Rainbow Themed Playgroup Activity

Start your playgroup off by quizzing them on their colors. Gather some colored plastic cups, baskets or bags and have each child pick one. Go outside and have the kids find items that are the same color as their cup, basket or bag. Have them find as many same colored items as they can in 5 minutes. Set a timer and let them know when the time is up. Then let them come together as a group and compare the items they found. If you see a yellow item in a green cup, this is a teaching opportunity. Sort through the items and make sure they are put in their appropriate place. 

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For a craft you can use colored construction paper and glue stick to make rainbows. If the kids are old enough to use scissors, let them cut the paper themselves. If they are younger you may want to have some pre-cut pieces. Mimic them like the picture below.

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As a snack you could make rainbow pudding Popsicle. 

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Here's what you will need:

1-2 boxes of instant vanilla pudding

Milk

Food coloring

A couple of mixing bowls

A whisk

Plastic Cups

Popsicle Sticks

Click here for full directions

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Activity: Pool Noodle Marble Track

Here's a cheap, easy and fun activity for your kids. Cut a pool noodle in half and then glue two sides of the cut noodles together keeping the inside of the noodles up. Decorate it however you please. Then prop it up on your stairs, using a chair or gluing it to a wooden box like the picture below. Use a clear organizing container as the marble catcher at the end. For summer time it's fun to fill it with water and you could even use food coloring to make the water a different color. Now your marble track is ready for racing! 

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4th of JULY Craft, Snack and Decoration!

Happy 4th of July! Here's some fun things to do in a playgroup or just with your own kids to make the 4th a special fun day. Start the morning off by painting 

Decorating

 white stars on the grass in your front yard. Use a poster board or a large piece of cardboard as a stencil. Use white spray paint to fill in the star shape. The paint will eventually wash off or be cut off next time you mow the lawn. 

Snack

Then go inside to cool off and make some fruit kabobs with blueberries, strawberries or raspberries and bananas as a snack. 

Craft

Finish off the morning or afternoon with some some patriotic wands. Tie ribbons to the top of a chop stick or skewer stick. These will be fun toys to use while watching fireworks. 

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Corn Activity

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If you have some old corn in your garden or you've purchased some that was too old, don't fret...have your children use them as a painting tool. All you'll need is some finger paint, paper and corn. This is a great texture lesson and will be fun for kids. This could get a bit messy so you'll probably want to do this in your back yard or on your porch. Putting a tarp down is a good idea too. You may want to get some skewers (you can smooth the ends by cutting off the pointy part and sanding the ends) and stick them through the corn as a handle. 

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Playgroup Activity: Painted Rock Tic Tac Toe

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Here's a fun summer time playgroup activity. Have your kids search your yard, neighborhood or park for some fist sized rocks. Bring them home and paint them using craft paint. You could make the traditional X and O shapes on the rocks, paint them a solid color or get creative with any other two designs. Use chalk to draw out the tic tac toe lines on your own driveway or sidewalk and then teach your kids how to play. The first to have three of their rocks in a row wins! Store your rocks in your flowerbed or garden and use them next time the playgroup is outside. 

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Playgroup Activity: Butterfly Snack Packs

Buy some of your child's favorite snacks and make these cute butterfly snack packs. This is a fun and easy activity to do with a play group and everyone gets to take one home with them! You could also make these with fruits and vegetables for a healthier option. Just store them in your fridge and they'll be ready to go when you are. 

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What you'll need:

Snack size Ziploc bags

Clothes pins

Craft paint

Pipe cleaners and/or Googly eyes 

Snacks/Fruits/Veggies

Sharpie pen

Place some snacks inside the zip lock bag and close it up. Filling it about half way full will allow room for the clothes pin. Paint the clothes pins or you can buy some that are already colored. Attach the googly eyes to the clothes pin and use the sharpie to write your child's name or a cute little note. You could even name each butterfly. Pinch the bag in the middle and attach the clothes pin. Bend a pipe cleaner into the shape of some antennas and pinch it between the very tip of the clothes pin. Now you have a snack you're kids can't wait to eat! Be sure to save the clothes pins so you can re-use them later!

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Sun Safety

Just one blistering sunburn in childhood more than doubles a person’s chances of developing melanoma later in life. According to one U.S. study, 54% of children become sunburned or tanned in their second summer, versus 22% in their first. Many parents don’t know the best ways to protect their young children and with summer on it’s way, Welcome Baby thought it was best to advise on sun safety. The Skin Cancer Foundation and the FDA recommends the following sun safety tips for infants and babies.

