JULY 2019
Teddy bear picnic set for July 11
Craft:
Tic-tac-toe, Three in a row!
Exploring sand and rocks
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This Month at Playworks… From sunshine and perfect weather to fireworks and grill-outs, the month of July means taking advantage of the great outdoors and all that Minnesota summers have to offer. As a reminder, Playworks is closed on Thursday, July 4, for Independence Day, and regular hours and activities will resume on Friday, July 5. Educare families are invited to the annual Teddy Bear Picnic on Thursday, July 11, at 11:30am-12:30pm here at Playworks. Remember to B.Y.O.B. (bring your own bear!) and a blanket to sit on for a fun-filled picnic.
to keep the fun trucking along into July. The Summer Camp Carnival will be held on Thursday, July 18, at 3:30-5:30pm in the Playworks LINK Event Center. Campers and their families will be treated to plenty of food, games, and prizes.
Group trips and parties are an excellent way to escape the heat this summer and cool off in the Playworks Atrium! Between arcade games, a giant play structure, and an interactive dance floor, the Atrium has everything you need to make your next group outing or celebration a huge hit. As always, In June, Summer Camp went off without a hitch thanks for supporting Playworks! and is off to a great start, and campers are excited
important dates July 4:
Fourth of July | Playworks Closed
July 11:
Teddy Bear Picnic | 11:30am-12:30pm | Playworks
July 18:
Summer Camp Carnival | 3:30-5:30pm | Playworks
For a full list of Xtreme Summer Camp events, visit playworksfun.com!
Educare Early Learning Classrooms
Sand and Rocks Nothing beats sand squishing between your toes, right? Most children love to explore and play with sand—they are drawn to it! They love to dig holes, scoop sand into containers and watch it pour through their fingers, or create sand sculptures. Children also love rocks—they enjoy picking them up, putting them in their pockets, and sorting them. Rocks are especially appealing because of the variety of colors, shapes, and patterns of these objects.
This month, Playworks’ Educare classrooms will investigate and explore sand and rocks. Whether it’s an indoor sensory table, an outdoor sandbox, or on the beach, sand provides a hands-on experience for children to learn about the world around them. They will also learn about different types of rocks, their physical properties, and ways that people use rocks in their everyday lives. The month of July provides excellent opportunities for parents to engage in these curriculum topics with their children. While swimming at the local watering hole, let your child explain how sand is created and how it is used. Or while on a family walk, encourage your child to collect rocks along the way.
BUILDING CONNECTIONS:
I Love You Ritual
BLANKET VOLLEYBALL
Conscious Discipline is a comprehensive classroom management program and is based on current brain research, child development information, and developmentally appropriate practices. Give this “I Love You Ritual” a try to create a special bond with your kiddo!
Materials: • A towel or baby blanket • A balloon or a soft ball
Directions: 1. 2.
Hold two ends of the blanket and have the child hold the other two ends. Place the balloon or ball in the middle of the blanket. On a signal given by you, you and the child toss the ball into the air and catch it in the blanket. Use visual signals, such as, “When I blink my eyes, it means go,” or use auditory signals, such as, “1, 2, 3, go!”
To structure this game, clearly state the goal of the game, such as, “Our goal is to work together to toss the ball and catch it. We can count how many times we are able to do so.” Remember to clearly give a signal by saying, “The signal to begin the game will be ‘ready, set, go.’” To ensure that the child waits for the signal and is successful, do not put the ball on the blanket until just before the signal to go.
Suggested Reading Sea, Sand, Me! by Patricia Hubbell
The Sandcastle That Lola Built by Megan Maynor
The Sandcastle Contest by Robert Munsch
A Rock Can Be
by Laura Purdie Salas
Bring Me a Rock! by Daniel Miyares
Playworks Department Spotlight: Educare At Playworks, we PLAY! Play is an essential part of children’s lives and is vital to their development. It is essential for physical growth, emotional growth, intellectual and educational development, and for acquiring social and behavioral skills. Educare is Playworks’ contract child care program, featuring high-quality, developmentally appropriate programs for children 6 weeks to 12 years of age. Educare classrooms use Creative Curriculum, which promotes active lifelong learning and allows children to become enthusiastic learners, independent thinkers, and problem-solvers. Play fuels children’s imagination and curiosity, sparking creativity and learning. Equally important, play helps make learning fun!
