Picture Courtesy: Flickr - Djloche

Try solving this mystery with your preschooler.

Take a large sheet of plain paper, and draw a line of paw prints from bottom to top. Use three dabs of paint to create the paws.  Perpendicular to this line of paw prints, draw a line of birds’ claw prints, with a black pen.  The line of bird prints should end when it comes close to the middle of the line of paw prints.

Sit your preschooler down, and ask her what she think happened here.  So, there was an animal walking from here to here.  A robin was hopping along when he came upon the animal.  What happened next? What kind of animal was it - a cat, dog, wild animal…?  Why are there no more robin footprints?  What happened to the robin? Discuss all possible explanations.

• Was the robin eaten by the animal?
• Did the robin hop on the animal’s back and go for a ride?
• Did the robin fly away?
• Did the robin’s Mommy fly down and rescue the little robin?

Let me know if they come up with other solutions to this mystery!

This preschool activity encourages your preschooler to listen and concentrate. I love it because it combines a sense of hearing activity with a fun game

First, record a number of sounds that are familiar to your child - a car being started, animals she’s familiar with, a musical instrument, the sound of water pouring into a tub, birds etc.

Now, stick a picture of each object that you’ve recorded on separate cards. Cut out pictures from magazines, catalogs, newspapers etc.

Place the cards in a row in front of your child, and play the tape with the sounds.

When she recognizes a sound, she has to take that card and place it face down on the table. Continue until all cards have been placed down.

To keep things simple, start with 6 cards and increase as you go along.

Enjoy!