Melrose Blog

Science Friday
April 18, 2020
It’s SCIENCE FRIDAY with Ms. Patti! Today she is talking about motion, ramps and how things move! 🏎 🛺 🚲
#sciencefriday #preschoolactivities #handsonlearning #melrosejax

Frozen Legos!
April 06, 2020
Have some legos laying around? Try freezing them in different size containers. Let sit in the freezer for 24 hours. When complete your child will have so much fun outdoors trying to get the legos out of the ice.

Balloon Hockey & Relay
April 03, 2020
Blow up a few balloons and let your child have fun hitting the balloons around the room.
A few added challenges:
Place a basket of some kind on its side and use it as a goal to try and score.
If you have more than one child turn it into a relay race. Try putting the balloon between the knees and walking to the goal.
Educational Screen Time
April 01, 2020
We know screen time gets a bad wrap, but let's be real, times are getting tough! Many of you are working from home and busy with more than 1 child, we do not always have the time or energy to set up back to back activities for a rambunctious little one! How about some educational screen time!
1) Virtual museum tours: Museums all over the country are closed but that doesn't mean that we can’t still try to enjoy them!
and also virtual field trips!
2)Online zoo feedings!
While many zoos are closed we have found that quite a few of them are doing animal feedings online. For all of your animal loving kids my favorite of these feedings is right at your fingertips! All you have to do is search "Cincinnati Zoo" on facebook or YouTube and you will see these everyday at 3pm live!
-Ms.Haley

Toy Wash
March 31, 2020
Fill a large bin with water, soap, sponges and rags! Let your child pick out a few toys to place in the bin and scrub away. What a fun activity to do outside! If your child loves cars/trucks turn it into a carwash or maybe even a “dino wash”. You pick!
*Allow them to stand while doing this activity. Standing will promote exercising their gross motor and aide in movement. Worried about water getting on the floor? Place a towel down on the floor below!
Thank you Ms. Ophelia for putting this together for us!.

Salt Crystal Painting
March 28, 2020
Salt Crystal Painting
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Pour water into four cups, to just fill them partially.
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Place a few drops of food coloring into each of the cups of water and stir to combine the color well.
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Draw a design onto the front of a piece of white cardstock with a bottle of white school glue. The design can be anything you like.
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Sprinkle some table salt over the top of the design that you created with the glue. Do this before the glue has dried so that the salt sticks to it well. You will want to do this over a garbage can or other container to catch the extra salt and avoid making a mess.
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You can either wait for the glue to dry, or move directly on to coloring your creation. Using a pipette or eye dropper, drop colored water down over the different parts of your salt crystal drawing. Try to drop the water only onto the salt crystals themselves, and not onto the actual cardstock. You can mix colors to see what new shades they make.
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Set the salt crystal drawing to the side for several hours to dry completely before displaying.

Marble Ball Painting
March 27, 2020
Thank you Ms. Haley for bringing us this activity!
This is a favorite painting idea to do with children of all ages, even toddlers because it's super easy, needs little material, pretty "no mess" and works on hand-eye coordination!
What you need:
1 - Paper
2 - Paint
3 - baking dish, box or anything rectangle shaped with sides
4 - Marbles or small ball(s)
What you do:
Place paper in the bottom of the box with a little tape on the back so the paper will not come up. Pour or squeeze some paint over the paper. Place marbles inside the box. Encourage your child to move the box around, up and down and side to side watching how the ball rolls over the paint and makes tracks. Then add more paint, as many colors as you want! Talk about how the colors are mixing and what new colors your two colors are making. Easy and educational fun! This is a great time to talk about how colors are made...yellow/orange make red!