N Is For Noodles

   

     Noodles. Oodles and oodles of noodles. Noodles are one of the best foods to use for pre schoolers and even younger for sensory play. I wrote an entire post about the importance of sensory page, when you can find by looking at my archive list of previous posts over to your right.

     Cooked noodles are a great first tool to use for babies to explore with, as well as pre schoolers. Cooked noodles are very eatible, they are slippery, squishy, and are also able to be used to form symbols and shapes in a fun way. Add collr to them and it adds another layer to the sensory experience.

     Dry noodles can be used for painting with, lacing through string, counting, seperating, and other art projects. They are also great for dumping and measuring in sensory bins. Children enjoy the fun times spent with this type of play.

     When children play with noodles they are working their brain muscles, as well as their fine a gross motor skills. They are exploring and experimenting and discovering through their own imaginations what they can do with the noodles. They can learn in a different way anout shapes while using cooked spaghetti noodles, or counting as they seperate different shaped noodles into piles, which is an early mathematics lesson. They are figuring what can fit inside a rigatoni noodle or what objects hold the most elbow macaroni noodles. These types of activities are science experiments for them. Socially kids enjoy sensory play nearby others because it is fun to watch what another kid/afult has thought to try while they are busy trying out their ideas.

     What ways can you think up for how important the work of playing with noodles is for your child?

Teaching Numbers

   

   Oh what a Monday. It is always a little rough getting back into a routine after a holiday week-end. It seemed more difficult for me this time around than for my kid. It was a fun filled month for us filled with lots of special family memories. Nothing like caffeine to help get through this Monday.
     Today I thought I would delve more into depth on the importance of numbers and math. Introducing numbers is so important for this age group. It is building the foundation they need to learn more difficult math concepts later on. For three year olds I think it is most important to focus on three different areas of math: counting, number recognition, and quantification.

      Counting is important as it helps children learn order. Give plenty of chances throughout the day for your child to count with you. Usually as children get closer to age four they are capable of counting to thirty with little help as long as they hear counting happening in some way everyday. We always start out morning off with our calendar routine, and then throughout each activity we find ways to incorporate counting. If we take turns saying the numbers it makes my child more excited to count instead of overwhelmed and frustrated.
   
     Number recognition is basically when the learn to recognize the symbol that represents that number. That the number nine is also 9. This is why my sonnand I are working on a new number each week. Counting is an easier concept for kids at three to understand,  but learning the symbols for the number is trickier. I would expect by age for that children should be able to recognize numbers up to 20 fairly easily if worked on throughout the year every day.
 
      Lastly is quantification, or as some say subsitizing. This is when the child realizes that groups of objects are matched to the number symbol in their group.... dots on a dice, objects seperated into groups then matching the groups to the correct number symbol. This teaches organization in a more hands on way. If you look at my past lesson plans you will see many activities my son and I work together doing. This is truckier than the two above. Usually kids will still need a little bit of help keeping on task, but by age 4 they will need less hands on help.

     As kids get into later pre school age simple adding and subtracting can be added into the mix, but for now that is just a plus if you see your kid getting into that mindset. Math can be a fun way to pass time by for you and your little one, OR it can be the hair pulling moment of the day. Trust me, for us it is often rougher than full on fun depending on the activity. Just keep at it though because the more we can help them eventually want to learn counting and math on their own the more glad we will be we pushed through. They will be proud of themselves and the watching that lightbulb moment of when they get it, well, it is pure magic to be able to share.

The Importance of Reading

I watched this video and just had to share.

M Is For Music

   

       This week has been all sorts of crazy for me and my family that I have gotten all mixed up with my blog. I realize I am a day late again on putting up a post. Thanksgiving was a wonderful busy week for us. I hope all of my readers that celebrate Thanksgiving had a fun family time together.

     

     This past week as you know, we focused on the letter Mm. Music is SUCH an inportant part of a child's overall development. It is the one language, as far as reading music goes, that is universal. Children find comfort when hearing favorite songs. 

     The biggest areas music helps improve the most is language and literacy. Once a child is old enough (usually four at the earliest for the piano) for learning an instrument it has a large impact on helping children understand math easier. Among those big areas children also grow in each seperate growth area. They use all their bodily muscles, fine, and large motor skills. when acting out motions during song and also through dance.  They learn social cues from watching the other kids interact with music. Experimenting with sounds different instruments make is science for them. Some children are like my son and are musical learners which means they need music to learn new concepts. 

    Early pre-school children love simple songs with lots repitition and familiar tunes. That is one reason I tend to pick songs with similar tunes. It is easy for ny kid to pick up and has information about the weekly theme to help him learn new information easier. They also love to sing because they love experimenting with their voices. Music is good for the soul. No wonder people of all ages find music to be a way to brighten our lives a little more.

Giving Thanks to The Lord for He is Good

      HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I hope your week-end is filled with fun and sweet memories and laughter.

     I am so sorry I missed posting yesterday. It was my last full day with my parents visiting us. They left us today. I wanted to fully enjoy our last day together.

