Sorry For My Absence

     When I first started my blog I wanted to help parents learn and understand the huge role play is for very young kids. It is not just playing that goes on, but real hard work and lots of learning happens while kids are actively playing. I'm my earlier posts I was on top of it with why different types of play tools are important for little ones. I was also happy being able to post different learning theories because every family and child are different when it comes to what learning style works best for them. I had a lot of fun posting our weekly theme and alphabet activities in hopes to share some new ideas for parents or other teachers looking for something possibly new to them. As much fun as I had it was also taking some time away from other things since I have been doing all my blogging with my smart phone (my household right now does not have a pc or laptop or Wi-Fi at the moment). Some unexpected stuff happened with my family that immediately has taken the time I would use to blog away from me. I missed it, but was finding I enjoyed being in the moment with my kid while doing our continued learning activities than making sure I had good photos or posts up weekly. My kid was getting tired of me pulling out my phone for photos ALL the time. I realized that my themes were starting to get recycled too at this point which made my excitement to post each week a bit less when other stuff needed my focus. As of now it still does and so I will continue  on my break, but I wanted to post this so that this feels more complete than just leaving it without any explanation. I hope some of my readers found something interesting or fun to try and will maybe remember this little place if they see another parent looking for ideas for their young ones. Much love to you all as you adventure on!

Without Habitat There is no Wild Life, it's That Simple

Hey yall,

     I hope you all had a beautiful sunny week as we did here in my corner of the world. It was incredibly hot for the first week of October, so maybe you did not have to deal with that if you are not a heat loving person. This week I thought it would be fun to learn and refresh about different animal habitats. Animals are fun for kids to learn and study and play pretend with. Doing a week on animal habitats is great for science, geography, fine and gross motor skills, sensory play, and helps them think outside of their home base and expands their imagination. It is always a lot of fun to do this theme and there are so many animal habitats to choose from.
     We also focused on the letter "Qq" and number 7 this week. Qq can seem tricky, but it is still doable for a week and still very fun.


Monday- Tracing Uppercase "Q"/The Jungle
Books:
My Q Soundbox by Jane Belk Moncure
Journey Through the Jungle by Steve Cox
Bedtime In the Jungle by John Butler

Songs:
Qq song from abcmouse on youtube
Five Little Monkey

Activities:
Review "Qq" vocab words. Practice tracing uppercase "Q"

Play with dry quinoa

Intro animal habitats and the jungle

Play with dollar tree slime for jungle slime

Go to the park

Tuesday-"Qq" Phonics Day/Practice Tracing Number 7/The Desert 
Books:
"Quack!" Said the Billy Goat by Charles Causley
Journey Through the Desert by Specs Art

Songs:
The Queen of Hearts
Sally the Camel
The 7 days of the week song

Activities:
Review "Qq" picture vocab. Work on "Qq" phonics work.

Go on a quest looking for animals in the neighborhood. We found dogs, cats, squirells, and birds.

Practice tracing number 7. Work on number seven group recognition using plastic desert animals I found at the Dollar Tree

Intro desert habitat.

Play with desert plastic animals with kinetic sand.

Wednesday:Practice Tracing Lowercase "q"/The Ocean
Books:
Qq by Kelly Doudna
Journey Through the Ocean by Steve Cox
Over in the Ocean in a Coral Reef by Mirianne Berkes

Songs:
Do you Know the Question Man (you can find the words typed out in my previous post under the lable "Qq activities")
Octopus Garden by Raffi
Baby Baluga by Raffi

Activities:
Review "Qq" vocab words. Practice tracing lowercase "q."

Play quiet as a mouse. Basically the first person to make a noise loses.

Intro ocean habitat.

Make a homemade tide pool with the seashells we brought home from our vacation at the beach this past summer. We put them in our splash pool aling with a little sand and water.

Thursday-Sequencing/matching/sorting day/The Forest
Books:
Quadrilateral by Molly Blaisdell (this is a very advanced stage of shape learning. I only picked this one because of how much my child already knows and is obsessed with his shapes).
Journey Through the Forest by Steve Cox

Songs:
A Quiet Quarterback (again you can find this song in my older Qq post)
Five Green and Speckled Frogs

Activities:
Review "Qq" vocab.

