The Beach Can Be Closer Than You Think

Now that it has really warmed up, many of us have "beach" on our minds, and you may be planning that great vacation. With the pandemic though, many of us are also sadly not going to be traveling to the beach. That should not stop any family from spending some fun time together remembering past vacations, looking back at beach pictures, swimming together or playing in a wading pool, or building a sand castle in the sand box (cardboard tubes make great castles and walls in a sandbox).

Reading books has always been a way for all of us to visit places and have adventures and experiences we could not otherwise have, so vacation and learn about the beach and the ocean at home from some wonderful children's books:

Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle
A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
Magic Beach by Alison Lester
Pete the Cat at the Beach by James Dean
What Lives in a Shell? by Kathleen W. Zoehfeld
Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach by Melanie Watt
Biscuit's First Beach Day by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

Whether or not you are actually going to the beach, these books lend themselves to many follow-up art projects, poems to create, and just a chat about the characters, the pictures, a problem that may have been solved, and what your child learned. Done in a casual manner, the chat will not feel like school, but will promote their comprehension skills and an eye for illustrations and what even the pictures tell us.

One easy craft to do after you read Rainbow Fish is to make your own fish out of poster board or cardboard, aluminum foil and paint.

• The adult needs to cut a fish shape out of pasteboard or cardboard.
• Cut a piece of aluminum foil large enough for your child to fold around one or both sides of the fish shape.
• Paint designs on the foil wrapped fish.

                                 
These are fun to hang up where the sun can reflect off the colored foil.

Crayola also has instructions for a fish CRAFT using craft or popsicle sticks.

There are also some fun songs about the sea and it's creatures. One is the very popular, Baby Shark! You can also find a You Tube video with Down By The Bay which is fun because of all the rhymes and the repetition. And, Old McDonald  could have an ocean with a fish, swish, swish, swish, a wave, crash, crash, and a shark, chomp, chomp. Kids could continue to add on to that one.

Another fun activity to keep your kids moving, is to take a beach towel or blanket and have everyone hold on somewhere (corners, etc.). Toss an inflated beach ball into the air and use the blanket to keep catching it and throwing it back up. Be prepared for squeals of delight!

For a break from the heat of the day or a movie night, you could let your children watch some great movies that deal with the beach, the ocean, fish, and even mermaids! Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, The Little Mermaid, and Moana are wonderful family friendly movies with good stories and lessons, beautiful visuals, and great music!

Of course, don't miss an opportunity for a beach dance party! Put on some of your favorite beach music and just dance! Your children will love dancing with you.

Three Cheers for the Emmet O'Neal Library

We are thankful for all the exciting things the Emmet O'Neal Library provides to our community. Though we still cannot visit the wonderful space with all the books and comfy seating and the great children's space, it is time to dust off the library cards and take advantage of the plethora of services and programs they are offering.   If you are old school like me and have missed checking out all the latest adult and children's books there is great news! They have begun their curbside book checkout service as well as their Summer Children's Reading program online, and online programming for adults. Their extensive online electronic library has operated without interruption, and I have thoroughly enjoyed checking out books to read on my iPad (you can use any reader) and audiobooks to listen to on my walks. They do have children's books to check out electronically in both those formats, too. The directions for electronic checkout are on their website; it is free and a breeze to use.

For all the latest library news, to arrange your first curbside pick up and to register your children for the Summer Reading program, click here, LIBRARY WEBSITE, and start enjoying all your community library has to offer.

If the Emmet O'Neal Library is not your neighborhood library, check out what your closest library does have to offer. The online borrowing for reading and audio books is county wide, so that is available to all with a Jefferson County library card.

Happy reading and listening!

Join Us At IPC This Morning to Learn and Worship

ipc-usa.org

WORSHIP. JOIN US FOR WORSHIP TODAY AT 11 AM VIA LIVESTREAM ORGAN PRELUDE BEGINS AT 10:50 AM Download a bulletin at home here.  The livestream will be available here or through the IPC Facebook page.  Please continue to remember to support the church. Offerings may be submitted online, by mail to 3100 Highland Avenue S. | Birmingham, AL 35205 or through the ShelbyNEXT app. As always, thank you for your gifts. NEW SUMMER CLASSES START TODAY Click on the links below to view this week's offerings:  NEW! VBS CHILDREN'S SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS   All children are welcome to participate in VBS from home. Need a participant bag? Contact Stacy Pulliam. NEW! DR. JEFF LEONARD'S CLASS  ADULT BIBLE IN 90 DAYS SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS

WEBSITE PRAYER LIST LIVESTREAM COVID- 19 Independent Presbyterian Church 3100 Highland Avenue Birmingham, AL 35205

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Ideas for Toddlers and Up

Now that the school year has officially come to an end, I will posting less, but will still be looking out for great ideas and recipes to share with you at least once a week. 

Our Older ToddlerTeacher, Miss Catherine sent these ideas to her parents, but I wanted to share them in the blog since most of them are great activities for all age preschoolers. 

Fun activities geared towards working on their fine motor skills, pre-math skills, sensory learning and problem solving that will also peak curiosity and creativity:

1. Collander and pipe cleaners (fake flowers w/stems if you want to make it spring related). Having them stick the pipe cleaners into the collander and manipulating the pipe cleaners.

