Learning is Fun

Bath-time has many benefits for baby besides just getting her clean. Some of these benefits include soothing and comforting baby, learning/play, and emotional/bonding. Bath-time soothes and comforts baby just as it would an adult. Bath time is also a learning play-time for baby as she tries to use hand-eye coordination by trying to grasp bath-toys like this Mini Pirate Rubber Duckies. Bonding is an additional benefit of bath-time. Mom and dad can both have the opportunity to bond with baby at bath-time as she listens to your voice and spend this special time of pretend play with these Mini Pirate Rubber Dickies. Bath-time is just another way baby is learning how you take care of all her needs and love her so much! Learn about buoyancy. What does it mean to float or sink? Encourage children to predict what will happen to ducks that are filled with water or have denser materials attached. Write a story. Provide rubber ducks in the writing center and encourage children to write duck stories. What sort of adventures could the rubber duck have? What is the duck’s name? Explore the letter “D”. What other words begin with this letter and the ‘d’ sound? Discuss with the child and add the words to the word wall.

Games with Ducks

It would be easy to think of the rubber duck as just a bath time or water table toy. However, this brightly colored buddy deserves a presence in your program because of its versatility and simplicity. Here are a few games you can use with ducks. Fish for a duck! Attach magnets to ducks floating in the water table and use poles with magnets tied to the strings to fish them out. Stamp with rubber ducks. Pour paint in a shallow container or plate, then dip the bottom of the rubber duck into the paint. Stamp away on construction paper. After the paint has dried, draw eyes, beak, and feet with markers. Use different size ducks with different colored paints to make beautiful, unique designs! Hold an indoor scavenger hunt. Choose ducks of different colors and find what matches in the classroom. If rubber ducks are yellow, what else is yellow?