Make a quadrilateral shape paper quilt

Work on a matching, sorting, sequencing activity

Intro forest habitat.

Play the game going on a bear hunt.

Friday-"Qq" Tracing Review/Arctic Habitat and Habitat Review
Books:
Quack! The Sound of Q by Cynthia Kingel and Robert B. Noyed
Who Lives Here? By Dot and Sy Barlowe

Songs:
Five Little Ducks by Raffi
The Penguin Song on youtube

Activities:
Review "Qq" vocab words and tracing.

Paint with q-tips

Intro arctic habitat. Play with ice in the splash pool.

These are just some ideas I thought up toexplore animal habitats. Do you have any ideas that others might find fun with this theme or the letter "Qq?" Please share in a comment. 

"And all at Once Summer Collapsed Into Fall...."

     

     Hello World! The days are shorter, leaves are falling and waiting to be crunched beneath our feet. The squirrels are scurrying about getting the last of their food stored up for winter. Front porches have all undergone fall/halloween decor transformations. The time of pumpkin spice and apple pies has arrived. Watching kids chasing as much of the last of warmer weather outside before it gets cold is entertaining. Relaxing and contemplating while enjoying bonfires and roasting marshmallows while warm and snug in jackets and hoodies should be taken advantage of. Having fun going tailgating for football and basketball games is at hand. It is fall and so of course the theme of our learning week and what a fun week to learn with! There are lots of activities to pick and choose from.
     Along with the theme of fall/autumn, we have been focusing on the letter "Pp" and number "6."

Monday-Trace Uppercase P/What Happens In Nature During Fall
Books:
My p Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
Any book you can find about the seasons

Songs:
The Purple People Eater
Autmn poem from my old blog post about fall/autumn. You can see it by clicking here.
Infact a lot of my songs I am singing about fall are already typed out in that post.

Activities:
Review "Pp" picture vocab.

Practice tracing uppercase P

Work on jigsaw puzzles

Intro fall. Talk about the different things that change out in nature during fall.

Work on our fall tree on our front glass door. We used clear contact paper and fake leaves and double sided scotch tape... although for the more adventurous and crafty patient people you can make your own fall shaped leaves using coffee filters and water colors and trace leaf shapes out to use as your leaves. I keep thinking i want to do that, but then forget until i am about to work on the fall tree........ so fake leaves it ends up being for us. If you do make your own leavesthan tale today just for doing that and then put the tree up tomorrow...

Tuesday- Trace Number 6/Fall Activities
Books:
The Plant That Kept on Growing by Barbara Brenner
Autumn Leaves by Gail Saunders-Smith

Songs:
Paper Rings by Taylor Swift
Autumn Time is Coming from my old blog ppst. The link is above with Monday's songs.

Activities:
Review "Pp" vocab

Play with play people and playhouses.

Practice tracing the number 6.

Do number six group recognition. I used the candy corn in the shape of the pumpkins...

Intro fall activities

Work on the fall tree painting activity. I break this down again in my old fall blog post.

Wednesday- Trace Lower-case "p"/ Fall Safety and Foods that are Harvested
Books:
The Bear's Picnic by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Harvest Time by Jeri Cipriano

Songs:
Peanut Butter and Jelly song by Raffi
Scarecrow scarecrow from my old blog post.

Activities:
Review "Pp" vocab. Practice tracing lower-case "p."

Go to a local neighborhood park to play.

Intro fall harvesting. Play with corn kernals and sunflower seeds

Talk about fall safety. Spiders and slippery  leaves are important to watch out for. Dressing appropriately is also important.

Go on a family nature walk through the neighborhood. Listen to the sounds of leaves crunching. Look for squirrels gathering their food. Enjoy the fall house decorations....

Thursday-Sequencing, Sorting, and Matching Day/Pp Review/Fall Holiday Fun
Books:
The Greedy Python by Eric Carle and Richard Buckley
Anthony, the Perfect Monster by Angelo DeCesare
Clifford's First Fall by Norman Bridwell
Hooray for Fall! by Sara Willson

Songs:
Perfect by Ed Sheeran
Little Acorns and 5 Little Pumpkins from my old blog

Acrivities:
Review "Pp" vocab and tracing skikls

Play with playdough and pajama day fun!

