Play Dough Construction Site

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Play Dough Construction Site (4)

Veronika loves to play with her set of construction trucks, and I am all for any sort of gender-neutral play like this! Today I supplemented the fun by adding in a play dough “construction site”.

This really couldn’t have been easier to set up. I mashed some play dough flat on the bottom of a shallow tray to the be the dirt, then rolled some into balls to fill the dump truck like large ‘rocks’. Finally, I rolled some into ‘logs’ for the bulldozer to push.

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The rest was up to her! She loved saying “full” and “empty” as she took the ‘rocks’ in and out of her dump truck.

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She might not have understood that she was now the foreman at an important construction lot, but she sure loved squishing the play dough and driving the vehicles around!

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We also put the empty play dough containers upside down like construction cones, which she could then drive around – or bump into!

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This was an easy sensory tray that kept her busy for quite a while.

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Cars and Colors

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Veronika loves to drive around her little cars, so today I turned it into a color game. Each car had a corresponding “garage” of the same color to drive into.

Okay, so these weren’t really garages, just flat pieces of construction paper. But Veronika immediately took to vrooming the cars onto them.

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I started out making things very easy for her, just two different color cars and their corresponding paper. “Can you drive the orange car onto the orange paper?” I asked her.

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Success! So we made it harder. I added a third color, and then a fourth, and so on.

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Each time she vroomed the right car. Some of this might have been coincidence of course, since I laid down the correct piece of paper directly in front of her. But it’s all about reinforcement and repetition at this age!

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Throughout the day, I kept up the line of “Can you…?” questioning with regards to color. “Can you hand me the green car?” I asked her.

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“Can you pull on the red ribbon?”

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“Can you point to the yellow sticker?”

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This is such an easy way to reinforce colors throughout the day. You can even make it more of a Simon Says game: “If you’re wearing pink, clap your hands!”

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Want more color learning ideas? Try picking a color of the day the next time you take a trip out of the house.

Moroccan Spices

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Moroccan Spices (1)

This lesson was a culinary extension to the recipes in the Morocco kit from Raddish Kids. Travis got to pretend to be a spice seller at his very own bazaar! For a kindergartner, the lesson was a mix between learning and sensory play (you’ll notice my toddler was eager to leap in, too). Older kids can take the lesson more seriously, researching spice blends from around the world, grinding their own spices, and using exact proportions to create their own blend.

First up was being a scent detective! I poured eight common Moroccan spices into small cups and gave them to Travis one at a time. I labeled each cup just so I wouldn’t forget what was what!

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He loved smelling each, summoning up the vocabulary to describe it, and adding tasting notes and color to the provided chart.

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He knew three of them without needing to be told (cinnamon, ginger, and black pepper), and I challenged him to think of why he knew these three. He correctly realized it’s because we cook with them often, whereas the other spices were less familiar!

 

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The lesson plan then included facts about spices, where they come from, the health benefits of spices, and information on common blends like Italian seasoning or ras el hanout.

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That was all a bit over Travis’s head; instiead, it was time to create his own blend! Mostly he pretended to be a spice merchant, and there was lots of spooning onto paper plates, or pouring in and out of cups. If he gave a spice a thumbs up, we added 3 teaspoons to a glass jar. If he didn’t like it, we added only 1 teaspoon, and if he rated it a medium, we added 2 teaspoons.

In this way we ended up with:

  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper

Well, wouldn’t you know, he liked it!

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We creamed 1 tablespoon spice mix into 4 tablespoons Earth Balance butter for a spread that worked nicely on homemade bread or crackers. We might try it as a dry rub on tofu, next!

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A fun book to read together was My Five Senses, by Aliki. We finished with a virtual trip to a Moroccan bazaar.

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Older kids can extend the lesson plan by gifting their spice blend along with a recipe, or researching how spices are grown and harvested.

