Black Light Insects

In case you didn't know, Safari has a glow in the dark insect toob (purchase here on amazon).  We have been having a lot of fun playing in the dark with these creepy crawlies.  Our favorite thing to do with them is to add them to our neon sand box and turn on the black light.

 

My daughter invited her friend over to play with her glowing bugs.  In the picture she is protecting her pretty insects from his scary looking insects.

 

As you can see the insects glow great under the black light and you do not have to worry about "recharging" them in the light.

The kids spent a lot of time just burying and digging out their insects.

After a while I gave them a small mirror to use.  They enjoyed having the bugs attack their own reflections.

I also did a post on using glow in the dark stars and planets under the black light.  

 Black Light Solar System

Light Table Handwriting Practice

I have been trying to come up with fun ways to strengthen My daughter's handwriting skills.  This week I pulled out the sand tray.  I made a design and then asked her to copy the design I had made.

 

She really enjoyed making swirls.

Zig Zags

She pretended she was drawing a snake and she wanted it to be really "bumpy"

As you can see she did not always copy what I did correctly but I always praised her effort.  Even though she didn't do it "right" she still gained fine motor skills and confidence which are essential when it comes to good handwriting.

 

Water Bead Fun

Here is a look at some of the fun we have been having with our water beads and crystals.

 

We set up her hot wheels track so that she could roll her water beads down the ramp.

 

She mixed all of her purple water beads in with the crystals she grew (post here).

 

 

She discovered that the flat shape of the crystals was not conducive to rolling down the ramp. 

So she started using the crystals as obstacles for her water beads to overcome.

After a while we pulled out her new balance.  We measured different amounts and combinations of water beads and crystals. Luckily, even though some water beads were bigger than others they were pretty close to the same weight.  So twenty water beads in each cup came out balanced.

Glow Sand Writing

We are having fun practicing reading with our sand tray and black light. 

This picture didn't turn out to good but it is our white sand tray under the black light.  We are practicing sight words.

We made a special sand tray just for the black light.  We used orange and pink neon sand (from Micheals).  I write a word and my daughter sounds it out and then erases it. 

 

My plan for this week- Have her write words for me to read. 

This will be a great way for her to practice recalling words and spelling.

 

Bonus- She loves playing teacher!

Letter Rocks for Light Table

I finally got around to making these fun letter rocks for light table play.  All you need are clear rocks and a permanent marker.  Write each letter backwards on the flat side of the rock.

 

I made an upper case set and a lower case set.  I also made extras of highly used letters.  I keep a bag of blank rocks and a sharpie with the set of letter rocks so that we can quickly make more of any letter we need while playing.

We use the rocks to practice reading, sight words, and spelling.

Black Light Sink Play

We love black light play so I keep trying to find new ways to play.  Recently I set up a "Glowing Sink".  I added highlighter water, glowing water beads, and neon shot glasses and tubes.

Initial Set-Up

She drained the water out because she wanted to be able to see the water beads better.

She enjoyed trying to find water beads that were small enough to fit inside the neon test tubes.

 

This did not hold her attention as long as our Science Lab (posts here and here).  But she had fun and it was super fast to set-up and clean-up.

Blokus Tiles on Light Table

We got the Blokus Jr. game for Christmas last year and we love using the pieces on the light table.  Here is a look at some of the ways we play with the pieces.

Making words or letters

 



Completing patterns

 



Filling in a shape outline

 

Blokus Jr. only comes with two colors but the regular game comes with four so I have it on our wish list because we want the additional colors.  You can find Blokus at most stores or here on Amazon.