Stuffy Sleepover at the BOOK FAIR
ON MONDAY 28TH, WE ARE HOSTING ANOTHER STUFFY SLEEPOVER!!
What is a Stuffy Sleepover? We are glad you asked!
Kids bring their favorite toy. It can be a stuffed animal, a doll, an action-figure, an excavator! They leave them in the loving care of our teachers for a night of music, books, and awesome activities. Kids can watch their favorite toys play with their best friends’ favorite toys from either Facebook Live or YouTube.
Basically, it is a heartfelt way for kids to be together without BEING together.
We had seen them before, Scrawl Books does an especially fun series of them featuring amazing children’s authors.
They are ridiculous fun for everyone involved. CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS FROM THAT NIGHT ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
STUFFY SLEEPOVER VIDEOS
OUR THEME THIS TIME IS FALL FUN! We will be doing Autumn crafts, reading Autumn books, and singing fun songs that may or may not be Autumn themed, but DEFINITELY sing-a-long-worthy!!
Then, in the morning, all our stuffed animals will board the Common Ground bus and be returned to their best friends with stories to tell and goodies to share.
Sign Up Right Here!
$30.00 Donation to our COMMON GROUND GIVING TUESDAY Campaign gets you a ticket for the stuffy sleepover! It includes the goodie-bags, the fun, the live-videos, and more surprises!
Then you can drop your stuffed animal off on Monday the 28th AT THE BOOK FAIR and it can be picked up on Tuesday, November 29th!
The money raised will go towards necessary educational initiatives at Common Ground Childcare.
This is our favorite way to be with you, even when we are apart! Thank you so much for being a part of our community.
Miss LJ
SIGN UP FOR OUR FALL FUN STUFFY SLEEPOVER!!
ON MONDAY NOVEMBER 28th, WE ARE HOSTING ANOTHER STUFFY SLEEPOVER AT THE BOOK FAIR!!
What is a Stuffy Sleepover? We are glad you asked!
The Stuffy Sleepover kicks off our Book Fair and our Giving Tuesday Campaign. Kids bring their favorite toy. It can be a stuffed animal, a doll, an action-figure, an excavator! They leave them in the loving care of Miss LJ, Mr. Josh, Miss Janette, Miss Liz, and Miss Victoria for a night of music, books, and awesome activities at the Book Fair. Kids can watch their favorite toys play with their best friends’ favorite toys from either Facebook Live or YouTube. Then their favorite friend will ready for pick up at our BOOK FAIR!
Basically, it is a heartfelt way for kids to be together without BEING together.
We had seen them before, Scrawl Books does an especially fun series of them featuring amazing children’s authors.
They are ridiculous fun for everyone involved. CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS FROM THAT NIGHT ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
STUFFY SLEEPOVER VIDEOS
OUR THEME THIS TIME IS FALL FUN! We will be doing Autumn crafts, reading Autumn books, and singing fun songs that may or may not be Autumn themed, but DEFINITELY sing-a-long-worthy!!
Then, in the morning, all our stuffed animals will board the Common Ground bus and be returned to their best friends with stories to tell and goodies to share.
Sign Up Right Here!
$30.00 Donation to our COMMON GROUND GIVING TUESDAY Campaign gets you a ticket for the stuffy sleepover! It includes the goodie-bags, the fun, the live-videos, and more surprises!
Then you can drop your stuffed animal off on Monday the 28th at the center. It will “sleepover” that night at the Book Fair, then be picked up by your child the next morning.
The money raised will go towards necessary educational initiatives at Common Ground Childcare as part of our Giving Tuesday Campaign.
This is our favorite way to be with you, even when we are apart! Thank you so much for being a part of our community.
De-Clutter and Support Your School!
Spring Cleaning is such a transformative experience.
Who knew that thinning a bookshelf or tackling that front hall closet you avoid could feel so powerful? At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic I channeled my anxiety into cleaning and reorganizing the house. I set out to conquer “the creep” that tends to take over corners and closets during the daily bustle of kids and jobs. I wanted my home office back! I wanted to not feel guilty about buying new workout clothes! I wanted to feel like we were moving forward in an uncertain time.
