Art for very young children

I have another budding Art Princess on my hands. Abigail wants to do everything Amanda does, and that means lil' sis is disrupting the big sis' art in progress. There's gotta be something for me, Abigail's thinking as Amanda yells for me to remove the pesky lil' sis. This is where the early childhood education steps in. Drum roll please! Abigail, you too can draw!

Our Abby is not quite a year old, so her fine motor capabilities are not well developed. To aid her in this department, I taped the corners of the paper down on the table:


This is a grand opportunity to add language development (pre-reading, writing) to this simple activity. As I wrote down her name and the date, I named out loud all the letters I wrote - "A, B, I, G, A, I, L. And today is January 23, 2008" (I did this activity last month). This teaches that the symbols I write actually have meaning:


It's okay if your child wants nothing but to tear the paper off.

This is simply an introduction. Don't be afraid of scribbles on the table... the scribbles of today are your child's future Picasso pieces and Pulitzer prize winning writings:


Let your child have fun! Abigail thought she was absolutely cool now that she was like Unni (big sis in Korean):


(click all photos for larger images)

Be the best Abigail you were meant to be, my sweet little girl!

And may your child be the person that God meant him to be, fulfilling all potential, exploring all worlds of learning.

DIY sensory table for children

I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to teach in early childhood programs, because I amassed a good stash of ideas for my own children. :)

One such idea is this sensory table Ron and I made:


(click for larger image)

What is it?
It's a water/sand/multi-media table. It's extremely versatile, promoting science and math skills, as well as supporting hand-eye coordination. How, you ask? Let me give you some ideas of activities:

1. Freeze colored water in milk cartons or ice cube trays and put them in water. Children experience the mixing of colors, as well as ice melting. (pictured above)

2. Put measuring cups, funnels, floating toys, sea animal figurines to add complexity to their water play.

3. During the fall, add leaves to the dish pans.

4. Add sand into the dish pans and bury dinosaurs in them for children to dig out.

5. Don't like to clean up sand? Add rice or bird seed to the table.

6. You can put soapy water in the dish pans and put baby dolls in them so kids can bathe their babies.

7. Add paper and scissors for a cutting station (requires very close supervision)

You see? The possibilities are infinite. It's extra portable (read: light) so you can have it indoors during colder months.

What materials do you need to make the table?
PVC pipe, fittings, dish pans, PVC glue. I purchased the pans at Wal-Mart for under $2 apiece, and the other materials at the Home Depot. Total cost: under $60. And this depends on how many dish pans you want to add - the pictured table has four pans and allows up to eight children to play at once. You can make it two pans long, or ten pans long if you wish.

Once you cut the pipes to size, it's like putting a puzzle together.








(click for larger images)

If you'd like directions, let me know.