Daily at Home Project: Baby Bean Bowl and Pitched Roof Experiment

by | Mar 24, 2020 | At-Home Enrichment | 0 comments

Please find below our daily SolBe Family update letter containing helpful resources and exciting projects to explore while we all do our part to stay home during this pandemic.

March 24, 2020

SolBe Families,

We hope you enjoyed our first daily virtual circle time yesterday! It was a treat to see you all and spend a few minutes together. We will be sharing information later this week on virtual yoga offerings from our partner KidPowerment. Until then, Cosmic Kids has wonderful yoga, mindfulness, and storytelling offerings. A very trusty three-year-old friend (my Niece) has highly recommended the “Frozen” class…though there are many options!

Project of the Day Infant/Toddler from The Tinker Lab: Baby Bean Bowl Exploration (Rice is an excellent substitute!)

“I created the bean bowl for my older daughter to sort and sift through while I’m busy in the kitchen, and I was only sort of surprised when little baby Rainbow (my older daughter’s nickname for her) scooted over to see what it was all about. She adores the sandbox, isn’t big on eating sand (do you hear me knocking on wood?), so I thought that with supervision this would be a fun experience for her curious little mind and body.

The level of focus was palpable.

And refining fine motor skills was in full force! In addition to beans, I threw in some beads, sequins, and mini toys to keep the interest high.

Once she got comfortable with this new medium, she tried several things including pulling the bowl toward her, sifting beans through both hands, pushing her fingers deep into the bowl, and eventually tipping part of the bowl over into her lap. This was all so much fun that we decided to try it again the next morning…

If you try this with your little ones, use common sense, especially if they’re prone to putting small objects in their mouths.”

Project of the Day Older Toddler/Preschool from The Tinker Lab: Pitched Roof Experiment

“Our neighbor’s house had a leaky roof and the handyman came for a visit. This piqued my daughter’s interest and she wanted to know why. If you’ve had a small child living in your home, I’m sure you’re familiar with this barrage of non-stop questions that keep coming even if you’ve already answered them…at least three times: Why is the plumber here? Why is their roof leaking? Why does he have a friend with him? Why do they have a ladder? Why aren’t they fixing our roof? Is our roof leaking? Why is their roof leaking?

As it turns out that they have a flat roof, and we have a pitched roof. Not that it really matters, of course, as any roof can leak, but flat roofs seem to be more prone to collecting water than pitched roofs, and there I was explaining this to my 33 month old. My explanation began with the illustration you see above, which I sketched onto our chalkboard. I drew the houses and rain clouds, and then demonstrated how the rain falls differently on the two roofs. I checked in to see if this made sense to her (it didn’t), so I moved on to building a 3-D model.

We found some cardboard in our recycling bin and got to work crafting two structures: one with a pitched roof (our house) and one with a flat roof (our neighbor’s house).

And then we ran a little experiment by placing them in the sink and running “rain water” over them. The water rolled right down the sides of the pitched roof and puddled up on the flat roof. And then, finally, she got it! *This could be a fun opportunity to bring some of the fresh snow into the playing!”

Our advisor is coordinating an effort to support legislation related to early learning and wanted to share the following:

“There is currently a $50 billion stimulus package that we are working to get passed to support child care nationwide. This is an incredible and unprecedented investment and we need it in order to keep programs open. Three amazing components of this package

  • Pay providers to cover their ongoing operating costs when they are closed so their financial security, and the security of educators they employ, is not threatened. This must include centers as well as home-based providers, such as family child care homes and family, friend, and neighbor care.
  • Eliminate copayments or tuition for families during this crisis and ensure that providers are still paid the full amount for that enrolled slot.
  • Provide paid sick leave for educators and provide funding to providers to fully cover this cost.

We’ve heard from Senators that they need families to support this and to contact their representatives. Please find a separate attachment below for more details.

Feedback and more ideas welcome, as always! If anyone is short materials or ingredients for projects, please email or message us on Brightwheel! We will do our best to get them to you with the take-home meals!

Be well and stay healthy!

The SolBe Team

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