The world is opening again, and rather than “going back to normal,” most of us have embraced the fact that it will be a WHOLE NEW ERA. A totally new definition of normal.
The best way to make that “new normal” a WAY BETTER normal than to start out with an old favorite, Spring Cleaning.
Here at Common Ground, we are doing just that! We are emptying our old storage units and thinning out our book collections (have no fear! We support child literacy more than ever before, we just don’t need 18 copies of “The Foot Book” floating around in the back of our closets).
What will we do with all this STUFF? Some of it is quite beloved and well taken care of, some of it is barely used but we certainly do not need it taking up space.
On our quest to REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE, we found a company called FUNDrive. Their incredible business model encourages groups of people and schools like us to get together and collect gently used items to donate!
Our drop-off date is not until June 5th, but ‘Spring Cleaning’ is happening as we speak! Save up those donation items and you will only have to do one drop-off.
Instead of trying to find different places to donate all of your myriad items, just bring them straight to us.
1. The donations will cost you nothing!
2. You are giving your house a spruce up!
3. You are helping your community recycle perfectly fine items instead of creating waste, and offering quality goods to people at more affordable prices.
4. You are helping your school by helping us raise funds through no cost to you.
We are looking to raise $1000 by cleaning out your closets and cabinets of GENTLY USED items. Help us get to our goal by helping us collect AT LEAST 120 full 33 gallon size bags and 100 small boxes. (there is no limit! I think we can blast through that number, but let's have a baseline) Ask your friends, neighbors and coworkers to do the same and make your pledge today!
DATES TO DROP OFF ITEMS:
Friday, June 4th from 7:45 AM-6:00 PM
Saturday, June 5th from 8:00AM-12:00PM
Drop off will be at Common Ground Childcare: 1700 Wainwright Drive, Ste 2, Reston VA 20190.
ITEM PICK UP DATES:
TBD: If there are enough people interested in this, we may schedule a “pick up” for items before our time slot on June 5th.
If you need help with lifting bags/boxes, please let us know: lj@commongroundchildcare.org
**IF NONE OF THE ABOVE DATES WORK FOR YOU: Please contact LJ Donnell: 703.498.9073/lj@commongroundchildcare.org. We will find a way to help you, store your things, et cetera.
SAVE THE DATE (June 4th and 5th). SAVE YOUR STUFF (clothes, accessories, small household items, books). SAVE THE WORLD (every little bit counts).
Love Love Love,
LJ and your Common Ground Family
Birthday at CG: Our SPRING STUFFY SLEEPOVER!
April is our Birthday Month! And to give it a GRAND FINALE, we are hosting another SUPER POPULAR SPRING STUFFY SLEEPOVER!
What is a Stuffy Sleepover? We are glad you asked!
Kids bring their favorite toy. It can be a stuffed animal, a doll, an action-figure, an excavator! They leave them in the loving care of our teachers for a night of music, books, and awesome activities. Kids can watch their favorite toys play with their best friends’ favorite toys from either Facebook Live or YouTube.
Basically, it is a heartfelt way for kids to be together without BEING together.
We had seen them before, Scrawl Books does an especially fun series of them featuring amazing children’s authors.
They are ridiculous fun for everyone involved. CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS FROM THAT NIGHT ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
STUFFY SLEEPOVER VIDEOS
On Friday, April 30th, the stuffies will come into Common Ground for a night of fun! This time, we are going to have our Mr. Josh sing-a-long around a CAMP FIRE! We will roast marshmallows, look at the stars, and read books about Spring. We will play outside, eat delicious snacks, and make something delightful for our kids at home. After that, we will camp out under the stars and dream of adventures with our Common Ground Family.
Our Featured Author is the warm-hearted, endlessly talented Andrea Lamont.
We will be reading her book “The Magic Friendship Rock,” a lovely story about imagination, art, and the absolute magic of friendship. The stuffys will bring home a copy of this book along with some other fun story-themed surprises to share with their friends.
