Hilary's Home Daycare & Preschool - Hilary's Home Daycare & Preschool

Tapioca Sensory Play!

2/15/2016

We are exploring dyed tapioca pearls in our sensory table today! A completely edible version of water beads although, would you believe, not even ONE of the kids tried putting these in their mouth this morning?! After finding an extremely wide variety of cooking instructions, I decided to just be completely random and I cooked 3/4 cup of pearls in 2 cups of dyed water for each color. It seemed to work out perfectly! We added a bit of water to the tub for play, and it took away all of the stickiness and made for a fantastic sensory play experience! Aren't they just beautiful?!

Hilary's Home Daycare & Preschool -- Tapioca Sensory Play

Pouring Station

1/21/2016

We set up a pouring station today and had so much fun with it. Great practice for an important life skill and a fun way to exercise critical thinking skills, eye-hand coordination, self-regulation, and spacial awareness too!

Frozen Bubbles!

1/18/2016

Freezing Bubbles at Hilary's Home Daycare & Preschool

Well, we tried to freeze bubbles once again today, and although still not what I was aiming for, we did at least have some success this time! There is more learning in scientific failures than immediate successes, right?! ;) We learned that smaller bubbles work better than bigger ones, and that we had to keep them protected from even the slightest breath of air. Mostly, as soon as we would start to see the tiniest bit of crystallization/freezing, the bubble would pop. Seeing them pop in these temperatures was pretty cool, too though - instead of just disappearing, they would send out a little poof of frosty, flaky bubble shards. But, see how these two bubbles are cracked, dented, and broken, but still there? They're frozen...we did it!

Cotton Ball Sensory Science

1/14/2016

The kids really loved this sensory exploration this morning. SO simple to set up, too! Just a tub of water, and some trays of colored water with cotton balls in them. I added tweezers at the last minute as an after thought, and it was a definite hit! Whether using the tweezers or their fingers, it was a great fine motor activity, with scientific aspects (absorption, displacement - when they made big splashes, which brought big giggles, too!), and a great opportunity for expanding vocabulary (I heard words like darker, lighter, full, empty, splash, and lots of color words, too).

Vinegar & Baking Soda on Ice

1/7/2016

We are trying out a new twist on an old favorite around here today: colored vinegar and baking soda in ice! The kids love the chemical reaction, as usual, and the ice gives it all added depth and texture.

Hilary's Home Daycare & Preschool -- Vinegar & Baking Soda on Ice

Science of Sound

1/6/2016

We are experimenting with sound this morning! Scooping and pouring dry noodles into containers made of different materials. We are having fun noticing the differences between the glass, plastic, ceramic, and metal containers of differing sizes and shapes.

Absorption Art

11/17/2015

I'm excited for our combination art and science absorption activity today! We have wax coated paper plates, coffee filters, parchment paper, cotton balls, tissue paper, felt, paper towels, tissues, and various types of art papers, and liquid water colors, paintbrushes, and droppers to experiment and create with!

Gourd Volcanoes!

10/21/2015

Excited to see how the kids explore this mini pumpkin/gourd volcano setup this afternoon! Gourds, seeds, baking soda, and colored vinegar...should be fun!

Pumpkin Harvest 2015

10/13/2015

We decided to start our pumpkin harvest this week, but we had a problem... "How are we going to get the pumpkins way up on the top of our tunnel?" Hmmmm...not a problem for long with this group of problem solvers! :)

Hummingbird Visit!

9/11/2015

We had a visit from a hummingbird today! We got to watch it zip around from flower to flower drinking nectar, we could hear the humming sound its wings made, and it even stopped to rest near us...what an exciting, spontaneous natural science lesson!