Art helps children express themselves while having fun. Daycare activities can include scratch-and-sniff painting. Children draw pictures of fruits and color them with water paints. Once the paint is dry, apply craft glue on the picture and sprinkle flavored gelatin on the picture. This engages children's sense of sight, smell and touch. It improves their cognitive skills as they learn the names of fruits and colors. It also improves their hand-eye coordination as they learn to use a paintbrush. Children can also make paintings out of pudding or shaving cream.
Children can learn science through observation. They can germinate seeds in clear glass jars, or they can learn about colors. Place white carnations into jars filled with colored water. Ask the children to note how long it takes for the carnation to change color. Use different colors and have the children observe which color changes fastest or slowest. The colored carnations can later be used for decoration. For another science lesson, you could fill a jar with cooking oil, syrup and water and then drop a grape, a cork and a plastic button into the glass. Ask the children what settles where and how fast each item settles.
Imaginary games allow children to express themselves. They often imitate their daily experiences and what they see adults in their lives do. Drama helps them make sense of the world, and their play-acting can also alert you to any problems in their lives. Children like to play dress up, so accumulate old clothes that they can use in games. Start with two baskets, one for men's clothes and one for women's clothes. The daycare teachers can contribute to the boxes, and children can bring old clothes from home as well. Every two or three days, add a new box. One box can have gloves, one can have scarves, one can have shoes, one can have hats, and so on. Having separate boxes to fill on separate days teaches children sorting skills. After two weeks, let the children use all the boxes for a dress-up game.
Children can learn to count in enjoyable ways. Balloons are a good way to teach counting. Blow up balloons and have the children decorate them with sparkles. Count the number of balloons, then tape them to a wall. Have the children count the number of days it takes for the balloons to deflate. Children can also count balls, blocks, beanie bags or doors.