Tsukuba International Preschool » Fun for Kids

How we use our senses: Making Lemonade

Skye — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:58:48 +0000

It feels rough and bumpy

P2 & P3 students explored their senses while making old fashioned lemonade. We thought about which senses we were using duirng the process, from start to end. Students used their oral language, gestures and body language to express their thoughts, ideas and feelings. Below are some photos, and a copy of the recipe we used.

Squeeze and twist!

Stir, stir, stir

Smell and taste

Ingredients:

6 lemons (we substituted with yuzu)

1L of bottled water

1/2 cup sugar

Directions:

Juice the lemons to make approximately 1 cup of juice. To make your labor easier, FIRMLY roll the lemons between your hand and counter top before cutting in half and juicing.
In a bowl or jug, combine lemon juice, sugar, and cold water. Stir. Adjust water to taste. Chill and serve over ice.

During maths time, we graphed the results of who did and didn’t like the lemonade.

Do you like lemonade?

Paper Mache

Skye — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:17:38 +0000

Paper mache is a fun and easy craft activity for young children. It can be used to make many kinds of things, from bowls, to props, and decorations. At TIP, we are learning about our senses, and so this also provided a very good sensory experience, as children talked about needing to have their newspaper pieces very wet and slippery for them to stick effectively to the balloons. Here is a step-by-step guide of how we made our paper mache Jack-o-lanterns.

1.Blow up a balloon.

2. Tear newspaper pages into inch (2.5 cm) wide strips.

3. In a bowl, mix one part water to one part flour to make a paste.

4. Dip pieces of newspaper into the bowl of paste, making sure the entire strip is covered in paste, and cover the balloon with two layers. Repeat again a few days later after it has dried. Make a small opening at one end, pop the balloon and remove.

*To make painting the project easier, the last layer really should be done with white paper

5. Paint the project!

Summer Fun Calendar, 2011

Skye — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 11:58:25 +0000

For those who will not be traveling this summer, here is a calendar of some fun learning activity ideas that children can do each day over the summer. We did not include any cooking activities in here, but these are also a valuable way of teaching your children many concepts such as measurement, time, healthy eating, sources of food and how to handle equipment safely and correctly. Of course, we also encourage children to keep up their English through shared reading and watching English television or movies. We hope you all have a great summer, and look forward to seeing you all again in September!

No-yeast Pizza Dough Recipe

Skye — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 06:00:09 +0000

This is a very easy to make pizza recipe from ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen. This recipe makes 5 small pizzas.

Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2/3 cups water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Method:

1. Mix flour, salt, baking powder and water in a bowl.

2. Knead the dough on a floured counter for about 2 minutes.

3. Roll (or stretch) the dough out into 5 small circles, about 0.5cm thick.

4. Spread oil over bases with fingers or the back of a spoon.

5. Spread your choice of pizza sauce on top, and add any toppings you like, with cheese on top. (Corn seems to be popular topping)

6. Bake at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes or until golden.

7. Eat and enjoy!!

Summer Activity Calendar: June-August 2010

Skye — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 02:50:57 +0000

We have put together a calendar which contains literacy, maths and other activities that you can do with your children every day of the summer holidays. It is specifically designed for P2 children going into P3, but it can also be a nice challenge or opportunity to review some things for our other students. Just click on the link below and download to your computer. Have a fantastic summer!!

Summer Activity Calendar (PDF)

Make Your Own Salt Dough

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:00:37 +0000

We recently made an easy clay recipe in class, and used our hands to create 3D portraits of ourselves. The children really enjoyed the activity and it was great exercise for their little hands. If you are interested in making at home, here is the recipe.

Salt Dough

Salt dough is very easy to make and can be used for a variety of projects. Mold it into beads, use it to create fossils, use cookie cutters or sculpt it into letters or animals. Be creative! You can paint your creations after baking the salt dough in the oven for an hour.

What you’ll need:

4 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of salt
1 and a half cups of warm water
Bowl

How to make your salt dough:

Mix the ingredients above in a bowl until a dough forms. Add extra water a little bit at a time as needed if the dough is too dry.
Shape the dough however you’d like or use it for your craft of choice.
Place the dough creations on a cookie sheet and bake for about one hour at 180C. Keep in mind the thickness of the items will affect the amount of time you cook them!
When the baked dough has cooled it takes paint quite well.