Teaching Activities about The Elements
PAULA WILLOWMOON
Air Moves Us
Fire Transforms Us
Water Shapes Us
Earth Heals us!
Earth
North, Winter, Advanced Age, Green/Brown/Black, The Sense of Touch, Pentacle, Percussion Instruments
Have your child decorate an oatmeal container like a drum. They may paint it or cover it with construction paper. Let them play it like a drum.
Let your child play in the mud. Supply paper cups, buckets, shovels,toy dishes, etc. Hose them down when they're done.
Help your child find some interesting rocks. Let them paint them if they want, and display them.
Talk to your child about what Winter is like where you live and where other's live. Read "Katy and the Big Snow."
Let your child paint with the "Earth colors," black, brown, and green.
Have your child help you fertilize a tree. Put the fertilizer stakes in the ground in a circle around the tree, thanking the tree for it's shade, beauty, and air.
Visit your older relatives, or a local Retirement home.
Make a "Touchy-Feely Bag." Fill a cloth bag with small, everday items, like a rubberband, a clothespin, an eraser, a crayon....then have your child feel in the bag and try to identify the item by touch only before taking it out of the bag.
Make clay pinch pots. Roll clay into a ball, and pinch out the center until it's a small bowl. You can make coil pots too, by rolling the clay into a long snake. First coil it into a disk. Then coil around the edges of the disk to form the walls of the pot.
Made "Mud Dessert". Take a clear plastic cup. Have the children crumble two oreo cookies in the bottom of the cup. Then make chocolate pudding. Spoon in pudding on top of cookie crumbs. Sprinkle the top with more cookie crumbs or chocolate sprinkles. You can add a gummy worm if you wish.
"Mud" Fingerpainting: Clean the table carefully. Then Put a bib or smock on your child. Let them "fingerpaint" on the table with chocolate pudding and eat it as they do. This incredibly messy, but very fun and yummy.
Salt Sparkle Pictures: Mix kosher salt with your paint. When it dries, it will sparkle.
Adopt a Tree: Have your child pick a tree that is special to them. Observe the tree throughout the year. Make bark rubbings (hold paper up against the bark and rub with a sideways crayon.) Collect leaves from the tree. Fertilize the tree. Have them hug the tree. Have them draw pictures to record the changes in the tree. Have them measure the width of the tree. Have them draw pictures of any widlife living in the tree.
Rhythm Sticks: Have your child pick out 2 nice, thick dowels. Have them sand them lightly. Then they can either paint them or color them with markers. Spray them with clear acrylic. Then the can beat them together while you march and/or play music.
Air
East, Infancy, Blue/Yellow/Pastels, Wand/Incense/Sword, Feathers, Flowers, Clouds, Spring, Power of Movement, Sense of Hearing and Smell
Have your child help you throw open the windows to air out the house.
Have your child make a cloud picture with cotton balls or polyfil stuffing and glue on blue paper.
Put on different kinds of music for your child to dance to.
Let your child mix white paint with the primary colors to see what happens. Then let them paint with the pastel colors they made.
Record different sounds on a tape (like closing a door, foot steps, tea kettle whistle, etc.) or play a sound effects tape and see if your child can identify the sounds.
Lay down on a blanket and cloud-watch.
Collect the little black film canisters. Fill them with smelly things like cinnamon, ginger, perfume, anise, cocoa, etc. Have your child sniff them and try to identify them, or just say whether they like the smell or not.
Go fly a kite (stay away from the power lines.)
Watch Disney's "Sword in the Stone."
Make a newspaper hat. Have your child decorate it with feathers. (You can get a bag of colorful feathers in a craft store or the craft section of the local discount store.)
Play with baby dolls. Talk about what your child was like when he/she was a baby. Show pictures of yourself as a baby to your child.
Salt Sparkle Pictures: Mix kosher salt with your paint. When it dries, it will sparkle.
Make cereal flowers. Buy some Fruit O's type cereal and let your child glue the colorful O's into any flower shapes they want. Let them use crayons or markers to make the grass and stems, etc. Make sure they can eat some too! My rule is always glue down more then you eat.
Make blow paintings. Have your child put a spoonful of watery paint on one end of a paper. Give them a straw and let them blow the paint all around the paper.
Give your child a plastic garbage bag. Let them run around the yard with it and "catch" the air with it. Supervise this carefully to make sure they don't put it on or over their faces.
Have them watch the trees on a windy day. They can also watch the wind move the clouds in the sky. If you notice the wind blowing your hair, make sure you point this put to your child.
Buy or make a pinwheel. Have your child run around with it and blow it, and hold it up to the wind.
Give your child a recorder or harmonica. These are both easy instruments for them to make music with.
