Month: May 2020

Kindergarten Home School Week 9: Monday

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The first thing to note about the day is how Travis needed me. Beyond all the school lessons I had planned, he wanted me in his games every time there was “recess” or “free play”, reminding me how sorely he misses interaction with other kids. It is hard to be there not just as a teacher and mom and chef, but also as playmate! Luckily, the constant need for my attention was woven through with lots of fun, and here’s what we did:

9-9.30: Letter F/Food. After completing a workbook page on letter F with a focus on food, we set up a restaurant!

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Using an old play set, Travis thought it was just a riot to be my waiter, including menus to look at and guest checks to fill out.

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This doubled as our math lesson for the day because everything had prices. If my check was $28, which bills did he need?

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We also had an adorable waitress, when she wasn’t busy with math of her own.

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9.30-10: Letter G/Games. After a workbook page on letter G, we switched over to a game of “golf”.

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I had hoped for this to count as his P.E. for the day, but it was short-lived. He much preferred selecting a board game. Taking the time to sit and play a few rounds together really mattered to him.

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10-10.30: Snack/free play.

10.30-11: ELA. Travis did about 20 minutes on Lexia. Little sister learned about emotions!

11-11.30: Science. Our encyclopedia page today was about magnets, prompting me to pull out an old magnet set. It turned out to be the hit of the day! Travis wanted to go through all of the experiment cards, plus just had exuberant fun with the set.

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11.30-1.30: Lunch/free play.

1.30-2: Zoom. From now on his teacher will lead the class in circle time songs every Monday. It was really hard for Travis to sit still for this; he’s out of practice when it comes to following teacher rules. Something to work on…

2-2.30: Writing. Travis opted to do a few pages in his Star Wars book instead of writing an “Over the Weekend…” assignment.

2.30-3: Spanish. This week’s silly video was his teacher asking her niece what foods she likes and doesn’t like. Travis then went through the food from our earlier restaurant play and gave a big thumbs up “si me gusta!” or thumbs down “no me gusta!” to each one.

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Lessons ended there, and it was time to make a batch of homemade lemonade. Too rainy for a walk, so we’ll need our exercise and sunshine tomorrow!

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His bedtime story was the non-fiction Wild Ideas.

DIY Abacus for Toddlers

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DIY Abacus (5)

This giant version of a classic abacus is a great way to get toddlers thinking about counting, long before they are aware of concepts like addition and subtraction. To set up, you simply need any object that your toddler can slide along a string, as well as a sturdy stool or chair. Tie a string to one leg of the stool with a secure knot, then add whatever items you’ll be sliding.

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First, I tried out large wooden beads on one string and pipe cleaners looped into circles on a second. Tie the other end of the strings securely to the stool. But Veronika wanted to grab these big items off so much that this version was short-lived!

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I moved on to a second version, this time stringing small pony beads onto the string. Now, Veronika loved sliding the beads back and forth!

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She already mimics counting up to about 5, so I showed her how to slide and count. “One, two, three!” she parroted.

 

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Of course, being a toddler, she also just loved the way the strings dangled on the stool, and enjoyed solo time twisting the beads around.

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This was a great way to keep her busy – and make her feel included! – for part of home school. Other ideas for threading include large buttons or straws cut into pieces.

Orange Pineapple Smoothie

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Orange Pineapple Smoothie (1)

This tropical smoothie is a great way to start the day with an extra vitamin C boost, perfect for keeping those little immune systems strong!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup frozen pineapple chunks
  • 1 small banana, peeled and sliced
  • 3/4 cup orange juice
  • 3/4 cup almond milk
  1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

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Homemade Potato Man

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We don’t own a classic Mr. Potato Head doll, but the toy is great for so many reasons. Of course there’s the pure silliness of mixing and matching the facial features, but Mr. Potato is also a teaching tool for the names of facial features and for emotions. With an extra potato in the fridge, today I made Veronika this silly homemade version!

To start, I drew two faces on the potato with permanent marker: one side of his face was happy and the other was sad. Veronika wanted to add a few pen marks of her own.

