Required Materials:

• Pipe cleaners
• Bubble liquid

Optional (but Recommended) Materials:

• Pony beads (to make a patriotic one choose red, white and blue beads)
• A cookie cutter (to make a patriotic one try a star-shaped cookie cutter)

Directions:

1. Wrap the pipe cleaner gently around the cookie cutter until the pipe cleaner is molded into the shape of the cutter (note: if it loses its shape at any point, simply place it back on the cookie cutter to get the shape again!).
   1. If you don’t have a cookie cutter just carefully shape your pipe cleaner.
2. Attach a straight pipe cleaner onto the shaped one; now you’ve made your wand!
3. Add the pony beads to your wand in any pattern you would like, and secure them at the bottom by looping the last bead around the pipe cleaner. This step is just for looks – you can skip it if you don’t have beads!
4. Ask your parent for a small bowl with some bubble solution and enjoy a day of bubble blowing in the summer!

Activity by Stephanie Zafferano, Fiske Site
Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.iheartcraftythings.com

Materials: 

• Chalk
• Bean Bags 
• Large sidewalk/ Driveway area

Instructions: 

1. Draw a bunch of circles that are spaced a foot or two apart and big enough for a bean bag to fit in with some extra room.
2. Inside each circle write a point value, targets that are further from the throwing point should be worth more points! You can also make different shapes and sizes for targets, making them smaller will make it more difficult!
3. Using your bean bags, try to aim them into your targets! If you are playing with someone, use 3-5 bean bags each, and each person can only get 1 bean bag per hole (for example if your hardest target is worth 25 points, you can only get credit for one of your bean bags landing in it). Determine your rules before hand about landing it in the target- if it is halfway in the target will it still count or will it be worth half the points?
4. Tally your points for all the bean bags that landed inside a circle, the person with the most points wins!

Activity by Amanda Cardinal, Upham Site
Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.whatmomslove.com 

Materials:

• Sticks or wooden dowels/skewers
• Rubber bands
• Leaves/grass
• Toys with hair (dolls, horses)
• Sponges
• Qtips
• Scrap fabric
• Yarn
• Paint
• Paper

Instructions:

Nature Inspired Paint Brushes

To make a nature inspired paint brush take a walk outside and find a few straight sticks and plenty of leaves and grass. With the leaves and grass in a bunch, secure it at the end of your stick with a rubber band. Test out your new paint brush without paint first to see if it’s tied tight enough!

Yarn Paint Brushes

With skewers and short pieces of yarn use the same technique to make a yarn paint brush. Ribbon and scrap can also be used for a totally different texture.

Doll or Toy Paint Brushes

If you make sure to give them a bath when you are done, toys with hair like dolls and horses can also be paint brushes. Try giving them a ponytail or four and see what your brush strokes look like. 

Q-Tip or Sponge Paint Brushes

Qtips and sponges are another easy paint brush replacement. Cut the sponges to make stamps and tie together multiple qtips for different effects or easy flower stamps.

Activity by Tiana Chu, Floating Teacher

Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.applegreencottage.com

Facts

• There are 17 different species of penguins
• The smallest penguin is “Little Blue, or Little Fairy”
• The largest penguin is the Emperor penguin
• Most penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere – Antarctica, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Argentina
• Penguins eat a variety of fish and other small sea creatures
• Penguins can’t fly Penguins waddle as they walk

Here are 2 fun penguin videos

• Funniest penguin videos

• All about penguins

Read Aloud Tacky the Penguin, read by Sarah is attached

Activities

Listen to the read aloud, Tacky the Penguin, then in your journal you can use one of any of these prompts to draw and write about

• If you were Tacky what silly things would you do at home?
• Tacky has 5 companions with different names, can you draw 5 penguins and give them each an interesting name?

Penguin words and pictures if you want to copy and draw them. Maybe you have some chalk and you can draw them outside.

Penguin Words 1, Penguin Words 2

Here is the New England Aquarium Webcam on the African penguins who live there. There is also a penguin bingo card. You can watch the video cam and then see if you can look at your bingo card and find some of the penguins behaviors – like bowing, preening, etc.

Bingo Card.pdf

Can you make your own penguin using legos, recyclable materials, etc.

Materials:

• Something to contain your garden such as an old plastic container (tupperware, recycled food containers) or spare terra cotta pot
• Any random craft materials including (but not limited to):
  • Recycled yogurt container or tissue box
  • Marbles, beads, plastic jewels
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Feathers
  • Markers
  • Scraps of cardboard or fabric
  • Pipe Cleaners
  • Tacky Glue 
  • Scissors
  • Outdoor materials:
  • Soil or Dirt
  • Small Sticks, Leaves 
  • Small stones
  • Moss, Flower petals
• Your imagination!

Directions: 

These directions are just suggestions, feel free to make it however you like!

• Use your plastic container as your base and fill it with some dirt or soil as your base.
• Create a house for your fairy using a recycled yogurt container. Cut out a little rectangle as the door.  You could also build a small house out of popsicle sticks or glue popsicle sticks to a tissue box.
• Decorate your house with gems, buttons, and markers
• You can then add a walkway with marbles or stones.  Use the popsicle sticks for a fence instead.
• Make a welcome sign out of cardboard, attach it to a small stick, and set it in your dirt.
• Create the garden portion using moss or leaves as your greenery and petals for flowers.
• Of course you could also build a tiny table and chairs or stick feathers into the dirt for some texture and color.
• The options are endless, use your own creativity!