The next morning on the First of May we will take all the stuffed animals (and other friends) home on the Common Ground Bus with a delightful goodie bag to share with their kiddo to remind them of all the fun things they did the night before.
Does this sound amazing? It does to us too. We could barely wait until Spring to party with all our magnificent stuffy friends again!
Sign Up Right Here!
$30.00 Donation to our COMMON GROUND BIRTHDAY Campaign gets you a ticket for the stuffy sleepover! It includes the goodie-bags, the fun, the live-videos, and more surprises!
Then you can drop your stuffed animal off on Thursday the 29th or Friday the 30th at the center (we will email you with the details when you register!) and it will be delivered home via the Common Ground Bus!
The money raised will go towards necessary educational initiatives at Common Ground Childcare.
In the spirit of OUR BIRTHDAY, since we cannot all BE together, at least we can celebrate together.
Miss LJ
Earth Hour: A Moment to Pause and Reflect
Saturday, March 27th at 8:30 PM local time is Earth Hour.
What is Earth Hour?
Traditionally, global skylines have gone dark and millions of individuals have turned off their lights for Earth Hour as a symbolic gesture to their commitment to preserving our planet.
EarthHour.Org encourages people to participate in the hopes to keep nature loss and climate change top of mind. It is that mindfulness and reflection that will encourage people of every generation to stop and reflect on the lovely fragility of this earth that holds the entirety of our past, our present, and our future.
The World Wildlife Post is hosting a meditative hour for peace and mindfulness Here. You can sign up for text reminders Here.
Reflection may be an important step, but it’s just the FIRST step. There are so many things you can do, even as an individual, to change the world for the better.
Educate Yourself
Earth Hour has links on Nature Loss and Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Potential Solutions Here
World Wildlife Fund has several excellent links on what’s at stake, what needs to change, and how we can help Here
Nasa talks about the proof of Climate Change Here
COTAP.org talks about several ways to reduce your Carbon Footprint Here
The Rainforest Alliance offers tips on how to teach your kids about Climate Change Here
One Planet One Future has a video lesson series coming out that you can watch Here
SCRAWL BOOKS has a whole section on Science and Nature for Kids Here
Sign Petitions and Donate
Earth Hour has its pledge for educating others and finding greener ways to live Here
World Wildlife Fund has a ton of excellent petitions to go through Here and several ways to donate Here
GLOBAL DEAL FOR NATURE PETITION HERE
TWENTY GLOBAL NON-PROFITS PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT YOU CAN DONATE TO HERE
#GiveFundsGiveTime is a motto we came up with during our Giving Tuesday event last year, but we find that the concept behind it is one we want to keep top of mind ALL year long. If you don’t have the funds to donate, spend time educating yourself and others! Every time you pass on knowledge to someone, they pass it on to someone else. These good deeds ripple out. You may be one person, but one person spreading their love can change the world.
With Love,
Ms. LJ and your Common Ground Family
Friends of CG Fridays!: Busses and Blood Drives
We have had such a whirlwind week!
And we have A LOT of people to thank for it being a great success. We are so full of gratitude, in fact, that we have decided to institute a NEW TRADITION!
“Friends of CG” Fridays will be blog posts released once a week where we thank groups, companies, teams, and other amazing people who have helped us go above and beyond.
We are starting off strong with THREE BIG THANK YOUS!
Jersey Mike’s at Hunters Woods Plaza: When we reached out to our local Jersey Mike’s Sub shop at Hunters Woods, we were looking for coupons they could give us for the “Thank You Bags” we wanted to give the Blood Donors at St. Anne’s blood drive today. Their response was so warm and giving that we were truly humbled. They gave us three different kinds of coupons, a bunch of menus, and promised to work with us in the future! They are also working with Cornerstones this month to raise money ALL MONTH to help with programs for in-need families of Reston. This giving month culminates in their HUGE event on March 31st, where all the proceeds they earn that day from open to close go to Cornerstones’ programs. We are thanking them not only for what they do for us (and for their delicious subs that make GREAT staff lunches) but what they do for their community. Way to go, you guys, you are super stars!!
