Are you looking for a fun and simple activity to engage your child’s creativity and to get them outside? Here is an easy recipe to make chalk paint. Follow the recipe and encourage your child to create their own artwork, they could draw what they see or write letters. Make it fun and your own!

For this creative play you’ll need:

• 3 cups of corn starch
• Food coloring (use various colors)
• 3 cups of water (use more or less, depending on desired consistency)
• 4-6 plastic bowls or a muffin tray
• Paint brushes
• Large bowl

It’s not only artsy, but there’s science and math involved!

First mix 3 cups of water and 3 cups of corn starch together. Pour into six separate containers. Ask your child what colors they would like to make and then add two to three drops of food coloring to make that color. Use a paintbrush (if you don’t have one be creative; you could use flowers, Q-tips, cotton balls, truck wheels, etc.)

Get creative!

Start painting the sidewalk! Just let toddlers explore with the paint brush and chalk paint. It’s a different texture than paint and paper. Explain that the sidewalk is rough. Let them mix the colors, young children are scientists by nature. Children will be able to talk about creating landscapes that they see outside. They will also learn that they can use materials that they use for cooking or other activities in different ways!

Clean up!

Cleanup is as simple as washing out the containers, or if you have paint left over, just put a lid on it and save it for another day! Also, remember to wash off those brushes!

Have fun with this activity and get creative. This is a time for you and your child to experiment with trying out different mediums. Take pictures and document this experience, so you can review this time at a later date.

This is an easy and fun way for kids of all ages to decorate Easter eggs! There is very little mess and clean up is a breeze. You can even save the rice when you are finished to make a fun sensory bin! (Best for ages 3+)

All You Need:

• Rice
• Ziploc baggies
• Food Coloring
• Vinegar
• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Measuring spoon
• Gloves and Tongs (optional)
• Complete Adult Supervision (not optional)

Directions:

Add approximately ½ to 2/3 cup rice to each Ziploc baggie – one baggie for each color used.

Add 7 – 10 drops of food coloring per baggie

Add approximately ½ teaspoon vinegar to each baggie.  The vinegar helps to spread the food coloring.

Seal the baggies and massage to spread the color evenly.

Now you are ready to place an egg in each bag, seal, and shake!

You may use gloves or tongs to remove the eggs to the carton to minimize the mess.

For fun, try making multi-colored eggs! You may need to add more food coloring to the baggies as you go if the rice starts to dry out.

Clean Up:

Once all of your hard-boiled eggs have been decorated, you can simply throw out your baggies for a super simple clean up OR you can allow the baggies to sit open in order to dry the rice out completely. Then you can pour the rice into a bin for a fun sensory experience.

Sensory Bin:

To create a fun sensory play experience for your little ones, just add a few measuring cups, spoons, etc. to the bin of brightly colored rice and let them keep themselves busy filling, scooping, pouring, and measuring!

Have fun and Happy Easter!

Photo by Lubomirkin on Unsplash

If you’re looking for a way to make bathtime less of a chore and more fun, we’ve got you covered! This recipe is easy to make with ingredients you likely have at home and the kids are sure to enjoy it. Best of all, this activity will have minimal clean up required- after all, they’ll already be in the bathtub!

What You’ll Need:

• ⅓ cup Liquid dish soap
• 1 tbsp. Cornstarch
• Food dye

Making the Paint:

To make the bath paint, simply combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix well! If you want to make multiple colors of the bath paint, separate the mixture of cornstarch and soap into smaller containers and add whatever colors of food dye you’d like until you reach your desired shade.

Bath Time:

Photo by Pranav Kumar Jain on Unsplash

Once you’ve made your bath paint you can give the container to your child in the bathtub and let them have fun! This activity will also help your child’s brain make important connections such as sensory attributes ( is it hot, cold, sticky, wet?) and color recognition. Not to mention the fine motor skills and creativity that will be expressed through their painting!

Younger children (1-2 years) may be more interested in how the paint looks or feels and may need some encouragement about what to do with the paint, while older kids (3-5) may be more independent and attempt to paint a picture.

