The Preschooler’s Busy Book (12 page)

Stuffed animals

Pillows

Blankets

White clothes for uniforms

Thermometer

Bandages

Medicine measuring spoon

Sling (cloth diaper or other material folded into a triangle)

Using friends, stuffed animals, or cooperative parents for patients, help your child set up a hospital or doctor’s office.
Lay pillows and blankets in a corner of the room.
Give the “nurse” or “doctor” white clothing for his uniform.
Show him how to take temperatures with a thermometer, bandage arms and legs, and give medicine.
Make a sling from a flat cloth diaper or other piece of material folded into a triangle.
Take turns playing the doctor, nurse, patient, and visitor.

Brushes

Combs

Empty hair spray bottle filled with water

Shaving cream

Popsicle stick or old credit card

Towel

Help your child set up a barber shop.
Give him brushes, combs, an empty hair spray bottle filled with water, and shaving cream.
A wooden Popsicle stick or an old credit card can be used as a razor.
Use a towel to wipe off shaving cream and water.
Take turns being the barber.

Tablecloth or other linens

Vase with flowers or other centerpiece

Candle (optional)

Menu

Use table linens, flowers (real or other) in a vase, and a candle.
Take the customer’s coat, show him to his seat, give him a menu, and let him order lunch or dinner.
Take turns being the waiter and the customer.

Brushes

Curlers

Hair bows

Empty hair spray bottle filled with water

Towel

Nail polish (optional)

Give your child brushes, curlers, hair bows, and an empty hair spray bottle filled with water to use in his beauty salon.
Use friends, siblings, or parents for clients, and take turns being the hairdresser.
Use a towel to absorb water used during play.
For girls, apply nail polish on fingers and toes as a special treat.

Empty food boxes, plastic containers, nonbreakable jars

Old purse or wallet

Play money

Scissors

Store coupons

Grocery list

Paper grocery bag

Help your child set up a grocery store by saving empty boxes, plastic containers, nonbreakable jars, and so on.
Give him an old purse or wallet containing play money and coins.
He can practice his scissor skills by cutting out unwanted coupons to use in his store.
Help him make a shopping list and give him a paper bag for his groceries.

Aprons

White paper lunch bag

Rolling pin

Cookie cutters

Playdough

Prepared cookie dough (optional)

Plastic knife (optional)

Cookie sheet (optional)

Give your child an apron and a white paper lunch bag to wear as a baker’s hat.
Have him use a rolling pin and cookie cutters to “bake” cookies, pies, and cakes out of playdough.
Or use a roll of prepared cookie dough: Give your child a plastic knife, have him slice off cookies, and place them on a cookie sheet for real baking.

Cup with water

Bowl for spitting

Paper napkin

Flashlight

Toothbrush

Small toys for “prizes”

Because water is involved, this game is best played in the kitchen or bathroom.
Take turns being the dentist and patient.
The dentist tucks a paper napkin into the patient’s collar to protect his shirt, then uses the flashlight to look into his mouth.
The dentist may want to brush the patient’s teeth, then advise him to rinse his mouth and spit into the bowl.
As the patient leaves, the dentist can offer him a “prize.”

“The parents exist to teach the child, but they must also learn what the child has to teach them; and the child has a very great deal to teach them.”

—Arnold Bennett

Arts and crafts projects provide great opportunities for creative play for your child.
Through her work with arts and crafts, your child will learn to think creatively and develop skills in drawing, painting, sculpting, designing, and crafting.
Well-chosen arts and crafts projects will help your child develop concentration and coordination, as well as organizational and manipulative skills.
They will promote a sense of great achievement, and are fun and exciting for children of all ages.

That said, one of the main problems I’ve always had with arts and crafts projects is what to do with all the wonderful things your child so busily and happily creates?
Children can produce an enormous volume of work in a short amount of time.
Multiply that by two or three children, and you can have a major problem on your hands!
Here are some ideas that might help:

• Always be on the alert for creative ways to use your child’s art, i.e., as gifts or gift wrap (see
Appendix C
).

• Display your child’s art around the house, not just on the refrigerator.
Visit an art framing shop and ask them to save their mat scraps for you.
You may get some pieces that are great for either mounting or framing your child’s work.

• Make Grandma or other relatives a calendar of your child’s art.
Save your little artist’s work throughout the year.
As the new year approaches, visit local businesses and collect free calendars.
Glue your child’s art onto the picture part of each month, so a new masterpiece will be displayed each time the calendar changes.

• Create a “portfolio” for your child.
Using a three-ring binder and plastic page protectors, save some of your child’s outstanding creations.
Be sure to date or write your child’s age on each work of art.
For extra-large or 3-D projects, take a photo or two and put those in the binder.
(The project itself will have to go eventually!)

When the day comes (and it will) to get rid of some of the pictures and projects your child has created, be sure to do it in a sensitive way.
Chances are she will not miss the picture that was hanging on the refrigerator for a month, but finding it crumpled up in the kitchen waste basket is sure to make her feel that you don’t really value her work.
Take items directly to the outdoor trash containers just before the garbage is picked up to save you and your child some heartache.

Old phone books come in very handy for children’s little projects.
When your child is coloring, painting, or gluing, open the phone book and place your child’s paper on a clean page.
Then simply turn the page for a clean working surface for the next project.
This way, you won’t have to worry about finding scrap paper to line your child’s workspace, and you won’t have to clean paint and glue off your kitchen table nearly as often.