Amphora Bakery at Sunset Park Drive: Full disclosure, LJ has been working with Amphora bakery since before she worked at Common Ground. Whenever we have asked for a quality bakery to work with, Amphora always comes up. They are helpful, quick, professional, kind, and DELICIOUS. When we called and asked for help getting cookies for our blood drive this week, they gave us an INCREDIBLE price and DID NOT skimp on that delectable chocolate chip cookie. They were so good we got way more than we needed so we could share with staff, who could not say enough good things about them (and always came back to see if there are more!) Thank you so much, Amphora! Can’t wait to work together again!
Wiygul Automotive in Herndon, VA: We have been a long time customer of the Wiygul Automotive location on Grant Street in Herndon. Because they service our school busses, which carry our most precious cargo, we need to have the utmost faith in their work. Along with being fast and efficient, they always take care of us with absolute professionalism and precision, and never hesitate to make sure we get a good non-profit price. Not only did they service and return BOTH of our busses this week, they also took care of Ms. LJ’s vehicle as fast as possible so that we could continue working without delay! We recommend them to anyone and everyone because we can personally vouch for their dependability over several years of use.
Keep a look out for our Featured Friends on Fridays! If you want to be a featured friend? give us a shout! We would love to work with you.
Love Love Love,
LJ and your CG Family
#GiveFundsGiveTime: GIVING TUESDAY IS HERE
December 1st, 2020 is probably one of the strangest, loveliest, and most necessary Giving Tuesdays since its inception in 2012. The world is wracked by a pandemic. Unemployment has been at an all time high. An unmatched 12 named storms, including a record-tying six hurricanes, have made landfall in the United States this year alone.
We are quarantine-fatigued, decision-fatigued, anxiety-fatigued. Traditions are changed, family visits are reliant on internet connections.
It is in the midst of this unique adversity that we find our most profound strength, our brightest hope, our purest joy.
We have stood together, protecting one another with masks and distance. We have created new traditions out of whole cloth that will withstand the test of time. We have rallied around our small businesses, our schools, our communities to provide whatever support we can, even though it never seems like enough.
THAT is what our Giving Tuesday #GiveFundsGiveTime campaign has been all about.
We raised over $4,000.00 for our programs (and still have $3,000 of matching funds available!) and had such an incredible time doing it. If you are reading this on #GivingTuesday, you can still donate to our cause with double the impact HERE.
We had so much fun during the sleepover. Our kiddos left their best stuffed friends in care of Mr. Josh, Ms. Janette, Ms. Liz, and Ms. LJ, your CIRCLE TIME crew! We spent the evening dancing, singing, doing art, eating popcorn, and sending pictures/videos of the whole thing to the students while they were safe at home! APART DOES NOT MEAN ALONE, Friends and Families!
If you didn’t see the ridiculous good time that was our STUPENDOUS STUFFY SLEEPOVER, you are missing out… BUT YOU DON’T HAVE TO MISS OUT NEXT TIME! We will be doing more of these.
You can download a copy of the one-of-a-kind stuffy sleepover coloring book where we featured each of the animals present (along with your circle time friends!)
Check out the fantastical highlights of our Stuffy Sleepover HERE.
This event was a perfect representation of the #GiveTime part of our campaign, what we consider to be the KEY and MOST VITAL part. We wanted to give our kids something to look forward to in uncertain times, to give them a new tradition that they can share with their friends no matter what is going on in the world outside. Each of us gave a little bit. Scrawl Books gave us ideas and goodies for our bags. Pal Dentistry gave us toothbrushes for our stuffys and instructions on how to keep our teeth healthy! We would also love to thank our local author Wayne Truax and family members Mary and Richard Badley for the wonderful addition of Mouse, The Man, and the MGB to our evening (and our goodiebags!)
Last, but not least, Our wonderful families gave us faith, time, money, and their happiness made our giving feel like receiving something warm and full of love.
