Registration for 2023-2024!
PALZ registration is open for the 2023-2024 school year. Reserve a spot for your child in a creative, play-based early learning program that he will love! Accepting ages Toddler through Pre-K. Located at Harvest Point Church in Locust Grove, Georgia.
Keep Cool with This Frosty Sensory Bin
There’s nothing we love more than sensory bins! You have probably noticed sensory bins throughout each classroom and in our centers area in the House. Sensory bins are easy, generally inexpensive to make, and don’t take up a lot of room. They encourage all sorts of skills including language and vocabulary, math, science, fine motor, and social. Mrs. Hope sent over this awesome idea for a sensory bin guaranteed to keep you cool as the weather warms up.
Frosty Frozen Sensory Bin
Materials
- Plastic container
- Food coloring
- Shaving cream
- Spoon or tweezers (optional)
- Objects to freeze in shaving cream*
*We used different colored plastic ants but any items you can count, sort, and create patterns will work. Be creative and use what you have on hand!
Instructions
- Mix shaving cream and food coloring in the plastic container. This is a great opportunity to talk about mixing colors!
- Place your objects into the shaving cream and freeze the container for about an hour.
- Remove the container and start digging! Use your fingers, spoons, or tweezers to really get those fine motor muscles moving.
- Ask questions! What do you see? What do you feel? What do you smell? What does this make you think of? Can you come up with a story for the -object- you found?
Why We Love This
Sensory bins are play-based learning which we LOVE! They provide tons of fun and tons of learning opportunities by engaging all of the senses. With a little creativity, you can make one from just about anything you have laying around at home.
Science Friday: Rainbow Rain Clouds
It’s Friday which means it’s time for another science experiment! In this experiment, kids will learn how rain builds up in the clouds and what happens when the clouds are full. Different colored “raindrops” are visually stimulating for young children and will keep them engaged. They can also see what happens when colors mix. Help your child use their science skills and have them predict what will happen.
Rainbow Cloud Experiment
Materials
- Glass Jar
- Cups or bowls (one for each color you plan to use)
- Water
- Shaving cream
- Food Coloring
- Spoon
- Eye or medicine dropper
- Paper towels
Instructions
- Use your spoon to mix water and food coloring in different cups to create different colored raindrops.
- Fill the glass jar 3/4 full with plain water.
- Add shaving cream to the top of the water in the jar — roughly 1-2 inches. Be sure the shaving cream covers the entire top of the water.
- Use the eye/medicine dropper to drop different color “raindrops” on top of the shaving cream. Do this part slowly and carefully!
- See how long it takes for the raindrops to come through the “clouds.”
The Science Behind It
The rainbow rain cloud experiment helps to introduce and explain why it rains. In this experiment, the shaving cream slowly absorbs the colored water. Once the shaving cream becomes too full, the colored water drips its way out into the water. Rain clouds do the same thing! As the clouds absorb water and get full, they begin to swell and it starts to rain! Hope you all have fun with this!
Gross Motor Skill Games
You hear a lot about fine motor skills when it comes to your child’s development. These skills generally involve the coordination of the eyes, hands, and fingers – for example, writing, cutting, and drawing. A lot of preschool activities focus on fine motor skills because they are an important step in moving onto kindergarten. But what about gross motor skills?
Gross motor skills involve whole body movements. Examples of gross motor skills are things like crawling, walking, climbing, catching, and throwing.
Gross motor skill activities involve balance and affect your child’s ability to navigate their world and perform everyday tasks — like sitting upright at a table to practice fine motor skills! You cannot do one without the other.
So how do we work on gross motor skills at PALZ? Easy! We get up and move! Here are a few simple ideas to get your kids playing and working on those gross motor skills.
Dice Game
Each side of the dice represents a specific action. For example, roll a one and you have to hop like a frog. Roll a two and you have to crawl like a crab. You don’t even have to own a physical dice for this game since there are dice rolling apps!
Obstacle Course
Clear out space in your living room and get to work setting up an obstacle course! Use painters tape to create lines on the floor where they can run, skip, and hop from line to line. Use chairs and blankets to create tunnels to crawl through. Use a pool noodle or pillows as a balance beam. Be creative and keep the actions varied.
Yoga
Not all gross motor activities are high-energy, run around games – although those are fun! Simple yoga poses are a great way to work on your child’s balance and bring calm. Here’s a great resource for kids yoga poses from kidsyogaposes.com.
Science Friday: Underwater Volcano Experiment
Observing and predicting are two important concepts in your child’s science education. Observing teaches them to use their senses to gather and organize information about the world. Predicting is when they use the information they have observed to make a guess about what will happen. Although science can seem like an intimidating subject for preschoolers, it doesn’t have to be! This underwater volcano experiment is the perfect example. It’s simple, mess-free, attention-grabbing, and best of all – teaches the scientific method. Follow along below!
Underwater Erupting Volcano
Materials
- Large jar
- Small jar (make sure it fits inside the larger jar)
- A small rock
- Hot and cold water
- Food coloring
Instructions
- Pour cold water into the large jar.
- Place the small rock in the small jar. This will help to weigh down the jar and keep it from floating in the larger jar.
- Carefully pour the hot water into the smaller jar and add your food coloring.
- Gently place the smaller jar inside the larger jar and observe what happens!
The Science Behind It
Water is made up of something called molecules. Hot and cold water are made up of the same type of molecules. The only difference is that the molecules in hot water move around much more than the molecules in cold water – kind of like a kid with a lot of energy! Because the hot water molecules move around more, it creates an “underwater eruption” when placed into the jar of cold water.