Month: June 2020

Counting Critters

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Counting Critters (3)

Here’s a quick science and graphing activity to go with your next nature walk! It put a fresh spin on a route we’ve taken quite frequently in the past few weeks.

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The idea here wasn’t to count the number of each animal we saw, but rather to notice groups and then see which group had the most. I was proud of Travis latching onto this idea, meaning it didn’t matter that we’d seen two butterflies; it mattered that when we saw them they were alone, so in a group of 1.

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What else could we spot? We saw lots of chipmunks, but only ever one at a time.

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We saw dogs out for walks. And spiders, which were always alone.

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Travis enjoyed the count so much that we continued even once at the playground. Here, we saw lots of birds, and the most we saw in a group was 3.

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But the winning species? Ants. Travis spotted five together in the woods. We actually then spotted an enormous cloud of ants so big I didn’t bother counting it towards our game; the numbers wouldn’t have fit on our graph paper!

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Once home, I offered to label Travis’s graph, but he wanted to draw the pictures of the animals himself! Then we graphed how many were in each group and could easily see what had the most and what had the least.

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I encouraged him to think about what this said about each species’ behavior. He correctly surmised that ants lived in social groups. Chipmunks and spiders probably lived alone. In sum, this simple activity turned a regular walk into not just a math lesson but a fascinating thought experiment on animal behavior.

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Color Cards

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These easy DIY color flashcards are similar to a set I made for Veronika last week, that time featuring shapes. This time, I likewise covered construction paper with sticky contact paper for durability, and then cut two squares from each color. I wanted all the shapes to be uniform, because the test now was on colors!

I laid all the squares in front of Veronika and held up one green. If I had a green, could she find the match?

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It was interesting to watch her go through this game, as it made clear which colors she knows and which she still guesses. She mixes up blue and green, for example, as well as red and orange, but she has a solid grasp on yellow, pink, and white!

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Honestly the game didn’t interest her nearly as long as the shape version. But since the squares fit neatly into a zip-top bag, and I can pull these out again and again, the older she gets and the better she knows her colors!

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Walking on Pillows

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We had a rainy and overcast day today, and the kids were sad to learn they couldn’t head to the playground, especially since it is only newly reopened in our state. Thinking quickly, I devised this gross motor game for them inside: walking on couch pillows!

We stripped the couch of every single pillow, from the big seat cushions to the little side pillows, and arranged them all in a big line. This alone was a thrill – pillows all over the floor!

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“Walk?” I asked Veronika, who loves to test her balance. She immediately took my hand and walked the pillow course from start to finish.

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Of course then she wanted to do it “all by self”. She was wobbly on the smaller pillows, but so proud.

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On the times she wobbled to her knees, she simply turned it into a crawling course instead, which was equally great for gross motor skills.

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Big brother Travis could even do it backwards.

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She kept trotting over to walk the line over and over again, a sure sign that we had a hit.

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And then of course the couch pillows were perfect for a rest after. “Cozy lie down,” she told me.

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A quick rest, and then she was up to do it again!

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Aside from being great fun, this activity was excellent for building balance. So we had the perfect playground for our rainy day.

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Kindergarten Home School Week 13: Wednesday

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Home School 68 e

We crammed a lot into a busy morning, then got to enjoy more leisure time in the afternoon. All in all, a successful home school day as we near the finish line.

9-9.30: Author spotlight. Travis’s class exploration of Mo Willems continued, this time with The Duckling Gets a Cookie. Travis thought this story was particularly funny! Next he invented his own cookie on a provided worksheet (he told me it was an orange M&M spice cookie featuring turmeric and paprika; I almost want to try that!), and drew himself saying NO to the pigeon.

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We extended the play with play dough cookies and then printed out pigeon and duckling finger puppets.

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Note the puppet fly-by from a cute little toddler.

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9.30-10: Math. Travis filled out a summer workbook page on taller/shorter, and we did a quick hunt for things in the house that fit each category. He also made a graph of Mo Willem characters, continuing with the week’s theme.

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10-10.30: Snack/recess. We were getting wet outside with chalkboards and volcanoes, oh my!

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10.30-11: Science. Travis colored savanna animals on his summer workbook page, so it was then fun to check out video clips about each. I highly recommend Nat Geo Kids’ Amazing Animals series, with facts, jokes, and funny voices crammed into only a minute or two.

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11-11.30: ELA. Travis did 15 minutes on Lexia.

11.30-1.30: Lunch/free play.

1.30-2: Class Zoom. Travis grows more comfortable with the format each time.

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2-3: Outside. There was a Zoom for his Gym class today, but it was optional and Travis did indeed opt out (I was not surprised, as this was his least favorite special all year). Instead, we played a quick round of sock basketball to get moving, and got in some exercise rolling down hills!

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Tracing on a Wet Chalkboard

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Tracing on Chalkboard (4)

Toddlers love to paint with water, and parents love this activity, too; kids think they are making a masterpiece, but there’s zero mess to clean up. Today, I added a slight twist to the activity. Veronika has painted directly on pavement and sidewalks, but this time I pulled out our chalkboard for a new canvas.

I started out with a shape learning twist, and drew four shapes for her in chalk: a triangle, circle, square, and heart.

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I showed her how to dip the paintbrush in a cup of water and follow along the lines of the shapes, a precursor to tracing!