We have written a lot in the last few weeks on how to Give Time to the people around you that matter, and we will continue to do so. This was just the jump start to our Giving Muscle Fitness Program! We want you to keep at it. Keep giving those five minutes a day. Give yourself five minutes because you are worth it. Give attention to your family for five minutes because you’ll suddenly find that it’s your favorite part of the day. Keep giving it until suddenly it’s seven minutes. Then ten. You will inspire others to do the same, and your reach will expand far beyond your wildest dreams.
We have dug deep into our hearts and not been found wanting. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for making #GivingTuesday2020 so incredible.
Love and Regards,
Ms. LJ
Your Time + Saving You Money = $20 Donation
When we talk about the Common Ground Community feeling like a family, we’re not joking! Once a part of Common Ground, always a part of Common Ground!
Jacob Ayubi is about as connected to Common Ground as someone can get! His mother, Miss Najiba, was a teacher at our center for over 35 years and all four of his kids (he and his wife, Meghan, have a son and triplet daughters!) have attended as well! So when Jacob found out that his company, State Farm, had a charitable giving initiative, he reached out to make sure Common Ground was on their list for the following giving cycle in 2021.
Jacob didn’t stop there though! For our Giving Tuesday campaign, “Give Funds, Give Time”, Jacob has offered to give Common Ground $20 for every person who gets an insurance quote from him. So the gift of a few minutes of your time could save you money, give back to our center, and it’s pretty easy too!
First: Fill out the form at the bottom of this post
Second: Visit Jacob’s Site here: https://jacobsf.com
And that’s it! Jacob will take care of making the donation to Common Ground. Easy as PIE! And just like pie, a lot of small pieces add up to make an even greater whole!
Year-Round Giving can be as Simple as a Smile
I love the convenience of Amazon. In a perfect world, I would shop small. I would take my time to make sure I was always shopping with a company who was concerned with sustainability, like a certified B Corp. But life isn’t perfect. I need things to be easy, fast, and at my fingertips, and that’s why I love that Amazon has their AmazonSmile program!
AmazonSmile is probably one of the easiest ways to give there is, and it just takes about a minute to select your charity (Common Ground, of course) and then it takes a few seconds to remember to shop at smile.amazon.com instead of just Amazon. (Lucky for us, from your browser, Amazon will remind you to shop at the AmazonSmile site!
But what about your Amazon app on your phone?
You can Smile there too, but it does take a few extra steps, that you have to repeat twice a year. But since we are all working on flexing our giving muscles, it just requires setting a reminder in your phone for your renewal date.
Ready for your #GiveFundsGiveTime task for today?
Set “The Child Care Center of The Common Ground Foundation” Tax ID: 54-0913856 as your charity on AmazonSmile - you can see how to do that here
Bookmark smile.amazon.com so that you make sure that all of your purchases count! Or better yet, you can always click through to Amazon from our site, because as an affiliate, we also earn commission through links on our site, like in this post!
Turn on ‘Smile’ in your mobile app. Here are the instructions for that!
Set a reminder in your calendar for the renewal date, so that you don’t forget to renew your Smile!
See, that was SO EASY!
Just remember, small gifts, like the time you took to make sure you’re set up with Amazon Smile, can add up to BIG FUNDS when Amazon donates 0.5% of all of our purchases back to Common Ground!
Want to double your impact? Ask your friends if they are set up on AmazonSmile and send them this post to make sure that they give with their purchases too - even if it’s not to Common Ground!
#GiveFundsGiveTime
Love,
Miss Liz
#GiveFundsGiveTime: The Stuffy Sleepover!
As our big #GivingTuesday #GiveFundsGiveTime Fundraiser,
Common Ground Childcare Presents:
DRUMROLL PLEASE!!
OUR STUPENDOUS STUFFY SLEEPOVER!
Our favorite local bookstore Scrawl Books runs a stuffed animal sleepover for kiddos around Reston, and we fell in love with the idea, so we are trying it out for ourselves.
Covid-19 makes it impossible for kids to hang out with their friends en-mass, which means the tried-and-true Sleepovers and Lock-Ins are out for the foreseeable future. So let your kiddos best fluffy friends hang out together for them!
