This invitation to create sweet treats is inspired by the book Ganesha's Sweet Tooth by Sanjay Patel and Emily Haynes. The bold bright colors of India showcased in the book are such beautiful way to continue to expose children to Asian American and Pacific Island heritage month. In the rendition of a classic tale in Hindu literature, Ganesha's love of sweets led to a broken tusk. With the help of a poet and friend Ganesha learns how to still use something that is broken. To extend the literacy experiences through the arts inviting a child or children in your classroom to paint on natural loose parts with acrylic paint is a great way to recreate the bright bold colors within the book. To set this invitation you will need river rocks , wood rounds , and wood shapes . Provide acrylic paint and paint brushes and let them freely create their own sweet treats. There are so many reasons to embrace natural materials such as rocks and wood rounds while doing art. When children are given the opportunity to paint using different objects, it allows them to add texture to their art in a creative and open-ended way. Children pay more attention to the color, the shape, and the texture of natural materials. These types of art activities promote social competence because they support creativity and innovation.

When we teach children about diversity from an early age it encourages them to value and respect differences. Opening up the conversation and awareness of how they are alike and different from others, and what this all means, in the context of a culture and society will empower them to develop understandings and form deeper and more respectful bond with one another and society as a whole. Laying the foundation early on about the beauty in our differences will give children a deeper appreciation of humanity and diversity for the rest of their lives. Before setting this invitation reading the books Our Skin , The Skin You Live In , Shades of People , and Skin Like Mine are great books to continuously read with children to provide the language and content of the differences within people. After reading those stories you can invite the children to play with toys such as My Family Builders that celebrate diversity. These people builders empower children to freely imagine and combine endless possibilities to showcase how everyone is unique. Toys that look like other people help to develop that empathy, and it helps give them a healthy idea of their place in the world. Next you can set out a variety of paint swatches in skin tones to bring awareness to the different shades of skin along with Colors Like Me paint from Discount School Supply . Provide people shape cut outs and let the children paint what their skin tone is. They can mix the colors and through this process it teaches the child about their colors, how to create new colors, and how unique everyones skin tone is. Through painting it can really blossom their language, awareness, empathy, and be emotionally soothing, too.

To continue exploring Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this two part invitation for mooncakes is a great way to expose a child or classroom to an important part of the cultures. The Mid-autumn festival is observed in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. All over the world to worship the moon, celebrate the harvest season, and most importantly, to eat mooncake. Giving mooncakes filled with lotus paste and a salted egg yolk to acquaintances and friends because it is round like the moon and symbolize family and harmony. Reading the book A Big Mooncake for Little Star is a great way to invite children to learn about the significance of mooncakes for Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The story is about a girl Little Star gradually eating the mooncake that her mother has baked. To extend the literacy experience you can do a two part invitation to create and explore. Invitation to create the phases of a moon through process art. Provide paper , tempera paint , glue , and glitter . Invite the children to paint all of the paper with rollers . Once it is dry you can invite them to freely decorate with glitter and stars. When it is all complete you can explore the different phases of the moon. Invitation to explore eating mooncakes. Exposure to other foods from different cultures is a great way to connect the literacy experience. Invite the children to eat mooncakes as a special snack. Later on they can describe the mooncakes through their five senses.

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 nautrally 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 and physical development, and has been shown to improve creativity, memory, and 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 and balance when taking part in exploring a climber such as Environments® Sea Life Corner Climber #gifted. This multilevel climber will inspire confidence and agility for infants and toddlers as they explore each soft section. The expanded vinyl foam squares can be lined up, moved in sequence, or used individually, so it’s great for building with as well. One of the first purchases when Cyrus started crawling (7months) was the Climb and Play 6 Piece Set , this perfectly compliments the other pieces and we still use it. Working on gross motor skills helps a child gain strength and confidence in his/her body. It also helps them get exercise and physical activity, which is important for a healthy lifestyle. Developing these skills through play such as this helps a childs ability to do more complex skills in future activities.

Learning shapes, numbers, colors, and letters is a skill a child will learn when they are developmentally ready. Whatever age your child is (infants-six), take a deep breath if they don't know how to say or recognize every symbol. Susie from Busy Toddler has a great article about the pressure we put on children knowing their letters, shapes, and numbers. The book Round Is a Tortilla is not only a great way for children to learn more about shapes, it also makes them discover that shapes are all around them wherever they are. What is even better is that many of the objects are Latino in origin which gives exposure to another culture in a playful concept. To further extend this literacy experiences as well as reinforce shape recognition inviting the child to create a recycled cardboard shape collage is a great way to connect through the arts. To set this invitation you will need to cut out different shapes just like the book from recycled cardboard. Invite the child to glue all the shapes all over the base. Next invite the child to paint with brushes or fingers freely. This invitation may seem that it only focuses on learning more about shapes, but it can also be a fun way to learn about another culture, build their recognition/language of the symbols and colors, enhance their fine motor skills when gluing and painting, and honoring their creativity as they create.