2. Bug prints/ animal prints/ car tracks. Anything they can dip in paint and put on paper. Using (easy to clean) toys for painting activities is always a fun way to spark creativity. 

3. Spring scavenger hunts (ex. Find a lady bug, bird in a nest, flowers, butterfly, new plant growing etc.)

4. Emptied clorox wipe holders, or baby wipe holders anything they can fill up with things like pom poms, cotton balls etc.

5. Sorting colors. Amazon has some awesome options for sorting toys (we have bears and bugs in our classroom that they really enjoyed). You can also use toys around your house not only sorting colors but cars, stuffed animals and whatever they can pile in like categories.

6. Shaving cream is also a fun activity. We use it as “snow” in the winter but it is still a fun activity through out the year. Most just like to run their hands through it and play with it. You can also add animals or cars to it to add another layer of play to it. 

Encouraging language: This is the year where speech goes from baby babble to words you can understand! In the classroom we use every opportunity to encourage them to talk to us. This is best done when doing something they love to do. Like playing with their favorite toy, eating their favorite snack or reading their favorite story. Having them describe it, if it “so yummy” or “so soft”. Also, a great time to encourage language would be outside or on a walk. Asking them things like “where do birds live?” “where do flowers grow?” Anything to get those incredible little brains thinking and then verbalizing it. 

Books we love to read during the year:

1. Pete the Cat (I love my white shoes and four groovy buttons). These are two books your children probably know by heart. 

2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar 

3. Brown Bear Brown Bear

4. Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear?

5. The Napping House. This is a great book when we needed to quiet down just a bit. We had to be very quiet because we didn’t want to wake up the characters in the book. :)

These are just a few of the books we love to share during the year. 

Professor Paige is Blowing Things Up

I hope that title got your attention! We love in the spring when Professor Paige does this experiment with the classes because it is the closest to blowing things up we would ever do. In the IPC church courtyard she has the children hypothesize what will happen when Mentos are combined with different soft drinks, and they talk about the chemical reaction. This lesson takes place on Professor Paige's street and is less academic, but illustrates the same principles. And, as an added bonus, the popsicle comes down the street during her presentation!

Click HERE to watch Professor Paige conduct her science experiment with various types of soft drinks and mentos. Be sure to talk to your kids about the mento's creating gas in the bottle. They can guess along with Paige's neighborhood children about how high the bubbles will cause the soda to go.

And, of course, you can repeat this experiment with your children and see how much fun it is in person!

Worship and Learn With IPC

ipc-usa.org

WORSHIP. JOIN US FOR WORSHIP TODAY AT 11 AM VIA LIVESTREAM Download a bulletin at home here.  The livestream will be available here or through the IPC Facebook page.  Please continue to remember to support the church. Offerings may be submitted online, by mail to 3100 Highland Avenue S. | Birmingham, AL 35205 or through the ShelbyNEXT app. As always, thank you for your gifts. TUNE IN FOR VESPERS TODAY AT 5 PM VIA LIVESTREAM Download a bulletin at home here.  The livestream will be available here or through the IPC Facebook page.  CONTINUE YOUR FAITH FORMATION WITH US Click on the links below to view this week's offerings: CHILDREN'S SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS  | GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT CRAFT YOUTH SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS NEW! DR. JEFF LEONARD'S CLASS  ADULT BIBLE IN 90 DAYS SUNDAY SCHOOL CLASS  Still need to sign up for the class? Click on the image below.

WEBSITE PRAYER LIST LIVESTREAM COVID- 19 Independent Presbyterian Church 3100 Highland Avenue Birmingham, AL 35205

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Maddy and the Magic Scarf

Birmingham Children's Theater presents a cardboard theater puppet show right in your living room! They have also included some ideas for follow-up activities with your children. And, we all know how much fun can be had by creating your own puppets with small paper bags and those lone socks. Pop some popcorn and enjoy the show!

Maddy and the Magic Safari Maddy is drawing one of her favorite magical creatures and she wants to get the stripes just right, but she’s never met a Zebracorn! What’s an adventurer to do? With her faithful and fearful companion, Puffball, Maddy goes on a fantastical field trip and finds Magical Creatures around every corner! Watch Maddy and the Magic Safari  Maddy and Puffball meet many magical creatures on their journey. Some of these creatures are combinations of animals that really exist (examples: a turtle and rhinoceros, a flamingo and a gopher). What animals or plants can you combine to make a new creature? Draw and describe your new creation. Where does your magical creature live? Is their habitat a combination too? Draw and describe a habitat for each creature you created. Be sure to tell what makes this habitat perfect for your creature. Write a story about your creature(s) and its (their) habitat. "Maddy and the Magic Safari" Written and Directed by Alex Ungerman Performed by Becca Yeager Additional Puppetry by Jessie Kisor, Justin Kirkpatrick & Charity Sellers Puppet Creation by Charity Sellers Stage and Scenic by Justin Kirkpatrick Edited by Brooke Dunn The Making of Turtle Takes Her Time: BCT also offers Behind the Scenesvideos showing how we make each story so that you can learn to make your own stories at home! Looking for more BCT Cardboard Puppet Theatre productions? Just click the button below! Cardboard Puppet Theatre Or Subscribe to BCT's YouTube Channel Want to support more work like this? You can Donate today and help BCT continue to educate, enrich, and entertain into the next season and beyond!