On Tuesday, November 24th, the stuffies will come into Common Ground for a night of fun! We will sing songs with the famous Mr. Josh! We will give the stuffies a swim lesson courtesy of Goldfish Swim School. We will dance and play games with Ms. LJ! At bedtime we will make sure all our furry friends brush their teeth, snuggle down, and get a bedtime story. We will read with The Magnificent Wayne Truax, local author of Mouse, the Man and the MGB. The best part? Your kiddos will get to see all of this in action, and laugh along with us from the safety of their homes.
The next morning, the Stuffies will pack up, get their amazing goodie bags (including their OWN copy of Mouse, the Man, and the MGB!), board the Common Ground bus, and will be delivered to their kiddos safe and sound and full of adventures.
Sign Up Right Here!
$30.00 Donation to our Campaign gets you a ticket for the stuffy sleepover! It includes the goodie-bags, the fun, the live-videos, and more surprises!
Then you can drop your stuffed animal off on Monday or Tuesday at the center (we will email you with the details when you register!) and it will be delivered home via the Common Ground Bus!
The money raised will go towards necessary educational initiatives at Common Ground Childcare.
In the spirit of #GiveFundsGiveTime, give your kids a chance to be together, especially while apart.
Miss LJ
#GiveFundsGiveTime Campaign Begins!
Let’s face it folks…
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IS EXHAUSTING.
Having time, energy, and money could sometimes be hard at the end of a normal work/school week.
We are running a marathon of enduring loss and fear. Our reserves are stretched, our patience thin. We can sometimes feel paralyzed by indecision and terrible fatigue, unsure of how to maintain JOY in our own households when the world looks so different.
Giving Tuesday is on Tuesday, December 1st this year, and if you’re like us, you feel tapped out.
Our children cannot see their friends, we cannot see our family, a lot of us have had our salaries cut or jobs furloughed. What can one person give when so many buckets are empty?
“GIVING” is a muscle too. It can be overworked and injured. We can see all of the NEED in the world, all the work that needs to be done, and the distance between here and there can seem daunting.
You don’t start working a muscle by running a marathon or lifting 500 lbs. You start by walking a mile. And then another. You lift that 5lb weight until you can lift 10lbs, 15lbs, and so forth.
And so, my friends, I come to my point.
This year, for Giving Tuesday, Common Ground Childcare is running our #GiveTimeGiveFunds campaign.
We are asking for a pledge time OR funds OR both, and we are asking you to give slowly, with care, and with self-forgiveness if it feels too small. No act of kindness is too small.
GIVE FUNDS
This one is easy - we will have plenty of opportunities for you to give money to Common Ground!
Our MAJOR EVENT of the #GiveFundsGiveTime campaign is THE STUFFY SLEEPOVER!! It is a fundraiser we set up to give back to the community, especially those kiddos who are missing their friends and holiday fun.
GIVE TIME
Our most precious commodity, the one we are most adamant to protect, and the one we are often the least efficient with.
NO JUDGEMENTS HERE! During the COVID-19 pandemic I have personally felt like there is endless need, and I still end up doom scrolling on my phone for an unacceptable amount of time each day.
Even in normal circumstances is exceptionally hard to manage something as subjective and intangible as Time, especially when so many important things (and people) seem to have pressing need
Common Ground’s BIG ASK this run-up to Giving Tuesday? Build up those Giving-Time muscles.
We want you to pledge what you think you can do each day for just two weeks!
We are pledging 5 minutes a day until December 1st, and we are only asking for you to do the same.
Do you think you can do more than that? GREAT! Pledge it! We want to see what our community is capable of, because we know it is incredible!
What can you do in five minutes? CHECK OUT OUR FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM for ideas every single day!
You would be amazed at what you could do in five minutes for:
Children
Family
Neighborhood
Environment
Coworkers
Community
Yourself
Causes
We will be talking about one of these each day until December 1st! Please share your ideas, your struggles, your triumphs! In this time of social distancing, seeing your pictures and stories makes us all feel united.
Use our #GiveFundsGiveTime hashtag so we can see the impact of everyone doing “just” five minutes a day.
