Do Yoga with Bot (Chair Pose)Posted by NOGGIN on Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Do Yoga with Molly (Guppy Pose)Posted by NOGGIN on Tuesday, March 17, 2020
We learned so much about spring this week! Let’s celebrate by singing spring songs while dancing and hopping along.
Steps:
Clap, jump, or stomp as we sing, or follow along with your favorite characters as they do silly spring chicken dances!
Bubble Guppies “It’s a Beautiful Day”
Peppa Pig Chicken Song
Bubble Guppies “Spring Chicken Song”
Moose and Zee “Believe in Spring”
Wallykazam! “Bunny Hop Song”
Words to Use:
Song – Words set to music
Sing – to make musical sounds with your voice
Simplify:
Listen to happy, springy music you love and dance with your preschooler.
Stretch:
Make up your own song about the new season, and sing it together.
Why:
Singing brings people joy, and it’s a great way to build early literacy skills.
Rabbits like Peter Rabbit love the spring! Let’s pretend to be bunnies and hip-hop all over our home, rabbit style!
Materials:
Bunny ears, eye pencil whiskers, and cotton ball tails are all optional
Steps:
1. When people think of “spring” they think about animals like bunnies.
2. Let’s put on our bunny ears, cottontails, and whiskers and pretend we’re Peter Rabbit. Now, let’s have a bunny hop!
3. We’ll hop from here to there and back again — all around home. Extra points for safe and speedy bunnies!
Words to Use:
Bunny – a small rabbit
Hop – to move by jumping
Simplify:
Create a short route for your little bunny to hop — like from one chair to another. Once he or she masters a little hopping, try more!
Stretch:
Create a bunny obstacle course, with pillows and furniture. See if your family’s rabbit colony can hop around, under, over, and through your warren’s obstacle course!
Why:
Hopping like a bunny is muscle building and giggle producing.
Extend the Learning:
Watch a Peter Rabbit adventure — on Noggin — with your child to learn about rabbits’ habits. How does Peter move? Where does he live? What does he eat?
Practice spring rhymes!
Materials:
None.
Steps:
1.Let’s take turns making spring rhymes until we run out…who will think of more? [Hints: king, sling, shoestring, bee sting…]
2. Now, let’s take turns rhyming another springy word: chick. [hints: quick, brick, picnic, toothpick]
3. Let’s try a third: bloom [Hints: fume, zoom, classroom, playroom]
4. What other spring words can we rhyme?
Words to Use:
Rhyme – two words that sound alike because they have similar endings
Simplify:
With your child, try to think of 2 or 3 rhymes per word.
Stretch:
Make pictures of the central words and then write the rhymes all around. If your little one is practicing letters, give him or her the chance to try writing some of the words.
Why:
Rhymes are an important early literacy skill.
Let’s act out signs of spring with the Bubble Guppies in honor of the Spring Equinox, the first day of spring!
Materials:
None
Steps:
1. It’s spring! Today’s the first day of spring. Let’s talk about OUR favorite signs of spring — rain and sun, buds and flowers, baby animals!
2. Eggs are a hatchin’! In The Spring Chicken Is Coming” episode, the Bubble Guppies wait for the Spring Chicken to announce the start of Spring! They even prepare by doing the spring chicken dance watch now! Now let’s chicken dance and pretend to be the Spring Chicken and announce the first day of the new season! You and your child can watch The Spring Chicken is Coming on Noggin to learn more about Spring.
3. Flowers are blooming! Now, let’s pretend to be seeds, growing into flowers. Curl up and pretend to be a tiny seed planted in the soil. Now, imagine that the sun shines and rain falls. What happens? How do you move and grow? You’re getting bigger! Can you sprout leaves and a flower? Stand on one foot like a stem! Move in the wind! Turn your flower to face the sun!
Simplify:
Stand facing each other as you act out the spring moves, so you can learn from each other. It’s OK to fall over and try again!
Stretch:
What other spring signs can you act out with your bodies? Can you be birds flying around your apartment or bunnies hopping from one side of the room to the other? Can you stretch like a tree growing taller or float slowly through the air like spring pollen? Be creative!
Why:
When your little naturalist acts out the signs of spring with his or her whole body, it’s strengthening his/her muscles and helping him/her learn about the new season.
Extend the Learning:
You and your child can watch Spring Chicken on Noggin to learn more about Spring. Find it in the Bubble Guppies section of the app.
Tomorrow is Incredible Kid Day, but we’re starting our celebration early because there are so many amazing kiddos in the Noggin community — and we need a reason to celebrate right about now. Today, Noggin kids have an extra incredible kid power: when they say “SPRING!” everyone has to spring up and dance.
Materials:
Optional magic wand (or magic spatula)
Steps:
Optional magic wand (or magic spatula)
1. Today, in honor of Incredible Kid Day, you have an extra incredible kid power: when you say “SPRING,” everyone in the room has to spring up and dance!
2. Let’s find or decorate a magic wand you can use today — it could be a kitchen spoon or something we create with supplies from home like a paper towel roll or a comb with ribbons attached.
3. Let’s test your powers! Say “SPRING!” and we’ll all dance. We might be dancing ALL DAY LONG.
Words to Use:
Dance – to move rhythmically to music
Incredible – extraordinary, very special
Power – the ability to do something or act in a particular way
Spring – Spring can be a noun that describes the season or it can be a verb (action word) that describes the action of jumping up suddenly
Simplify:
Skip the magic wand — just say the word SPRING and dance!
Stretch:
Talk with your Incredible Kid about his or her special power. How does it make them feel?
Why:
Acknowledging how incredible your kid is and giving him or her a special power is great for having fun and building loving attachment between parents and kids.
An old weather saying is that the month of March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. Our friend Peppa oinks, but she does have friends who “roar” and “baaa”! With Peppa’s help, let’s track the Spring weather and our feelings to see if there is any connection between the two. See if they’re more like wild lions or calm lambs.
Materials:
Paper and crayon/marker/pencil
Steps:
1. Let’s make or print a calendar for the month of March.
2. Let’s learn about lion and lamb weather and track the weather and our feelings for the rest of the month.
3. What’s today’s date? Is the weather outside calm like a lamb or angry like a lion? Mark the calendar with the word or a picture of the appropriate animal. And how do we feel: calm or angry (or sad or happy…)? Make a “feeling face” (like a smiley or frowny face) that represents our feelings.
4. Are our feelings connected to the weather or not? Let’s keep track for the rest of the month, and see what happens to the weather and how we feel.
Words to Use:
Observe – to watch
Spring – one of the four seasons (the others are summer, fall, and winter)
Weather – the state of the atmosphere at a place and time (regarding heat, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain, etc.)
Lamb – a young sheep
Lion – a big cat that lives in groups called “prides,” usually in Africa or India
Simplify:
Show your little meteorologist how to do it: Point out the window and describe the weather. If it’s sunny, draw a lamb on the box. Then create a smiley face or a frowny face to represent your feelings. Talk it out! You can also cut out or print out pictures of lambs, lions, and different faces! Tomorrow, see if your child will take the lead!
Stretch:
Ask your child to describe the weather outside, as well as his or her feelings. See if he or she will draw lambs/lions or write the words. Over time, compare the weather and your moods — are they the same or different?
Why:
Observing the weather can spark your child’s curiosity about the natural world and meteorology, and talking openly about feelings can help your child understand his or her own feelings and manage emotions. This is always important — but especially in times of stress and hardship.
Extend the Learning:
Watch a feeling face video with your child on Noggin to learn more about the feelings. Find “Feeling Faces” in the Bubble Guppies, PAW Patrol, and Wallykazam! sections of Noggin.