     This week was a short but busy learning week since it is Thanksgiving week-end. I thought I would post more about what we did today in case you are looking for something to help keep your younger ones busy without as much tv time. Tv tine is cool too, but in case you wanted a little bit of free time for them without it.

Monday: Intro Uppercase M/Intro Number 8/Intro Thanksgiving
Books:My "m" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
Seven Little Mice Go to the Beach (I replaced the number 7 in the book with number 8, and I forgot to write the author's name down before taking the book back to the library. My bad)
Thanksgiving by Lynn Peppas
Silly Tilly's Thanksgiving Dinner by Lillian Hoben
My First Dictionary

Songs: Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed
Three Blind Mice
All I Really Need by Raffi
Over the River and Through the Woods

Activities:
Intro Letter M/Color uppercase M coloring page

Fun with mirrors

Intro number 8/coloring page

Play with mega legos.

Take m&m's. Have child help seperate into 8 of each color before sharing them together.

Intro Thanksgiving.

Set up a play tee-pee. Play with corn kernals and sunflower seeds.

Tuesday:Intro Lowercase "m"/Practice Tracing Lines/Practice Scissor Skills/Intro Pilgrims and the Mayflower
Books: Go to Bed Monster by Natasha Wing
The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone
Thanksgiving Day by Gail Gibbons
Countdown to Thanksgiving by Jodi Huelin

Songs: Monster Mash
Over in the Meadow by Raffi
A Thanksgiving Song (Tune of Row Row Row Your Boat)
The pilgrims sailed away far across the sea.
They cane to America so they could be free.
The native Americans helped them plant the corn.
Then they shared a great big feast. Thanksgiving day was born.

Thanksgiving Feast (Tune: Are You Sleeping?)
We eat turkey. We eat turkey.
Oh so good. Oh so good
Always on Thanksgiving. Always on thanksgiving.
Yum yum yum
Yum yum yum.

Replace turkey with other favorite thanksgiving day food.

Activities:
Review m words from picture dictionary
Intro lower case m. Lower case m coloring page

Sort 8 of each size marshmallows. Maje narhmallow monsters using toothpicks and icing.

Practice tracing lines work sheet.

Trace with hair gel ziplock bags.

Practice cuttingwith scissors

Intro pilgrims. Play pretend pilgrims and traveling on the Mayflower. Pretend the bed or couch is the ship.

Wednesday: "Mm" vocab review/Turkey fun/Intro Mary, Jesus' Momma
Books:Mouse's Birthday by Jane Yolen and Bruce Degan
My First Thanksgiving Book by Jane Belk Moncure
Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey
My First Dictionary

Songs: Do You Know the Muffin Man?
Let's Be Thankful (Tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
Let's be thankful for this day, for our friends, and for our play.
Let's be thankful. Let's be glad
For our food and the things we have.
Let's give thinks for you and me and for our food and family.

If You're Thankful and You Know It ( Tune of If You're Happy and you know it)
Sing the song if you're happy and you know it. Just replace the word happy with thankful.

Activities:

Review "Mm" vocab words and do "Mm" vocab word coloring page

Magnet fun

Family handprint turkey canvas wall art activity.

Talk about what thankfulness means. Talk about the things your child loves and how important it is to thank God for those blessings, not just on Thanksgiving, but everyday.

Intro Mary. Why us Catholics find Mary worthy of respect. How she helps us keep close to God and Jesus.
Pray a family Rosary together.

What ways do you help make Thanksgiving fun for your kids?
   

Learning theorists and play

This post is very short as I have been busier than I anticipated. Next thing I realized is that it is almost 11:00 and I forgot to put a post together. I found this little graph that mayches some of the more populare learning theorisists to different groups of "play." Maybe you all will find it interesting.

Dinosaurs! Dinosaurs! Dinosaurs!

     This week is one of my personal favorite topics. Dinosaurs. I have always beenfascinated with dinosaurs. Personally my favorite is the apatasaraus, but hey, each dinosaur was cool.
     Also this week we had my parents come visit us feom out of state. I did not really focus on taking photos of our activities as much as ones with my kid and his mimi and papaw so this week there are just not as many.
     As a Catholic honestly as long as you make sure to believe that the world was created by God than honestly there is no written doctrine stating we should believe in the big bang or if young world creationism is correct. It all happened by God's power whichever way you choose to believe.
     Along with dinosaurs we learned about the letter "Ll" and number seven.


Monday: Intro Uppercase "L"/Intro Dinosaurs
Books:My "l" Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
How To Raise A Dinosaur by Natasha Wing
My First Dictionary

Songs: This Little Light of Mine
Oh How I Love To Be A Dinosaur (Tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic)

Oh how I love to romp and stomp and chomp throughout the land
Oh how I love to romp and stomp and chomp throughout the land
Oh how I love to romp and stomp and chomp throughout the land.
Oh it's great to be a dinosaur.
Oh how I love to be a dinosaur
Oh how I love to be a dinosaur
Oh how I love to be a dinosaur
I love to romp and stomp and chomp throughout the land

Activities:
Intro Uppercase "L." Intro "Ll" vocab picture words in dictionary. Color uppercase L coloring page

Play Red Light Green Light

Intro Dinosaurs. Talk about how they lived a long time ago. How big they were. How they had rough scaley skin and were cold blooded and what that means...

