Gettin' Messy in the Summer

By Sue Carr, MGNS

Kids love to get messy! Summer is the perfect time for them to explore their 5 senses through play. Pushing kids to explore “what happens if” focuses them on scientific thinking. Having kids try new things stretches their brain and their connections to other aspects of their life. Head outside to play, grab the hose, and try some of these fun activities.

• Shaving cream is a really fun way to explore the senses of touch and smell. Color mixing with food coloring can be done in small cups, so as not to just become mushy brown. Try mixing individual colors in cups, and then let your kids finger paint with the mixtures- on paper, on the sidewalk, on cookies sheets, and then wash it away!
• Shaving cream is also a great “mortar”. Do you have a little builder? If you have plastic or foam blocks, use shaving cream to stack them together and build. The shaving cream holds things together a little better. Then rinse it all off and let them dry. You can also get creative, and let them “build” with stuff from your recycling bin- yogurt or applesauce cups, cut up egg cartons, boxes.
• One of our favorite shaving cream activities is one that can be a bit more permanent. Mix equal parts shaving cream and Elmer’s glue- but don’t mix it too much! It should be shiny. The kids can form things with their hands, and decorate with small pieces of paper or glitter. When they are done, put their creation in a place to dry. Create on a piece of heavy cardstock or a piece of a box. When dry, the mixture will retain the puffiness, but be slightly hard to the touch. We use this for snow people in the winter; in the summer, it is fun to look up at the sky and then try to recreate the clouds you see with this puffy mixture. (Good Books to go along with this- Little Cloud by Eric Carle, and It looked like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw)

Here is another quick recipe that is perfect for your kids to explore outside in the summer:

Bubbles: The best recipe we have found is this one:

• 6 cups water-distilled works the best
• ½ cup blue Dawn (liquid) original dish detergent
• 1 tbsp. glycerin

Then get creative with the things used for bubble wands. We use old berry baskets (the plastic ones), bent hangers, and pipe cleaners. Let your kids find things to try as wands. Which will work and which will not. Why?

Sue Carr is a Director and Teacher at Monona Grove Nursery School, 4200 Buckeye Road - a proud sponsor of LENA!