Threes

Activity Tracking Sheet

Directions

Salt Dough

  1. Take the container of flour, the salt, and a cereal bowl out of the storage bin.
  2. Put 2 Tablespoons of flour into the bowl (there should be a measuring spoon in the container)
  3. Add 1 Tablespoons salt
  4. Add a little water at a time and mix/knead until dough just comes together (it will seem just a little too dry). If you want your dough colored add liquid water color with water.
  5. Knead until texture is smooth.
  6. If it is sticky add a little flour at a time until it feels smooth and does not stick to your hands or the table
  7. Play .
  8. Put your dough in a sandwich storage bag and take home or give to a friend (Do Not toss on the floor or do anything else that will result in teachers sending me nasty notes about sending students out of class with play dough)
  9. Have a little extra flour around when you take it out of the bag at home it has a tendency to get a little sticky in the bag.

accidentalearthmother.com

Sink and Float

Predict which objects will sink and which will float, then test predictions in a bowl of water.

  1. Take the bowl with the blue lid and the blue mesh bag with the miscellaneous small items out of the storage bin
  2. Fill the bowl with water to the line about 1 inch below the rim.
  3. Pick out an item and predict if you think it will sink or float.
  4. Slowly lower the item from the bag into the water.
  5. Reflect on if your prediction was correct or incorrect.
  6. Remove the item from the water and test the next item.
  7. Continue testing each item until you have tested each different type of item in the bag.
  8. Try other items from around the room to see what happens.
  9. Think about how you will do this with the 3-year-olds. What questions would you ask to encourage them to make and test predictions?
  10. Put items back in the bag
  11. Pour out water and dry bowl and items in the bag
  12. Put the bag in the bowl and put the set back in the storage bin (do not put the lid on the bowl if it is even a little wet)

Information about how and why things float:

Displacement explains why objects sink or float. Displacement occurs when you place something in a fluid, or any substance that flows, and it moves the fluid out of its way. You can watch displacement at work when you drop an object in a cup of water and the water level rises. Gravity pulls the object down, but the difference in pressure above and below the object causes an upward force. The object pushes the water out of its way, making the water rise. An object will sink if it weighs more than the water it pushes away, and an object will float if it weighs less than the water it pushes away. The Greek mathematician Archimedes discovered that the amount of water displaced by an object depends on the mass of that object. Mass is the amount of matter in a substance, and dense objects have more mass than less dense objects. Dense objects that do not displace much water will sink, while less dense objects that displace a lot of water will float.

Shape can also help an object float. A ball of clay will sink, but a canoe shape made from the same amount of clay can float because it displaces more water. A canoe shape can push more fluid out of its way in relation to its weight. The amount of air inside of an object can also help it float. Boats can float despite the heavy and dense materials used to build them because of the large amount of air inside the hull. Hollow objects, such as table tennis balls or an empty plastic bottle, are able to float better than solid objects.

Dressing Frames

  1. Find the square frames with fabric attached to them in the storage bin and take them out.
  2. Undo the fasteners/closures on each frame
  3. Redo the fasteners/closures on each frame

The twos box should have the following 4 Dressing Frames:

  • A traditional belt buckle style
  • Lacing
  • Small buttons
  • Slide/side release buckle

theworkplan.blogspot.com
Chalk Mural

  1. Take the Chalk out of the storage box
  2. Go out onto the play ground
  3. On the ground, draw your family using the chalk
  4. Put the chalk back in the storage bin

Key component to be aware of:

Large drawing activities like this (as well as a number of other large motor activities) involve “crossing the midline”. Crossing the midline is when an arm or leg crosses over to the other side of the body. Crossing the midline in the body requires both sides of the brain which “wakes up” the brain and energizes the learner. However, this also creates connections between the 2 sides of the brain which is really important for all kinds of thinking and learning.


Boom Whackers

What Are Boomwhackers?
Boomwhackers are tuned acoustic tubes that create different harmonic tones. They are played by tapping the end of the tube against one’s hand or clashing two together, rather like cymbals (or striking against any other hard surface).

What is so special about them?
Because each colored Boomwhacker creates a musical note, amazing patterns can be created which fuse harmony with rhythm. Children in a class can easily identify the harmonic tone of each color and this enables them to create complex music. Boomwhackers are versatile. They can be used in many different activities to help engage children who might normally struggle to participate in group activities.

Directions:

  1. Pull different colored tubes out of bag
  2. Try striking a tube against different surfaces to hear how it effects the sound (hand, leg, floor, desk, another tube like symbols)
  3. Try different tubes to hear the different tones
  4. Notice that the tubes are color coded in rainbow (and size) order to make a “c” scale
  5. Also notice that they are marked with the note in the scale that it makes and the solfége name for that note on the scale (do, re, mi, fa, so, lat ti, do)
  6. Have a friend clap a rhythm then try to repeat that rhythm with one or more boomwhackers
  7. Play around and see if you can figure out how to play a simple song with the tubes (i.e. “rain, rain, go away”, “Mary had a little lamb”, “Hot crossed buns”
  8. Put the tubes back into the bag and put the bag away.

fountainmusic.net

Threes Activity Tracking Sheet Directions