Save for Next Time:

If there is extra bath paint left over, you can put it in Tupperware containers and save it at room temperature for the next bathtime.

Hopefully this will be a fun activity for your children that encourages them to take longer baths! Next time, grab a rubber ducky and some of these paints and watch your child create mess-free art!

Are you looking for an exciting activity to do at home with your young children to keep them engaged and learning?  Is your child intrigued by volcanoes?  Why not create some of your own in your kitchen?!  With just a few simple ingredients that you are sure to have on hand, you will be on your way to creating this easy but entertaining cause/effect science experiment at home.

For Our Erupting Volcano Experiment You Will Need:

• white vinegar
• baking soda
• water
• food coloring (optional but adds a lot of fun!)
• small containers
• measuring cup or small pitcher for pouring
• spoon
• baking tray to contain the mess (optional but really helps!!)

To Create Your Volcanoes:

• Place your small containers or cups on the baking sheet/tray. I used small glass jars but plastic cups would also work.  I have also used the clear snap on measuring cups from laundry detergent!  You could even use a cupcake or muffin tin.

• Have your child place a few spoons full of baking soda into each of the small containers.
• Pour water halfway up each container.
• Add a few drops of food coloring into each container. I did red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple to make my six cups look like a rainbow!  You can have your child give each cup a little stir.

• Now for the magic! Using a small pitcher, have your child pour vinegar into each cup and watch the reactions!!

• After the fizzing stops, you can add more vinegar to the cups to reactivate. Experiment with pouring slowly and quickly watch the results.

Clean Up Is a Breeze!

Place everything in the kitchen sink and wash up. Your child can even help with this job!

Aside from the cause and effect reaction that your child will be observing first hand with this activity, you can talk about the chemical reaction that takes place with the baking soda and vinegar.  Your little scientists are sure to have lots of fun and you will hear many “oohs and ahhs!”  To extend learning even further be sure to ask questions such as “What color is your favorite?, Which cup is fizzing the most?, How many containers do we have on our tray?” etc.

Are you looking for a fun and exciting way to introduce science to your child at home?  The Magic Milk Experiment is an affordable and easy activity to engage your toddler or preschooler in science learning with just a few items that you already have at home.  Your little scientist can observe and learn about chemical reactions with this super fun activity.

What You Need:

• Plate (not paper)
• ½ cup – 1 cup milk
• Food coloring (3-4 colors)
• 1 drop of dish soap
• Toothpick or cotton swab

Activity Directions:

• Pour milk onto a plate ensuring you have enough to cover the base of the plate.
• Help your child to add a few drops of food coloring to the milk. This is a great opportunity to talk about colors – be sure to point out any new colors that are created if the colors mix together.

• Add one drop of dish soap and watch what happens! A chemical reaction will occur. The colors will move away from the soap and they will begin to mix and swirl.  Take time to observe the reaction.

• Give your child a toothpick or cotton swab (if appropriate) to encourage the swirling motion, observing how the colors mixing together creates something new to examine.

The Science Behind It:

Milk is made up of mostly water, but it also contains vitamins, minerals, proteins and small droplets of fat. The fat and proteins are sensitive to changes in the milk and when the dish soap is added a chemical reaction occurs. The soap and fat work hard to join together, which causes the movement. When food coloring is added we are able to witness this chemical reaction occurring.

Easy Clean Up:

The great thing about this activity is that there is very little clean up!  When you and your child are finished, simply pour the milk down the drain and put away the items used for the activity!

Science can be fun and engaging for even the youngest of learners! With just a few ingredients, you and your child can engage in hours of excitement.  For other experiments that you can do with your child at home, please visit www.education.com for more ideas. 

Photo by twinsfisch on Unsplash

Did you know your child can learn and be entertained with something as simple as cereal? This activity can be adjusted for all ages of children to teach and challenge them. These may be materials that you already have around the house or are widely available and inexpensive. These activities have very little set up or clean up so you can do them when you need to fill just a few extra minutes or have a whole afternoon.

