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Making Craft Time an Educational Time
Spending time with children is a wonderful experience. Everyone benefits, especially the children. You are able to mentor the child in many ways. By spending time with children, you increase their interest, skills, and self-esteem!
Crafts are a hands-on activity that result in a finished product and FUN! Craft time can touch on many skills as well, and the children do not even realize that they are learning. You are able to teach children goal setting, following directions, organization and follow-through. Depending on the craft, children can also learn fine motor skills, measuring, cause and effect, counting, fractions, reading, and writing.
Allow your child to cut out needed pieces, to bead a pipe cleaner, or do the needed tracing. These tasks will increase your child’s fine motor skills, which are needed for writing tasks.
Allow your child to read the instructions to you or to look at the words as you read them to him/her. This will increase your child’s reading or reading readiness skills.
Engage your child to in a conversation about what the ending product or result of the activity will be, as well as what steps they need to take to achieve that goal, and encourage him/her to finish what they start. This will build up their organization and follow-through abilities.
Allow your child to measure materials with a ruler and take this opportunity to discuss inches, feet, centimeters, meters, yards, etc. When cooking, allow your child to measure out ingredients. Again, take this opportunity to teach your child about fractions, that it takes two cups to make a whole, etc.
Talk about why the cheese melted, or the bread rose; make sure to get your child’s opinion before revealing the answers. The teaching possibilities are endless!
Here is a cooking activity for you to do with your child. Below the recipe are questions to generate thinking in your child and ideas to increase your child’s learning experience.
Letter Pretzels
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Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon table salt
1 1/3 cup flour
1 beaten egg
coarse salt
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Here is what you do:
1.Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees
2. Dissolve 1 Tablespoon yeast in 1/2 cup warm water
3. Add 1 teaspoon honey and 1 teaspoon table salt
4. Add 1 1/3 cup flour
5. Knead
6. Roll pieces to form letters
7. Brush each letter with beaten egg
8. Sprinkle each letter with coarse salt
9. Bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees
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Ideas
When measuring out the Tablespoon and teaspoon, use 1/2 o1/4r Tablespoons and teaspoons to make the whole. Discuss how many of each you need to make the whole. When measuring out the 1 1/3 cup flour, use just a 1/3-cup. Discuss how honey is made.
Probing Questions
1. What does dissolve mean?
2. Smell the yeast. What is it? (A small plant that needs sugar, moisture, and warmth. The yeast makes gas bubbles that make the dough light)
3. What does knead mean? Why do we knead bread dough? (To spread the air bubbles throughout.)
4. What letters are you making? Capital or lower case? What sound does it make? Can you spell any words with them?
5. Have you eaten pretzels before? How were they like these? How were they different?
Check out www.kidscreativetime.com for other great activities for you and your child to make together.
Submitted by Lori Phillips
Owner www.kidscreativetime.com
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