To continue to honor Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month inviting a child to explore through dramatic play is great way to connect children to different cultures. Dramatic play, imaginative play, creative play, role-playing, make-believe or just plain pretending…is a foundation of childhood development. Dramatic play, gives children the opportunity to imitate what they often see adults doing. Dramatic play allows children to imagine themselves in new roles, gain exposure to new ones, and act out different scenarios. This invitation is play is all about Bee-bim bop a traditional Korean Dish. The story Bee-bim Bop! by Linda Sue Park and illustrated by Ho Baek Lee is great way of sharing the Korean food shopping preparation, ingredients and setting of the table to children. To set this invitation you can set a table with all the Korean ingredients to make the dish and then invite the child to learn through play. Children learn through play and are always exploring and experimenting – a dramatic play invitation allows children to perform, gain exposure, and test their own understandings of the world around them. They learn many things through trial and error, processing information, and their surroundings through pretending they are in them through play. The more we are inclusive about all cultures in classrooms or our homes, the more understanding we provide for everyone within our communities. Plus many of our favorite memories are associated with one or more of our senses, especially with food. That is why children learn best and retain more information/skills when they engage in sensory play or dramatic play with food. To enhance another developmental skill, fine motor, through this invitation is by placing utensils and kitchen ware they can practicing pouring/scooping/mixing/picking the sensory materials. While tools such as tongs and chopsticks can be tricky for younger children to master, they often come up with their own creative ways of using them. Tongs/Chopsticks can help children to work on hand-dominance, pre-handwriting/handwriting skills, and improve their grasp.

Inspiration for making art can sometimes strike unexpectedly and in unusual places. Who would have thought that a place mat can turn into a canvas for creating beautiful nature portraits of the famous artist Frida Kahlo? Before setting this invitation you can read a couple of stories about Frida Kahlo before hand to integrate the literacy experience. To set this invitation you will need to print images of the artist, flowers, black rocks, mosaic tiles , wood shapes and rounds . This provocation is all about the unique style and beauty of Frida and to invite the child to create their own interpretations of her with a variety of loose parts. A provocation is a technique used to stimulate children's thinking, to inspire them artistically, to empower them to take control over their learning, to open their minds, to create an environment for reflection, to challenge children, to encourage creativity. The simple joys of enjoying the journey of creating lets the child engulf in being present, creative, and engaged. Through this type of invitation they are able to create through being inspired. Creative play with loose parts like this encourages brain development, scientific experimenting, mathematical thought, risk taking, and trial & error learning. They are using what they have and what they already know and combining that to create a whole that's greater than the parts. All while learning more about the amazing artists Frida Khalo.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is a period for the duration of the month of May for recognizing the contributions and influence of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States. To honor #aapiheritagemonth inviting a child to create like an artist such as Ruth Asawa is a creative way to spread awareness about her amazing art. Ruth Asawa is a Japanese American sculpture artist known for using galvanized wire, stone, and bronze to create organic forms of nest like work that was inspired by native Mexican basket-weaving techniques. Her parents were born in Japan and they immigrated to California where she was born. Creating was always a part of Ruth from a young age, so much so that she wanted young children to have opportunities to do so as well. She co-founded the Alvarado School Arts Workshop a program that involved parents and professional artists in public schools so that children can be exposed to the arts as much as possible. “A child can learn something about color, about design, and about observing objects in nature. If you do that, you grow into a greater awareness of things around you. Art will make people better, more highly skilled in thinking and improving whatever business one goes into, or whatever occupation. It makes a person broader.” To create this invitation, read the book A Life Made By Hand: The Story Of Ruth Asawa , written and illustrated by Andrea D’Aquino, followed by inviting your child or children to create their very own wire sculptures. Print out images of her sculptures to showcase her work. Next cut out similar shapes of the sculptures from recycled cardboard. Lastly provide wire, pipe cleaners, or string to wrap around the cardboard sculptures in order to make their own interpretation of her art. When children learn about artists the more well rounded and creative they become. Art is a fundament al component of early childhood. Exposure leads to seeing the beauty around them and in others. Art can be both rooted in history and a catalyst for change in a culture, which is why it is so important to expose children to all of the different forms of art. This will empower them to create and have an outlet to express feelings, thoughts, traditions and beliefs.

