower Excavation// Once your Valentine’s Day flowers are on their way out freeze them in heart moulds for an excavation experiment. Provide water and pipettes , basters, or these twisty droppers . Invite the the child excavate and release the flowers. There is so much science, water play, cognitive and fine motor development all packed into this invitation! A child is able to explore and finding a deeper connection with nature. Through these types of invitations children build a foundation for future scientific learning. As curiosity builds through science experiments, children learn to be patient with projects that take time and how to make decisions based on the data that they gather. Developing this ability to understand the likeness and differences between things builds a science base as well as a skill for future math and reading skills.

Assemblage is the art of assembling materials together from objects, in this case recycled materials. The materials are used to make 3-dimensional art and often involves building, collaging, exploring, and creating sculptures. With recycled cardboard cut outs of hearts, Colorations® tempera paint and paint brushes we invited the children to paint their hearts out on this 3-D sculpture. As they combine various materials together to explore the concept of assemblage art they are: 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. Invitations such as this opens a child's mind to the many ways of creating art. When children learn about diverse types of art the more well rounded and creative they become. Art is a fundamental component of early childhood education therefore continuous exposure leads to seeing the world in different ways and learning about all the beautiful forms of art. Here is the smaller scale version of the same 3-D assemblage!

Preparing children through role play, talking, reading, watching a video, while prepping them for an appointment or doctors visit will help ease the process and make it somewhat of a more manageable experience that they will hopefully carry through the rest of a child's life. While it won’t guarantee zero tears, big feelings, or push back, it will help ease the process, help build social emotional resiliency during visits, and prepare for future appointments of all types. One of the best ways for a child to feel more equipped for a visit or appointment is through role play. Since children learn by doing, simply setting up an invitation where the environment will be similar to their experience will help them feel better prepared and more in control for what will happen to them as they will have a foundation of what to expect. For an EEG appointment you can read this book Lucky's First EEG and/or watch a You Tube Videos. then invite the child(ren) to reenact what happens on baby dolls. Provide a bed such as the Whats It , Miniland Baby Dolls , a real or play lap top, blanket, pipe cleaners and sticker dots . Invite the child to recreate through play what happens in the EEG appointment to the baby dolls. Talking during meal times, car rides, bath and/or bed time continues to open the discussion and lay the foundation to prepare and let them know what will happen, understand their worries, provide examples of what will happen, have them feel seen & heard, and why it is important to take care of our bodies. Here is another Invitation to Role Play to Prep for a Vaccine or Doctors Visit. and here are many children’s books about doctor’s visits, you can read with your child in the days leading up such as these listed below: Doctor Visits: Baby Medical School: My Doctor's Visit: A Doctor Book for Kids Daniel Visits the Doctor Leo Gets a Checkup (Leo Can!) Checkup with Doctor Giraffe - Touch and Feel Board Book - Sensory Board Book Let's Meet a Doctor (Cloverleaf Books ™ ― Community Helpers) And as always watching videos with their favorite characters helps take the pressure off, feels relatable, and they are more connected to that a familiar face doing the same thing they will be doing. Here are some videos below for doctor visits: Doctor Visits: Getting A Check Up- Sesame Street D is for Doctor- Sesame Street Doctors are Grownups Who Help Us -PBS Field Trip to the Doctors

Children need a place they can retreat to when they need to think, rest, process or just decompress. Comfy corners give children the opportunity to be in a safe place to calm down and relax while honoring the time they need to process what they are experiencing. Sometimes when emotions are big and in full effect, a child needs time and space to transition to another activity or task, or simply needs a break from hard moment in order to adjust. This kind of safe space empowers the child to be able to process/regulate their emotions, focus, and wind down, while teaching them to deal and work through their feelings, appreciate relaxation, honor the time they need, and give them a skill of a lifetime self-awareness + regulation. This is a great place to start to pave the way to instill the foundation for independent doable social emotional tools for children to carry throughout the rest of their lives. Typically in a comfy corner the goal is to provide a seating nook with soft materials, calming colors, books, plush items, sensory bottles, rugs, and plants to instantly make a child feel at "home" in order to relax. Books are the biggest staple in our comfy corners as it serves a double duty to encourage exposure to literacy, topics of interest, relatability to what they are experiencing, enhance imagination, and continue to provide wonder of how the world works. Whether you have a book shelf, display book shelf, or basket of books that expose certain themes/celebrations/concepts, you have a variety of ways to make the greatest tools accessible to your child or children in your classroom. These #gifted Children's Factory As we Grow Sofa and Chair have become a staple in our home and three centers! Pictured here are the colors buff, gray and, blue!

