Posts filed under ‘Education’
Chipper Recycle Craft: Paper Plate Frog
This week, Chipper created this fun paper plate frog! Not only can this craft be made from materials lying around the house, this craft also incorporates a fun science lesson!
Here’s what you need:
-kid-friendly scissors
-tape or glue (Chipper used double-sided tape!)
-three pieces of construction paper (one red, one green, one white)
-a green and black marker
-a paper plate
First, color the back of the paper plate green with a marker. (You can use a crayon, paint, or any other medium as well.)
Fold the paper plate in half. Draw and cut out four frog feet from green construction paper. Draw and cut out a tongue shape from red construction paper. Draw and cut out eyes from white paper. Attach to folded plate with tape or glue like so:
And voila! Here is a fun and cute paper plate frog.
Along with this craft, teach your child about frogs! Here are some fun frog facts:
-Frogs hibernate in the winter
-Instead of drinking water through their mouths, frogs absorb water through their skin!
-A group of frogs is called an “army”!
-Frogs can be found on every continent except for Antarctica
Also, you can do frog-jumps around the house/park/backyard to reiterate the importance of exercise to your little one! Here’s a fun video on various animal exercises:
Let’s Go Chipper for Frogs!
Chipper Recycle Craft + Snack: Garden Lady Bug
Spring is in full throttle and summer is right around the corner! Now is the perfect time to get outdoors and explore your gardens! Finding little creepy crawlies with your little ones is not only a fun exercise, it instill an inherent curiosity in your child. That curiosity will push them to explore and learn about not only the great outdoors, but all aspects of the world. Education should inspire them to find out more, not stifle their natural wonder.
Take your little one(s) on a nature walk, strolling slowly in your back yard or community garden. Take 5 minutes in each area, observing things carefully, to see what you can find! Keep a look out for lovely little ladybugs. Here are 10 fun facts about ladybugs to teach your kiddos:
- Ladybugs are also called Lady beetles or Ladybirds.
- The male ladybug is usually smaller than the female.
- A ladybug beats its wings 85 times a second when it flies.
- The spots on a ladybug fade, as the ladybug gets older.
- In many countries, ladybugs are considered to be good luck.
- Aphids are a ladybug’s favorite food, making them good for your garden.
- There are over 5000 different kinds of ladybugs worldwide.
- A female ladybug will lay more than 1000 eggs in her lifetime.
- Ladybugs chew from side to side and not up and down like people do.
- Ladybugs are all around us! Ladybugs can be found in trees, shrubs, fields, beaches, and even houses!
LADYBUG CRAFT
What you Need:
- Egg carton or round cardboard piece
- black and red markers, paint or crayons
- scissors or whole puncher
- Pipe cleaners
- Optional: googly eyes
Instructions:
- Separate one cup from an egg carton or use any round cardboard pieces you have on hand.
- Using markers or paint to color the egg carton cup red. Then, using black paint/markers, color in the head, and make spots on the body.
- Using the point of a scissors or a hole puncher, an adult should make 6 small holes (3 on each side) at the base of the cup (these will be for the legs. Make 2 small holes (for antennae) where the top of the head will be.
- Insert a black pipe cleaner into each a side hole and out the other side for the legs. Use half a pipe cleaner for the antennae.
- Glue on googly eyes or paint on white eyes.
- Take your ladybug into the garden and try to spot some real ones!
LADYBUG SNACK
This Simple Recipe is Tasty and Cute!
Ingredients:
1-small red apple
2tsp.- strawberry cream cheese (low-fat)
1/8 cup- raisins or dried cranberries
1 or 2-red or black seedless grapes
Optional: lettuce leaves for garnish if desired.
Alternatives: peanut or almond butter instead of cream cheese. Round cereal instead of raisins, a small pinch of cinnamon. Use your imagination and what you have on hand in the kitchen.