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The mechanics of this (and the importance of it) were beyond her of course, but she loved seeing how the wet lines she made with the paintbrush could make chalk lines disappear. It was like a magical eraser!

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After that there was just the fun of painting on the chalkboard, watching the water swirl and make patterns, and turn the surface of the chalkboard darker.

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Eventually she upended one of the water cups over the chalkboard surface, and then there was lots of water to swish about with her brush.

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Or splash her hands! So the activity was a joy from start to finish.

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Rolling Down Hills

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What’s childhood without the pure joy of rolling down a hill? Today I introduced Veronika to precisely that!

There’s a small hill just behind our apartment building, just right for the kids to run up and down without being intimidating.

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But today, we lay down on the grass instead! Big brother Travis paved the way, showing Veronika how to roll like a log down.

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She was a bit nervous, and I think the grass prickled her, too, so at first she just lay there without turning. So I got down with her on my belly and we log-rolled together from top to bottom. This produced squeals of delight.

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Pretty soon she was running back up to the top to start again. This activity is so simple, but captures the care-free joy of a childhood summer!

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Water Volcano in a Bottle

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This science experiment is a splashy hit, as long as it works correctly! You’ll teach kids something about air pressure, plus create a fun way to get wet on a hot day.

First, we needed to blow up a balloon inside a bottle…but there’s a catch. Insert the balloon into an empty bottle, folding the edge of the balloon over the bottle’s rim. Huff and puff with all your might and it won’t blow up, because there’s nowhere for the air pressure to go!

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Next, we cut a small slit in the bottom of the bottle. Now, when I huffed into the balloon, it could inflate! It’s fun to watch this inside the bottle, almost like a lung filling up.

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The next part is a bit tricky. Keep your finger over the slit in the bottle, and ideally your balloon will stay inflated because now the pressure can’t escape. With your finger still cover the hole, fill the balloon with water.

When you release your finger, the water explodes!

It was tricky to do this solo, though, and eventually we ended up filling the balloon with water before inflating it. Then, we got a mini squirt of water when I released my finger from the slit. You can see our rather unimpressive puddle here:

Are you able to get a huge water volcano? Please share in the comments!

Kindergarten Home School Week 13: Tuesday

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Home School 67 b

We had a quick half-day today, mostly focusing on Travis’s author spotlight assignments from the teacher.

9-9.30: Author Spotlight. Today’s Mo Willem story was Should I Share My Ice Cream? Travis watched a read-aloud, then filled in his own version: Should he share his… Legos!

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He also created his own Elephant and Piggie cartoon, somewhat reluctantly, and then we tested out dance moves based on Elephants Can’t Dance. (Meanwhile my toddler was busy with pots and cups).

9.30-10: ELA. Travis did workbook pages on letters X and Y, and then great sight reading on Lexia.

10-10.30: Snack/recess. Baby sister had her gym class online.

10.30-11: Math. Just some quick Star Wars addition problems today. (Baby sister was learning shapes).

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11-11.30: Library. We finished with a rhyming activity from Travis’s library teacher, including making up silly rhymes like a pony eating macaroni.

Then there was lots of time to play outside at the town playground after that! Hoping to squeeze in some more STEM activities tomorrow.

 

Traditional Potato Salad

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Traditional Potato Salad

Sweet potatoes add a fun pop of color to this otherwise standard potato salad.

Ingredients:

  • 4 russet potatoes
  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • 1/2 cup fresh green peas
  • 1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise
  • 2 chopped green onions
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
  1. Peel and chop the russet and sweet potatoes. Place in a large pot and cover with water, then bring to a boil. Stir in the peas; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes until the potatoes are very tender. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.
  2. Stir in the mayonnaise, green onions, salt, and black pepper. Chill until ready to serve.

Shape Mail Carrier

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Mail Carrier (8)

Today I made a shape matching activity for Veronika, and it turned into a game of playing a mailman who was making deliveries! She was the mail carrier and had to deliver the right shape to the corresponding “mailbox”. I loved that this game was equal parts learning and introduction to imaginative play.

To start, I covered construction paper with sticky contact paper on both sides for durability, and cut out shapes: rectangles, hearts, circles, triangles, and squares.

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So first up was a simple game of shape matchup. If I had one of the pair, could she find the other?

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She quickly proved to be an ace at this test, not just picking up the right shape…

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…but naming them, too.

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I wanted to make the game more exciting, so turned it into the mail carrier game. We have a set of toy boxes, each one a different shape with items of the same shape nested inside (i.e. a pizza wedge and watermelon wedge inside the triangle box). We scattered all the shapes on the ground, along with the construction paper set I’d just made, and I placed the empty boxes in front of her.

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“Special delivery!” I called. “Which mailbox should the triangle go in?”

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She was so proud making these deliveries!

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Note: If you don’t have a toy like this, simple cut out and laminate each shape from paper, then tape or glue onto an empty shoe box. These can be your mailboxes!

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After we’d filled the mailboxes, she decided to get a little impish. I could see the wheels in her brain turning as she deliberately placed the shapes in the wrong box, and then looked at me for a laugh.

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But if you think about it, this was showing her understanding of shapes on a whole new level.

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She thought this was hilarious and kept it up for quite some time.

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