Talk about fall holidays and the fun things to look forward to with each one.

Use a fake pumpin for painting to add to the outside decorations....

Friday:Fun Adventure Day Visiting Family

"I've Got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Senses Working Over Time.."

   

     

Ladies and Gents, my most bitter-sweet week of the year seasonally happened this week. That's right, it is officially the last week of Summer. No more long days filled with what seems like endless fun exploring outdoors. The time of playing barefoot and splashing in water, getting messy on the back pptch while eatong popsicles and ice cream cones are coming to an end. Not having to warm up a vehicle while bundling up to venture the 20 feet to the car just to unbundle for car seat safety is ending quicker than I like. I am a Summertime kinda gal so knowing it is ending this year is just a tad sad for me. Not that fall is horrible. The season of fall is actually a lot of fun, and definitely better than winter with all the wonderful fun holidays to look forward to coming up. I have fall decor I look forward to putting out on Sunday because I do enjoy it, it's just not as fun for me as Summer.

     With that said, as an ode to our last week of Summer I thought it would be fun to work on learning about our five senses again. A lot of the activities we worked on together I used in my last five senses post, which you can find in my labels section of my archives. Exploring with the senses is sp neet. We use all our motor skills, science fun, sensory play, cognitive skills, and so much more! We also had a big alphabet and numbers review week too.

Monday-Uppercase A-O Review/Aa, Ff, and Kk Tracing Review/Number 1 Review/Sense of Smell 
Books:
Alfred's Alphabet Walk by Victoria Chess
One Lonely Sea Horse by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers
Whose Nose and Toes by John Butler

Songs:
Ants Go Marching
Firework by Katy Perry
Let's Go Fly a Kite- Mary Poppins

Activities:
Play uppercase letter matching game

Review Aa, Ff, and Kk vocab words

Practice tracing the letters Aa, Ff, and Kk

Play with almonds

Play with flour

Play kickball

Intro sense of smell. Take seasonings you use to cook. Have the child sniff each ome and talk about what kind of smells they are smelling. My kid's favorite scents were cinnamon and garlic powder. His least favorite smell was the lemon juice.

Tuesday- Number 1-5 Review/Bb, Gg, and Ll Tracing Review/Number 2 Tracing Review/Sense of Hearing

Books:
The Ladybird Big ABC and Counting Book 1,2,3 by Lynne J. Bradbury
2 is for Dancing by Woodleigh Hubbard
City Sounds by Craig Brown

Songs:
Bananas!
God Gave Me You by Blake Shelton
Lover by Taylor Swift

Activities:
Number 1-5 matching game

Review Bb, Gg, and Ll vocab

Bb, Gg, and Ll Tracing Review

Play with shape beads

Make glitter art

Play with ladder

Intro sense of hearing. Use listening game videos off of youtube and see what noises your child can figure out correctly.

Wednesday- Lower case a-o Review/Cc, Hh, and Mm Tracing Review/Number 3 Tracing Review/Sense of Sight

Books:
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
One, Two, Three by Marc Brown
Let's Play a Five Senses Guessing Game by Amanda Miller and Joan Michael

Songs:
The Chicken Dance
If You're Happy and you Know it
Do you Believe in Magic?

Activities:

Play lowercase matching game

Review Cc, Hh, and Mm vocab

Cc, Hh, and Mm tracing review

Number 3 tracing review

Play with corn kernals

Play hide and seek

Play with dry erase markers.

Intro sense of sight. Go on a nature hike.

Park day

Thursday- Dd, Ii, and Nn Tracing Review/ Number 4 Tracing Review/ Sense of Touch

Books:
Indian Two Feet and the ABC Moose Hunt by Margaret Friskey
How Many Monsters by Joanne and David Wylie
Hand, Hand, Fingers, and Thumb by Al Perkins

Songs:
Farmer in the Dell
Help! By the beatles
Natural by Imagine Dragons

Activities:
Review Dd, Ii, and Nn vocab

Dd, Ii, and Nn tracing review

Number 4 tracing review

Play with dinosaurs

Play with ice outside

Play with noodles

Intro sense of touch... pull out salt and sugar and to play with and explore the different feelings between them.