Work on dinosaur puzzle

Tuesday: Intro Number Seven/Herbavores
Books: Seven Loaves of Bread by Ferida Wolff
Dino Swimming by Lisa Wheelet
My First Dictionary

Songs: Jesus Loves Me This I Know
Jesus Loves the Little Children
Do You Know the...(Tune of Do You Know the Dinosaur)
Do you know the stegasaurus, the stegasaurus, the stegasaurus? Oh do you know stegasaurus? He had plates on his back.
Do you know the apatasaurus...He had a really long neck
Do you know the triceratops...he had three big horns

Activities:
 Review "Ll" picture vocab words

Smelled and tasted fresh lemons and limes

Intro Number seven/seven coloring page

Intro Herbavore Dinosaurs

Dino egg hunt: took 3 different colored plastic easter eggs, 7 of each color, and placed them around the living room. Used coordinating pieces of construction paper to use as the dino nests. Helped child find and the eggs and figure out which eggs go in which nest. Counted the eggs together after all are found and sorted.

Wednesday: Intro Lowercase "l"/ Carnivores
Books: Young Lions by Toshi Yoshida
Dino Wrestling by Lisa Wheeler
My First Dictionary

Songs: Let's Make Some Noise (be loud) by Raffi
Tune of The Wheels On the Bus
Oh the t-rex had really sharp teeth, really sharp teeth, really sharp teeth. Oh the t-rex had really sharp teeth and ruled the dino land
Oh the raptor had really sharp claws, really sharp claws, really sharp claws. Oh the rapter had really sharp claws and ruled the dino land.
Oh the pteradactyl had a really sharp beak, a really sharp beak, a really sharp beak. Oh the pteradactyl had a really sharp beak and ruled throughout the land.

Activities:
Review "Ll" picture vocab words. Intro lowercase "l" and do coloring page.

Ladybug apple print painting fun: cut apple in half. Dip it into paint and press on paper for ladybug body shape. Add black dots....

Work on plain animal puzzle because of the lion piece.

Intro carnivores.

Trace matching dino footprints of my kids toy dinosaurs to show one way carnivores would hunt their prey. If you have a copier you can make several copies and then hide the matching toy dinosaurs. Have the child follow the footprints to find what dinosaur they belong too.

Use toy dinosaurs and use them to make their footprints in playdough.

Thursday: Practice Line Tracing/Practice Scissor Skills/ Dino Facts Review
Books: The Lord's Prayer by Richard Jesse Watson
Dino Soccer by Lisa Wheeler
My First Dictionary

Songs: Our Father by Michael W. Smith
Our Father Song by Matt Maher
Tune of Five Little Ducks
One dinosaur went out to play
On a bright and sunny day
He had such enormous fun
That he called for another dinosaur to come
(Call out) Dinosaur
(Pat hands on floor) Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Repeat until you reach 7
7 little dinosaurs went out to play
On a bright and sunny day
When they heard mommy dinosar yell it's time to eat they hurried back for her tasty treat!

Activities:
Review "Ll" words in picture dictionary

Intro Lord as another title for God and Jesus
Intro Our Father. Explain the story of how Jesus told us to say this prayer and that is why it is called the Lord's Prayer.

Practice tracing lines witg work sheet

Practice scissor cutting skills

Review dino facts we have learned

Seperate dino foam stickers in their matching dino families. 7 foam stickers in each family. Count the different dino family members together. I found dino foam stickers at our Hobby Lobby.

Friday: Letter "Ll" Vocab Review/Fossils
Books: The Lady With the Alligator Purse by Nadine Bernarx Westcott
Llama Llama Red Pajama by
Fossils by Claire Ewart

Songs: Mary Had A Little Lamb
Tune of Oh My Darling Clementine

Great big dinosaurs. Great big dinosaurs
Lived so long ago
Some liked land, some liked water, some liked to fly through the air.

Great big dinosaurs. Great big dinosaurs
Lived so long ago.
Some had horns, some had spikes,
Some had wings like a bat.

Great big dinosaurs. Great big dinosaurs
Lived so long ago.
Some ate plants. Some ate meat.
Now they are all extinct.

Activities:
Review "Ll" vocab words from picture dictionary and do vocab color page.

Play with lego locomotive blocks

Intro fossils. Explain what they are. Use dino rawhide bone treats and dry rice and dry paint brushes and let children play archaelogist and excavate for "fossils."

Watch dino sponge kit expand in the water.

These are some ideas I came up with to have fun while learning about dinosaurs and the letter "Ll" and number seven. Do you have any added ideas to share with the other readers? Please share if you do in a comment.