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Green Bean Theme Activities

September 20, 2023 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

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Visiting a farmer’s market or garden center is the best way to find varieties of fruits and vegetables we may not see in our local food stores. On a street market stroll last week, I was thrilled to discover a vegetable stall with beans that were not just green. They also came in dark purple, yellow, and streaked varieties. Here are some easy bean theme activities to introduce these novel bean colors to little learners.

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Follow me on Pinterest for more early learning ideas.

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Color Recognition With Beans

Showcase a few different types of beans in order to introduce color words to young children. For instance, label them green, light yellow, dark purple, or yellow streaked with purple.

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Sorting Beans

Beans in different colors are perfect for math sorting activities. After collecting a few varieties, invite little learners to sort them by color, size, or shape. A suggestion is to leave things open-ended by asking “Which beans are alike?”

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Making Patterns With Beans

For more garden math, invite children to make patterns with beans in different colors.

An invitation to make a pattern with beans. A hands-on math and language arts activity perfect for a nutrition or vegetable theme.

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Beans and The Letter C

Some beans are shaped like the letter C. If your supply of beans includes them, ask little learners to find the beans that look like a C. If the beans are different sizes, invite children to sort them from smaller to bigger, or vice versa.

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Drawing Beans

Beans have a simple shape, so are perfect for a beginner directed drawing activity. Young children may start off by tracing beans, and then coloring them in. Select crayons or pencil crayons as the medium for the art project.

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During the drawing process, discuss words to describe beans. For instance, the whole bean is called a bean pod. It is long and thin and has skin on the outside. There is a seam running down one side of the bean. There is a stem on top and a bean tip at the bottom.

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A second activity is to open beans to view the inside of the pods. Check if the inside of a pod is the same color as the outside. Count the seeds in a pod, and have the children draw a split bean with bean seeds.

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Snacking On Beans

Beans are a super healthy food to eat, as they are low calorie and have lots of fiber. They are a good source of vitamin C, K, folate, and potassium. Invite your little learners to eat them raw or offer them in a cooked side dish for little ones to try.

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Bean Science

The dark purple beans actually lose their color after cooking. View purple beans before and after they are cooked for an interesting and easy color-changing science experiment.

The example below shows a handful of steamed deep purple beans. Some have transitioned to all green, while others are purple and green and will turn all green with more cooking.

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Uniquely-colored bean varieties are a fun find at a market stall or greenhouse. These hands-on bean theme activities help bring the garden to the table for little learners.

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[Read more…] about Green Bean Theme Activities

Filed Under: art, autumn, fall, gardening, literacy, Math, preschool, science, themes Tagged With: beans, color experiment, cooking, drawing, math, nature art, science, vegetables

Chinese New Year Rice Bin

January 15, 2023 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

This Chinese New Year rice bin celebrates the Year of The Rabbit. It's filled with loose parts early learners will love to explore.
This Chinese New Year rice bin celebrates the Year of The Rabbit. It's filled with loose parts early learners will love to explore.

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Chinese New Year (also called Lunar New Year) is just around the corner, and it will soon be the Year Of The Rabbit. As has been the tradition in the last few years, I put together a themed sensory bin for the occasion. The colorful Year Of The Rabbit Chinese New Year rice bin is filled with interesting treasures for early learners to explore.

Chinese Lunar Calendar

The Chinese Lunar Calendar is used to determine festivals and wedding dates. The longest and most important festival is Chinese New Year, celebrated each January/February in China, and by millions of people around the world. This year Chinese New Year falls on January 22, 2023.

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The Chinese Zodiac

There are 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac. In a 12-year cycle, each animal corresponds to one year and is believed to represent certain character qualities. The rabbit is the fourth animal in the zodiac and is considered to be

  • elegant
  • gentle
  • alert
  • kind
  • patient
  • mannerly
  • affectionate
  • witty
  • approachable
  • responsible
  • peace-loving
  • talented
  • self-disciplined
  • able to set goals and achieve them

People born in the Year Of The Rabbit are believed to constitute these character traits.

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Follow me on Pinterest for more early learning ideas.

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Chinese New Year Rice Bin Supplies

This rabbit-themed Chinese New Year loose parts tray is filled with treasures early learners love to explore.

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The first thing gathered for this Chinese New Year-themed bin is a rabbit hanging decoration. I took it apart and used one of the stuffed dangling rabbits for the bin. Also in the bin are:

  • bunny counters
  • training chopsticks
  • red bowl
  • ladles and gold spoons
  • wooden numbers from 0 to 9
  • large gold buttons
  • pompoms
  • gold play coins
  • cut gold necklaces
  • plastic bus bin
  • white glutinous rice

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The Chinese New Year Rice Bin

A stuffed bunny decoration and rabbit counters are highlights in this Year of The Rabbit Chinese New Year rice bin.

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It is handy to have a few different kinds of bins available for sensory activities. For this themed Chinese New Year play invitation, I feature a white bus bin big enough for two or three children to explore at a time.

White glutinous rice is the base for the bin. It is relaxing to play in and showcases the loose parts well.

The feature rabbit is colorful, and pompoms and rabbit counters color coordinate.

Rabbits are soft, with even softer tails. The pompoms are like rabbit tails.

The gold coins are reminders that children and single young adults get red envelopes filled with money or chocolate coins.

Cut gold necklace strips represent long noodles. These symbolize long life and are traditionally served.

This Chinese New Year rice bin celebrates the Year of The Rabbit. A stuffed rabbit decoration and bunny counters are highlights in the bin.

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Training chopsticks are included for exercise in transferring noodles, pompoms, and other loose parts.

There is a red bowl and gold buttons. Both red and gold are popular colors in Chinese New Year decorations. Red symbolizes luck and happiness, and gold symbolizes wealth and prosperity.

Rabbits breed easily and can have 4 or more litters per year. There are anywhere from 1 to 14 kits per litter, with an average being six. Each litter spurs on the question: How many baby bunnies did the mother bunny have? That is why there are so many rabbit counters in the bin! The wooden numbers give an opportunity for number recognition when counting rabbits.

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This rabbit-themed Chinese New Year rice bin is so fun to assemble. The bright and sparkly stuffed rabbit decoration is definitely the highlight of the bin.

This rabbit-themed Chinese New Year loose parts tray is filled with treasures early learners love to explore.

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Related:

Year Of The Rat Sensory Bin

Year Of The Ox Sensory Bin

Year Of The Tiger Sensory Bin

Year Of The Pig Sensory Bin

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[Read more…] about Chinese New Year Rice Bin

Filed Under: Chinese New Year, preschool, sensory Tagged With: Chinese New Year, math, rice bin, sensory bin, sensory play

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Hi, I'm Annette Kaminsky. I am a preschool teacher who loves to share easy and fun early learning activities. Thanks for visiting my blog. Feel free to stay awhile!

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