I am at a loss here. He is not just asking for more time for art he wants more art instructions. He is 5 any suggestions? Also he wants more science experiments, but at his age sometimes it is hard to find some to fit his level/age that he won't be lost in. Also you can only do so many volcanoes. Well he seems to make one all the time, he loves too. I just need more to have him do. I am looking for sets, videos, kits, whatever. Not too much major prep on my end, kind of open and go would work great for us. Yet I am open to any suggestions. P.S. HI everyone. I have been away busy with life lately and no time to stop by.
Joanna, have you tried this for art? We did it back when it was GeeArt and my son (who is a total art nerd) loved it. I think he was like 10 then.
We have a CD called The Phonics of Drawing. You can find it at www.teachartathome.com. I like it because it will take one subject and then teach it according to different levels. For example, it will teach one how to draw a teddy bear, but how complex it gets with shading, details, etc. ranges depending on what level of drawing one is at. I took art for 6 years when I was in school, and I like that this program introduces the basics of shape, perspective, shading, etc.
Usborne has some art books that my 5 yr old LOVES! They are called 365 Things to Make and Do and The Big Book of Playtime Activities. The 365 book is spiral bound and has a variety of ideas for a wide age range. There is reading involved. The Big Book has a wide variety of ideas geared towards a younger age. There is reading but each step has a picture with it. Before my daughter was able to read, she could still do the projects by following the pictures. My daughter loves to get this book and it is a good jumping point for her ideas. If you can only get one, I would get the Big Book. If you need a website for buying, let me know and I can PM it to you! For Science, can you find any books at the library for ideas? Pint Sized Science is popping into my mind but I *think* it is more pre-school. You could also try a book called Science Experiments for Young Learners. We read a lot for science- whatever she is interested in at the time. Usborne has a great series of Non-fiction science books at her level that we read a lot. Hope that helps!
I got an inexpensive microscope at Big Lots (you can probably find them at wal mart too) and let my boys "play" with it for science, they loved looking at parts of leaves, sugar, salt, fluff, and anything else they could find round the house and yard.
Have you tried cooking with him? That's sort of like a science experiment, the right temperature, right measurements and if you create new recipes you never know if it's going to taste good or not.
We used (and I liked) 365 simple science experiments with everyday materials. They are cool and usually you have what you need right there in the house (we could run and grab what we needed in maybe 3 minutes if that long). Also for art, is he wanting real instruction (as in something like fine arts?) or is he wanting more fun crafty stuff?? or something like shaving cream painting, rain drop painting type of stuff?? For the latter, I found great things online just by googling art for preschool (they are usually listed as preschool but my kids found it fun even in k and 1st). For the fine art instruction there are always those WAY COOL drawing books that teach you step by step how to draw something (we have one for dinosaurs, one for various items like cars and bugs, and seems like we have another one too). Best of luck and hope you all have fun!
hey, Walmart has air dry clay by crayola that is only 5 dollars for 2.5. that could work! YOu could have him make a plack with a slab of clay and take a walk outdoors, collect items from this time o f year, put them in the plack with either scratched in names or stick on a sticker later. Then study each item and have him put together a mini booklet about each item he found. Then let him give you a Science fair display with it! I just thought this up off the hip so its not all planned out but I have clay in my car for ds so we could do some sort of project, I am going to do a bigger deal than that one by having him find out where it oringinated what the name means etc. But we will also take a hike for PE for this then use the things he finds to create a mosaic with it and then go from there with the study of the objects. This is just a side project I thought of as I started writing loL! Maybe I should put it on my blog after I get it done? I am full of ideas lately! Maybe I should make a book of ideas? I could call it "TeacherMom's Little book of Ideas" lol!
if you don't mind a christian book Cornerstone curriculum does a great science text thing that uses powers of observation to learn. Website is Here and you can view samples as well, it doesn't require much on your part other than time to sit down and talk about it.
If you can find a copy of the book Science in a Bag it is wonderful! Full of super simple science projects using kitchen supplies that are all contained in a bag.
I have the 501 Science Experiments book and we sometimes use that. He will tag along with his sister on her stuff sometimes and I have the big Nature Handbook for ideas. I have used the School bus kits and kits from the store for my oldest when she was 5/6.
http://exploratorium.edu/baseball/ I just got a link to this this morning am having my ds look through it, but it looks to me that it has some cool stuff!
Have you tried any of these science books/curriculums--AIMS, Adventure in Science, and my favorite is Simply Science. I hope Simply Science is still on the homeschool market. Simply Science could be called Creative Curriculum and were copyrighted in 1996. Their address is/was Creative Curriculum, P.O. Box 73238, Puyallup, WA 98374
