April 1, 2020
SolBe Families,
Susan Linn is a local ventriloquist who has been featured on “Mister Rogers” with her puppet Audrey Duck. You can click this link to schedule a time for Audrey Duck to virtually visit your kids. We will be sending a video of Audrey chatting about COVID-19 later this week…stay tuned!
For Parents
I enjoyed this quick (6-minute) read from Scott H. Young “Some Things That Have Helped Me Worry Less”. 4 simple (not easy, but simple) steps to help mitigate some of the anxiety and worry surrounding the uncertainty of our current situation as a community. I hope you enjoy it!
Project of the Day Infants & Toddlers: Baby Treasure Basket from The Imagination Tree
“Treasure baskets are wonderful for:
- using the senses to discover, explore, investigate and examine new materials/ shapes/ colours/ tastes/ textures/ sounds/ weights/ quantities
- developing thinking skills
- promoting open-ended and independent play
As before, we change some of the objects regularly to keep the basket interesting and fresh to play with. I can usually tell when I need to do this as she starts to fling things out without even looking at them, at breakneck speed. It’s very entertaining to watch but let me know things have got a bit stale again!
The current list of contents includes:
- various pine cones, picked up on a walk a while ago
- ribbons of different patterns and textures
- a wooden massager with roller balls
- a range of beaded necklaces and bracelets
- a thick, felted apple
- an interesting wooden toy with jointed parts
- a large shell from the beach
- one of our salt dough ducks (she loves this!)
- a huge, sparkly bouncy ball with glitter shreds suspended in water inside (beautiful and mesmerizing!)
- a couple of laminated photos of babies cut out of magazines (she talks to these!)
- a wooden box with a lid
- some thick pipe cleaners, with sharp ends tucked in firmly
- a heart cushion with a range of buttons sewn on tightly
- a little tin filled with pebbles that makes a delightful noise when shaken (sealed shut)
- and…. plenty of other tidbits too!
Project of the Day Older Toddlers & Preschoolers: Rocks of Hope project from Woven Childhood
Enjoy some time outside collecting rocks and exploring!
“We’ve been painting little flowers, suns, rainbows and shooting stars on rocks today attempting to brighten the mood. ☀️We’re planning on writing notes of encouragement on these and placing them throughout our neighborhood. Hoping it will be a little spark of hope to whoever finds one. ????”
More resources to follow in the coming days. Feedback and more ideas welcome, as always!
Be well and stay healthy!
The SolBe Team