Snowball Targets

FINALLY I think Spring might be here!

We have been spending TONS of time outside in the yard these past few days and doing some awesome Pinterest finds!  Here we have some snowball targets.  Probably best done on a wooden fence if you have one, but the side of our little deck worked just fine for us.  Make sure you go over the rules with your kids (and your significant others if you have one that acts like a child as I do) so that no one (especially mommy) gets hit with snowballs . . .

sticker shapes and letter matching

This week our topics of learning included
Circles
Ii
9
Black

Small Motor: I drew shapes for my little guy (my daughter drew her own) and they used up some of the MANY stickers we have in the house to make "sticker shapes".  They really turned out pretty neat and it kept them busy for a bit while I made supper.

Gross Motor, Music: Listening to music and understanding tempo and volume were the goal of this game.  A few simple rounds of hot potato.  First we talked about 2D VS 3D shapes, then we talked about the speed of the music.  If the music was slow, they had to pass the ball slow.  Fast music meant the ball could be passed at "lightning speed". Simply game, lots of learning.

Literacy: Matching uppercase to lowercase letters.  I used index cards and printed two lower case letters on each one.  We then used a bucket of old letter magnets (that have lost their magnets, but still in great shape) to match lower and upper case.  Just some recycling and learning fun happening!

Name marshmallows and shape sorting

Fine motor and letter recognition project. I printed my sons name on a piece of thick paper and then he used white glue to draw over top of the letters in his name. Once the glue was on the letters, he carefully placed marshmallows along the glue lines.  Older children may be able to print their own names.

Gross motor shape sorting activity. Today we worked on sorting our shapes. I drew shapes using masking tape on the floor.  We then used foam shapes and he put the shapes in their corresponding tape shape on the floor.

Books We Use This Week

The "How Do Dinosaurs . . ." series by Jane Hyatt Yolan

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton

Drumheller Dinosaur Dance by Robert Heidbreder

Dinosaur Kisses by David Ezra Stein

I'm Sure I Saw a Dinosaur by Jeanne Willis

Groundhog Week

This week we were learning about Groundhog Day and shadows.

We started with an activity where my son matched shapes that were white to their black shadows. First, I put the shapes around on the basement floor while he hid his eyes and counted to 15. This was too easy for him. So once he matched all of the shapes to their shadows, he hid his eyes and counted to 15 again.  This time, I hid the black shadow shapes around the room and he had to search for the black shadow shapes. There were some that were too hard for him to find, so I used the words 'hot' and 'cold' to guide him to the next shadow shape.

For our music and movement part of this week, we used scarves that I bought from the dollar store. We found some lanterns and turned off the lights. Once he was ready, we started the music and we danced in front of the lanterns so that he could watch his shadow dancing on the wall.

This was our shadow painting. I cut out the silhouette of a groundhog, placed it on a black piece of paper and he used white paint and a sponge to dab around the groundhogs silhouette. When he lifted up the piece of paper with the groundhog on it, we were left with a really cool groundhog shadow.

 

Our cooking experience this week involved chocolate pudding, chocolate cookies and Teddy grahams.  First, we spooned out the chocolate pudding into the bowl and then we crumbled up chocolate chip cookies and sprinkled the crumbs on top. Finally, we placed four Teddy grahams in the bowl because our number of the week was four so this was yet another way to practice counting.  And just in case you're wondering, we used teddy grahams because they were the closest thing to groundhogs that we could find. And yes, they actually sell these at the dollar store.

Shadow puppets. I used Google images and found some basic shapes that I thought would make good story props. I then cut them out and taped the shapes to large popsicle sticks from the dollar store.  Using a lantern and a blank canvas wall, my son put on a great puppet show.

A science experiment. This was very educational and to the point. You can download a more general form below so that you can adapt the investigation to what you are working on.

Yoga

As we all know, exercise is important for all children - and adults - but running and other cardiovascular activities are not the ONLY exercises that we need.  Often - even as adults - we forget about the importance of stretching.  Stretching - if it isn't already - should be a HUGE part of your workout regime.  So that was our Physcial Education for the week.  Doing a little bit of Yoga.  I know some Yoga moves, but I haven't done it in a while, so I flipped on old trusty (Tony Horton) and his P90X Yoga program. She did really well trying to imitate what she was seeing but it didn't hold her attention for long.  She liked it, but when she was done, she let me know.