What’s the best day to fly a kite? Winds-day!

Materials:

• Paper lunch bags
• Streamers/ribbon/anything that can blow in the breeze
• Hole punch
• Sturdy string
• Markers, stickers, etc. to decorate the kite
• Tape

Directions:

1. Decorate the paper lunch bag as you would like, using the stickers, markers, etc.
2. Open the bag and use the hole punch to make 2 holes on the open side of the bag.
3. Loop the string through the 2 holes, and tie it tightly.
4. Add streamers to the other end of the closed bag using tape or glue, or even hole punching them through.
5. When flying the kite, hole the string and make sure the bag is open to catch the air.

Activity by Stephanie Zafferano, Fiske Site
Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.somewhatsimple.com

Veterinarians, which we often call “vets,” are animal doctors. Some vets work with large farm animals, some work with wild animals, and some work with household animals (pets!) Vets go to a lot of school to learn how to take care of animals. In school, they learn how to take care of all animals but usually choose their favorite to work with when they are done.

Have you ever been to the vet’s office before? I have! Pinto Bean does not like going. She meows in the car the whole time, and tried to run and hide when I let her out of her carrier in the office. They give her treats, though. Which makes her feel better. Do you like going to the doctor? Is there anything there that makes you feel better or helps you stay calm?

Here is a video about being a veterinarian!

Activity ideas!

• Play vet with your lovies or animal toys! If you have a play doctor kit, you can use that. If not, create your own kit out of things around the house! They use nail clippers, a thermometer, a stethoscope, and a scale a lot when I take Pinto. (attached a vet report)
• Journal idea: What kind of veterinarian would you want to be? Your options are care for pets, for wild animals, or for farm animals.
• Practice writing words about veterinarians! Some of them are long!

Resources

• Vet Report
• Vet Words

Gorillas are such interesting animals. I am sure that many of you have seen them when visiting a zoo or read books about them. Today we are going to learn all about gorillas, watch some great videos, listen to 2 books and learn all about KOKO the gorilla who could use sign language to communicate with humans.

Gorilla Facts

Where do Gorillas live?

Gorillas live in Central Africa. There are two main species of gorilla, the Eastern Gorilla and the Western Gorilla. The Western Gorilla lives in Western Africa in countries such as Cameroon, the Congo, the Central African Republic, and Gabon. The Eastern Gorilla lives in Eastern African countries such as Uganda and Rwanda. Gorillas live in a range of habitats from swamps to forests. There are lowland gorillas which live in bamboo forests, swamps and lowland forests. There are also mountain gorillas which live in the mountains.

What do they eat?

Gorillas are mostly herbivores and eat plants. The plants they eat include leaves, stems pith, fruit, and bamboo. Sometimes they will eat insects, especially ants. A full grown adult male will eat around 50 pounds of food in a day.

What do they look like?

Gorillas have long arms, even longer than their legs! They use their long arms to “knuckle-walk”. This is where they use the knuckles on their hands to walk on all fours. They are mostly covered with brown hair. Gorillas from different areas may have different colored hair. For example, the western gorilla has the lightest hair and the mountain gorilla has the darkest. The western lowland gorilla can also have grayish hair and red colored forehead. When male gorillas get older their hair turns white on their back. These older males are called Silverback gorillas.

Fun Facts About Gorillas

• Gorillas have hands and feet like humans including opposable thumbs and big toes.
• Some gorillas in captivity have learned to use sign language to communicate with humans.
• Gorillas live in small groups called troops or bands. In each troop there is one dominant male Silverback, some female gorillas, and their offspring.
• Gorillas live around 35 years. They can live longer, up to 50 years, in captivity.
• They sleep at night in nests.
• Baby gorillas will stay in their mother’s nests until they are around 2 ½ years old. Baby gorillas are called ‘Infants’ just like us.
• Gorillas are generally calm and passive animals, however, the Silverback will defend his troop if he feels threatened.

Resources

• Gorilla Words
• Gorilla Activities

Koko the Gorilla

Read about Koko the Gorilla here.

Koko wants a baby

Meet Koko’s new kittens

Koko meets Mr. Rodgers and blows out birthday candles

Koko plays the electronic keyboard

Koko plays with a yellow balloon

What you’ll need:

• 4 tablespoons of water
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of dish soap
• Winter gloves
• Bubble wands

How to make it:

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a shallow dish or cookie sheet. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Now you’re ready to blow bubbles with your bubble wands! It’s that easy! Put the bubble wand in the solution, then take it out and gently blow to create bubbles!
3. To make the bubbles bounce you need to have gloves on. The gloves are necessary so the bubbles don’t come in contact with the oil on your hands which will make them pop. Blow the bubbles gently and let them softly bounce on your hand with gloves on.  It may be tricky if it’s windy outside but this is an activity you can do inside as well!

If you don’t have bubble wands, you can make your own!

What you’ll need:

• String
• 2 straws

How to make it:

1. Cut a piece of string about 3 feet long.
2. Thread 2 straws onto the string and tie the ends of the string together to make a loop.
3. Pull the straws to each side to make a rectangle.
4. Now you’re ready to blow bubbles with your new bubble wand!

Activity by Steph Finucane, Upham Site
Photo Credit & Inspiration: www.alittlepinchofperfect.com and www.buggyandbuddy.com