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Poke two toothpicks into the sides of the potato as arms, then use hot glue to add pom poms to the tips, covering up the sharp points. You can also add pom poms or even buttons on top for a hat! Two wiggle eyes completed the look.

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If you want to get more detailed, draw other features with permanent marker, too. Finally, I sliced a bit off the bottom so Mr. Potato could stand upright. Now I presented him to Veronika, and she was smitten!

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She loved that his expression changed whenever she turned him around, and this was a great way to talk about emotions. “Mr. Potato is feeling sad,” I told her… and oh no she pouted her lip in sympathy until we turned him to his smile.

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We also pointed to all his features, rattling off a vocab list of eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. She loved finding these and then touching the corresponding part on me.

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And then she just loved playing with him as an “action figure”! Have you ever made toys out of food? Please share in the comments!

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Cling Wrap Painting

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Veronika loves to smoosh her fingers through paint, and today I found a way to make that smooshing a part of the process, minus the mess!

To start, cover your work surface and lay down sheets of white paper. Set out plastic cups filled with paint, and add a plastic spoon in each cup.

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I showed her how to use the spoons to dribble paint onto the paper. Veronika liked making both big blobs and using the edge of the spoon more like a paintbrush.

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When each page was filled with enough splotches and blobs (and just when her hands were itching to get messy in the paint!) I laid a piece of cling wrap over the paper. Make sure the paper is completely covered.

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Now use your hands to smooth over the paint.

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The blobs will squish and flatten in a fun sensory way. You’ll get some color mixing, too! I pointed out to her where our blues and yellows had made green, or where red and blue had mashed together for purple.

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Lift up the cling wrap and set the painting aside to dry completely before displaying your little one’s art.

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This was a novel painting method, and her hands even stayed (mostly!) clean.

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Blob Painting

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Veronika is so into painting these days, but all too often she drops the brush and decides to smear with her hands instead. I wondered if using a few novel tools might distract her from doing so!

For this project, you’ll need anything your toddler can squeeze paint out of. We used two versions: an old infant medicine syringe (for pushing) and an empty cosmetic bottle (for squeezing).

I filled each with a little paint, and showed Veronika how to either squeeze or squirt blobs of paint onto the paper. As it turned out, both methods were a little advanced for her muscle development, but she loved seeing the blobs that appeared!

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I folded the paper in half over the blobs we had made, then opened back up to show her a big smeary picture. As an alternative version, place another piece of paper over your blobs, rub firmly, and then lift up.

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She loved the way both versions came out!

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We continued squeezing and blobbing the paint, and she started to use the medicine syringe tip more like a paintbrush.

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For extra fun, we tested out blobbing onto different surfaces, like coffee filters or paper towels.

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Did this project keep her from painting with her hands?

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Not entirely, but it definitely mixed up the art experience around here!

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Spring Flowers Craft

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These sweet handmade flowers make the perfect bouquet for Mother’s Day, whether to give to a mom or grandma in person, or to share over Zoom!

Ideally, we would have used green straws as flower stems, but because we’re a bit limited on craft supplies (thanks coronavirus), we settled for painting white straws green. I also painted white cupcake liners yellow.

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Once the paint dried, we were ready to assemble our flowers! Travis helped make four kinds:

Daffodil: Trace a three-pointed petal shape on each of 3 yellow cupcake liners. Align them so they make a 9-pointed circle and glue together. Trim a fourth (white) cupcake liner down, and glue into the center. Glue a small yellow pom pom in the middle, then tape to a green straw as the stem.

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Calla Lily: Cut blue construction paper into an equilateral triangle. Tape a green straw so that it points up at one of the triangle corners. Wrap the other sides of the triangle tightly around the straw, and tape into place. Fold a yellow pipe cleaner in half, and insert down through the “flower” into the straw.

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Daisy: Cut three strips out of white construction paper. Glue each in half to form loops, then glue the loops one atop another.

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Cut a circle from yellow construction paper and glue in the center. Tape to a green straw for a stem.