Play "Blow the Balloon." Chant "Blow the balloon." Make a noise like you're blowing up a balloon, and start to blow it up. Then chant, "Blow the Balloon." again. Make your hands look like they're holding a small, round balloon. Then chant "Blow, (puff)and Blow (puff), and Blow (puff)and blow (puff,)" each time puffing and making your hands look like they're holding a larger balloon. Then Clap your hands really loudly and hold them out in a questioning pose and say, "Where did my balloon go?" I saw this on Mr. Rogers. Kids love it.
Color pictures of hot air balloons.
Fire
South, Red/Orange/Gold, Sense of Sight, Youth, Summer, Candle, String Instruments
Make a shoebox guitar. Cut a hole in the top of a shoebox. Tape a pencil across the box just next to the hole, parallel to the short end of the box. String rubber bands long ways across the box, over the hole and the pencil. Strum the guitar. You may add an empty paper towel roll to the top for the neck of the guitar.
Have your child go with you and help you pick out a cactus for your house.
Play "Memory" with your child. This is a game where your child tries to find matching cards.
Talk about what Summer is like where you live and where other people live.
Let your child paint with red and yellow to make orange.
Go to an athletic event for young people. Encourage your child to participate in the sport of their choice.
Let your child try wearing a blindfold. Make sure you watch them carefully to keep them from getting hurt.
Point out to your child when the sun is feeling warm.
Let your child try painting while wearing a blindfold. Cover the area with newspaper first.
Water
Sense of Taste, bells, Cauldron, Fall, Purification, Love, Dreams, West, Blue/White/Light Green/Light Gray/Pink
Visit a lake or pond. Feed the ducks (if allowed.) Bring sketch books, and let the children draw pictures of what they see.
Let the children make a play dough cauldrons. Put 1 cup cornstarch, 1 1/4 cup cold water, and 2 cups baking soda (1 lb.) into a saucepan. Heat on medium and stir for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and put onto a plate, cover with damp cloth until cool. Knead like dough. Shape into cauldrons, and let air dry. They can be painted with tempera paint, or acrylic paint. Shellac if you wish.
Let you child paint with watercolors.
Have waterplay. Let your child have cups, spoons, funnels,etc. at the sink. A step stool helps. Make sure you supervise this carefully, and have plenty of towels.
Take a walk with your child at dusk. Try to see just when the sun goes down.
Give your child several kinds of bells to play with (cow bells, jingle bells, small dinner bell, triangle, etc.)
Let your child try spearmint candies or gum if they're old enough. Ask them if they like it or not.
Take your child with you to help pick out an Aloe plant. Have them help you repot it. If you need to use the aloe plant for a small burn, ask the plant first, and thank it afterwards.
Have a taste test. Let your child try sweet, things (like chocolate), salty things (like pretzels) sour things (like lemons.) See which thing they liked the best.
If you are SURE there is no lightning, let your child put on a raincoat and boots and play outside in the rain. Have the towels ready.
Talk about what Fall is like where you live and where others live.
Make and eat a salad with your child.
Let your child experiment with sink and float. Give them a dishpan full of water, or sink full of water, or have them do this in the bath. Give them several items, such as Ivory Soap, a rubber ball, a sponge, a rock, a cork, a spoon, and a coin. Let them try to guess if it will sink or float, and have them test each item. Older children can make a graph....they can draw a line down the middle of a paper. One side of the paper they draw or write what sinks, the other side they draw or write what floats. Supervise this very carefully, and have a towel ready before you start.
Put a jar of water out on a windowsill. Mark the level of the water with either a permanent marker or a pice of tape. Write the date. Check every other day, and mark the water level each time you check it. The child will be able to see the evaporation of the water.
Discuss humidity with your child. Especially on a hot, humid Summer day. Older children can listen for the humidity levels on the local news, or read it in the newspaper, or find it online.
Show your child dew. Take them out early in the morning. Bring a paper towel if you wish, and have them wipe it on the grass or leaves to see the dew.
Have your child help you water your plants and give water to pets. Talk about how they need the water to live,just like they do.
Fill glasses or bottles with different levels of water. Let your child use a spoon to "play" the bottles or glasses. You can put a drop of food coloring in the water to better see the difference in the water levels.
In warm weather, fill a bucket with water. Give your child a ball that won't be ruined by getting wet. Let your child try throwing the ball into the bucket. Have a towel ready.
On a hot day, get a bucket or can of water. Give your child a clean paint brush. Then let them "paint" the house, sidewalk, fence, etc. with the water.
Let your child color with crayons on paper to make ocean scene. Then have them paint over it with blue watercolor paint.
On a hot day, you can have a "car wash." Have your children and any of their friends bring over their riding toys. They can wash them with water, buckets, sponges, and hoses. Swim suits are recommended for this activity.
Print out and color ocean and beach scenes.
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