Why Play Matters:
• Children expand their intelligence, knowledge, and understanding of the world around them through play • Play is a testing ground for language and reasoning skills and to connect challenges children face in school, such as literacy, math, and science concepts • Constructive play stimulates the imagination, encouraging creative problem-solving • Play provides opportunities for children to develop confidence, self-esteem, a sense of their own strengths and weaknesses, and a positive attitude toward learning
Highlighted Learning Objective:
Demonstrates Gross-Motor Manipulative Skills
When children move objects with their hands or feet to complete a task or achieve a goal, they are displaying gross-motor manipulative skills. With practice and support, children can harness and improve these skills—especially when practicing is combined with fun, playful activities like the ones listed below!
What this Looks Like: Reaches for an object Bats or swipes at a toy Flings a beanbag or tosses it into a basket Kicks a stationary ball or kicks the ball forward by stepping or running up to it Steps forward to throw a ball Bounces and catches a ball
Ways to Support these skills: Avoid activities that encourage competition or that eliminate a child from participating Provide balls of various sizes, textures, and grips to explore Provide opportunities for toddlers to practice releasing balls into targets, such as a large basket or bucket Use specific cues with individual children to help them increase proficiency, such as, “Look at the target before you throw”
Digging Into Minnesota’s Rocks
Rocks are made of tiny parts called minerals. There are over 3,500 known minerals in the world today! Rocks are like a small peek into the past—they can tell us a lot about what happened on the planet thousands of years ago. Minnesota’s rocks, in particular, show a history of volcanoes, seas, glaciers, and earthquakes. There are three main types of rocks in our state: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Let’s dig in:
Igneous rocks are formed from magma, or hot, molten rock. Magma is found way down below the earth’s surface. When magma reaches the earth’s surface, it turns to lava. Cooled magma or lava creates igneous rocks. Granite and basalt are examples of igneous rocks.
Most of Minnesota’s lakes, hills, and ridges were formed by glacial activity thousands—even millions!—of years ago. Glaciers also left behind giant boulders throughout the state.
Geologists can see evidence of earthquakes in Minnesota near the Midcontinent Rift, which runs from Minnesota to Kansas.
Sedimentary rocks are formed from bits • and pieces of broken rock, called sediments. Water and wind carry sediments, and the accumulated layers press or cement together to form a new kind of rock. Sandstone, limestone, and shale are the most common sedimentary rocks in Minnesota.
GLACIERS
MESABI IRON RANGE
MIDCONTINENT RIFT
Intense heat or pressure on igneous or sedimentary rocks transform them into metamorphic rocks. Some metamorphic rocks have visible layers or shiny crystals on them. Examples of metamorphic rocks are slate, which is formed from shale, and marble, which is formed from limestone.
The rocks found along Minnesota’s north shore of Lake Superior were created from cooled lava.
Minnesota was once covered by seas! The Mesabi Iron Range marks the shoreline of an ancient sea, where fossils of shells, fish, and other marine life have been found. Source: dnr.state.mn.us
Recipe:
Make Your Own
What do you get when you combine science, water, and sugar? Your very own magically delicious hard rock candy!
Ingredients: 2 cups granulated sugar ½ cup light corn syrup ½ cup water Food coloring Powdered sugar for dusting
ROCK
CANDY
Directions: 1. Coat a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. 2. In a large saucepan, stir together sugar, corn syrup, and water over medium heat, letting the mixture cook to 300˚F, or about 25 minutes. 3. After the sugar mixture has reached 300˚F, remove from heat. Add in a few drops of food coloring and stir vigorously. 4. Quickly pour the hot sugar mixture onto the greased baking sheet. Let cool for 20-30 minutes.
TIP: Try adding a few drops of flavor
5. Tap on the baking sheet to release the sheet of candy. Dust both sides of the candy with powdered sugar. Carefully break the candy into small pieces and store in an airtight container.
spice up your rock candy!
