Pool Noodles for DIY Science, P.E., Faith and Sensory Fun

Pool Noodles + Butter Knives + Kiddoes = P.E

I recently wrote a piece over at Special-ism about using pool noodles as a sensory diet tool all year round.  When I wrote the piece, my camera, my computer and I were in the midst of a battle, so I could not offer personal photos to go along with the post.  Well, thankfully, technology is cooperating a bit better for me now, so please enjoy some photos and ideas below, before clicking over to Special-ism for more pool noodle fun here and here. (While at Special-ism, if you are a teacher, a parent or a professional who works with folks with special needs, I encourage you to linger.  Special-ism is such a rich resource for information on many special needs topics.  I stop there almost every day to share in the insights the professionals writing there offer.  Great stuff!)

Now, onto a photo recap of our morning of D.I.Y. pool noodle science, P.E. Faith and sensory diet fun.

Pool Noodle Marble Runs

First, we sliced one of our pool noodles in half.  (Sorry, no pictures of that because three young children, one mama, one pool noodle and a pair sharp scissors do not make for a safe photo opp!)

Then, we fetched Nina's marbles and a "catch" bin and headed over to the outside stairs for some visual-tracking and science fun.

Ready? Set...

Let 'em roll!

Curious about how they marble run would work in other settings, the kids worked muscles and cooperation skills by moving the set up to the driveway.

How will they roll if the ramps lay on a slight decline?

And how about if we change the angle by standing?

And, because they are who they are, Luke, Nina and Jack decided to make marble run machines, building and testing a variety of structures throughout the morning.  Ah, my young engineers working minds and bodies to make their creative visions realities!

"Oh no!" says Luke.  "Our long run isn't working.  How can we redesign it so the marble does not fall off where the two noodles connect?"

A tweak and... YES!  It worked.

But, perhaps adding more chairs to the machine would be fun...

Or more shoots?  Some open and some closed.

With many tests and tweaks, the kids sure got a healthy serving of proprioceptive, visual, tactile and even some vestibular input with this science-based activity!

Wicket Fun Obstacle Course

(Okay, only locals will get the subtitle I just wrote "Wicket fun" = "wicked fun", which I know equals local slang that will make Hubby cringe, but I could not resist.)

We did not have any chop sticks or dowels available so we got creative in making our pool noodle wickets.  Yep, grabbed some butter knives, which hammered into the ground with ease, and then, we were good to go for popping on the pool noodles for some P.E. with a healthy dose of tactile (the grass!) and vestibular (all the different ways for going over, under and around) input.

Low crawl under, jump over...

Jump off the trampoline, stomp between, then jump over and around...

Faith

And, just because Nina is Nina, pool noodles even bring faith talk opps:

"Jesus Christ, lay down his life, for us...for us..."

 

Has any other child ever laid noodles down, laid atop them and begun to sing?  Probably.  But, it still took me by surprise, then, made me smile.  Children are hands-on learners who often synthesize knowledge by play-acting.  Pool noodle crosses?  Why not?

I encourage you to keep your pool noodles handy even as summer comes to a close.  You never know what learning and sensory fun they could bring!  (And, if you haven't got any pool noodles and don't see any on sale, do not panic. Foam pipe insulators can work, too.)

What are your favorite pool noodle games and activities?

Phonics Clean Up Time Game

What do you get when you mix one big mess in your living room, a small white board and a highlighter?

 Inspiration for a new clean up activity, of course:

The Phonics Clean Up Game

What do you need?
the aforementioned mess, a highlighter (or whiteboard marker), a whiteboard and a rag/tissues/whiteboard eraser

How do you do it?
Easy!  Write a letter or combination of letters on the whiteboard.  Ask the children to tell you the sound the letter(s) make.  Then, challenge them to find an object in the mess that begins with the sound to clean up.  If using two-letter combos like "sh" or "ch", try using the Diphthong Song from How Do I Teach This Child to Read as a clue for beginning readers to remember the sound the letters make.  If the children like writing, allow them to take turns writing letters on the white board for the next objects to be cleaned up.

What inspired the creation of this game?
Luke and Nina spent one of their recent  free-play periods building a Santa's sleigh construction, packing their toys into bags and happily engaging in dramatic play, zooming about the air to deliver presents to boys and girls.  (Who cares if it's months after Christmas?  They still love playing Santa and I love witnessing their creativity as they do it.)

