SMMART MUSIC: LIMBO!

Turn on some fun dancing music and let out the "LIMBO!" cry!

Rest a broom handle or other stick horizontally. You can also just hold the broom handle horizontally if you can’t find anywhere to rest it. Another idea is to tape a ribbon across a doorway and lower it as the game progresses.

Explain to your child that they should try to go under the stick without touching it. Lower the stick each time your child attempts to limbo. Observe the interesting ways she may attempt to go under the stick as it gets lower and lower.

There are other ways to adapt this musical game:

• You can play animal limbo, where everyone has to move and make sounds like different animals- no repeats.
• You can specify how to go under the stick: “Everyone has to crab walk limbo!” “Now, we’ll roll limbo.” “Time to somersault limbo!” “Try the snake slither limbo.” You can go first to show your child the movements.
• Follow the leader. Your child can go under the stick first in a silly fashion and then you have to follow.

However you play Limbo, you’ll enjoy movement and music together!

Lisa

SMMART MATH: STEPS

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Here’s a little exercise while we apply math principles!

Counting steps- you can do this activity anywhere and apply it in a number of ways.

In its simplest form, help your child count the number of steps it takes to go from one place to another. As you walk down the isle of a store ask your child how many steps it takes to go from one end of the isle to the other end. Count your steps from the top of the driveway to the bottom. Count together, the number of steps it takes to walk from the front door to the mailbox.

Now for a couple of more advanced approaches:

-Let your child count the number of steps it takes from one spot to another, while placing one foot RIGHT in front of the other (toe to heel to toe). Let her write that number down. Now have her walk that same distance taking GIGANTIC steps. Write that number down. Have your child subtract the two numbers to see how much more efficient it is to take bigger steps.

-Use a stopwatch to time your child as they take steps from one spot to another. Try walking with baby steps, huge steps, jumping with two feet, and walking backwards. (They can time themselves and subtract the two times to see which style of walking is faster).

-Compare your steps to your child’s as you walk side by side. Talk about why you may reach a destination first. You can race each other taking baby steps, walking backwards and jumping with both feet.

Okay, now, Step to it!

Lisa

SMMART SCIENCE: SUMMER BUBBLE BOMBS

It’s summer in Utah, so let’s take advantage of the good weather and make some bubbles outside. These bubbles are explosive so watch out!

Using baking soda and vinegar, you can pop a plastic bag with the power of fizz.

You will need:
¼ cup warm water
Measuring cups
Sealable plastic bags (make sure there are no holes in the bag)
Paper towels
1 ½ Tb baking soda
½ cup vinegar

· Cut a paper towel into a 5X5 inch square.

· Place 1 ½ Tb of baking soda into the center of the square and fold the paper towel into a “time-release” packet around the baking soda. With the baking soda in the center of the square, fold opposite sides of the paper towel over the baking soda to form a rectangle. Then fold the short sides down and over the center to form a square packet.

· Pour ½ cup of vinegar and ¼ cup of warm water into the plastic bag.

· Quickly drop the baking soda packet into the plastic bag and seal the bag before too much fizzing occurs. (Another method could be to seal the bag half way and then drop in the packet and close the seal. You could also put the packet into the bag, but pinch it through the sides of the bag so it doesn’t touch the vinegar and water until you seal the bag and then drop in the packet.)

· Shake the bag a little. Put it on the ground, in the sink or in the bathtub and watch as the bag puffs up and POPS!

Vinegar and baking soda react to form carbon dioxide gas. This is how quick bread or cake that use these ingredients can rise. The carbon dioxide bubbles in the batter are the result of a chemical reaction that combines the (acidic) vinegar and (basic) baking soda. Sometimes the recipe may call for another acidic ingredient, like buttermilk, sour milk or orange juice.Some quick bread recipes also use baking powder instead of or along with baking soda.

Baking powder is a combination of baking soda and an acidic catalyst like tartaric acid or calcium acid phosphate. Adding water starts the fizzing reaction going.

It might be fun to bake some quick breads together with your child. Observe the batter before it bakes and observe the air pockets in the bread after it is baked. Ask your child if he knows what may have caused the air pockets to be in the bread. Talk about how bread rises.You may want to change some (independent) variables to see what happens:

· What happens if you change the type of paper in which you wrap the baking soda?

· What happens if you use cold water or no water at all?

· What would happen if you use a bigger plastic bag, but the same amount of ingredients?

You can find this and other fun activities at:http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/bubblebomb.html

Lisa

TIME-OUT FOR SKILLS

Your child is growing and reaching new milestones. Practice new skills with your child that she should be learning to accomplish.

