While most of us are limited to the materials and supplies we have at home, the time to use our creativity and resourcefulness is now. Below, you will find projects and activities that only require household items and rocks found outside. With these simple yet powerful projects, your child will continue to grow academically, physically, and emotionally.
Literacy:
Create a literacy matching game with only items found in your yard. Beyond that, you'll need a poster board or paper, a plastic tub, and a sharpie to create this activity. First, you and your child will need to go on a scavenger hunt for 26 small rocks (for reference, about 2 inches in diameter), leaves, twigs, acorns, pinecones, and anything else you can find in your yard. Everything except the rocks can go in your plastic tub. For the rocks, an adult, or your child depending on their small motor coordination, needs to write a letter of the alphabet on each rock. Continue through the entire alphabet. Then, on your poster board, trace around each rock and place the coordinating letter inside the trace. Once this is complete, put all the rocks in the bin with the nature items and stir to hide them. The challenge of this activity is to find all of the alphabet rocks and match them to their place on the poster board.
Writing: Create a writing tray with lots of small pebbles. Fill the tray until there is a thin layer covering the bottom. Your child can use their finger to drag through the pebbles to write a letter. For support, have an alphabet strip (example below) or letter card in front of them. Your child could also use small pebbles to form letters of the alphabet. Again, your child can use an alphabet strip or letter cards as a guide. They could also place small pebbles on top of a letter card.
Math: Collect several rocks from your yard. For a challenge, designate a specific number to find. Once your child has found, for example, ten rocks, there are several ways to expand this into a math activity. 1) One simple math challenge is to organize your rocks from smallest to largest. 2) If you happen to have a basket scale at home, use this opportunity to make predictions about which rocks are heavier and lighter and then test your prediction by weighing them. 3) Another way to use rocks for a math challenge could be to label your rocks, similarly to the literacy activity above, but this time with numbers and dot configurations. On one rock, use a sharpie to make a dot configuration (as found on dice), and on another rock, write the corresponding number. To play, roll a dice, and find the two rocks that match that number.
Science: Defy gravity, practice your engineering, and create amazing stone sculptures with stone stacking. Use trial and error to create tall towers, balancing bridges, and so much more. Below are some examples.
Art: Let's teach rocks to paint! Start by putting a piece of paper in the bottom of a tray. Put your choice of paint in the center of your paper. You can start with one paint color or mix two together. Now, drop a small, round rock into your tray. To teach your rock to paint, you slowly tilt your tray from side to side. You'll notice your rock rolling all around the tray and dragging paint wherever it rolls. Below you will see this project done with marbles.
Nature: What critters live underneath rocks? Let's find out! Take a walk outside, possibly beyond your yard, to discover what living things find safety under rocks.
Sensory: Time for a rock walk! Can you find rocks that have the following textures/temperatures? What else can you find? Use the sheet below.
Social and Emotional: Create kindness rocks to spread positivity around your home or neighborhood. Read all about it in my Valentine's Day post here.
You can rock this quarantine!
Ms. E Warner
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