Taking advantage of minutes here and there in the day and piggy-backing learning activities onto whatever you are doing are effective ways to promote kindergarten readiness.
Today’s suggestion connects making a meal to some fundamental science. Think the picture on the right is pasta? It sure looks like pasta that’s perhaps been colored for an art project. Would you believe that it is a tremendously magnified picture of proteins and protein folds from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences? Astonishing, isn’t it, that genetic material inside us can have the same patterns that we see outside us, Or maybe, it’s not so weird that patterns are repeated. More importantly, patterning is a pretty fundamental skills. So, take out some pasta and look at all the different shapes and patterns.
If your day has time, for a fun Christmas craft have your child glue some onto a juice can or other container. When the glue is set, paint it different colors. Once the paint is dry, white glue can be thinned with water and spread over the surface to make it shiny and harder. This dish can be used to hold pens, change, jewelry, etc.
Or just cook the pasta and enjoy it for lunch or supper. That plate of pasta may be a reflection of part of a genetic code or a pattern way out in deep space, or quite possibly, left-overs.
What patterns do you and your child see when you have a minute to look?