Friday-Ee,Jj, and Oo Tracing Review/Number 5 Tracing Review/Sense of Taste

Books:
My ABC's by Don L. Curry
Numbers by Rose Griffiths
Food for Healthy Teeth by Helen Frost

Songs:
Fly Like an Eagle
Joy to the World by Three Dog Night
Octopus Garden by Raffi

Activities:

Review Ee, Jj, and Oo vocab

Ee, Jj, and Oo tracing review

Number 5 tracing review

Egg toss fun

Jello lego fun

Dry Oatmeal fun

Intro taste. Have the child taste test something sweet, salty,  bitter, and sour. I used watermellon, pretzels, dark chocolate, and fresh lemon.

What fun five senses activities would you add? I love hearing new ideas!

All About Me!... well our kids actually

       

     EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! WE HAD A FUN WEEK AND WE ARE GONNA SHOUT IT! Ok, maybe a tad silly, but my headline reminded me of that cheer rhyme, only I played soft ball growing up and we inserted if the batter got to base instead of a fun week. Anyway, I have already gone off topic talking about myself... (see what I did there) ok, that was a bad joke. I couldn't stop myself. It can be so easy to talk about myself at times, then other times I avoid bringing attention to myself. Just depends on my mood I guess.

     The thing is kids LOVE to learn about themselves, as well as are now at around four years old are also interested in learning more about their peers as well. It is an important part of development for this age to get excited over shared interests and then quickly make friends.  This week, I thought it would be a good week not only to learn more about my kid, but also help my kid realize that God made every person and no matter their looks, language, or whatever makes them unique it is something to celebrate rather than judge. A week about acceptance and being a good citizen. With this past week also remembering 9/11 I figured this would be more age appropriate to show honor for those lost that day than delving into something my kid might actually end up having some anxiety over as he does struggle with that at times and we live near a county airport with lots of planes flying close by our home all the time.
   
     Along with the above we also focused on the letter "Oo" and number 5.

Monday-Practice Tracing Uppercase "O"/God Made Us Special
Books:
My "o" Soundbox by Jane Belk Moncure
God Made Me Special  A Veggie Tales Book

Songs:
I Am Special
(Are You Sleeping?)
I am special
I am special
Can't you see
Can't you see
Someone very special
Someone very special
Cause God made me
God made me

Octopus Garden by Raffi

Activities:
Review "Oo" picture vocabulary words
Practice tracing uppercase "O"

Make octopi using playdough

Use a mirror to talk about the different characteristics God used to create your child... eye color, hair color, freckles or not, skin color... find out which parts your child likes about what he/she sees and then try and celebrate the parts they did not mention. See which parts of each family member your child likes... like an uplifting type of activity for the whole family.

Tuesday- "Oo" Phonics/Trace Number 5/How Everyone Is Different, but Also the Same

Books:
Open Very Carefully: A Book With A Bite by Nick Bromley
We Are Alike, We Are Different by Janice Behrens

Songs:
One Two Buckle My Shoe
Jesus Loves the Little Children

Activities:

Review "Oo" vocab words. Work on "Oo" phonics work

Play in the splash pool with turqoise food coloring and glitter for an ocean type vibe

Talk about how different everyone is and why being different is a good thing

Do a family fingerprinting activity to show how every person even have their own unique fingerprints

Practice tracing number 5.
Work on number five group recognition using finger prints....

Wednesday- Trace Lowercase "o"/Importance of Being A Good Citizen

Books:
A Picnic In October by Eve Bunting
Why Are People Different by Barbara Shook Hazen

Songs:
Oats and Beans and Barley Grow
Jesus Loves Me

Activites:
Review "Oo" picture vocab and practice tracing lowercase "o."

Play with dry oatmeal for sensory play

Talk about how important it is to be a good citizen. Help when you see you can help, be kind, and treat every person with respect.

Use blocks to help your child build your family's home.