Making stretching a part of your every day routine:

• Step Through the Stick: have your child hold a stick in front of them with two hands, forming a triangle (two arms and the stick).  Your child should be able to step over the stick - with both legs - forwards AND backwards.
• Encourage your child to make their body into a bridge (older children can make a bridge looking up) and then roll a ball underneath them.
• Hold a ball above your head, as high as you can reach and then bring the ball down and hold it out in front of you, as far away from your body as you can.



Building our Muscles

When I say Muscle Endurance, what do you think of?  Weight lifting?  Pull ups?  Push ups?  Yes, for adults.  But what about children?  Stretching and Muscle Building are two important parts of physical activity that we sometimes forget about - but we shouldn't!  And there are so many ways to have fun with it!  Here are just a FEW ideas about strengthening our children's muscles.

1. Crawl or crouch through a tunnel. 

 2. Climb up on structures that are safe to do so.

3. Balancing strengthens the core muscles in our bodies.

 4. There are a variety of animal walks that you can teach your children, including a bear walk,

 5. a crab walk,

 6. a duck walk,

 7. and a crocodile walk.

 8.  And last but not least, let your children give each other magic carpet rides around the kitchen - and for more resistance I'm sure you could do it on the carpet as well!

 

What kinds of animal walks are there?

Duck Walk: Squat down and waddle like a duck. 

Chicken Walk: Same as a duck walk except put your hands between your legs and grab your ankles.

Bear Walk: Move around on all fours and be sure to keep your arms and legs straight.

Crab Walk: Walk on all fours but with your stomach in the air.

Crocodile Walk: Lay on your stomach and pull your limp body around using only your arms.

Lame Dog Walk: Move around on all fours (bending of the legs is allowed) - but put one of your arms behind your back - so I guess move around on all THREES.

Kanagaroo Walk: Squat down and then jump staight up, extending the legs.  When you land, go right back into the squat position and do it again.

All of these walks can also be tried backwards for the older children or the younger children that have mastered them all already.

Jump, Jump, Jump

By the age of 2 1/2 toddlers will have mastered the skill of jumping off the ground with two feet.  Since we have done this activity (about a month ago) he has come a long way. 
To teach him how to jump and make it into a game, we put the song "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" on the computer and he and his sister jumped and danced.  He learns a lot just by watching what his sister does, and this was no different.  Other ways that we encouraged him to jump (ADULT SUPERVISION REQUIRED IN 3, 2, 1) was jumping off of the couch onto a pile of pillows and blankets.  This is his most favourite game (and my daughters).
He started out doing a gallop kind of jump, by the next week he was getting a little bit better and now, a month later he can jump perfectly fine.  I love watching the transformation of the smallest tasks in my children!

Ways to teach your child to jump:

• Don't discourage jumping in your home.  There are places to do it, but with adults supervision there should be no problem jumping off that last step.  Rules and restrictions just need to be known by the children so that they stay safe when you are not around.
• Jump on a trampoline or put a pile of pillows on the ground and use the pile as a trampoline
• Play hopscotch
• Make an obstacle course and make them jump over things in their path

Ring Toss

We do have a ring toss game (which I took along JUST in case) but I saw this idea on Pinterest and I wanted to see if it worked.
I have to say this was a great camping activity because it kept them busy and not loud in the morning while the rest of the world was sleeping.  All it took was some paper plates, masking tape, scissors, crayons and a paper towel roll.  First we sat down at our "table" and drew/coloured on all of the paper plates that mommy had already cut a hole in.  It wasn't the largest hole, as you can see from the picture. 

Next, mommy and the little helpers taped the empty paper towel roll onto a non-cut plate. 

 

And finally, they tossed the rings and had a great time playing!  Even the grandparents got in on the action!  It was a great family activity!  Note to self - even though the kids had a great time just tossing the plates, next time I would cut out the WHOLE bottom of the plate and only leave the raised edge.  We weren't getting many of the rings onto the roll.

Water Balloon Fun

Are there a couple of hot days in your forecase?  There have been lots around here and we have been taking advantage of them because for us - summer holidays are almost over!  Back to work.  Back to school.  Back to daycare.  Summer is coming to an end.  So we bought some water balloons!  There were a couple of things that I wanted to see if my daughter could do with the water balloons.  The first thing: Could she drop and try to catch the water balloon before it hit the ground (nope! but we had fun trying) and Could she throw or roll the water balloons to hit a target (using both one hand and both hands).  Yep, she could do that, sometimes.  We laughed and we had lots of fun!  Oh, and PLEASE clean up the mess no matter where you are.  Don't litter!

Sorry there are no pictures.  My camera stopped working.  I tell you, every electronic in this house that I touch, breaks.

