Illustrator of The Gruffalo, Axel Scheffler, and publisher Nosy Crow have just released a free digital book to help parents explain coronavirus to their children. Although it is geared towards 5-9 year olds, there is plenty of helpful information in it that preschool parents can use to answer questions like ‘Why can’t we go outside?’ and ‘Why can’t we visit Granny?’ You can read the book below, download your own copy, or print it out for your kids.
With colourful illustrations and lovely rhymes, this book is perfectly geared towards young children to give them a basic understanding of coronavirus. It was written by University of Exeter medical student Annis Watts.
Can you spot any butterflies out your window? Use this as an opportunity to talk to your kids about a butterfly’s life cycle. Watch the below video together, then get your kids to act out a butterfly’s 4 life stages.
1. Start out as tiny eggs, rolled up in a ball on the floor.
2. Next, wiggle around on the ground like hungry caterpillars looking for leaves to eat.
3. Then, stand with your arms touching above your head as you hide in your chrysalis.
4. Lastly, spread your wings and fly away like a butterfly!
This is also a great opportunity to talk to your child about their own life cycle, as we often do at Pippins. Look at baby photos of your child together, talk about your child learning to crawl, then walk, and growing into a preschooler. Can your child come up with some actions for their own life cycle?
What is your child’s favourite animal? With Google’s new 3D animal feature, you can make a tiger – or lots of other animals – appear right at your kitchen table. Here’s how to do it:
1. Use your mobile or tablet to do a Google search for the animal you would like to meet (e.g. ‘tiger’).
2. In the search results, you should see a white box that says ‘Meet a life-sized tiger up close.’ In that box will be a button labelled ‘View in 3D’.
3. Once you’ve tapped the ‘View in 3D’ button, you will automatically be switched over to your phone/tablet’s camera.
4. Move your camera around a bit and, after a few seconds, a moving, breathing 3D tiger will suddenly appear on your screen, as if it was standing right in front of you.
Looking for some other animals to invite to your next family meal? Lions, penguins, pandas, hedgehogs and sharks are all favourites!
This is a simple and tasty science project that is great for kids of lots of different ages. All you need is some double cream and a container that won’t leak – a clean jar, an empty water bottle, or a zip and seal bag will all work for this. Just fill the container up to halfway with cream, make sure it’s closed tightly, and shake until you create butter! Kids will feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment when they get to spread butter that they made themselves onto their morning toast.
Visit Healthy Little Foodies for more details and to help you explain to your kids why this experiment works.
Check out this short video from ‘Down on the Farm’ on CBeebies. With a small container, a few stones, and some carrot tops or other vegetable scraps, your children can practice their gardening skills.
