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preventing illnesses in daycare

Child care is a necessity in many people's lives. Unfortunately, something so necessary can put your child at an increased risk of getting sick more often than he or she would if child care services weren't needed. What can you do to ensure that your child doesn't bring home every virus being passed around the child care facility? Is there anything you can do to help stop the spread of germs? Take a minute to visit my website where you will learn about the nutrients that can help boost your child's immune system and what you can do to keep your child healthy during the cold and flu season.

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preventing illnesses in daycare

3 Preschool Science Activities You Can Do With Your Child

by Teresa Green

It is important to begin teaching your child at an early age while their brain has critical periods of learning, even before kindergarten starts. Beginning at age three, you can involve your child in preschool at home or out of the home. In a 25-year study recently concluded, it was found children who participate in preschool have a higher chance to have more education in life, higher incomes, health insurance, and no criminal records. To give your child the benefits of early education with preschool, here are three preschool science activities you can do at home.

Activity # 1: Make a Water Well

This activity teaches your child about the water cycle and where water comes from. This example helps illustrate how rain water accumulates in the soil and is collected from a water well for drinking water. You will need the following:

  • Empty sand pail or plastic ice cream bucket
  • Cardboard toilet paper tube
  • Water
  • Fish tank gravel
  • Sand

First, place the toilet paper tube on its end inside the empty container to represent the water well. Then sprinkle two inches of gravel around the outside of the toilet paper tube. Be careful not to let any gravel fall inside the toilet paper tube. As you build the water well with your child, explain to your child what each item represents.

Next, pour sand over the outside of the toilet paper tube until only one inch of the tube sticks out of the sand. The sand and gravel represents the earth's layers of soil. Let your child pour water into the sand until the water level reaches the top of the layer of sand. The water will begin to fill the water well toilet paper tube until it reaches the top.

Teach your child that the water accumulating in the ground builds up pressure until a well is dug. The pressure pushes the water into the well so we can collect it for drinking.

Activity # 2 Pine Cone Bird Feeder

By making a pine cone bird feeder, you can teach your child about what birds eat. Hang the feeder outside a window in your home and let your child watch the birds come to eat. For this simple project, you will need the following:

  • Several pine cones, depending on how many feeders you want to make
  • Peanut butter or vegetable shortening
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Yarn
  • Bird seeds

Give your child a pine cone, a popsicle stick, and a bowl containing peanut butter or vegetable shortening. Show your child how to spread the peanut butter or shortening on the outside of the pine cone, or they can roll the pine cone until it is coated. 

Cover a cookie sheet with a layer of bird seeds and let your child roll the pine cone in the birdseed. The seeds will stick to the shortening or peanut butter. 

Tie a length of yarn around the pine cone to make a loop so you can hang the pine cone from a tree or hook on your outside porch. Encourage your child to watch the pine cone each day to see as the birds eat the seeds.

Activity # 3 Growing Seeds

This activity teaches your child about how seeds germinate and grow with the right conditions of sunlight and moisture. The materials needed for this project include the following:

  • Package of bean seeds 
  • Paper towel
  • Plastic baggie
  • Water

Have your child moisten a paper towel in a bowl of water, then spread it on the table or counter. Give them four or five bean seeds to place on the paper towel, then have them fold the paper towel up to enclose the seeds. Place the wet paper towel and seeds inside a plastic baggie and place the bag on a sunny window ledge. Help your child check the bag each day to watch the seeds germinate and sprout roots and leaves.

For more advice on preschool activities, contact a business such as Kid's Country Child Care & Learning Center.

 

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