Ravina Sewani

Things you will need: skittles candies (use can use M&amp;M or Gems as well), water, plate or bowl How to:Pour some water into a dish or a bowl and add a couple of candies to this dish. You will immediately observe a few changes. If you are using skittles candies, you will see that the 'ss' part of the candy quickly dissolves and starts to float on the water. The colours dissolve slowly and begin to mix with the water in the dish. You can make this experiment fun by placing several candies in different shapes and see the colours dissipating in various shapes. Why does this happen?Candies are made of sugar hence they dissolve in water. Sugar dissolves in water because both water and sugar are polar compounds. It is known that "like dissolves like" hence sugar dissolves in water. Happy Exploring!

Significance:This activity will introduce your child to the concept of solute and solvent and is also a fun and attractive experiment for kids.

Skittle Candy Experiment

Things you will need: 6 zip lock bags, 6 bread slices, water, various additives (sugar, vinegar, oil, and salt.), warm location, marker How to:Label 6 bags as follows:<ul><li>Only bread slice</li><li>Bread slice and water</li><li>Bread slice and vinegar</li><li>Bread slice and salt</li><li>Bread slice and sugar</li><li>Bread slice and oil</li></ul> <ol><li>Prepare sugar solution and solution by adding 2 tablespoons of sugar and salt in 2 tablespoons of water.</li><li>Coat the bread slices with different liquids and place them in the appropriate bags.</li><li>Place the bags in a warm location with sufficient sunlight or place the bags in a warm, interior closet.</li><li>Use a tape to fix the positions of the bags so that the the heat exposure is consistent.</li><li>Observe the mold growth for the next 2-3 weeks.</li></ol> Expected results: You can expect to observe the following:<ul><li>Mold growth is the quickest in warm and moist conditions hence mold first appears in the bag with bread and water.</li><li>Next, you might observe mold growth in the bag with bread and sugar. Once the mold grows on sugar containing bag, the growth will explode because mold uses sugar as food.</li><li>You might or might not see the mold growth on the plain bread as it is too dry.</li><li>The bread slices with oil, vinegar, and salt will not any growth as all three act as preservatives.</li></ul> Note: DO NOT open the bags of moldy bread! Throw the bags out once the experiment is over. Mold is too risky and can cause infections. Happy Exploring!

Significance:This experiment will introduce your child to microorganisms and will teach them to maintain hygiene with their food.

Growing mold on a bread

How to:Give a soft ball to your child. Mark the start and the finish line. Ask your child to roll the ball from the start line to the finish line. To make it more interesting, set up a timer and encourage your child to finish the rolling as fast as they can. Fun fact:For older kids, you can also tape down a maze on the floor and ask your child to roll the ball from the starting point through the maze to the end point. Happy Gaming!

Significance:This game will improve your child’s motor skills.

Roll the Ball

Things you will need:Water colours, water, brushes, white crayon, chart paper, water colour tray. How to:Make sure that all the steps are carried out by your children. You can keep an eye on them for protection.<ol><li>On a white chart paper, write/draw with the white crayon.</li><li>Place different coloured drops in water colour tray.</li><li>Dip a paint brush first in colour and then in water.&nbsp;</li><li>Paint on the chart paper and observe the words/drawing come alive.</li></ol> Happy Gaming!

Significance:This activity can be very exciting because you can ask them to find out hidden message. They learn the difference between the textures and results of different colour mediums.

Resist Painting

Things you will need: paper and pencil How to:You will have to write these words down on a piece of paper for your child to do this activity. Here is the list to get you started with the activity: <ol><li>Can you unscramble this word to the vegetable that is round and brown? - TOPOTA</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the vegetable that is round and red? - MATOTO</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the vegetable that rabbit likes? - RROTCA</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the king of fruits? - GOMAN</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the fruit that is small and green in colour? - PESGRA</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the thing you eat on a birthday? - KECA</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the thing you drink in the morning? - LIKM</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the thing that is small and white in colour? - CERI</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the fruit that is big, round, and green? - LEMONTERWA</li><li>Can you unscramble this word to the thing that comes in packets? - FERWA</li></ol> You can think of more such words depending on your child's vocabulary. Happy Gaming!

This activity will enhance your child's thinking ability.

