Am I too late? Well, we still have those last few days of summer. There's time to enjoy some of the symbols of summer with these "yellow" activities.
Enjoy and Happy Parenting,
Tania :)
Yellow is a color synonymous of summer. It reminds many of
the big, bright sun shining above, giving warmth and sending children outside
to play. Yellow is the color of sunflowers so vivid and lemonade so yummy.
Explore the color yellow as your children participate in these (late) summer
activities.
Mr. Sun
Cut sun shapes from yellow construction paper and hide them
around a room or outdoors in the yard. Have the children go on a "sun
search" to find as many sun shapes as they can. Continue to search until
all the suns have been found.
After the search, set up a table with crayons, markers,
sequins, faux jewels or anything that shines and dazzles. The children can
decorate; gluing these materials to the sun shapes they found.
Loads of Lemons
Printing-
Cut lemons in half. Place a few folded paper towels in a
shallow pan to make a pad. Pour yellow tempera paint on top. Add a few drops of
lemon extract (found in the spice section of your local grocery store). Have
the children dip the lemon into the paint and press down onto a sheet of paper
to make prints. A dark sheet of construction paper would be a great contrast to
the bright yellow prints. Smell the lemon scent!!
Make Lemonade-
Exercise the hands as you and your children squeeze lemons
together. The reward is a thirst quenching drink that's sure to please any
child on a hot summer day!
You'll need:
1 part fresh lemon juice
1 part sugar
5 parts water
Serving pitcher
Ice
What to do:
Show children how to squeeze lemons. Encourage them to try
on their own.
Take a taste of this juice; is it sweet or sour?
Invite children to mix all the ingredients in a pitcher and
stir well.
Pour the drink into cups of ice.
Questions to ask about this experience: "What color is
lemonade? What fruit gives us the juice? How does lemonade taste? Sweet? Sour?
Are there other fruits we could squeeze to get their juice?"
Make Sunflowers
Have each child paint a small paper plate yellow (mix a
small amount of white school glue in the paint). Lay pieces of yellow tissue
paper in the wet paint (to give it a petal appearance). When this process is
dried, give the children sunflower seeds to glue in the center of the plate.
Staple two giant green construction paper leaves at the bottom. These flowers
make great summer decorations!
Teaching colors does not have to be about worksheets and
printed pages. Since play is a child's learning tool, use fun activities and
projects to embed these skills into a child's mind for life.
