The first kindergarten was founded by Friedrich Froebel in Germany in 1837.

One day, your child will be going off to kindergarten, but in the meantime, he or she will love “playing” school—especially if he or she gets to be the teacher. This play-acting will give you an insight into what your child imagines school to be like. Take your student role seriously and be sure to do what your pint-sized instructor says!

 

Mr. and Mrs. Green are made using wooden pegs and acrylic paints, hot glue and fabric scraps with their eco-friendly, energy efficient, recycled toilet paper roll car.  This family knows all about helping to save the environment!

 

 

Cosmic Crafts

Celebrate Earth Day every day by joining the voyage of the trash-ship Enterprise. Its ongoing mission: to create delightful playthings from household junk, to confine its operations to a discarded bookcase, and to boldly recycle what no one has recycled before. In other words, gather all those things you’ve been saving in your recycling bins and follow our directions to make a space station inhabited by Trash Masters, an eco-groovy race of recyclers. Create specialized vehicles, conveyors, and robots and invent new accessories and components. Whether your family chooses to make just one element or the entire station, set your phasers to “recycle” and prepare to have so much fun with trash that you’ll feel graced with waste. Litter-ly.

 

The Trash Masters

Your kids will love creating and playing with these miniature action figures.
Two-Liter Transporter

It’s the fastest way to travel this side of the universe. Just give the Two-liter Transporter a quick turn, and the Trash Master or robot inside “disappears” behind a trick piece of silvery paper.
Space-Waste Vehicles

Drive the sturdy, smooth-riding Junkmobile and the Satellite Recycler around the neighborhood on regular collection days, or park beneath the Waste Shooter for a quick fill.
Trash Tram

Kids can haul loads up and down in this berry basket elevator.
Control Panels

Everyone knows you can’t run a space station without them.

OTHER IDEAS

•Roll-on Robot’s empty stick-deodorant body (short or tall) sports glittery pipe cleaner antennae. Bring him to life with googly eyes, stickers, or drawn-on facial features.
•Decorated metal jar lids tell planetary time
•The Satellite Recycler monitors galactic refuse with its miniature pie-pan dish
•The Body Shop dial (a coffee creamer cup attached to a plastic coffee can lid) turns thanks to simple pipe cleaner technology
•The play station’s Control Panels feature aluminum-foil-covered boxes and knobs that turn
•Poster tack holds wall and floor coverings made from wrapping paper, Bubble Wrap, and aluminum foil to the bookcase
CRAFTING TIPS

Two secrets to making almost every play station item:

1. Perforating plastic (necessary to thread a paper fastener, bamboo skewer, or pipe cleaner through plastic): Use a pushpin to make a starter hole, then push the tip of your scissors, or a Phillips screwdriver, into the hole and rotate it to widen the opening (a parent’s job).

2. Pipe cleaner fasteners (for chairs, satellite dish, knobs, and trucks): Per Tip #1, poke a hole in each item wherever it is to be attached to another (some spout lids already have a hole, although it may need to be widened with pointy scissors). Twist the top of a pipe cleaner into a small anchoring loop, then thread the bottom through the holes in both items, as shown at left. Make a large loop at the bottom of the pipe cleaner and twist it until the items fit together snugly. Press the loop flat against the bottom item (as you would a paper fastener).

Here’s a great project to get kids’ imaginations soaring. Read the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk” to your child. Then glue a lima bean down on a piece of blank paper. Ask your child to draw something growing out of this “magic” bean. You’ll be amazed at what your little one comes up with! For further lima bean fun you may read, A Bad Case of Stripes, by David Shannon.

Today starts National TV Turnoff Week

Instead of losing hours of the week “vegging” in front of a screen, make it a priority to find alternative forms of entertainment this week. Whenever you feel the TV calling, pull out a board game, go for a walk, listen to music, read a book, or start a craft project instead. You’ll be singing, dancing, and playing in no time flat!

The Titanic was supposed to be an unsinkable ship, until an iceberg brought her down. However, nowadays, with our technology, this could not happen. And it also won’t happen when you make an unsinkable sponge boat with your little sailor! There are many different types including row boats, sailboats, tugboats, steamboats, airboats, motorboats, cruise ships, and barges, to name a few. To reinforce your child’s understanding of various types of boats, gather up magazines with pictures visit the library or bookstore. Then try this boat-building project, which will teach you child about the many different ways to powerboats and the physics of floating. You will need the following materials: sponges, tape, safety scissors, paper for sails drinking straws, crayons, markers or stickers.

Step By Step
1. Assist your child in cutting the sponges into shapes of boats.
2. Make the sail by cutting a small square out of construction paper.
3. Decorate the sail with crayons, markers or stickers. Try using red, white and blue markers and star-shaped stickers for a festive look.
4. Cut straw in half, lengthwise for the mast.
5. Tape sail to the straw.
6. Cut a small hole in middle of sponge and insert the mast.
7. Float the boats in a tub of water. Bon Voyage!

Make no mistake, Rubber Eraser Day celebrates the invention of erasers. We all make mistakes. This day is designated to recognize and appreciate the value of that little plug (as manufacturers call them) that sits atop our pencils. When we make a mistake, they are the big “cover-up”, make that eraser, of our booboo or faux pax. Just imagine how messy our documents would be without it!

Why not just call it “Eraser Day”? There’s two reasons. The first erasers were made of rubber. Today, they are made of rubber, or vinyl.  Secondly, in Great Brittain, they are formally called “rubbers”.

In the world of erasers, two men are prominent. Joseph Priestley discovered the eraser in 1770, using pieces of rubber imported from Brazil. Then in 1858, Hyman Lipman of Philadelphia, Pa., patented the pencil with an eraser at the end.  

Today’s Quote: To err is human, an era

To you, an eraser is just an eraser. However for a young child, it’s magic! Using a pencil, draw a smiley face on a piece of paper. Now take an eraser and erase it. First it’s there, and then it’s not! Your child will be wide eyed with amazement, Be sure to let her have a turn with a little piece of rubber magic! ser is divine!

Pecan trees are the only nut tree that’s native to North America, which is a good reason to celebrate National Pecan Day on April 14 of each year. Pecans can be used in many interesting and surprising ways, and you’ll be able to find some to suit your personal tastes. Besides their delightful taste, pecans are also beneficial to your health, with research showing that they have antioxidants to help reduce the threat of cancer.

Pecan kisses are sweet little treats your family will love to eat. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Then beat 1 egg white until stiff. Add 3/4 cup of light brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. of vanilla, and 2 cups of chopped pecans. Mix until blended. Drop by the teaspoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, then turn off the oven and let cookies remain inside for another 30 minutes. Give out kisses!