How To Go Bird Watching In Your Backyard With Toddlers & Preschoolers!

momstown Oakville moms and kids came ready to learn all about our theme of the month, 'birds', for our Little Scientist program.  Each little one made binoculars by glueing scrapbook paper around toilet paper rolls, stapling them together, punching a hole in the side and stringing ribbon through, and then decorating with bird stickers.  Then we looked at a few pages of birds in some books, and studied our bird diagram sheets, with the labels of all the parts of 4 birds - Blue Jay, Woodpecker, Great Blue Heron and Loon.

Birds hidden in the backyard, ready to be discovered!

Oakville moms and kids talked about the four things that make birds, birds: their bodies are covered in feathers, they have wings, they lay eggs, and they are warm blooded.  Then we headed out into the backyard, armed with our binoculars, our bird fact sheets, and pencils to tally up how many of each bird we saw.

Our bird fact sheets

Using the binoculars he made to find those birds!

We talked about what a tally was, and how it is a good way to count things and all you have to do is put a line beside the picture each time you see that bird.  We had fun finding the 10 bird cut outs that were hidden in the backyard, and we also saw and heard a few real birds as well - a cardinal and a dove.  We sat in the shade and counted our tally marks, and talked about where we found the birds, which ones were our favourites, and what each bird looked like.  The Little Scientist program ended with a few books about birds and our little scientists went home very happy after spending their morning bird watching!

We run a Little Scientist program every month and would welcome you to join us.  Find out more about becoming a momstown Oakville member by clicking here.  A one year membership is $45 a year and includes a 12 month subscription to Today's Parent magazine!

momstown Oakville Little Scientists Explore Shapes

momstown Oakville's theme for the month of June is shapes and so Oakville moms and kids had a really fun time exploring different shapes this morning during our Little Scientists program.  The group started off reading a book about shapes where we had to match the shape in the picture to one on a spinning wheel.

Then we played a shape matching game.  Each person got a board that had been made using six different shapes cut out of sandpaper and glued on.  There were matching shapes cut out of felt, and each child had to pick the felt colour that matched the colour of their board and then match the right shape to the right sandpaper. We talked about the different textures - rough and soft, and the sandpaper helps the felt shape stick to the board.  We traced around the sandpaper shapes with our fingers and talked about how many sides each shape had, and whether they were curvy or straight and where we might find those shapes around our houses or outside.

Next we used mini marshmallows and straws to construct our own shapes. We used the marshmallows as "glue" to glue the straws together.  It was tricky, but good practice for our little fingers.

After we used bags of goo to practice drawing the shapes we had been talking about.  We filled a plastic snack bag with hair gel, food colouring and glitter and zipped it up tight.  We laid the bag flat on the table and either used a shape cookie cutter to press into the goo to make the shape, or used our finger to draw the shape in the goo.  Each of the momstown Oakville Little Scientists got to take a bag home to practice writing numbers, letters, and more shapes.

The kids had a great time and our Oakville moms were impressed - our little ones are a bunch of smart cookies and really know their shapes!  momstown Oakville's Little Scientists program is a monthly program - just one of many included in your yearly membership for just $45 a year.  Click here to see our calendar and join in on the fun!

Science for Preschoolers With Magnets

In April the momstown Oakville Little Scientist program for toddlers and preschoolers explored our theme of the month (Little Explorers) using magnets.  First we investigated a whole tray of objects and tested out whether each one stuck to our magnet wands or not.  Our scientists sorted them into two piles - magnetic (which we discovered were all made of metal) and non-magnetic (made of things like cloth or rock or elastic or plastic).

Then we made some caterpillars dance!  Using glass jars with little bits of pipe cleaners, we waved our magnet wands around the jars, the pipe cleaner bits or "caterpillars" moved around the jar. momstown Oakville kids even did some magnetic painting!  Each child got a paper plate filled with a blob of yellow, blue and red paint.  We placed a paper clip on our plate, and then used our magnet under the plate to move the paper clip around, through the paint and all over the plate.  The colours all mixed and we made green, orange and purple and our plates looked like beautiful works of art!

Finally we played with 5 different magnetic toys - a magnetic bar and ball set which we used to build towers and shapes, a magnetic person with magnetic clothes that we could change, a fishing puzzle with a magnetic fishing rod and magnetic fish pieces, magnetic vehicles that we zoomed all over a metal baking tray, and plastic fish that we turned magnetic by using a paper clip which we could "fish" for using our magnet wand.

What a fantastic time experimenting with magnets!  Little Scientists is just one of our Top 10 momstown programs.  Sign up for your free momstown Oakville trial today and learn more about our 40+ monthly events, message board, member discounts and more!

momstown Oakville Little Scientists - Learning About Fire Safety

momstown Oakville had firefighters in the house today for our monthly Little Scientist program.  All were interested in learning about fire safety.  They made sure they had their firefighter costumes on, and we started by reading some books about fire fighters and fire trucks.  Then we read aloud "No Dragons For Tea - Fire Safety for Kids and Dragons" by Jean Prendziwol.  It went through some great safety tips, like making sure you have a working smoke alarm in your house, and if there is a fire in your house, crawling along the floor to the exit, making sure you don't stop and hide, or go back to try to get any favourite toys.

If your clothes should suddenly catch fire, you Stop! Drop! And Roll!  This takes away any air that may make the flames on your clothes get bigger, and it will put the flames right out.  We did a demonstration with a jar and a lit candle inside.  When the lid was put on top, there wasn't any air coming to the flame, and the flame went out.  We talked about never playing with matches, and that only mommies and daddies light birthday candles, and then we blow them out without touching them.

Then momstown Oakville Little Scientists made their own candle holders using baby food jars.  Each Little Scientist got to practise their cutting skills, and cut colourful tissue paper into small shapes.  Then we used mod podge and a paintbrush to paint the jars.  We stuck little pieces of our tissue paper on the jars, then painted over them with the mod podge.  Once the whole jar was covered, a ribbon and bell were tied around the neck of the jar.  Then came the felt and foam stickers to decorate the top of the jar.  When the candle holders were done, everyone got a tealight candle to put inside.  The candle was lit and the kids loved seeing how it made the jar glow and that the tissue paper look like stained glass.  Then the kids blew out the flames or put the top on the jars and watched the flames go out.

It was a great afternoon helping momstown Oakville's Little Scientists learn about fire safety.  Interested in joining us next month?  Sign up here!  Our Little Scientist program and all the materials for this and many other programs is all included in your membership for just $45 a year.  And all memberships purchased in 2013 also receive a BONUS 12 month Today's Parent subscription!