Directions:
Wash the apples and lettuce. Arrange a few lettuce leaves on each plate. Cut apples in half from stem to bottom. Remove seeds. Lay each half of apple cut side down on
cutting board and cut in half from stem to bottom. With skin side up place both halves of apple on top of lettuce. Put a small amount of cream cheese in-between the apple
halves to adhere the apple back together (enough to have a small amount squish out the top). Stick raisins to cream cheese down the middle of apple, then use a small dab of cream cheese to adhere the raisins (see picture below) on each wing. Cut a grape in half and use cream cheese to stick it to one end of your ladybug apple for the head.
This is a perfect recipe for adults and kids to make together. It’s fun, easy, cute, and so tasty. And did Chipper mention it’s healthy too? “Healthy before sweet, can’t be beat!”
Chipper Adventure: May Day and New Born Islands
No! This is not a beach.
WHERE IS THE VOLCANO?
WE STAYED ON THE EDGE OF THE WATER.
THEN THIS WAS SPOTTED: ASH AND
And, while WE were watching,
a plume of black ash, a HUGE CLOUD.
COVERING EVERYTHING IN RED, EVEN THIS FAR AWAY.
THEN THE SKY TURNS BLACK WITH ASH
OUT OF THE OCEAN, MOUNTAIN PEAKS ARISE?
MORE ERUPTIONS; ASH AND CLOUDS.
THEN MOUNTAIN PEAKS RISE HIGHER
AND A BRAND-NEW ISLAND IS FORMED!
CREATION OF MOUNTAINS
CAN YOU IMAGINE THE THRILL OF BEING
Photos courtesy Jesse Allen NASA Earth Observatory
Chipper Craft & Snack: Celery-printed flowers!
Happy Sunday! This week, Chipper snacked on and played with one of his favorite nutritious foods, celery! Normally, Chipper picks up some celery every week at the super market. Did you know that celery provides anti-inflammatory health benefits? Or that the crunchy vegetable contains antioxidants such as vitamin C and flavonoids that help protect us from unwanted oxygen damage to our cells, organs, and blood vessels? It does!
This week, Chipper created flower prints from celery. It is an easy craft that can be created with materials that are lying around at home. All you need is: celery, a knife, paint, and a piece of paper! Here’s how:
First, take your bunch of celery and cut off the bottom.
Then, dip the bottom portion of the celery stalk in to paint and stamp away! Chipper used red paint.
The celery stalk ends up creating these fun, flower shaped objects.
Here’s Chipper‘s end product.
Chipper cut up the rest of the celery stalk and enjoyed it with some peanut butter.
According to an article by Harvard Health Publications, peanut butter has fiber, vitamins, and mineras, among other nutrients. Unsalted peanut butter contains a terrific potassium-to-sodium ratio, which “counters the harmful cardiovascular effects of sodium surplus….even salted peanut butter still has about twice as much potassium as sodium.” In addition, many research studies have concluded that people who “regularly include nuts or peanut butter in their diets are less likely to develop heart disease or type 2 diabetes than those who rarely eat nuts.”
With this craft and snack, teach your child the importance of being creative and snacking right all at the same time!
Let’s Go Chipper for creativity and healthy snacking!
Chipper Recycle Craft: Arbor Day Tree
Happy Arbor Day! Arbor Day is a national holiday that encourages people to care for, appreciate, and plant trees. Each state tends to celebrate Arbor Day on its own day, the most common date for Arbor day is the last Friday of April. Proposed by a journalist by the name of J. Sterling Morton, the first Arbor day was celebrated in Nebraska, 1872. Other countries besides the United States celebrate environmentalism and tree-planting, too:
Japan – Greening Week
Isreal – The New Years Day of Trees
Korea – The Tree Loving Week
Yugoslavia – The Reforestation Week
Iceland – The Students’ Afforestation Day
India – The National Festival of Tree Planting
In celebration of Arbor Day, Chipper made a coffee sleeve tree recycle-craft this week! This craft is simple, eco-friendly, and even incorporates the theme of trees for Arbor Day!