Soccer and T-Ball

Take some time today and play some common sports with your children!  Get outside, get some exercise and have fun!  We "learned" how to play soccer and T-Ball when we went camping with the grandparents last week and it was a lot of fun!  We also like to play Basketball, but I wasn't moving that net to the campground . . .

Did you know that 68% of our kids over the age of 12 watch 2 hours or more of television every day.  Every day.  OK, now get off the computer and take those kids outside to play!

Hula Hoops and Jump Ropes

Hula Hoops, jump ropes and hopscotch.  Three of my daughters most favourite things to do in the backyard in the summer, spring and fall.  Just getting active is something that I want to promote to both of my kids, because it is so important today in our society where obesity is a HUGE concern among children.  And we as the parents need to be aware and help put a stop to this growing epedmic.  This was an item on our Summer Bucket List.  Teach my daughter how to hula hoop and jump rope.  I have taught her, but she is still learning.  I got the small hula hoop from the Dollar Store, which was great because she is WAY too small for those big hoops!

Learning at the Park

Going to the park in the summer is something that all families do at LEAST once or twice.  Parks are everywhere.  It's a great way to meet up with friends, meet new people and let the kids waste some energy (after some crazy ice cream sundaes perhaps . . .)  But what do the kids LEARN at the park?  Well, let me tell you . . .

• How to play with other children in small groups or pairs
• How to exclude/include children that they don't/do want to play with.  This sounds harsh, but if someone is being mean, not sharing, children WILL exclude them from play and to learn how to do it NICELY or CHANGE the situation is an important life skill.
• How to protect younger siblings/children
• Respecting the property of others
• Jumping from heights
• Climbing fences
• Muscular endurance when mastering the monkey bars

Roller Skating

Last year at a garage sale I picked up some Roller Skates for my girl and thought we would try it out this week!  She balanced very well, but always needed to hold my hand to move herself forwards.  She loved it and can't wait to do it again.  She even wants to try ice skating again this winter, so we will see how that goes!

Always be sure to wear protective gear when biking, roller skating, ice skating or roller blading.

• Helmet
• Knee Pads
• Elbow Pads

Spray Parks and Paddling Pools

The kids and I took a trip with friends a couple of weeks ago to a city about 3 hours away from us.  We had lots of things planned for the kids to do, but one of the things on our "to do list" was to visit a spray park - to knock yet another item off of our Summer Bucket List.  We have visited the spray park at the park beside us many times this summer, but it's always fun to explore new ones!  And to our wonderful surprise, not only did this city have spray parks, they also had PADDLING POOLS!  Yes, this is a wonderful surprise because we have none, zero, nada, zip in our own city.  The kids had a blast and we knocked something off our list that wasn't even on it!

Taking a trip to the Spray Park or Paddling Pool?  Make sure you pack a park bag and put the following items in it!

• Water Bottles
• Hats
• First Aid Kit
• Sunscreen
• Bug Spray
• Tylenol
• Sunglasses
• Comb

Circle Jumping

When you look at any developmental checklist, "Able to follow __ step directions" is on every single one of them.  My daughter can do this (when she wants) and so can my son, but it's always fun to turn listening into a game.  First I moved all of the furniture off of the patio and I chose different coloured chalk to draw many different circles all over the cement.  We started out with just single instructions.  "Jump to a BLUE circle".  Even my son could do this, and he loved it.  Once we lost his attention, we moved on to harder instructions . . . a sequence of colours!  "Pink, Orange, Blue, Green"  At first, she had a hard time.  But reminding her that she needs to look at who is talking and repeat it in her head, she was able to follow the sequence no problem.  Here is the original link.

• By the age of two, children should be following two step diretions
• By the age of four, that should have moved up to three step directions
• If your child is learning their numbers or letters, you can add those to the circles as well
• Make sure you keep it fun! 

Movement Walk

The kids were fed and it was a beautiful day.  I didn't want to stay locked inside the house, so we chose an idea from the Summer Jar.  We had to be somewhere by 10am, and it was 8am, so we had to be quick.  We went for a walk to the park.  Quick, easy and painless.  On the walk there, I wanted to make it a little more interesting for them.  We live so close to the park (about 4 blocks) that neither kid needs a stroller anymore, so walking needs to be made exciting and interacting.  First I told them to walk slow.  Then fast.  Then my daughter suggested that we walk like horses (she actually gallops really well, and my son was trying to copy and learn at the same time).  My son then wanted to be a cow, so down on all fours they went.  They marched, skipped, swam, ran, jogged, walked and more.  Before we knew it, we were the park having a great time!