After some time, the dramatic play began dissolving and, since it was "past time" for Family Work Time, I told the kids they needed to land the sleigh and think about what we should attack during Family Work Time.

Not so surprisingly, Nina was eager to do her favorite practical life activity of late -- vaccuming her bedroom, while -- and this was a shocker -- Luke volunteered to "make the living room clean" by himself.  (Luke rarely, if ever, volunteers to clean up much of anything by himself. In fact, he usually lays on the floor, languishing, and whining about how he is "too tired" to clean, until Mommy or Daddy remind him that if he is too tried to clean up, he must be too tired to play or do anything further, which prompts Luke to begrudgingly help with tidy times .)  So while I helped Nina, Luke did a surprisingly adept job his choice of work.

However, when the Family Work Time timer went off, I found Luke losing steam fast as his job wound down.  All was tidy in the living room around him, except a deep pile of puzzle pieces in the center of the floor that he'd just dumped out of the last of Santa's sacks.

What to do?

Well, commend Luke, of course.  He had demonstrated enormous independence and sticktoitivity in the work he had done.  Also, figure out a way to help Luke finish the job without taking away his well-deserved pride in a job well done and his sense of independence.

How?

With a happily surprised look, I commented, "Wow!  Luke, you cleaned all this up by yourself.  Nina and Mommy just finished vacuuming together and need something else to do.  Do you want us to help you use the puzzle pieces for a challenge?"  (Luke has been loving "challenges" of late.)

Then, when Luke excitedly asked for the challenge,I had to come up with one quickly.  Since Luke and Nina have been very interested letters and sounds lately (due in no small part to the  Leap Frog videos they received during our free family Christmas exchange), I knew I should weave a bit of early literacy and phonics work into the challenge.  And, since my tutoring bag - with a small whiteboard and highlighter in it - were nearby, I knew I could capitalize on the kids' additional interest in reading and  writing by adding a read-and-write element in.  And, so the Phonics Clean Up Time Game was born.

With lots of suspense, I grabbed the whiteboard, drew an "s" and asked what sound it made.  The kids hissed accordingly and I asked them if they could find a puzzle piece that began with that sound.  In seconds, the "starfish" pieces were back in theri puzzle trays.

Before long, the "f" fish and fingers, the "b" bird and butterfly and lots of other pieces followed suit.  Then, the kids started to ask if they could write letters for the game themselves (with Luke actually writing them and Nina doing her best to).  And, they also picked up puzzle peices and asked me to write the letters they started with so they could put the pieces away (a sort of backward take on the game.)  Plus, they did a bit of say-it-fast, say-it-slow Funnix style.

And, so clean up time morphed into a fun learning activity in itself, much like it did one day when we approached cleaning up with fine motor fun.  The Phonics Clean Up Game is one we'll be playing again!

This post is being shared at We Are THAT Family's Works for Me Wednesday and Many Little Blessings Helpful Homeschool Hints, since we hope Phonics Clean Up Time might work as well for other families with young children as it did for us and since keeping spaces tidy is such a huge part of hoemschooling .  It is also being shared at Sunrise Learning Lab's Reggio Wednesday since, although not a Reggio project, the clean-up time came about partly due to my own reflections on our children, their learning and my role as their teacher/facilitator.  (Reflection is an important part of the Role of the Teacher in Reggio-inspired education.)    If you have a moment, please pop on over to both link-ups to be inspired by others' ideas!

DIY (with Preschoolers) Recycled Crayons Tutorial with a Science and Sensory Diet Twist

In our family's Free Christmas Gift Exchange, I drew the "recycle" slip.  That served as the catalyst for a variety of Advent opportunities to demonstrate "loving others" (which part of our Rule of Seven) through working together to create and test fun gifts for family members.  The first of these was Do-It-Yourself Recycled Crayons -- a sensory-friendly preschool craft with some learning connections, too.  Here's a How-To Review

1.  Practice fine motor and one-to-one correspondence skills by placing a paper cupcake liner in each section of a muffin tin.  (Or, if you want funkier shaped crayons, try using some silicon baking trays.)

2. For some large-motor proprioceptive and vestibular input, go on a hunt throughout your house for every small or broken crayon bit you can find.  Then, get those fine motor skills to work peeling them!