What you need:

Having all of these materials will let you change this activity for older children. Depending on your child’s age you may not need or want to use all of these

• Fruit Loops cereal (or something similar)
• Colored bowls, cups or paper
• String

Activity Directions:

Infants –

Let children pick up pieces of cereal and help them put it into a bowl. Some infants may need smaller pieces if they want to eat some. Name the colors that your child picks up.

Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

Toddlers –

Put out different colored dishes or even use a marker or crayon to draw colored circles on a paper to put cereal into. Help them to sort the cereal by colors, be sure to name the colors as they sort. For a harder challenge, ask your child to find certain colors for you. Count the cereal in each pile.  You can also help kids to string the cereal like beads on a necklace. Be sure to tie a big enough knot so your cereal doesn’t fall off the string.

Photo by Kai Wenzel on Unsplash

Preschoolers –

Preschoolers will also enjoy sorting the cereal by colors and stringing pieces to make their own snack jewelry. You can challenge older children by creating patterns with their cereal or on the necklace. Can they make a pattern with 2 colors? How about 3 or 4 colors? Count the pieces of cereal on your string or in each pile. Which color has the biggest pile?

Photo by Les Triconautes on Unsplash

Learning with cereal:

Picking up cereal or manipulating it onto a string helps children of all ages build their fine motor skills, the same muscles that help kids hold and write with a pencil. Playing together on this activity can also help build your child’s attention span to be able to sit and participate in longer activities at home and school. When you talk to your child about the colors, their sorting, even the patterns on their snack jewelry, you are helping to build their vocabulary and language skills. Counting and sorting the colors are beginning math skills.

Storing the Cereal:

If you do this activity on a clean table, with clean hands you may let your child eat the cereal when they are done. Most children will want to snack as they sort anyway. If you want to save the cereal for another day, it can be placed in any zipper storage bag or plastic container with a lid.

Photo by Syed Hussaini on Unsplash

We hope you enjoy some time playing with your child, your child will love spending time with you. Playing with your child does not need to be expensive or elaborate for a child to have fun and learn. Keep some extra cereal in your pantry for a fun sorting and stringing activity. 

BOARD MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: KRISTINE OPFERMAN

Krissy Opferman grew up in Pittsburgh and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Elementary Education. Krissy has been teaching for the past decade at the Carnegie Mellon University Children’s School. Before her current position, Krissy taught at Beginnings Pre-School, the AIU DART program and the St. Anthony School Program. Angels’ Place is honored to have her serve on our Executive Board of Directors where she brings expertise and guidance for the organization.

What brought you to Angels’ Place?
I was familiar with Angels’ Place through my church’s collections of
items for Angels’ Place and through my workplace. I am a teacher at
Carnegie Mellon University Children’s School and we have a relationship
with the staff of Angels’ Place. Also, my children were both in college
and I was transitioning into a period of life where I had some free
time and was ready for something more in terms of my community
involvement. Knowing this, Dr. Sharon Carver, the Director of The
Children’s School, suggested I visit Angels’ Place and explore possible
volunteer opportunities.

Why did you choose Angels’ Place for board leadership?
After visiting and learning more about Angels’ Place, I was inspired
and motivated by the Mission. Serving on the Board gives me an
opportunity to share my time and skills and help support and advocate
for those served by the organization.

What are some goals you hope to accomplish while on
the board?
• To support and contribute to the Mission.
• To share my skill set and develop new skills so that Angels’ Place will
continue to be an important part of the community.
• To share and spread the Mission and success stories of Angels’
Place so the Pittsburgh area is familiar with the organization and
those in need can benefit from the organization.

What’s the one surprising thing Angels’ Place does?
I wouldn’t say it is surprising, but I truly appreciate the way Angels’
Place recognizes the importance of building relationships.
Whether it’s a child, parent, family, employee, donor,
or volunteer, Angels’ Place honors and values every
relationship and recognizes the gift of all the various
relationships that help sustain the Mission. Beth Banas
leads exceptionally, puts endless hours into forming,
building and sustaining relationships and you can feel her
genuine gratitude for even the smallest gesture.

Is there anything else you would like to share?
I feel blessed to be able to support and contribute to
Angels’ Place. I am in awe of the fiercely loyal and
dedicated staff that is determined to make a difference in
the lives of the children, the families and the community