Running, Jumping and Singing

As we pulled into our parking spot at the library, M said "I want to go play on the grass!"  Great, I thought. We had been traveling to visit her grandparents and had been spending a lot of time in the car.

I was very pleasantly surprised by how much fun we had in this slightly hilly park, on a slightly chilly day!  We ran up and down the big hill again, and again and again.

We investigated the tree and gardens that were dormant for the winter.

M found some fallen branches that made great microphones for us.  We used them to sing Christmas carols, while we pranced in circles around the trees.  There were some low boulders scattered about as well, thanks to the glaciers, M was happy to point out.

The big rocks were fun jump launch pads, as well as a perfect spot for singing a tune.

The joy of rolling down a HUGE hill, on damp grass, in  your new coat is immeasurable!

Number Families, with a four year old

Well, it all started with what I thought would be a very straight forward number sequencing activity.

After M glued down all of her numbers in order, I handed her a marker and asked her to write her name.  She ended up drawing number families.  She drew mommy and baby numbers for each number 1-10.  Sometimes the daddy number was there, but often he was at work.  The numbers each had arms, legs and lots and lots of hair!

Whenever we sit down to do an academic activity, I'm always astounded by how much creativity M brings to the table.  It's a great reminder to make sure that we leave room and time for their creativity in all endeavors.   Even when we think that it's a cut and dry activity.

I'm learning that M always has a story to tell.

grocery shopping can be fun!

It's kind of a novel idea, isn't it?  Especially if you are taking your little ones with you.  It would be wonderful if our children could help us get this chore done, and learn something in the process, wouldn't it?

Magntic fun!

Magnets are Fasinating!

Who hasn't gotten sucked into a slightly meditative state by the push and pull that is possible with magnets? I bought a set of magnets from amazon, after seeing someone paint with magnets on plexiglass! (I'm sorry, I can't find the inspiring picture now!) Seeing that activity sparked a memory from when I taught pre-k. I had hung a piece of plexiglas from my ceiling in the science center for the children to use while exploring magnets. So I quickly adapted that idea to the home. I duct taped a piece of plexiglass, that is usually the painting surface on our homemade easel, between to chairs and told M to slide under.

I put the magnetic balls on top and gave her one of the wands. She had them rockin' and rollin' in no time! A few days later we added paint to the equation. For this project I created edges around the plexiglass to contain the paint covered magnetic balls! This time she sat in front of the plexiglass, while working the magnet under it. This position gave her greater control.

We tried it a few different ways. I squirted paint directly on the plexiglass and she made designs in the paint, that we then made a print of. Then we put down the paper first with a squirt of paint, a circle works well. They are almost guaranteed to move enough paint with the magnets to feel successful.

Magnets are not just for the refrigerator any more! What ideas do ou have to extend magnetic play?

Dot to dot remix

Last week I saw the giant dot to dot that they did over on http://www.momandkiddo.blogspot.com/ and fell in love! M has been on a coloring book marathon for months and there are always dot to dots and mazes in them. But they are too small and too complicated for her to do them successfully. No one is going to work that long at a task that is way too hard for them. Especially our children! We need to set them up to succeed.

I cut a big square from our newspaper end roll and made her a basic 1-12 dot to dot. She loved it! Plus I taped to the wall for an added extra 'this is differnt' factor. When she was done she wanted her doll house babies to come check it out. The big sister rode her tricycle on the road M made, and the baby was pushed in her stroller along it.

A few days later I decided to expand on the idea and creat a large maze for her. Again, it was a huge hit! When the maze was completed, M wanted to go back and color the baby who needed to go home. For it he next maze, I was instructed to draw a mommy, a big sister and a baby who needed to get home. After they we safely home, M gave them all beautiful, and extremely long hair!

It's fun to play and learn outside the box, you never know what will happen.

How do you set your child up for success?

Splatter It!

I wanted to have a new tablecloth to use for school days and for our art class.  I wanted the little ones in our Homegrown Preschool to create it for me.  I went to the thrift store and bought a plain white, twin flat sheet.  I brought it home and bleached it.  Now it was ready for the kiddos to paint it for me.

I remember learning about Jackson Polluc in college.  I was struck with his method of painting.  He would fling, flick, and pour paint on his canvases.

Who would love doing that more than a bunch of preschoolers?  So that's what I set up for them.  I put out many colors of slightly water downed acrylic paint and paint brushes.  I spread the sheet out on the grass and showed the munchkins how to fling the paint onto it.

Needless to say, they loved it!  The end result was beautiful, and after each art class a little more beauty will be added to it.

So you think you know messy....

My daughter LOVES to be messy! She is never happier than when she is up to her eyeballs in messy fun. Yesterday we played with goop. 2 parts cornstarch, and 1 part water. It acts like a solid and a liquid, depending on the amount of force. You can scoop it up into your hand and then watch it dribble back into the bucket. It's really fascinating. M added some liquid watercolors to it with eye droppers.

 Oh yeah, and it also is very cool with one of your frozen water balloons.   You just never know where an out of the box activity will take you. 

Today was progressively messy. We drew quick pictures to go put out in the rain and watch what happens to the colors.

Then M played with the half melted frozen water balloons. She added them to her half melted wheel barrel.

I suggested she send the ice down the slide. The ice became a mommy, and then a mommy and her baby when it broke.

Then it was off to check out the mud puddle ice rink, it was completely melted. I decided to rake out the puddle a bit, so there would be less leaf debris to deal with the next time it froze. We just had to maximize the slipperiness of it all. It was not long before M was filling a bucket to refill the wheel barrel with muddy water. Then there was puddle jumping in her fuzzy boots, her rain boots had already been soaked. Shortly there was mud play happening. Gloves don't get to look this way by playing in the snow! It was all fun and games until she got mud in her eye. Needless to say, she is enjoying her third bath of the day.