OUTDOOR ACTIVITY

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Vegetable scrap painting. We certainly don't want to waste food these days, but here is a fun art/science activity you can do with some of your scraps. Simply use whatever you have on hand. Strawberries and blueberries make some wonderful hues too, and are coming into season. See pictures below for ideas and details. 

Also, if you soak your paper in lemon juice or baking soda first, then dry, you will get different colors as these 'paints' are all acid-base indicators.

With red cabbage, you can change the hue as it is a natural pH indicator. Add acid (lemon juice or vinegar) for a pink hue, and alkaline substance (salt) for a blue/indigo hue.

 Count how many colors you made, and how many things you stamped with.

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BEAN GAME This is a great, quick and fun cardio vascular game. Children will stand in a space and a family member or leader (I’m sure the children would love to take a turn being the leader too!!) will instruct the different ‘bean’ movements. Runner Beans: Run around the room Broad Beans: Legs wide arms stretched out French beans: one hand on hip, other hand outstretched “oh la la” Kidney beans: lay on side and curl into a kidney shape Dwarf beans: Squat small Baked beans on toast: Lay flat on the floor next to someone Jumping beans: Jump String beans: Stretch up tall Jelly Beans: Wobble This game is great fun and it will really raise their heart-beat! It will go some way towards their 60 minutes high intensity cardiovascular activity for the day! ENJOY!  

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Create a DIY throwing tarp. All you'll need is just some rope, a pair of scissors, a marker, and some tape. The one in the photo below has all one shape, but as a fun challenge, and shape review, why not add different shapes (square, circle, cross, octagon, etc). Be sure to add an oval, as that is our shape this month. Assign different points to each shape. When a child throws a ball through the hole they get X# of points. Since it is projected to be hot for awhile, why not add a twist, and instead of a ball, give them a bucket of water and some large sponges (if you have them), or some water balloons, or......whatever you can think of that would be safe to throw through the target. Send them out in their swimsuit so they can get wet and cool off as well. This will keep some kids engaged for a long time. They may even be creative and figure out their own twists to the game. Have older kids? They can join in too, and practice their math (shh, don't tell them) by keeping track of everyone's scores.

Need a good art idea to do outside? Have lots of bubble wrap and packing paper? Don't throw it away - use it for art. See picture below. All you need is bubble wrap, paper and paint (and a spot to put it - I suggest outside, so it doesn't matter where your little one walks - will be easier to clean up!).  Want a fun twist on this? Take your favorite music song along, and paint to the rhythm/beat of the music. 

 Here's another fun idea - you can do it indoors, or why not take it outdoors if you have a nice cement area that you can put some tape on?  Just take tape, and create a road way for them to add cars to. If you have a sandbox, it is also fun to help them create roadways in the sand for cars to drive on.  Let them fill in the rest - they can create houses for the cars to drive to, or stores, or parks....whatever they want to add, and with whatever materials they want to use - this is a great use for loose parts (things that have open-ended opportunities; like blocks or boxes, or outside even sticks or leaves). See photo below.