3.  If any of the peeled crayons are long, work hand strength by breaking them into bits.

4. Use the pincer grasp to place all the peeled crayon bits into muffin tins, sorting them by complimentary or contrasting colors.  Add a bit of color-mixing theory to the activity by discussing what the resulting crayon colors might be -- avoiding mixes that will make dull grays and browns!  (If you wish, for extra tactile input, sprinkle glitter into the cups.  For olfactory input, add scents.)

5.  Then, after doing a little science-minded prediction about what might happen to the crayon pieces when they are heated, pop the tray into an oven, pre-heated to 150 degrees F, for 15-20 minutes.  Leave the oven light on for eager eyes to witness if their predictions are correct and be sure to take the tray out when the crayon pieces seem just melted, but not bubbly. (While checking the crayons, if you realize too late - as we did - that a few non-wax coloring pieces got mixed in - note the yellow and green bits below - just roll with it!)

6.  Carefully have an adult remove the tray from the oven, showing it from a safe distance to eager young ones.  Then, after taking advantage of the inherent science lesson on matter and how it changes from solid to liquid due to the heat of the oven, place the tray in the freezer.  Or, if it is cold enough like it was here when we made our crayons, just put it outside.  (You can take a toothpick to swirl the colors a bit if you wish before freezing the crayons, which can add a little more color mixing and visual interest to the activity.)  While you wait for your recycled crayons to freeze, have a little tactile sensory fun playing with all the leftover wrappings.

7.  Once the melted crayons have frozen, have another quick lesson focused on the affect of cold temperatures on liquids.

 

8.  Then, get those fine motor skills working again peeling the crayons.

At this point, your recycled crayons are ready to test, wrap and gift, or use.  

(Just be sure that, if you are gifting them, the recipient knows what they are.  One of our young nieces actually tried to nibble hers, thinking they were homemade Christmas edibles.  Ooops!) 

This post is being shared at Life as Mom's Frugal Friday.  Check out the links there for more budget-friendly ideas.

DIY: Recycled CD Movement/Sensory Diet Spinners

Sometimes, we all need breaks from our many to-do's, right?  Well, I think I have discovered a tool to help us take such breaks here in our home while keeping moving -- literally:  Recycled CD Movement / Sensory Diet spinners!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had to make recycled gifts for our family Free Christmas gift exchange this past year.  So, for the older cousins and Mike, the kids helped me make recycled CD spinners inspired by the Independence Day ones at Family Fun.

1. To do so, for some of their cousin's spinners, Luke and Nina helped me rip up old calendar pages and glue them onto recycled CD's.  This calendar tearing and gluing, in fancy SPD/OT (Sensory Processing Disorder/Occupational Therapy)-Speak, is a good bi-manual task and motor planning activity.  In layman's terms, it is just plain old fun for young ones!
2. Then, for other cousins and for Daddy, they simply helped me think of four choices to write on the CD's.  Things like, "study", "snack", "socialize" and "sleep" for their college-age cousin and "yoga", "touchdown", "hallway relays" and "jumping mattress" for Daddy's (ideas for free active time together).  These spinners could then be used for spinner wars -- seeing whose knocked the other one down or stopped spinning last while getting visual input -- as well as for making decisions about what to do during spare moments.
3. From there, the kids watched -- and reluctantly practiced patience-- as I glued a marble to the circle inside each CD (as a device to make the spinners turn) and a plastic lid to the opposite side (as a handle).  
4. And, finally, they got to test the spinners out before wrapping them in recycled paper.

Since giving Daddy his spinner, the kids have enjoyed simply spinning it and watching it go round and round -- great for visual input -- as well as using it to decide what Movement/Sensory Diet activities (our speak, not theirs) to do during idle moments.

Now, as I write this, I am envisioning making more spinners with other choices on them -- and maybe some pictures instead of writing on them --for the kids.  Chore spinners.  Calming activity spinners.  Alerting activity spinners.  Rooms-to-conquer during Tidy Time or Family Work Time spinners.  You name it!  Such possibilities...  A fun to-do to tackle which will, in turn, give us impetus to take a break from to-do's.

Which will we make first (and when)?  Life will unfold and let us know.  In the meantime, we are curious, what type of spinner might you tackle making first?  Do share your ideas and let us know if you end up making some.  They're great fun!

This post is being shared at 5 Minutes for Mom Tackle It Tuesday. Check the links there for inspiration on tasks -- big and small, housework related and not -- that might inspire you!