Vegetables, and Veggie dip, and V8 Juice, and Velveeta cheese, and Valentine candies, and...
...Valentine activities!
Yep. Last week (which you can read about HERE) was such a hit with the kids, that I decided we'd continue w/this format this week--only I decided to change it up with some new "activities trays" for something fresh. Since Valentines day is around the corner, I decided to keep with the "Valentines" theme, along with the letter "V."
I'd also been wanting to do a "Muffin Tin Meal" for a long time. It's such a neat idea and an educational spin off the Japanese Bento Box. So far, I just haven't been organized enough to do it. But I think I'm going to have to change that! Kids are SO motivated by food at this age--so connecting what they are learning with food is just such a brilliant idea.
Anyway, I thought I'd share a few of the biggest "hits" from this week for those mama's out there looking for some good ideas. Almost all of these ideas come from Counting Coconuts and Confessions of a Homeschooler, which I've also added to my sidebar for future reference. The thing I like best about both of these blogs, is they do a GREAT job of linking where they got their ideas, and most of the handouts/printables are right there to download for free. Easy-peasy!
Above: Graphing candy hearts. Pretty basic. She enjoyed this one quite a bit believe it or not. After she'd ask permission to eat one, it then became a great lesson in subtraction, "Well if we started with 3 pink hearts, and we subtracted one, how many do we have left." She could look at her graph and figure out the problem.
This one was good for practicing counting, and (I believe) helping to visually connect numbers of objects to their numeric representation (I'm not a math person, is that right? lol). And it involved candy, so she was really into it!
The kids LOVED this one (above).
I'm pretty sure it's another pretty standard "Montessori" activity. My friend, Deanna, told me about it a loooong while back as something that was a big hit w/her daughter at their Montessori preschool. At the time, I thought it sounded like a fun idea, but never had a chance to try it out. Basically, you put water into one dish, and leave the second dish empty. The goal is to get the water from one side to the other by only using the sponge. Both kids LOVED this! Liam kept saying, "Squeeze! Squeeze!" And laughing hysterically.
For this activity, Elizabeth uses the tweezers to remove the heart from each little man. We pretended she was doing "surgery." Lol. Another lesson in fine-motor skills I guess. She likes this one, too. Again, candy.
This one above is a "Scent Match-Up" game. The kids unscrew the lid (perhaps Liam's favorite part--he's really into lids and screwing/unscrewing stuff right now), then they smell the contents, and try to find it's match. It helps develop their sense of smell. I thought it just sounded fun. They love it. I used old spice jars which I had saved. Just fyi--I had to run them through the dishwasher a few times (and let them soak in vinegar) to get out the smell of their previous spices. Then I soaked cotton balls in the smells I wanted, and put the cotton balls in the jars and snapped on the lids. We have bubble gum mouth wash at our house--so that was one smell. Followed by vanilla extract and perfume. I added star stickers to one set, so they know to find the match from a jar w/out a star. I plan to save more jars and add different smells to our game.
Liam continues to love the little jars for pouring. I put little shaped noodles into the jars for something different this week. OH, and in case you are wondering this is the bookshelf where most of the activities are kept, with the exception of those I don't want Liam to get into due to choking/safety hazards or mess-factor, etc. which I keep up on the desk where he can't reach, but Elizabeth can.
This one was on the desk (out of Liam's reach). Pretty obvious--the goal, to cut out hearts (and to give her practice w/her scissor skills). I love how her hearts turned out--as you can see, we are still learning how to wield the scissors.
This one was also put out of reach for obvious reasons--supervision required! But I thought it was a great spin on the tracing letters idea (which Elizabeth just hates to do). Instead of tracing, you take the push pin and poke holes on the letter. Oh my, she loved this one. But do be careful if you try this at home!
We've also just been doing lots of miscellaneous crafts. I've been wanting to buy some of those dot stampers for a long time now--as I'd seen it used to help practice writing letters (which she doesn't have much interest in) and thought this would be different enough that she'd get into it. With my 50% Michael's coupon, I finally decided to buy the expensive suckers. They have been a huge hit--and you can see, both Elizabeth AND Liam got practice with "dotting" the letter "V."
This activity wasn't on our shelves, but when we woke up this morning, and saw the yard was dusted w/snow, I decided it would be a fun activity. This was totally inspired by my friend Ginger's blog. I thought it was such a neat idea and figured the kids would enjoy it. And it also would mean I wouldn't have to take them out. This being our 4th snowfall of the year (I believe), I'm not really in the mood to suit up and head out. But bringing it in, though... that I can do.
We also decided to paint our snow (just a drop of food coloring and water). Fun!
And last but not least, in our line up of "V" inspired activities...
"V" is for....Vivaldi!
I know, I know.
This is SO not me.
It's not.
I'll admit it.
I'm not a classical music person. Wasn't raised on it. Never learned much about it in school. And despite 10 years of piano lessons (which I rarely practiced for) it's just not in me. BUT, when I saw the idea of a "Composer of the Month" on the Counting Coconut's blog (HERE--scroll down) I decided it would be a cute idea, and maybe something we could listen to in the bonus room at night to help wind down (perhaps in lieu of running wild like little banshees). Anyway, we set it out last night and listened to 'The Four Seasons." I explained that the composer's name started with a "V"-- Vivaldi, and included a portrait for the kids to look at while they listened (I also got this idea from the link). I thought it was a neat way to connect a real person to the music. Anyway, it was so cute because this morning as we were heading upstairs for naps, I asked if they wanted to listed to some Vivaldi... and Liam came running saying, "Valdi! Valdi! Yeah-Yeah! Valdi!" Lol! It was so cute!
I've got to say, so far, we are loving the new set up. Again, I doubt it will last. We all need change, so I don't anticipate this being our new permanent "thing." But for now, it's working. So we are just going to stick with it until the novelty wears off... or perhaps, until it warms up!
I think for me, it really helps to have activities ready and planned vs. waking up and asking the kids, "So what do you guys want to do today?" Which was our previous method. I think, too, after three years of being a SAHM, I'm tired of the same old books and puzzles--so new activities are great, not just for the kids, but for me as well! I also like all the ideas Elizabeth comes up with that fit our theme. She brings me Valentine books to read all the time. And after our "V" inspired "Muffin Tin Meal," she wanted to go play Veterinarian since it started with "V."