Poppy: Cut six circles from red tissue paper, then trim around the edges to resemble the petals of a flower. Glue the pieces one atop another.

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Cut a circle from black construction paper and glue in the center of the tissue paper. Poke the end of a yellow pipe cleaner through the black circle and then all the way through the tissue paper layers; thread the pipe cleaner down into a green straw.

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Gift your flowers to someone special. Happy Mother’s Day!

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I Hear Thunder

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I Hear Thunder (1)

We’ve had crazy weather lately, including unseasonable May snow today. It had me thinking about weather songs to sing with Veronika, and this one has always been a favorite.

First, I simply sang the words for Veronika:

I hear thunder. I hear thunder.

Hear it roar. Hear it roar.

Pitter patter raindrops,

Pitter patter raindrops.

I’m all wet. I’m all wet.

The second time through, we added actions. You can just use your body at first: stomp feet on the floor for thunder, flutter your fingers through the air for rain, and give a big shiver at the end.

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The shiver in particular made Veronika laugh every time!

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Then we added props. Drums made the perfect thunder of course.

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And shaky instruments like maracas and rain sticks were great for raindrops.

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Veronika chimed in (literally!) on the triangle.

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This all made for fun musical play on a windy cold morning.

Dress-Up Box

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Veronika has played dress-up with tot-sized clothes in the past, but sometimes it’s even more fun just to raid mommy’s closet!

Today, I pulled out items that were either old or that I simply didn’t mind Veronika playing with, and we set everything out on the ground for easy access.

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In no time, she was trying on old bathrobes and sports jerseys (which looked more like adorable dresses on her!).

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Add accessories like hats, purses, and shoes, and the mixing and matching can begin!

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For added fun, we decided our dress-up trunk (really just an old box) needed some sprucing up.

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Big brother joined in to help paint the sides of the box in multiple colors. This got pretty messy pretty quickly, but there’s no time like a chilly May morning to make a mess indoors!

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We left the pile of clothes out pretty much all day, and every time she went over to it, Veronika selected something new.

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Do your kids have a favorite dress-up item? Please share in the comments!

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Kindergarten Home School Week 8: Friday

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There was very little schoolwork today because it was… National Field Day! We did start out with a few pages in Travis’s workbook, the first of which involved drawing a map of his neighborhood. Which meant instead of starting with circle time, we headed outside on a walk!

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8-9: Geography. It was a crisp spring morning and Travis had so much fun walking and discussing our neighborhood that we walked for a full hour! When we returned, he was ready to draw his map on the corresponding workbook page.

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9-9.30: ELA. Travis worked quickly on a workbook page about letter E and did about 10 minutes on Lexia, and that ended the academics for the day. (Baby sister kept busy with glue!)

9.30-10: Snack.

10-11: Field Day. Let the games begin! Travis and I picked 4 of the 20 suggested activities, and tackled the following:

Backboard Bank It: Roll up pairs of socks into balls, and place a laundry basket against a wall. Aim the socks at the basket, making sure they hit the “backboard” before landing. See how many you can get in 1 minute!.

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Clothes Relay: Start at one cone and run to a second cone where an over-sized shirt is waiting. Put on the shirt and run back to the first cone to put on a hat. You can also include a stop at a cone with over-sized shorts, but Travis didn’t want to wear those. Time yourself!

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Flip Your Lid: Start with a Tupperware lid lying right-side up on a table. Use a spatula to flip the lid, and count the number of times it lands upside down in 1 minute.

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Tennis Shoe Tower: Pile a whole bunch of sneakers (or any shoes!) in the center of a room. Divide into teams (Mommy versus Travis!). Players run to take one shoe from the pile and run it back to their home space. Continue returning for another shoe and adding to your tower, until all the shoes have been used. Player with the most shoes wins!

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That was the end of our Field Day. The afternoon included social time with a friend online and a music class for baby sister, and I confess there was some extra screen time thrown in since it was a bit of a lazy TGIF. Story time included a read of Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.