Play & Learn this week

Although it is a short week, Little Read Wagon will still offer two Play & Learn opportunities. We will have lots of fun activities related to The Watermelon Seed, by Greg Pizzoli. Join us at:

Woodlawn Park 

(near the gym at the corner of Cincinnati and Alexander)

Tuesday, at 10:00

or

Las Palmas Branch Library 

(515 Castroville Rd, 78237) 

Thursday, also at 10:00

We will not be at Arnold Park this Friday as all library locations will be closed in observance of Independence Day. We will return to Arnold Park one more time on Friday, July 11 at 9:00.

Who's afraid of his own shadow?

The Black Rabbit, by Philippa Leathers, inspired this week's Play & Learn activities. Although the weather has been overcast, the sun peeked out just enough for us to play with shadows. We also investigated reflections and how light travels through different objects.

Key vocabulary for this week included: shadow, silhouette, sphere, translucent, transparent, frozen, shiny, transfer, and refreshing.

These colorful frozen spheres were made by filling regular balloons with water and food coloring and leaving them in the freezer over night. It was fascinating to watch them melt and refreshing to touch the cold water on a hot day in the park!

We used aluminum foil and cotton swabs with finger paint to provide a new art experience. The children  enjoyed the feel of the paint on the foil, and the cotton swabs made very clean lines in the paint.

Counting, life cycles and seasons

Tap the Magic Tree was last week's 2 x 2 reading list selection. We had lots of fun exploring life cycles, seasons and counting. One of our most popular activities was playing with large plastic bugs in a bin of used coffee grounds. Thanks to our local coffee shop for saving the grounds!

In the seasonal section of your grocery store you might find some inexpensive pool noodles. Besides being a lot of fun in the water, pool noodles can make very interesting flexible ramps and chutes. The park play structure was just right for configuring the noodles (some cut in half or in shorter lengths) into ramps.

Have you found a different way to use pool noodles in your child's play? We'd love to hear about it!

Forces and motion

Last week our Play & Learn activities were inspired by the 2 x 2 book 20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street, by Mark Lee. We explored forces and motion by playing with cars in new ways. One of our favorites was painting with small cars. This can be done at home by providing a piece of paper or washable surface as large as possible, a few small toy cars and some drops of paint. These cars did not seem to have any particular destination, but families enjoyed driving them through the paint over and over again.

Look at how the colors mixed as the cars drove through them!

We combined writing with gravity by taping markers to the backs of a few vehicles and sending them down a paper-covered ramp.

Going to the car wash is lots of fun especially when you get to be the car, or when you get to be the "wash" and spray your friend with a little water.

If you haven't made it to Play & Learn yet this summer, please join us at any of these upcoming events!

Summer 2 x 2 Play & Learn

Each year a committee of Texas librarians compiles the 2x2 Reading List, a list of recent books recommended for children two years of age through second grade. This summer each Play & Learn event hosted by Little Read Wagon will feature one or more books from the 2 x 2 Reading List and plenty of fun math and science activities. For the complete list of books visit the San Antonio Public Library's 2x2 resource guide at http://guides.mysapl.org/2x2

All Play & Learn events are rain or shine. In the event of severe weather, please check this blog and the San Antonio Public Library events calendar for updates.

Tuesdays, June 3, 10, 17, 24 and July 1, 10-11:30am

Woodlawn Wi-Fi room 1103 Cincinnati, 78201

Fridays: June 6, 13, 20, 27 and July 11, 9:00-10:30am

Arnold Park 1011 Gillette Blvd., 78224

Tuesdays, June 17 and July 15, 6-7:30pm

Travis Park 301 E Travis St, 78205
(Travis Park events will precede Movies by Moonlight and have activities related to the show for the evening.)

Thursdays, July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, 10-11:30am

Las Palmas Library 515 Castroville Rd, 78237

Friday, July 18, 9-10:30am

House of Neighborly Service 407 N Calaveras, 78207