Exposure to other cultures brings personal meaning and awareness not only in the classroom but in the home as well. Celebrating all the beautiful different cultures through exploring places around the world, their traditions, food & much more through invitations to explore, create, paint, build, & read are great ways to provide experiences to children. This meaningful information, knowledge, & awareness will introduce concepts from anthropology, history, religion, & geography at a young age. A great way to honor and learn more about a child's cultures is to create family Heritage Collages or Trees. Before creating one, reading the store I Dream of Popo by author Livia Blackburne and illustrator Julia Kuo is a great way to celebrate how we all have different stories. The story is about a granddaughter and her Popo missing each other so much, and through traditions they share together their special connection is never fleeting. In the book the granddaughter draws a collage of all her favorite things about Taiwan and now San Diego to bridge her two lives together. This will help connect and integrate the literacy experience when creating the collage. To create a Family Heritage Collage/Tree on a poster you can share all your families flags for their countries, cuisine, famous landmarks, language, clothing, etc. along with your family lineage. Whether you let the child draw out the pictures or create a collage with pictures they will gain more understanding of who they are in context of race, ethnic group, culture, religion, language and familial history. It also really boosts their confidence and security in the classroom or home when they get showcase who their foundation is.

May flowers are here which means it’s the perfect time to make flower soup. You can go on a nature walk or hike, gather flowers, sticks, leaves and twigs. Provide a sensory bin, variety of bowls/Tupperware/pots&pans, mud kitchen, or this #gifted Excellerations® Outdoor Sensory Mixing Table. Ladels, utensils, whisks, strainers, & cups can be used as their tools for creating. Making pretend soup with beautiful, colorful, diverse wild flowers is not only a great way for the children to enjoy some water play with flowers from the garden it incorporates nature within the home or classroom. Children are 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. During our flower soup making Cy spotted a caterpillar that joined in on our fun. He has not stopped talking about it so every night we have been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

For many years the Pre-K class at the three centers I do administration for have raised money to purchase a legacy gift for the school through a bake sale, due to COVID-19 this year we did an Art Walk Silent Auction to continue the tradition. With the money raised we typically buy items that are not within our normal budget (canoe, cascade water table, outdoor art studio, geometric climber dome, etc.) The whole month of April the teachers, children & myself created all this amazing art. They collaborated together to create pieces as well as individual ones. Abstract Triangle Blue Collage Geometric Resist and Print Paintings Drip Tapestry Neutrals: Geometric Collage, String Pull Art, Splatter Art String Painting Coasters Succulent Drip Pots Rainbow Swipe, Flower Collage, Sea Glass Collage, Sea Scape Mix Media, and Scraper Art Henri Matisse Inspired Garden Hanging Mobiles Half-Circle Collage Woven Quilt, Abstract Collage, Drip Painting Individual Art So proud of the team for pulling all this off and more importantly all the beautiful work the children all created and to be able to showcase that #everychildisanartist and how important the arts are!

Here are three ways to invite a child at home or in the classroom to learn and explore about rain. Invitation to create rain clouds with loose parts . This invitation consists of cutting out clouds from recycled cardboards and providing loose parts in different shades of blue and white ( dyed wood bits , flat marbles, buttons ). Simply invite the child to create with the loose parts. Since loose parts are dynamic in nature, it brings about authenticity of formulating ideas. The more variables an object offers the more possibilities and creativity the object will have. 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. Loose parts play really breaks away from stereotypical thinking and empowers children to explore in powerful ways. Invitation to paint textured rain clouds. With those same recycled cardboard cloud cut outs you can invite children to paint by adding texture to the surfaces. Coffee filters, cotton pads, and bubble wrap make for great media to provide an out of the ordinary surface. You can let the child use their fingers, pipettes , droppers , or paintbrushes as their tool along with liquid water colors or tempera paint . Process art has a beautiful way of transforming objects, materials, and techniques. Children who feel able to experiment and to make mistakes feel free to invent new ways of thinking, which extends well beyond the art. Invitation to explore rain clouds sensory play. This particular experiment teaches children about how rain is formed! When water droplets evaporate and continue to collect in a cloud, they get heavier and heavier. They will eventually become too heavy to float on the air so the water droplets will fall to the ground as rain! The shaving cream represents a cloud and the water is the atmosphere. To set this invitation you will need a clear vase or glass, water, liquid water colors , shaving cream, pipette or dropper. Pour water into the container, shaving cream on top, and then have the child drop water colors on the cloud. The weight of the water colors will push through the shaving cream and fall down through the water that’s in the glass!