Skills Encouraged With This Activity: Color and shape recognition. Fine motor skills including cutting with child safety scissors, taping or gluing, writing, and coloring.
 
Want to make something special for dad? Show dad you love him by making him a colorful, fun tie! All you need are child safety scissors, markers or crayons, TWO sheets of paper, and glue or tape.
 
FIRST, on a sheet of paper, draw the outline of a tie.

SECOND, it’s time to get creative! Decorate your tie any way you want. This is a good time to talk about colors and shapes. Encourage your little ones to name the colors and shapes they are using to decorate their tie.

When you are finished decorating, EITHER put your second sheet of paper underneath the drawing of your tie, and cut out the tie so you make TWO ties OR cut out your tie and hold it over the blank sheet of paper so your child can trace the outline of the tie to cut out a second tie.

NEXT, glue the top of your decorated tie to the top of your blank tie.
Inside is where you can write your favorite thing about your dad or other important male figure in your life. Allow your child to talk about their favorite things about their dad and then, if able, they can write them inside the tie.
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​When you have completed your tie, you can share your child’s design on Twitter or our Facebook page with the hashtag #FamilyFriday #Carla&LivKIDS and see everyone else’s beautiful ties!

​Happy #FamilyFriday and Happy Father’s Day!

Skills Encouraged With This Activity: Counting (1-5) and Color Recognition!

​While walking through your backyard, neighborhood, or local park, look for flowers with different colors or numbers of petals. Along the way, ask your child to count how many petals are on the flowers, or how many points are on the leaves. Also, encourage your child to describe what color each flower or leaf is.

​How many petals does each flower have? What color is each flower?
As the children explore nature, you can explain to them how the flowers grow and get their beautiful colors. Just like humans, plants need food AND water to grow. But how? Photosynthesis! (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/photosynthesis)
Just like how humans cook each meal, plants make their own food too. Plants need water, carbon dioxide (CO2), and light to make their food.

Next, look at a picture of a flower or an actual flower and use either Cheerios or thumb prints to create the flower petals while your child counts them out loud. Then add the stems.
 
Feel free to draw more stems or draw more petals when the children can work up to 10!

​Not only is this exercise fun, but it allows your little ones to be creative while learning about the variety of colors and shapes in nature along with photosynthesis (the process of how plants make food).  ​