Chaharshanbe Suri is the Persian Festival of Fire. The Festival of Fire takes place the week of Nowruz, typically on a Tuesday or Wednesday. One may see bonfires sprouting up in various public areas, in alleys, in front of homes and sometimes parks.This is symbolic of burning all that was bad, pain, unhappiness, sickness, worry and looking forward to a new beginning. People jump over the burning cinders to bring good health, light, and purity. This is not only STEM invitation but a gross motor activity as well. You can read books about Nowruz that talk about the tradition of Chaharshanbe Sure or show videos or images before building the 'fire', followed by jumping over it. You will need blocks, sticks, natural blocks , and red/orange/yellow tissue paper . Invite the child to build a fire first with the blocks/sticks. Followed by creating fire with tissue paper. Place the tissue paper in the middle fo the block structure. Next is the gross motor part! Jumping over the fire. Gross motor skills are those used to move your arms, legs, and torso in a functional manner. Gross motor skills involve the large muscles of the body that enable such functions such as jumping. Since jumping requires a lot of strength and power, this is a perfect invitation for a child to build those gross motor skills.

Developing Minds and I have been showcasing how to integrate Literacy Invitations through play. You can keep joining in on the fun by choosing a story and a creative way to make the story come to life through invitations. This invitation to create integrates a the story with a play-dough, loose parts, and a little sensory taste exploration. To continue to explore the traditions of Nowruz, the ritual of baking sweets begins in the weeks leading up to the holiday. Inside Iranian home kitchens and bakeries you will smell rose water, pistachios, saffron, orange blossom water and cardamom throughout the air. Growing up my mother and grandma would do all the baking for Nowruz. When our family gathers around the Haftsin as the clock ticks into the new year, kisses & hugs are exchanged, wishing each other a happy new year, and that platter of sweet pastries is passes around for everyone to sweeten their mouth. This tradition is so that sweets will carry everyone with love, care, and hope for a sweeter new year. The book A Persian Princess written by by Barbara Diamond Goldin , Steliyana Doneva (Illustrator) is a sweet story where young girl shares her traditions alongside her mother and grandma through baking, drinking tea, and dressing up. To integrate this story through play setting up an invitation to create the baked goods is a great way to extend the experience. This invitation consists of Colorations Play-dough , Wooden Sculpting Toys , Acrylic Ice Rocks , and dried rose petals. Play-dough is a staple in early childhood education. It is a powerful way to let a child use their imagination, strengthen the small muscles in their fingers, and encourage a chil's language +literacy, science, math and sensory skills. It is quite possibly one of most powerful props for learning. Join us for the rest of the month as we challenge you to create in invitation in your home or classroom, tag us and we will share it in our stories. 3/22 Art 3/29 Writing/Drawing Extension

One of the fondest memories I have as child for Nowruz is getting the goldfish for our Haftsin . The goldfish and bowl of water represent movement and life. Goldfish is also the sign of the last month in Persian calendar (Esfand) and it turning around the bowl is a sign of turning and changing of the year. There are so many beautiful components of the Haftsin and each one of these elements symbolize a lovely concept and bring the newness of fresh life, just like the Earth which starts a new life by the arrival of spring. To teach and learn more about the goldfish, the book "The New Year's Goldfish" written by Solmaz Parveen and illustrated by Tata Bobokhidze is great way to open the discussion of Nowruz tradition. As a family is busy preparing for the celebrations, the son Keyan could barely contain his excitement getting the gold fish. To extend the story through a sensory bin you can let a child play with water, water beads , flat marbles, gold fish, fish bowls filled with water & liquid water colors . Through sensory play it will deepen their connection with components of the book, build their language and comprehension skills, and learn through play.

To continue to learn more about the Persian culture for Nowruz, an invitation to explore tea through their senses(taste, touch, smell, see) is a great way to learn about it. Persians love their chaii (black tea). No matter the time of day the tea is always brewing either in a samovar or kettle. It is a drink to welcome guests to one’s home, enjoy before after your meal & in between, and provide comfort. Typically it is served with sugar cubes, nabat (saffron rock candy), dates or other sweets and pastries. Sometimes the tea is infused with cardamom or rose petals. The book Teatime Around the World written by Denyse Waissbluth & illustrated by Chelsea O’Bryne is a great introduction of the diversity of teatime around the world. To extend the literacy experiencing providing a sensory invitation filled with tasting, feeling and seeing the book come to life is a great way to expose a child more about different cultures. The first part of the invitation is tasting the tea with the sweet treats and the second half is exploring the tea through ‘water play’ and real life skills of pouring the tea. This way they truly explore all their senses.

When cherry blossoms bloom in Japan for spring, people gather under the trees for Hanami. Hanami means "flower viewing" in Japanese. This custom is an ancient tradition to view the Sakura blossoms that hold deep meaning. The Sakura petals are not only a beautiful natural spectacle but a metaphor for life itself for their culture. To teach children about Hanami and Sakura blossoms you can set an invitation to paint cherry blossoms that you will later on use as loose parts for the STEM invitation. To create the Sakura blossoms you can cut up recycled egg cartons in the shape of flowers, paint with tempera paint , and let them dry. Print and laminate images of the cherry blossoms blooming in Japan. Set the images with twigs, natural blocks , and the DIY egg carton Sakura blossoms. Invite the child to build and explore the beauty of Hanami. STEM activities are designed to engage and stretch a child's thinking. Introducing the engineering and design process is a natural fit due to the fact that children already like to build and problem solve. This invitation is a perfect opportunity to change a simple building activity to challenge them to think and create in new ways and enhancing their interpretation and perception. There was no wrong or right way to do this activity and the possibilities are truly endless.