Study a list of skills that your child should be able to perform at her age. There are many skills lists to be found on the internet with a simple search. Here are a couple of websites that provide important milestones for your child:

http://parentcenter.babycenter.com/big-kid?pn=Article%20page&intcmp=Nav_Global_Bigkid
ParentCenter website (copyright of BabyCenter)
*You can click gray timeline (across top of page) to find what milestones your child may be reaching at her age. The timeline goes from “pregnancy” to “9 years”.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/actearly/interactive/index.html
CDC Website
*(from Caring For Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to age 5 by Steven Shelov and Robert Hannermann by the American Academy of Pediatrics)

Lisa

SMMART READING: SHAVING CREAM WORDS

As your child plays in the bathtub, spread some shaving cream up on the bathtub wall. Use your finger to spell words and ask your child to read the words to you. If the word is too difficult, have your child sound out the word or tell you the letters that make up the word.

Your child can practice letter shapes by writing letters and words into the shaving cream. This would be a fun activity to practice spelling words. You can ask your child to spell “S-A-T” as you write the letters on the bathroom wall. Your child can even practice cursive lettering in the shaving cream.

You can also use the shaving cream can and spray the letters directly onto the bathroom wall. When your child has read the word, then your child can smear the shaving cream around to erase the word and make shaving cream artwork on the wall. This is a fun way to retain interest when your child is just beginning to read.

Another reading idea is to write two letters of a three-letter word on the wall with the shaving cream. Write the third letter on the wall. When your child has read that word successfully, smear off the third letter and replace it with another letter to form a new word. For example, fist you write “_AT” and fill in the blank with “S” to form “SAT”. Then smear off the “S” when your child has successfully read the word. Now write in “H” instead of “S” to form “HAT”. Your child will practice reading words with the same sounds.

The shaving cream rinses off easily into the bath water with a handheld shower head or a few cupfuls of water. (Take notice to make sure that the shaving cream doesn’t irritate your child’s skin.)

Lisa

GOOD THINGS UTAH
WATCH ON JULY 29!
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You may have seen me on "Good Things Utah" when I was able to co-host for the day. It was sooo much fun. I demonstrated a simple science project and introduced this blog to GTU viewers.

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WELL... The senior producer thought that SMMART ideas was a great idea and has asked me to do a science segment on JULY 29!!!! So, mark your calendars and watch the SMMART ideas segment!

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The producers asked me to do the science segment as a trial to see if they'd like to have me back again. So, if you would like to see fun, educational, SMMART learning activities as a regular segment on "Good Things Utah", PLEASE LET THE TV STATION KNOW OF YOUR SUPPORT!!!!!! I sure would appreciate your support!

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Give abc4 a call AFTER you watch the SMMART ideas segment on JULY 29!

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Thanks so much!

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The abc4 TV station phone number is: (801) 975-4444

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The "Good Things Utah" e-mail is: goodthings@abc4.com

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SMMART ART: ICE ART

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Help your child collect small waterproof items of interest around the house and outside.

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Some things that will work well are glitter, small toys, colored yarn, twigs, leaves and small pebbles. Your child can help you cut up the string or ribbon into small pieces. Help your child fill up a bundt cake pan, plastic bowl, ice cube tray, or any other type of mold with water.

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Let your child stir up the treasures in the water.

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Sprinkle the waterproof trinkets all over the water. Many items will sink to the bottom, but when the mold freezes, those items will show nicely on top of the ice. Place the water molds and trinkets in the freezer until completely firm.

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Unmold the ice and place on a plate or outside on the sidewalk. Enjoy the beautiful ice art that you have created. You may wish to time how long it takes for your ice art to melt.

Lisa

SMMART MUSIC: JUMP ROPE RHYTHM

Hold one end of a jump rope and let your child hold the other end. Turn the jump rope together or shake the rope back and forth. You can also let your child hold both ends of the jump rope and try to jump over the rope as you help him. As you play with the jump rope, sing a simple song or chant to keep the beat of the moving jump rope. You could also count to 10 to the beat of the jump rope.

Reciting poems or counting, and singing songs to the jump rope beat helps build rhythm skills.

Memorize a song, nursery rhyme or poem to the beat of the jump rope. First, you will recite the poem to the beat of the jump rope. You may wish to recite it a few times. Now recite the poem and leave out a word for your child to fill in (probably slower than the beat). Pick the beat back up as you continue with the poem and drop out another word. After reciting the poem together a few times, you may be surprised to realize how much your child remembers.

Lisa