Here’s what you need:
First, cut the coffee sleeves open and cut pieces to create a trunk. Cut the green coffee sleeves open and cut leaf shapes. If you don’t have green coffee sleeves, just use marker, paint, or crayon to color your coffee sleeves green!
Then, place glue (or tape!) down the center of your piece of construction paper like so:
Place the pieces down like so:
And there you have it–a fun and simple tree craft for Arbor Day! After creating this craft, spend some time with your little one discussing trees. Did you know that trees help keep our soil healthy by minimizing soil erosion? Or that there are over 23,000 kinds of trees on Earth? Click here to read and learn more about trees!
Let’s Go Chipper for Arbor Day!
(Chipper got the idea for this craft from this blog.)
Chipper Craft: Celebrate Earth Day
With Earth Day inching closer, now’s a great time to start thinking about good ol’ Mother Earth. Held annually on April 22, Earth Day is a world-wide support day for environmental protection. Earth Day began in 1969 when John McConnell, a peace activist, proposed a day to celebrate the environment and Earth’s beauty. The reason why Earth Day is on April 22 is because of the abundant amount of youth activism in the 1960s: April 22 is a likely day for college students to be available because it falls between Spring Break and Final Exams. Interesting, right?
In celebration of the upcoming Earth Day, Chipper made an Earth Day craft this week! Not only is this craft simple, it will teach your little one about the importance of loving our planet.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Firstly, draw a circle on blue construction paper and cut it out. This will be the water of planet Earth.
Secondly, cut out arbitrary land-like shapes out of green construction paper and glue (or tape) them onto the blue circle. Your planet Earth is starting to take shape!
Then, place your hands into a heart like shape like so. Trace your hands and cut them out.
It will end up looking like this:
Using glue or tape, adhere your hands onto your already-made Earth. Voila! This craft symbolizes the importance of using your hands in activity to love on the environment around us.
Optional: Using red marker, draw a heart in the middle like so. This could further solidify the link between using hands to actively take care of Mother Earth.
Let’s Go Chipper for Earth Day!
Chipper Tip: Importance of Higher Education
This week, Chipper visited the University of California, Berkeley, the number one public university in the United States. Above is Chipper at Cal’s famous Campanile clock tower! Chipper really enjoyed his visit as he walked around campus and sat in on fun, yet interesting classes! He really understands and advocates the importance of higher education. Did you know that according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median weekly earnings in 2010 for high school graduates (age 25+) was $626, while the median for individuals with bachelor degrees (age 25+) was $1038? Moreover, BLS also reported that those with high school diplomas experienced a 10.3% unemployment rate in 2010, while the those with bachelor’s degrees experienced a 5.4% unemployment rate. In addition, those who have participated in higher education are more likely to have a wider array of career choices as well as being able to change careers more easily.
Not only does higher education play a role in financial and occupational stability, it also plays a pivotal role in social matters! Different studies have shown that people who have obtained higher educational degrees often lead good satisfied lives, and are therefore more likely to participate in social work and volunteering activities.
Chipper recognizes that funding higher education is hard work! But thankfully, there are many scholarships offered by the federal government, various corporations, and local clubs. Let’s Go Chipper for Higher Education!
Chipper Craft: Recycled Spring Blooms
Spring is here at last! What better way to celebrate than by spending some time with your little one’s making a craft? Crafts are not only great fun, they make pretty, sentimental decorations for around the house or classroom and they help develop your little one’s mobile skills, creativity, and coordination. Try making some Spring Blooms using recycled toilet paper rolls this season. This craft will teach your kids how easy (and pretty!) reusing trash can be.