FOCUSED EXPERIENCE:
Playing with Toys
This month, the focused experience in Playworks’ littlest classrooms will be centered on playing with toys and how toys can be used as tools for learning. When kids play with toys, they are learning a multitude of concepts, including how things work, how they move, and how to relate and communicate with others. Check out these other ways that toys promote learning and growth:
When Your Child…
Your Child is Learning…
Bats a ball to make it move
Cause and effect
Rolls a toy car
Space and movement
Puts pieces in a form board
Concepts such as shapes, size, and color
Builds with blocks
How objects can be used
Snaps plastic beads together
Hand-eye coordination
extract—like cinnamon or lemon—to
Family-Friendly EVENTS
July 4
Rock and Rockets
5pm Mystic Lake Casino Hotel (2400 Mystic Lake Boulevard, Prior Lake) Celebrate Independence Day at Rock and Rockets, a fun night of fireworks, food, and music! After the live music provided by G.B. Leighton, check out the fireworks display at 10pm. All ages are welcome. July 11
SCENIC FAIRWAYS AND GREENS PRO SHOP | GPS-ENABLED CARTS THE MEADOWS BAR AND GRILLE
Teddy Bear Picnic
11:30am-12:30pm Playworks (2200 Trail of Dreams, Prior Lake) Enjoy a picnic-style lunch with your favorite stuffed teddy! All Educare families are welcome to attend this fun family event. Please bring a blanket to sit on. July 26
Hoċokata Ti Public Grand Opening
Hoċokata Ti (2300 Tiwahe Circle, Shakopee) Hoċokata Ti’s public exhibit and gallery—Mdewakanton: Dwellers of the Spirit Lake—will open to the general public on July 26. Visit shakopeedakota.org for more details.
MDEWAKANTON
L I F E WAYS
August 16-18
2019 SMSC Wacipi
Friday 7pm | Saturday 1pm & 7pm | Sunday 1 pm FREE ADMISSION
SMSC Wacipi Grounds (3212 Dakotah Parkway, Shakopee) Enjoy a weekend of Native American food, dancing, and culture at the SMSC Wacipi this August! Throughout history, Wacipi, or Pow Wow, was a gathering time held at the end of a season, to celebrate a good hunt, or to recognize a positive event. Today, Wacipi is a celebration of life. All ages are welcome.
Kids in the Kitchen Connect your kids with simple, healthy food
952.233.9140 • mazopiya.com 2571 CREDIT UNION DRIve, PRIOR LAKE, MN
OPENING JULY 26
Visit shakopeedakota.org to learn more about the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Dakota culture, and Hoċokata Ti, the SMSC’s new cultural center. 952.233.9151 • Shakopeedakota.org 2300 Tiwahe Circle, Shakopee, MN
Relish Today,
Ketchup tomorrow! BRAT OR HOT DOG WED. ONLY - CHICKEN SANDWICH FRI. ONLY - HAMBURGER OR CHEESEBURGER
SOLO BASKET COMBOS WITH 1OZ CHIPS & 32OZ FOUNTAIN DRINK
HEALTHY COMBO
WITH ORGANIC APPLE OR BANANA AND 20OZ STORE WATER
VISIT THE BRAT WAGON EVERY WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY 10AM - 2PM! WEATHER PERMITTING
952.445.5520 • sdcstores.com SDCS #1 | 15035 mystic lake dr, Prior Lake, MN
Craft:
Tic-TacToe, Th ree
Create your own tic-tac-toe board and start challenging all your friends to a tournament.
in a Row!
The best part? You can carry this game with you wherever you go!
Materials: Black painters pen Small burlap drawstring bag White painters pen 10 small, flat smooth rocks
Directions: 1. Use the black painters pen to draw a tic-tac-toe board on the burlap bag. 2. Use the white painters pen to draw X’s on five rocks and O’s on the other five rocks. 3. Grab a partner and start playing tic-tac-toe, three in a row!
• Playtime • Family Play • Groups & Parties
PLAY HERE.
Playworks is the best place to PLAY. We offer a variety of hourly child care services, family play, and more. Our child care is both flexible and fun for children 6 weeks to 12 years of age.
PLAY TODAY! 952.445.PLAY (7529) • playworksfun.com 2200 trail of dreams, PRIOR LAKE, MN
enterprises owned and operated by the shakopee mdewakanton sioux community