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Infants: 0-6 months

Infants under 6 months of age should be kept out of the sun. Their skin is too sensitive for sunscreen. Sunscreens are recommended for children and adults. What makes babies so different? For one thing, babies' skin is much thinner than that of adults, and it absorbs the active, chemical ingredients in sunscreen more easily. For another, infants have a high surface-area to body-weight ratio compared to older children and adults. Both these factors mean that an infant's exposure to the chemicals in sunscreens is much greater, increasing the risk of allergic reaction or inflammation. To add to that an infant’s skin possesses little melanin, the pigment that gives color to skin, hair, and eyes, and provides some sun protection. Therefore, babies are especially susceptible to the sun’s damaging effects.

Tips for infant sun safety:

* Use removable mesh window shields to keep direct

sunlight from coming in through the windows of your

car or invest in UV window film, which can screen almost 100% of ultraviolet radiation without reducing

visibility.

 * Take walks early in the morning before 10 a.m. or late

afternoon after 4 p.m. and use a stroller with a

sun-protective cover.

* Dress baby in lightweight clothing that covers the

arms and legs.

* Choose a wide-brimmed hat or bonnet that protects

the baby’s face, neck, and ears. A baby who wears a

hat during the first few months will get used to having

it on.

* Provide adequate liquids to keep your infant hydrated.

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If adequate clothing and shade aren't available, apply small amounts of sunscreen only on areas of your baby's exposed skin, such as the face and back of the hands.

Babies:6-12 months

It’s now safe to use sunscreen on babies.

Tips for baby sun safety:

* All the protection methods explained above still

apply; however, now sunscreen use should be incorporated.

* Apply a broad-spectrum, SPF 15+ sunscreen to areas

left uncovered such as baby’s hands. Many companies

have tear-free formulas that won’t sting baby’s eyes.

* Most importantly, sunscreen must be applied 30 minutes before going outside.

(Sun Safety Tips for Infants, Babies, and Toddlers.(2010). Dermatology Nursing,38-39).

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Resource Spotlight: Safe Kids Utah

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The Safe Kids Utah organization started in 1995 with the mission to make Utah a safer place for children by preventing unintentional injuries and fatalities. They do this by:

• raising community awareness
• influencing policies
• promoting safety
• establishing private/public partnerships

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Their website has information and resources on car seat safety, bike helmet safety, water safety, fire safety, Utah safety laws and much more. Here are some things to keep your child safe:

• The law in Utah is to keep your child in a booster seat until the age of 8
• You can have a Child Passenger Safety Technician take a look at your car to make sure your children are safely secure. There are several places around Utah that have Child Passenger Safety Technicians and a list of these can be found by clicking here
• Never leave your child in the car. The temperature in your car can increase up to 19 degrees in just 10 minutes. Its dangerous and children die from this every year. 
• Helmets should be worn every time a child rides a bike. Make it a habit! Let your child choose their own helmet; if it's "cool" then they'll want to wear it. There is a 5-step Helmet Fit Test you can do to make sure your child's head will be protected properly. 

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• Summer time is here and that means swimming, boating and lots of water! This is a fun time of year but don't get caught up in just the fun. Make sure your child wears an appropriately fitting life jacket on a boat and in the lake. Enroll your kids in swimming lessons so they can learn to float, tread water, and swim. This will be a life long skill that will never be wasted. Teach your kids to always swim with a buddy and stay close to the shore. 
• Learn CPR! Find a class near you offered by the American Red Cross.

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Back Yard Camping

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One of my favorite summer time activities as a kid was to sleep out on my deck in the back yard with my siblings. The nights were warm and the stars were so bright; there was something so special about sleeping "out in the woods" even though I was still at home.  My dad would roast hot dogs and mallows over our barbecue grill and later would point out some of the constellations in the sky. These are the kinds of memories I'll never forget. Camping can be a lot of work with young kids but making memories like these are fun and will give your kids the quality YOU time they need. To reduce the stress and work of actually camping in the woods or mountains just camp in the back yard! You're close to everything you need, just in case, but your kids will love the imagination and adventure they'll find in their own back yard.

Camping

Here are some fun back yard camping ideas:

• Pitch a tent and fill it with blankets and pillows or create some foam pad/air mattress beds on your deck. 
• Roast hot dogs and marshmallows on your BBQ grill or fire pit if you have one.
• Have your kids point out different shapes and objects that the stars make in the sky. Name them if you want. This can be a type of eye spy game too.
• Use flash lights wrapped with colored cellophane to create a light show against the side of the house or on the tent ceiling. 
• Use the flash light as a spot light for you to make shadow hand puppets. 
• Turn out the lights and tell stories.
• Play Squirrel Tag: One person is the squirrel catcher; everyone else is a squirrel, clinging to his own tree (if your yard is treeless, you can use lawn chairs). When the catcher shouts "Squirrel scramble!" the squirrels have to dash to another tree without being tagged. Once you get tagged, you're the new squirrel catcher.

Hand Puppets

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