On December 1st we will look back and see what incredible things we can do in two weeks. Just like you, I know it will be humbling, wholesome, significant.
Get out there and #GIVE!
— Ms. LJ
GIVE TIME: Making a Mess! I mean... Experiments.
SCIENCE IS FUN!!
BUT…
It can be exhausting and overwhelming to turn our kitchen into a science lab.
We found ourselves one Sunday afternoon with crunched leaves in the couch, slime clinging like cement to the outdoor furniture, jugs of different juices with candies and half-melted cheetos floating in them. We had spent all Saturday cleaning, and it felt like we were living in a giant sand garden where the slightest breeze would blow something sticky all over everything… I saw my kids about to turn on the hose for their water table, opened my mouth to yell “NO MORE SCIENCE,” and then listened to what I was about to say to them.
I am not saying you should let your house just be totally dedicated to the whims of a toddler. What I am saying is that curiosity is the KEY to learning.
THIS SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF PRESSURE.
If you watch Emily’s Wonder Lab or watched The Magic School Bus, you think that every experiment has to be organized, clever, and steeped in some fantastic, curriculum-based scientific concept.
Science is not neat. Science is messy. It also does not have to be complicated.
We have a Scientific Method Worksheet free to download IF YOU WANT. It’s not necessary, but it can be nice to keep track of all the journeys of discover you go on. Free Download Here.
What if your three year old wants to know what’s inside an acorn?
1. Ask them what they think. This is a HUGE part of it, because you want them to start trying to figure things out.
2. Gather the materials! (AND YES THEY CAN BE DANGEROUS!) for this one, you just need a hammer and something to protect your floor if you’re inside.
3. SMASH IT! Let them help. It is important that kiddos learn how to use tools safely, or else they will use them NOT safely.
4. Poke at it! Look at the pieces! What is it? This can be the end of the experiment. If they want to know more about the stuff inside, you can look it up, but keep it simple, keep it steeped in wonder.
WHAT ABOUT THE MESS.
Friends, I hear you. My son is a big water-pourer. All the time. He gets in the sink and runs the tap. He sprays the hose into jugs of all sizes. He is constantly stealing people’s drinks and pouring them into other people’s drinks. We keep towels poised in the pantry for when he inevitably spills a cup of water onto the floor, the table, the dog.
This. Is. Science. He is developing spatial awareness. He is figuring out which containers hold the most and the least. He is studying how water works. He is using all of his senses to experience water. “This water’s hotter! This water has air bubbles! This water is wet! (okay, all water is wet, kid…)” He is excited, curious, and into it.
I ended up making a path of towels with different buckets of all sizes up and down the towel line. Before he poured, I’d ask him what he thought would happen, and supply during “observations” time what happened.
"Uh oh! There was too much water for the red cup. Is there too much water for the blue bucket?” “Uh oh! When you put sand in the cup, it becomes too full for the water! Why do you think the sand sank to the bottom?”
As they get older (my five year old is really into science experiments now) you can get into the more complicated messes. “Why is this slime so sticky? What happens if I add baking soda to it? Why shouldn’t I wash it down the sink?”
This was a winding road. Let’s do a quick wrap up, a conclusion, if you will.
These messy science experiments have a lot to offer your kids. They help them study the world around them in a safe environment where they have relative autonomy. They show your children the rewards of being bored and making their own fun. They show your children (and you!) that it’s okay to take chances, make mistakes, and get a little messy… as long as they are willing to clean up after themselves.
Once they realize there is time allowed for “SCIENCE TIME,” it is much easier to enforce the concept of “NOT-SCIENCE TIME.” That helps guide the fun and limit the mess. The worksheet above lets them write down any questions they have that can be answered during “SCIENCE TIME” so you don’t have to be constantly on the look out for eggs hiding in the bathtub… (that was a weird one.)
So get out there, science teams! Make the wonderful messes and maybe answer your own questions!! If you need a list of fantastic easy science experiments, check it out HERE!
Love you all, you whacky scientists,
Ms. LJ