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Spaghetti Squash with Italian Herbs

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Spaghetti Squash with Herbs

There’s something magical about spaghetti squash for kids (and grown-ups, too!), about the way the strands instantly shred to look like spaghetti noodles. It always felt a bit to me like Strega Nona’s bubbling pasta pot! This recipe gets a kid-friendly hit of flavor from garlic and herbs.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large spaghetti squash
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 minced garlic clove
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/4 cup vegan Parmesan shreds
  1. Place the spaghetti squash on a baking dish and pierce several times with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees F for 90 minutes. Let cool slightly, then cut in half. Scoop out the seeds and use a fork to rake the rest of it into strands. Transfer to a large bowl.
  2. Once the squash has cooled slightly, heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, basil, and oregano; cook for 2 minutes.
  3. Add the garlic mixture and the Parmesan to the spaghetti squash, tossing to coat.

If you prefer, serve the squash topped with marinara sauce to look even more like real spaghetti!

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Color of the Day

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Color of the Day (4)

For toddlers who are learning all their colors, there are a lot of new words and ideas to take in all at once. One way to break it down is to devote a day to each color in turn. For example, today Veronika had a red day! You can continue this game on successive days of the week for each color of the rainbow, or add in other common colors like pink, black, brown, and white.

To start us off in the morning, I sang this ditty to the tune of BINGO:

There is a color of the day, and that color is red.

Red, red, red. Red, red red. Red red red.

The color is red.

And of course I pointed out red as I sang! So all day long, it was all about red. She had a red straw in her cup of almond milk.

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And she built with red blocks, and played with red fruits from the toy food bin.

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And she sorted red berries only from a coloring sorting pie.

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When she wanted to draw, I gave her red crayons and markers of course!

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If your child has clothing in the corresponding color of the day, then today’s the day to wear it! When we headed out of the house, I pointed out red everywhere we saw it, whether on Stop signs or other people’s clothing or flowers. We were so happy to spot this vibrant red in the sculpture park!

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What color shall we focus on tomorrow? Can’t wait to explore more!

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Kindergarten Home School Week 12: Friday

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There are two weeks to go everybody! We ended on a high note, here in coronavirus home school week 12.

9-9.30: Maps. After a workbook page about directional words (behind, in front of, above), Travis wanted to recreate the campsite on the page! We quickly had a makeshift “teepee” and a fire made of craft sticks and torn construction paper. Mostly he just played in it, but I threw in a directional word or two as we built to keep up the theme.

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9.30-10: ELA. The “campsite” was the perfect place to finish ELA for the day, including a page in his Star Wars writing book, and a workbook page about letter U. He finished with Lexia in “camp”.

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10-10.30: Snack/recess. Because little sister was playing with monkeys, Travis soon had an inventive game going with them, too!

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10.30-11: Math. Travis did an addition page in his Star Wars workbook, and then we did a quick review of teen numbers, i.e. each teen is 10 plus X more.

11-11.30: STEM. We did a unit on the Sahara Desert today!

11.30-1.30: Lunch/free play.

1.30-2: Art. Travis’s assignment was to draw an animal in its habitat. He made a very inventive green ant, and got to share it on a Zoom with the art teacher.

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We wrapped up early after that, the home school equivalent of a summer Friday.

Saharan Desert

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Sahara Desert (3)

As a follow-up to cooking his first Moroccan recipe from Raddish Kids, today Travis learned a bit about part of Morocco’s landscape: the Sahara Desert!

We started the lesson with guided imagery, a nicely different pause. I even had Travis close his eyes and put his head down on the table.

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I asked him to imagine he was in the desert: What did he see? At first he reported nothing, but then details started to emerge as I asked prompting questions. It was hot, the only plants he could see were cactus, etc. I asked him if it was hard to picture a desert and he said yes, unsurprisingly since he’s never been to one! So it was time to delve deeper.

I pulled up images of the Sahara online, and he marveled at them as we read more facts together. He also watched a video about animals and people who make deserts their home.

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He was fascinated by pictures of sand dunes when he learned that they weren’t fixed, that the wind could shift them at any point in time. From here, Raddish invites kids to draw, write a poem, choreograph a dance, or otherwise portray what they’ve learned about deserts. Travis chose to make a diorama!

We used kinetic sand as the base inside an empty shoe box, and then added some of his plastic toys, like snakes and scorpions.

