Activities with Kacey: Celebrate Maryland

Kacey the Quality Koala and Maryland EXCELS have been sharing fun and educational activities and mealtime discussion questions for families and child care programs.

The theme of the activities below is “Celebrate Maryland.”

To see the latest activities and questions, visit this page or social media!

Share your activities on
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using the hashtags #MarylandEXCELS and #KaceyEXCELS.

The Maryland State Department of Education’s Division of Early Childhood understands that activities described on this page and in website links are not suitable for all ages. Ultimately, all activities require adult supervision and are not endorsed by the Maryland State Department of Education or Johns Hopkins University.

Monday

Beach Ball Craft

Draw a small circle on the back of a paper plate. Then draw lines to create six sections on the plate. Your child can either paint the plate or tear pieces of colored construction paper and glue it onto each section. Let your child use their imagination to create their colorful beach ball!

Mealtime discussion question: What activities and games would you like to play in the sand or at the beach?

Tuesday

Music and Movement Activity

Sing and dance to a song about the Chesapeake Bay watershed called Back to the Sea.

Mealtime discussion question: What are some ways you and your family can help keep the area where you live clean?

Wednesday

A Baltimore Story

Listen to and read the story, Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard. As a follow-up activity, make a 2020 memory box with your child. Let your child decorate an empty box (like a shoebox) and find crafts, notes, pictures, or other special keepsakes for your child to put in their memory box. Store the box in a safe place. As your child grows older, they will enjoy going through their memory box to recall stories about their special items.

Mealtime discussion question: What is your favorite item that will fit in your memory box? Why is it special to you?

Thursday

Story and Activity

Listen to Meet Chadwick and His Chesapeake Bay Friends by Priscilla Cummings, and create a Maryland masterpiece with your hands and paint.

As a follow-up activity to the story, your child can create a colorful masterpiece to pay tribute to Maryland. Paint your child’s hands with washable paint. Your child’s handprint will create the body of one or more of the characters from the story. Have your child create a beach scene with a Maryland crab, goose, egret, clam, or jellyfish. Let your child add eyes, nose or beak, a mouth, and other features. Share your child’s work of art with Maryland EXCELS on social media!

 

Mealtime discussion question:  What animals have you seen that live in or near the Chesapeake Bay?

Friday

Make a tasty and healthy bear snack!

Note: If your child has food allergies, adjust this activity as needed, and create a bear face on a plate.

Maryland has beaches, farms, rivers, lakes, and mountains. Different animals such as muskrats, raccoons, Canada geese, white-tailed deer, coyotes, red foxes, and American black bears live in different regions of the state. Black bears can be found in the mountains in Western Maryland. Make a bear snack with your child using bread or a rice cake, butter, nut butter or other spreadable food, bananas or apples, and blueberries or raisins. Spread the butter, peanut butter, or other spreadable food on a piece of toasted bread or a rice cake. Arrange sliced bananas or apples and blueberries or raisins to make ears, eyes, and a nose. Enjoy your tasty snack with your child.

Mealtime discussion question: What is your favorite Maryland summer activity?

 

See activities from past weeks:

• Activities with Kacey: You Are Special
• Activities with Kacey: Reptiles
• Activities with Kacey: Movement
• Activities with Kacey: Nature
• Activities with Kacey: Zoo Animals
• Activities with Kacey: Transportation
• Activities with Kacey: Stars and Stripes
• Activities with Kacey: Bugs
• Activities with Kacey: Rainbows
• Activities with Kacey: Underwater Adventures
• Week of June 1-5
• Week of May 26-29
• Week of May 18-22
• Week of May 11-15
• Child Care Provider Appreciation Week: May 4-8
• Week of April 27-May 1
• Week of April 21-24