Thursday- Sequencing and Matching Day/All About Feelings 

Books:
Odd Dog by Claudia Boldt
Feelings by Noria Roca

Songs:
Biscuits In the Oven by Raffi
There Is No One Who Is Just Like Me
(Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)

There is no one who is just like me
No one who knows how to be
Me when i am mad or sad
Me when i am very glad
There is no one who is just like me
Me is who i am proud to be.

Activities:
Review "Oo" picture vocab
Work on sequencing and matching activity

Play with play kitchen to use the play oven

Intro feelings and how natural it is to feel many different things at different times and how feelings are also something that make us unique.

Play feeling flashcard game

Zoo day

Friday-"Oo" Review/All About Me Poster Day/How We Look on the Inside

Books:
Look Out, Jack! The Giant Is Back! by Tom Birdseye
Jessica's X-Ray by Pat Zonta

Songs:
This Old Man
The Hokey Pokey

Activities:

Review "Oo" vocab and tracing work

Paint with orange paint

Work on our all about me poster

Talk about our body and use the x-ray book to help show how we might look on the inside too...

Park day!

These are just a few activities I thought up to help my kid have a fun as well as educational week learning about himself and others too. Do you have any fun activities that could work on this type of theme? Please share if you do!

Grandparents are the Foot Steps to Future Generations

   
I hope you all enjoyed a fun Labour Day week-end! Our's was jam packed with birthday celebrations, our family photo session, outdoor activities, and then ending with us all catching a cold virus. It has not been a fun one either, considering my kid just got sick to his stomach from it. Poor little guy is crashed out on my lap right now as I am typing this and those of you who know my child know this is a very rare occurrence these days since him giving up his nap.

     We have been very focused on my child's grandparents this week as this Sunday happens to be Grandparents Day in case yall were not aware. The relationship between a grandparent and grandchild is super special and important to me more than any other extended family relationship (unless a grandparent shows highly toxic behavior). If it was not for grandparents saying yes to having our parents, well we would not be here nor would our kids. Our parents raised us and as long as it was done in a loving and respectful way then I think it is very important our children receive that love too that we got from our parents and have our parents enjoy the gift of time and bonding with their grandchildren while they can.

Also
     Also this week we worked on tracing the letter "Nn" and number 4. I did not take as many photos this week as a lot of these activities I did in my other letter Nn activity entry which you can look at if you look back through my archives for Nn activities.


Monday:Labour Day!

Tuesday:Practice Uppercase "N"/"Nn" Phonics Work/Intro Grandparents Day

Books:
My N Soundbox by Jane Belk Moncure
Just Grandma and Me by Mercer Meyer
Just Grandpa and Me by Mercer Meyer

Songs:
Never Grow Up by Taylor Swift
I'm So Very Glad You're In My Life by Audrey Ayers

Activities:

Review "Nn" vocabulary picture words/practice tracing uppercase "N", work on "Nn" phonics work.

Play with dry noodles

Intro grandparents day. Why it is special. Work on first page for Mimi for part of grandparents day surprise.

Wednesday: Practice Tracing Number 4/More about Mimi

Books:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret by Steve and Sonia Murphy
Oliver, Amanda, and Grandmother Pig by Jean Van Leeuwen

Songs:
Naturally by Raffi
Number 4 song on youtube
Dear Grandma by Macmania

Activities:
Review "Nn" vocab.

Napkin painting with watercolors.

Practice tracing number 4

Work on groups of four recognition using stacks of duplo legos.

Work more on grandparent's day surprise gift. Page number 2 all about Mimi.

Begin working on a stepping stone kit also for grandparent's Day gift.

Thursday:Practice Tracing Lowercase "n"/Sequencing and Matching/About Papaw

Books:
Clifford's Grouchy Neighbors by Norman Bridwell
A Present for Grandfather by Chandler Werner

Songs:
Love Your Neighbor from Veggie Tales
The Grandpa Song by Dennis Jernigan

Activities:
Review "Nn" vocabulary words/ practice tracing lowercase "n"

Play with cooked noodles

Work on third page of grandparent's day surprise akl about papaw

Finish stepping stone activity for grandparent's day.