This week we are celebrating SPRING with @discoverkidtivities. This invitation to explore frozen flowers on the light table has so much learning packed into one! Recently purchased What‘s Inside a Flower by Rachel Ignotofsky from @orindabooks which ignited this invitation. The book introduces and explores flowers form seeds to bloom, teaching them how they grow through science. To create this invitation you can go on a walk around the neighborhood, hike, or in your backyard foraging flowers. Place the flowers in ice trays, molds, plastic Tupperware, and pour water in them. Let them freeze. Grab a clear baking dish or clear container and place it on the light table. Let the child place the frozen flowers on the tray and explore. Adding the light table to this experience is an excellent resource for visual sensory input, as their hands are already feeling the ice and flowers, the glow of the table and the visual stimulation enhances their experience as they explore. Through integrating the book with this visual and hands on sensory invitation it will deepen their connection of understanding and learning about flowers.

Developing Minds & I will being showcasing how to integrate Literacy Invitations through play. Join in on the fun by choosing a story and a creative way to make the story come to life through invitations. This literacy invitation is connected to the book Hooray! Hooray! Nowruz Is Here! by Mojgan Roohani. This book is a great way to learn about the ancient Persian customs and how one prepares for springtime in the New Year. In the story they go to the store to get the flower Sonbol ( hyacinths) for their Haftsin . Also pictured is @littlepersianlearning beautiful greeting card and flower as a point of inspiration. Since Hyacinths bloom in the spring with a beautiful scent they represent spring itself in a Haftsin. Also this week I am guest hosting spring activites with @discoverkidtivities. This invitation is set to create the spring time flowers through #loosepartsplay with a mixture natural materials such as twigs +rocks along with flat marbles + buttons + mosaic tiles in our PlayTray. Check out this previous post discussing the importance of loose parts play ! Join us for the rest of the month as we challenge you to create in invitation in your home or classroom, tag us and we will share it in our stories. 3/15 Play-dough 3/22 Art 3/29 Writing/Drawing Extension

As soon I saw @tinyn3rds dye wooden loose parts with Colorations Liquid Water Colors I had to give it a go. You will need wood circles , wood bits , wood shapes , liquid water colors, water, cups, and paper plates. Depending on how light or dark you want to go you can dunk them in liquid water colors with some water or just liquid water colors themselves. Place them on paper/plastic plates outside and let them dry. Sort the loose parts by color in a tinker tray. Cut out arches or semi circles from recycled cardboard as the base to invite the child to creat rainbows with the loose pars. You can print out images of rainbows, a book, blocks, or other materials that show the order of the colors to provoke them to create. Since loose parts are dynamic in nature, it brings about authenticity of formulating ideas. The child‘s creativity is ignited to create a rainbow how ever they desire, through making patterns, exploring the different textures/shapes, and enhancing their color recognition.

Children love to make explosions or watch things react to form bubbles. This invitation explores erupting rainbows two ways. For the first invitation you can place liquid water colors at the bottom of a clear cup and fill it up with vinegar. Then you have the child sprinkle baking soda into each cup to create the chemical reaction. The second invitation is frozen baking soda mixed with liquid water colors and water. You provide the child with droppers and vinegar. They squirt the molds with vinegar to create the reaction. Before or after you can discuss all the colors and predict what may happen. This gives them 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. Through these types of activities children build a foundation for future scientific learning. As curiosity builds, 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.

To honor Billie Holiday for #WomensHistoryMonth not only for being one of the most influential jazz singers of all time but for her ability to sing meaningful music such as “Strange Fruit,” that was so far ahead of its time. Her trademark stage persona with flowers in her hair and one of kind voice where she once said "If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all,”has influenced so many other performers who have followed in her footsteps. To set this invitation to paint you can draw or print an outline of her face, provide Colorations Tempera Paint, and flowers to create a beautiful painting of Billie Holiday. While painting play some of Holiday‘s beautiful music to inspire the child. Music has a powerful effect on mark making and color choices, therefore playing music while painting is added element that will enhance the whole process.

If you don’t know already, my parents immigrated from Iran over thirty years ago. Even with being born and raised in the Bay Area they made it a point to uphold our culture through language, food, and traditions. This month with Norwuz coming up, I will create invitations that honor my culture in creative ways that can be applied in the classroom or at home! The book Saffron Ice Cream written by Rashin Kheiriyeh , is about a Iranian girl’s family outing to a beach in a new country. The illustrations reminisce the beautiful parts of Iran and the saffron ice cream she would share with her best friend. This is a wonderful peek into the immigrant experience. Rashin Kheiriyeh is an internationally recognized, award-winning illustrator/author who was born in Iran. Fun fact, Persians started a tradition of ice cream making which began at around 500 B.C when they started pouring fruit juices over snow which resulted in an icy treat they called sharbat. In the 1920s Akbar Mashti also known as Saffron Ice Cream came about. To integrate this book into sensory play by recreating saffron ice cream is a fun way to connect the book. Akbar Mashti ice cream is composed of rose water, cream, saffron, sugar, and pistachios. To recreate this for sensory play simply take shaving cream, add drops of Colorations Liquid Water Colors , dried rose petals, green leaves (pistachios), & ice cream cones + scooper. Let the child scoop up and create their own saffron ice cream.

Flowers make everything better. Signs of spring are starting to bloom and a great way to explore the parts of a flower is on the light table. To create these translucent pressed flowers you will need flowers, laminating sheets , and a laminating machine . Flatten the flowers as much as possible, place in the sheets, and laminate. Next place a magnifying glass and pressed flowers on the light table and let the child examine all the beautiful parts. Adding the @guidecraft_official light table to this experience is an excellent resource for sensory input. Children are often calmed by the glow of the table and the visual stimulation enhances their experience as they explore. Since children are hard wired for observation magnifying glasses help a child get up close and personal with elements of nature which makes them pay attention to detail even more.