Howardena Pindell is an American painter, filmmaker, and mixed media artist. Her work explores texture, color, structures, and is often political. To honor her work for #BlackHistoryMonth inviting a child(ren) to create a mix media collage of her recurring motif of the circle, is a great way to learn about her art. The circle goes back to connecting her childhood memories. From hole punched paper, watercolor, gouache, crayon, ink, spray adhesive, and thread, the circles appeared in many of her pieces. To set this invitation you can place a large piece of recycled cardboard as the canvas and provide a variety of circular materials ( dot stickers , tissue paper , coffee filters , cardboard cut outs) tempera paint sticks , and glue . You can print and laminate images of her art work as a provocation to inspire similar techniques while having them explore the detail in her art. The beauty about collaborative collages are that they build community, foster cooperation, eliminate competition, and it is social! When children engage in #Processart such as this it allows children to explore freely, be in control of the outcomes creatively, & lets them discover art in their own way. This builds their confidence, fosters their cognitive skills & when they become aware of all the different ways they can do art, make predictions, plan it out/problem solve, everything comes full circle in believing the can create anything! Here is another way to explore Howardena Pindell through Invitation to Create Mix Media Art and Click here for 24 Black History Month Activities!

February is Black History Month. This is a wonderful time where as parents and/or educators we can discuss and expose race, civil rights, artists, musicians, authors, food, public figures, and so on to celebrate the groundbreaking impact that Black History paved for so many. Educating children from a young age about the many achievements of Black History and how it has shaped cultures worldwide, provides for concrete learning experiences that permit children to build an understanding that will impact their learning, attitudes, and beliefs about diversity and multicultural education. Prince Rogers Nelson, more commonly known as Prince, was an African American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was and still is widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians of all time. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Mattie Shaw a jazz singer and social worker, and John L. Nelson, a lyricist and pianist. His parents were both from African-American families from Louisiana. After reading Little People, Big Dreams Prince by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara (Author), Cachete Jack (Illustrator) we invited the children to listen to his funky music while pretending to play the guitar just like Prince. We set up trays with paper, placed rubber bands to become the guitar strings, dripped Colorations Tempera paint on the rubber bands, and invited the children to strum the guitars while listening to his music and create open ended art! While the children explore painting with the rubber bands they are using their fine motor skills by practicing their pincer grasp to grab the rubber band and release it. They are experimenting with different strategies of how to flick and release the paint on the paper, exploring force when they are pushing and pulling the band, when the band is stretched by the finger they can observe all the potential energy, and kinetic energy when the child's hand releases the rubber band it loses potential energy but gains kinetic. The beauty of process art is that there are so many endless layers of learning! Click here for 24 Black History Month Activities!

Food plays an integral role in our lives. The food we eat is intertwined with culture/traditions and many of our favorite memories are associated with gathering during special celebrations to enjoy food. By exploring and learning about different foods from around the world children can learn a lot about a particular culture. The book Tastes of Lunar New Year by Book by Cheryl Yau Chepusova and Isabel Foo, illustrated by Mori Chiang introduces 12 unique dishes celebrating Lunar New Year around the world (China, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Korea). After reading this book setting an dramatic play invitation where the children can explore the different dishes through play is great hands on opportunity for exposure. Provide dishes, Asian play food, vegetables & fruit play food, string as noodles, chop sticks, tea kettle, and whatever else you feel would honor the foods of the Lunar New Year. Since young children learn best through play– a dramatic play invitation allows children to perform/process feelings, gain exposure to new things, learn new concepts, and test their own understandings of the world around them without any pressure and honor their imagination. The more we are inclusive about celebrating and exposing cultures in classrooms or our homes from a young age, the more understanding, respect, acceptance we provide for everyone within our communities. There is so much beauty in the traditions of cultures from around the world and children deserve to experience it. .