Friday- "Nn" Review/Finish Up Grandparent's Day Gift

Books:
Pinnochio's Nose Grows by Barbara Gaines Winkelman
Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa

Songs:
A Whole New World from the original Alladin
What A Wonderful World/Somewher Over the Rainbow

Activities:
Review our letter "Nn" work

Play with nuts. We used almonds

Finish up last page for grandparent's day surprise.

These are just a few things I did to try to help grandparent's day be fun and special for my family. Whay activities have you done in your family for grandparent's day? I'd love to know. Just leave a comment and I will be happy to learn some new ideas.

The Many Ways We Can Get From Here to There

       (Another painting I made as a gift)

Hey Guys,
     How are you doing since you last stopped by? Or if this is your first time here then hey, welcome, and I hope you find my blog somewhat entertaining... or atleast do not feel like this post is a waste of your time. My week has been busy with obviously what you will see in this blog, but also some rainy days, antsy kids, and super comfy clothes. Add to that lots of caffeine, messy pony tails, and not caring much about anything except making it through the day. Yes, this week I have most definitely fallen into the hot mess mom for the first half of the week. I don't know why, but rainy days do that to me.  As soon as the sun was out shining the second half of my week I finally got back into putting more energy into my personal looks and not just what I was hoping to teach/work on with my kiddo.
       Anyway, so enough about my personal craziness and onto why you decided to check out this specific blog entry. This week I decided to put together a transportation theme. The things that go and how we get from one place to another It is fun to learn even more about all the this for younger kids. Science and early early physics, fine and gross motor skills, and understanding more about the world around the child all go into learning about transportation.

     We have also been focused on the letter "Mm" and number three.

Monday- Practice Tracing Uppercase "M"/Traveling On Four Wheels

Books:
My M Soundbox by Jane Belk Moncure
Things That Go by Seymour Reit

Songs:
Here We Go Round the Mullberry Bush
The Wheels On the Bus

Activities:
Review "Mm" vocab words. Practice tracing uppercase M

Play with mirrors

Play with toy cars

Tuesday- practice tracing number 3/"Mm" phonics work/Traveling on the tracks

Books:
Goldirocks and the Three Bears by Corey Rosen and Beth Coulton
Moon Tiger by Phyllis Root
Where Do Steam Engines Sleep at Night? by Brianna Caplan Sayres

Songs:
Moonshadow
Three Blind Mice
I've Been Working on the Railroad

Activities:
Review "Mm" vocab and do some phonics work

Practice tracing number three and number three group recognition.  I used money sorting with coins for this.

Learn more about money. I found this felt money in the $3.00 bin at my local target and could not resist cheating on my dollar tree store with target for this.... 😂😂😂

Play with our locomotive toy

Wednesday- Practice Tracing Lowercase "m"/Traveling on the water

Books:
Where's My Mommy? by Carol Roth and Sean Julian
Boats Afloat by Shelley Rotner

Songs:
Do You Believe In Magic?
Row Row Row Your Boat
Hail Mary Gentle Woman

Activities:

Review "Mm" vocab and practice tracing lower case "m"

Talk about the parts of The Mass using our toddler Mass book.

Color a Mary (Jesus' mom) coloring page.

Play with magnets

Play with some toy boats

Thursday- Sequencing work/Traveling on Smaller Wheels

Books:
Monkey Soup by Louis Sacher
Curious George Rides A Bike by H. A. Rey

Songs:
Five Little Monkeys
Bumping Up and Down In My Little Red Wagon by Raffi

Activities:
Review "Mm" vocab words

Work on a sequencing work page

Make some art buy mixing up some colors (color review).

Play on trike

Go for a ride in the wagon

Zoo day

Friday-"Mm" Review/Traveling In the Air

Books:
Mice and Beans by Pam Munoz Ryan
Jetliners by Jon Richards

Songs:
Monster Mash
Up, Up, and Away

Activities:
Review "Mm" vocab and tracing work

Play a intro game of memory/matching. Basically I have one of each matching cards all faced up (maybe 8 matches to start with). The matching pics I keep in a stack. I show my kid on of my cards then hide it and habe him try to remember which one I held up and find the matching one from the cards that are all faced up... once he conquers that intro to memory I will slowly phase him into normal memory.

Play with the toy airplanes we hav


What other activities can you think up for your child to have fun learning more about transportation?