Learn more about Spring with your little one’s as you make the craft and talk about the importance of recycling. Make your own garden this season! Planting the seed, watching them grow, and seeing them bloom is a valuable experience for children of any age. It’s also another great way for you to connect and spend time with each other. Children are natural gardeners: They’re curious, like to learn by doing, and love to play in the dirt. Working in a garden, a child can experience the satisfaction that comes from caring for something over time, while observing the cycle of life firsthand. Gardening gives children a chance to learn an important life skill, one that is overlooked in standard school curriculums. Gardening is also a great way to teach environmental awareness by exploring the workings of nature.
What You’ll Need:
- Empty toilet-paper rolls
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Kid-friendly scissors
- Bamboo skewers or stick with a pointy end for stem (pencils work great!)
- Paint or Markers
- Paintbrush if using paint
- Tissue paper or recycled paper colored and crumpled
- Green cardstock or construction paper (Alternatively, you can use recycled cardboard or paper and color it with markers or paint)
Instructions:
- Draw a ring 2 inches from edge of tube. Repeat on other end. Then, from each 2-inch ring, draw cut lines every 1/2 inch. Snip along each line to make petals.
- Fold petals back to create flower. Paint flower and bamboo skewers; let dry. Cut out green leaves and glue to skewers.
- Push the skewer through one end of the flower’s center until it just touches the other end. Crumple an 8-inch square of tissue paper and place in the center.
Let’s Go Chipper this Spring!
Chipper Tip: Spring Time Growth and Learning
“In the middle of it all, pause and look around you. Appreciate what’s beautiful. Take in the love. Nod to what’s good and true. And then move forward one step at a time.” — Kathy Freston
Happy First Day of Spring! It’s the time of the year when nature blooms, grows and expands. These processes can be translated into growth and expansion of your child’s mind and body. All life starts with a seed and for that seed to grow, it needs to be nurtured. Nurturing your child is not something we all learn how to do properly–it’s more of a trial and error process for most of us. That’s where Chipper and his friends come in! Our Eco-Educational books, apps and programs help parents and teachers engage and educate their kids to grow into compassionate and considerate adults. Connecting environment and its processes, with various daily lessons and activities, helps children develop a greater understanding of themselves and the world them.
What do people do in spring? Brainstorm ideas with children. Some people participate in outdoor activities such as picnics, bike riding, and watching or playing baseball. Spring is also a time when many people garden, planting flowers and vegetables to last them throughout the summer.
Arbor Day is a special day in spring (April 26, 2013) when people plant trees in their communities and learn how forests are changing. Learn how your community celebrates Arbor Day, and make plans to help plant trees!
Earth Day is also celebrated in spring. It is a day to learn about how our planet is changing and how we can help our environment. Many communities run special programs on Earth Day and Chipper encourages all to participate!
Remind children that spring is the season between winter and summer. In most places, spring is warmer than winter, but cooler than summer. Engage in conversation, ask your child what they know about Spring. What is spring weather like in your community? Have children share their ideas. How do they know when spring has arrived? Explain that in spring, the days are longer than in winter, and there are more hours of sunlight. Take the time to explain Day Lights Saving if you haven’t already.
Find comparisons: At dinnertime in winter, it might be dark outside; but dinnertime in spring is much lighter. In some places, spring days can be sunny and warm. Flowers begin to bud, leaves reappear on trees, and birds and animals return from migration. Many places get a lot of rain in spring. Tell your little one’s of the old saying, “April showers bring May flowers” and discuss its meaning together. How might rain help plants?
School Garden of Snap Dragons
Plant a community or school garden this Spring! The picture above is from a local school that planted 58 Snap Dragons in two 3X6′ planter boxes. Parents, teachers and student came together as a community to not only beautify their school, but learned and experienced planting seeds into dirt. The students wrote stories about their planting experience; they guessed which colors would grow, and watched and discussed the flowers as they sprouted and bloomed. They made deep connections with nature and the community that will last them a lifetime. Take the time to have your little one’s learn, see and experience the growing process so they, in turn, grow themselves. Let’s Go Chipper this Spring!
Chipper Tips: Music for Connection and Communication