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He was especially interested in the idea of an oasis, so added a few trees from a dinosaur set, and a little lid filled with water to be the pond. He loved playing with this, making a rather big-kid lesson approachable even for my kindergartner. Make sure to check out on a map together where the Sahara is!

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To finish the lesson, we watched a read-aloud of The Seed and the Giant Saguaro, by Jennifer Ward.

Five Little Monkeys

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I often affectionately call my kids “monkey” or “silly monkey” and it’s a moniker that fits giggling toddlers perfectly. Perhaps that’s why toddlers all seem to love the lyrics to Five Little Monkeys! In addition to learning numbers through this counting rhyme, there’s no doubt a thrill to the slightly naughty lyrics. Today, Veronika and I had fun with monkey games in a few ways.

We started out just saying this favorite rhyme:

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed.

One fell off and bumped her head.

Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,

“No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”

Repeat four times, counting down one monkey each time until no monkeys are jumping on the bed.

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To make the game tactile, I pulled out a set of stacking monkeys. Veronika is still too young to balance them with any dexterity, but she loved playing with them while I chanted the song.

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And knocking them down off the bed with each verse. “Bonk!” she said.

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I found another monkey rhyme with slightly strange lyrics, but a similar idea of teaching young kids to count down:

Five little monkeys walked along the shore.

One went a-sailing and then there were four.

 

Four little monkeys climbed up a tree.

One of them tumbled down and then there were three.

 

Three little monkeys found a pot of glue.

One got stuck in it and then there were two.

 

Two little monkeys found a currant bun.

One ran away with it and then there was one.

 

One little monkey cried all afternoon,

So they put him in a plane and flew him to the moon.

The lyrics to this were complicated, but Veronika continued playing with the stacking monkeys all the while, and loved making a monkey “ee ee, oo oo, aah aah” sound.

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We found cartoon versions of both to watch online to end the fun.

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Do you have a favorite rhyme about silly monkeys? Please share in the comments!

Arroz Verde con Frijoles Negro

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Arroz Verde (1)

Rice and beans are a match made in heaven, with so many variations to keep kids from getting bored. This recipe gets its beautiful green color from fresh spinach sauce. Use brown rice in place of the white rice, if you prefer.

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 and 1/2 cups water, divided
  • 2 cups uncooked white rice
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 10 ounces fresh baby spinach
  • 2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
  • 2 crushed garlic cloves
  • 1 (15-ounce) drained and rinsed can black beans
  1. To prepare the rice, combine the broth, 1 cup water, rice, and bay leaf in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 30 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and remove the bay leaf.
  2. Meanwhile, prepare the spinach sauce: combine the spinach in a blender or food processor with the remaining 1/2 cup water, lemon juice, and garlic. Process until smooth.
  3. Add the spinach mixture and black beans to the rice, stirring to combine.

This is delicious on its own, but even better wrapped up in a tortilla!

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Pom Pom Drop + More Pom Pom Fun

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After recent fun playing with pom poms to develop fine motor skills, Veronika enjoyed a few variations on pom pom play today.

First up was a classic: a pom pom chute! I had a mix of empty toilet paper rolls and empty paper towel rolls, so taped these to the wall almost in a maze.

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Some of them were straight up and down and others I taped at an angle so she could experiment with the different ways this made the pom poms fall.

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Some were high, and some were low…

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…and all were a delight to watch a pom pom disappear and then fall through.

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For variation, we also tried pushing through cotton balls. These were fun because we could stuff a few into the tube before they all fell out the bottom, almost like puffy snowflakes.

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As she played with the pom poms, Veronika frequently named the color of the one she was holding, so I thought it might be time to see if she could sort!

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We played two variations on this. First, I gave her one size pom pom, but in all different colors. She named each color as she moved them into bins I had set out, although she didn’t always place like with like.

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Next, I gave her all one color (only blue) but in three sizes: big, medium, and small. I used a big deep voice when placing a big pom pom in a bin, and a tiny high voice for the small ones.

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I didn’t expect her to ace this, but the concept is coming along, little by little!

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As the day went on, I simplified the game so it qualified more as toddler busy play, leaving just one chute and a container at the bottom. I might leave this taped to the wall for several days, so she can return to it at her leisure.

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