Unscramble the words - Food

Things you will need: 2 tubs (small broad tubs or containers in which things can be dunked), things to dunk (balls, small toys, soft toys, small boxes, erasers, books, etc) which are safe for children How to:<ol><li>Gather a group of around 8-10 children. Divide them into 2 groups. You can plan this game in the playground or in your backyard.</li><li>At the starting line, make the children stand and give them the things to be dunked in the tubs placed at the finishing line.</li><li>Instruct the children that they have to pick one thing at a time from their stock of things and go and place it in their tub at the finish line.</li><li>Make it clear that they have to place things in their tub only and not in other group’s tub.</li><li>Start the timer and ask the kids to compete against each other.</li><li>Stop the timer after a minute or so and count the things in each tub. The group with the maximum number of things in the their tub, wins the game.</li></ol> Note: Ask the group to think and come up with a solution where they can dunk the things more effectively and quickly. Happy Gaming!

Significance:This game will teach your child how to work as a team in a group and also enhance their communication and social skills.

Dunk It

Kids love outdoors and grandparents are fond of nature. This activity is perfect for children who are looking forward to spending some quality time with their grandparents. You will need:Nothing absolutely, except you, your grandchildren and a walk in the nature. You will do:On a fine morning, or evening, whichever time suits you the best, along with your grandchildren, go for a nice walk in a park or on the roadside. Take up any of the following three for your walk:1. Collecting things from the walk – You can make a list of the things – e.g.&nbsp;leaf, red coloured flower, twig or small stem, fruit, feather, stone, etc, which you would like your grandchildren to collect from the walk.2. Take a camera or use mobile phone and ask them to click pictures of things they see – from each alphabet.3. Practice Random acts of kindness – e.g. pass a smile to others, pet an animal, wish people (good morning or good evening), giving hi-fi to people,&nbsp;pick up a trash, let someone else go first, give a flower to someone, feed the birds, etc, along the way. Happy Gaming!

Significance:Activities such as these help in developing a very strong emotional bonding between grandchildren and grandparents.

A walk with a twist

Palak Vyas

Things you will need: a long piece of string How to:The kids are made to stand in a circle around a long piece of string tied at the ends to form a circle. Then they are asked to create shapes with the string – square, triangle, figure 8, rectangle and many more.To increase the difficulty level, the kids can be blindfolded or can be asked to make difficult shapes. Happy Gaming!

Significance:This is a very fun and challenging game that enhances a lot of communication and coordination among the kids.

Talking in circles

Things you will need:Depending on the scenario you choose, you will need specific props for the activity. All the props are easily available but if they are not, you can use card-board, scissors, shoe boxes, craft paper, colours, water, clay and other basic materials to create the necessary props for the role play activity. How to:Role play activities are always fun when carried out in groups. You can choose from the following scenarios to design a role play activity with children: <ul><li>Bakery - Make cookies and chocolates using clay and cardboard, use a shoe box as an oven, set up a counter using a small table and chair and you are good to go.</li><li>Fairy Tale story - Choose the fairy tale your child likes and then using the basic materials set up the fairy tale. For a more lively experience, you and your child can dress up in costumes.</li><li>Flower Shop - Design bouquets, flowers and decorate them with sparkles and you are good to go.</li><li>Pizza Outlet - Design the pizza bases using clay, cut the cardboard and make vegetables, use paper as the cheese, use the shoe box as the oven, use coloured water as sauces and YAY have fun!</li></ul> Similarly, brainstorm with your child about the things they see at the following places and design the role play accordingly:<ul><li>Ice cream Counter</li><li>Tea Party</li><li>Grocery Store</li><li>Hospital</li><li>Garage</li><li>Cinema</li><li>Camping</li><li>Bank</li><li>Airport</li><li>Fire Station</li><li>Library</li></ul> Another way to carry out Role Play activity is to dress up your child as one of the different professions and act like them. Example - doctor, engineer, police, detective, farmer, potter, mayor, fire fighter, astronaut, teacher, chef, lawyer, sailor, watchman, carpenter, manson...etc.

Significance:This activity will enhance your child's imagination and increase their understanding about day to day experiences. This activity will also make your child accept people from all expertise.

activities

Activities are an interesting way to teach important life skills to children. Here are a few suggestions for you.