Activities

Teaching science to preschoolers can sound at first offputting, almost grandiose. Oh, but it's not! It's so fun that it seems almost like cheating to say you're doing it in the guise of opening their little minds to the world around them. Experts tell us that teaching science is essential to children because it's a way of thinking -- using observation, experimentation, analysis to get through life. It strikes us that it's really just a restatement of what these little darlings have been doing every day we've known them -- watching, taking it all in, giving it a whirl, and seeing what happens. Science for preschoolers is code for being curious, plain and simple. And you've got to answer all those incessant "why?"s and "how much farther?"s anyway, so why not do so with the confidence that you are really just engaging in scientific dialogue with a very small person?! Read More »

Remember little Alice, that “curious child” whose inquisitive streak led her down a rabbit-hole, and all the way to Wonderland? Sitting by her sister on the riverbank in state of drowsy boredom, she spied the waistcoated White Rabbit, and, “burning with curiosity,” followed him into a world of Adventures. Whenever our preschoolers poke their heads into new and often less than safe places, when they pester us with questions about this and that, and ask why, why, why?, we think of curious Alice. And we think that Lewis Carroll understood something important about children’s curiosity. Read More »

With the gift giving season beginning its approach, I am vaguely considering getting a jump start on the usual shopping it requires. But I have a confession to make. I already know that I am planning to buy my boys some fancy new Legos this year. Sure, there's certainly nothing unusual about buying your sons Legos. I expect many Legos will find themselves wrapped up and waiting beneath all sorts of decorated trees in a few months. But it's why I am buying them Legos that deserves the confession. I am really buying them for myself. Read More »

A cardboard box is just that at least until you become a parent and being brainstorming about all the wonderful structures it can become. In its most primitive state, push in the flaps of the top of the box and it can be turned on its side to become a perfect cave that can be filled with blankets for a space of one's own. Or take out a box cutter and create a recycled playhouse by cutting an opening for a door big enough to crawl through and some sideways H shapes for windows that can be opened and closed for hours. Read More »