Here are some activities you can use to introduce your child to the world of art.
Remember that your attitudes make strong impressions on your child; encourage her to experiment.
Arts and crafts projects are a form of self-expression, and your child should know that there is no right or wrong way to create art.

Drawing is probably the first art form your child will experience.
It allows your child to express herself creatively and helps the development of her small muscles and hand/eye coordination.
Drawing is simple and it can be done anywhere and at anytime.
It is something most of us do, in some form or another, all our lives.

Give your child a little variety in her drawing tools and materials.
Try using pens, pencil crayons, chalk, and markers.
For drawing paper, use construction paper, newspaper, fine sandpaper, or cut-open grocery bags in varying sizes.
Your child will also enjoy drawing and tracing shapes, such as circles, triangles, and stars cut from different types of paper.

Warning: These come out looking a little like peanut butter cups.
Your child just may decide to take a bite!

Broken crayon pieces

Muffin tin, greased

Aluminum foil (optional)

This is a good project to use up all those broken crayon pieces.
Remove any paper from the crayons and place the pieces in a well-greased muffin tin (or line the tin with aluminum foil).
Place the tin in a 400-degree oven for a few minutes, until the crayons melt.
Remove from the oven and cool completely before removing from the tin.
If you mixed crayon colors in the tins, the circles will have a stained glass effect and are great for coloring.

Beautiful, and easy for little hands to hold!

Broken crayon pieces

Clean, empty tin cans

Pot of hot water

Empty, plastic 35-mm film canisters

This is another good way to use broken crayons.
Remove any paper from the crayons and sort them by color.
Place the pieces, one color at a time, in the empty tin cans.
Set the tin cans in a pot of very hot or boiling water until the crayons melt.
Pour a small amount (approximately a quarter inch) into each film canister.
When the wax hardens, add a second color in the same way.
When you are done, you will have a crayon rainbow of layered colors.

Clothespins

Crayons

Paper

Clip a clothespin around a crayon and encourage your child to draw while holding onto the clothespin instead of the crayon.
The idea is to try to do the same old things in new and different ways.
Clipping a clothespin onto a crayon will make coloring seem different and interesting, if only for a few minutes.

Crayons

Tape

Paper

Tape two or more crayons together and have your child draw a picture.
You will get some interesting effects with this double and triple layering of color.
If you want to use true rainbow colors, you will need violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red.

Stamp pad

Paper

Crayons or markers

Have your child press her thumb on a stamp pad and then press it onto paper.
Show your child how to draw a mouse tail and ears on the thumbprint to complete each mouse.
Do this several times to make a mouse family.
Use your own thumb and perhaps one of an older or younger sibling, then compare the different sizes each makes.

Very large sheet of newsprint or other paper

Markers, crayons, or paint

Have your child lie down on the floor on the paper.
Trace around her, then let her fill in the details with markers, crayons, or paint.
Tell her to be as detailed as possible: What is her hair like?
What color are her eyes?
What clothes is she wearing?
When finished, hang her portrait in her room or on her door where she can admire it.

Plants and flowers collected on a walk

Crayons

Paper

Go on a walk with your child, and bring home a variety of plants and flowers, such as grass, leaves, dandelions, and so on.
Spread them out on a table in your backyard and encourage your child to draw a picture using only crayons in colors that match the items you have collected.

Cardboard

Scissors

Paper

Paper clips

Crayons

Cut a fruit shape, such as an apple, orange, or banana, out of cardboard.
Place the cardboard shape between two sheets of paper and clip them together with a paper clip.
Give your child an appropriately colored crayon, and have her rub over the paper lightly, to make a red apple or yellow banana appear.

Paper or cut-open grocery bags

Small textured objects

Crayons

Place paper or cut-open grocery bags over textured objects, such as leaves, string, doilies, paper clips, fabric, tiles, coins, cardboard shapes, or bricks.
Have your child rub a crayon on the paper.
Shift the paper and use different colors for interesting patterns.

6 tablespoons sugar

¼ cup water

Colored chalk

Paper, white

Mix together sugar and water and pour over the chalk; let soak for ten minutes.
Have your child use the wet chalk to draw on white paper.
If you use white chalk, draw on colored paper.

Paper

Crayons or markers

Have your child draw a series of four or five pictures.
Have her then dictate a story to go with each picture.
You can write the story on the bottom of the picture as it is told.

Paper

Crayons or markers

Nail polish (optional)

Sparkles or small beads

Glue

Place your child’s hands on a piece of paper and trace around them.
Give your child crayons, markers, or nail polish and have her paint the nails of her drawing.
Use glue and sparkles or small beads to add rings, watches, and other details.
For variety, try tracing your child’s feet, then have her trace your feet and compare sizes.
Color the feet and add nail polish and funny rings with crayons or markers.

Paper

Crayons

Show your child how to scribble on a piece of white paper with a crayon, using big circular motions to form loops.
Then have your child color in each loop with a different color, creating a very pretty and unique design every time.

White crayon or wax candle

Paper, white

Tempera paints

Paintbrush

Use a white crayon or wax candle to write a message or draw a picture on a piece of white paper.
Your child can then paint over the paper with tempera paint to see the picture or message appear.