Fun with Math and Wiki Stix

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned our Wiki Stix before.  We’ve had them for ages, and I bring them out once in a while just for “something to do” – M loves them.  He kind of forgets about them, but when he sees them, he loves them.  They keep him busy for a loooong time, if that helps sway your decision to go buy some. ;) 

 

I put out simple activities for M most mornings.  Occasionally I am stumped for something new to do and go through my craft and school supplies for inspiration.  So one morning last week I gathered up our autumn-themed play dough mats (placed in plastic page protectors), and our Wiki Stix and set them out for him:

 

He really enjoyed this!  This would be wonderful counting practice for younger children.  I can’t say M really counted as he did this, because that is no longer a challenge for him, but he enjoyed making little spirals out of the Wiki Stix and sticking them to the pages.  This is good fine motor skill practice!  The best part about this, and what I intended it for, was that it helped him work on forming the numerals, an area in which he needs practice.

 Honestly, I can not look at those little hands without
wanting to kiss them or have a little nibble on them!

I love when something comes together that is so much fun for him he doesn’t realize he is working on anything. :)

Have a beautiful day! :)

Learning by Heart – Oct. 21, 2011

“The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.”

      - Henry Ward Beecher

 I never see M more joyful than when he is playing in the leaves!  But why does he wear his bike helmet non-stop?  Do your children do this?? :)

Technology really seems to have something against me this year.  I lost my USB cable for my camera, so there are not many photos for this week.  {Sigh.}  We actually had a really great week and I was very excited to write about it.  Ah, the irony. :)

However, for you that means a nice short and sweet post. :)  Here’s a bit of what M’s week was like…

Nature Basket – I recently added a magnifying glass to this to add a new level of interest.  Here are M’s fall treasures thus far:

Pinecones, sticks, interesting weeds and rocks, a cattail, 3 feathers,
and a shell from our river walk. 

 

Remember last week when he learned our phone number and how to properly use a phone?  Well, this week he learned our cell phone number, and took to calling himself and talking to himself on both the cell and the home phone: I am not kidding.  He was actually having a conversation with himself. :)  Looks like a good one too, doesn’t it?

 

FINE MOTOR SKILL WORK:

Scissor Practice – I folded some construction paper in half and drew one half of an image on the front: M had to try to cut right on the lines and then guess what it was before he opened it up.  This tied nicely into our recent discussions about symmetry too.  Interestingly, he didn’t guess any of them right.  He guessed a hill, a blahblahblah (some nonsense word), a Christmas tree (?!), and a robot.  :)  They turned out to be, in order: a pumpkin, an acorn, a leaf, and a scarecrow – he could tell when they were opened up (thankfully!).  I drew the pumpkin, acorn, and scarecrow freehand, and found a maple leaf template on Google Images (I’m not sure of the link, but there are many available).

He did great with these and stayed right on the cutting line, having trouble only with the scarecrow who unfortunately lost part of his hat, and had his head entirely cut off. :)  Thank goodness for tape!  M had a lot of fun putting funny faces on them (the stickers are from Michael’s) and hanging them on the window!  This turned out to be a big hit!

 

Lacing cards – I sometimes forget about these, but we have many of them, and it is easy to make your own.  M still loves to do these, and he comes up with new things to do with them:Like “sew” them together and hang them up as part of the fall decor.  Sometimes I think our home looks like we have a 5 year old decorator, and then I realize we actually do and that I love it. :)

 

Caramel Apples – We had fun making caramel apples this week – just 3 of them because somehow we ended up with a very small amount of caramels. :)  M was in charge of unwrapping all the caramels (great fine motor work that takes a long time, but is highly motivating): 

I think we added a bit too much milk to the mix because even after our caramel had cooled and we had dipped the apples, only a very thin layer covered them.  But they were delicious!  And I think they were beautiful, don’t you?

 

Crocheting!  That’s right – crocheting!  I’ve been crocheting for over 30 years now, and over the summer M took a huge interest in this and we’ve been crocheting up a storm together ever since.  This is how we do it:My hands are on bottom, holding the crocheted fabric.  I love seeing how much alike our hands look. :)

It is too difficult for him to maneuver the crochet hook and yarn while holding onto the fabric, so we snuggle up and I hold the fabric for him.  He does everything else and he has really gotten very good at it.  Of course I guide him and talk him through it as needed.  It’s a good little extra snuggle time for us. :)

Here’s a “shaving washcloth” he made for Daddy’s birthday:

We did manage to squeeze in some math, science, art, and a little phonics work too, but those pictures are still waiting.  Hopefully I’ll be able to share them next week!

 

Linking up to:

 

 

 

Have a beautiful day! :)

autumn apple pickin’

That’s a sweet apple, and an even sweeter boy!

M, enjoying the fruits of his apple-picking labor.

Fall is upon us here in Minnesota!  I can not believe how quickly summer went this year.  I felt like I was just beginning to get into a good routine and whoops!  It’s over, and a new fall routine needs to be figured out.  {Sigh}

We are fortunate to have our very own little apple orchard at my in-laws’ farm a little north of us:There is nothing better than picking a fresh, crisp, oh-so-sweet, scrumptious apple and eating it outside on a fall day, yes?   The ones pictured above are Sweet Sixteens and oh my goodness, so delicious!!

I think M could have eaten a whole bucket full by himself!  Just sit down on the grass and enjoy it right where you are – it tastes even better that way. :)

I hope you are all having a glorious fall, or a lovely spring if you happen to live on the sunnier side of the world. :) 

Have a beautiful day! :)

Mini Apple Pies

 
We are overrun with apples at this time of year.  Normally I make an apple pie or two, some caramel apples (M’s favorite!), and what we don’t just munch on gets sliced up and dehydrated (yum!).  We are fortunate to have our own, fairly small, apple orchard.  But this doesn’t stop us from going to commercial apple orchards too!  I am in love with Honeycrisp apples, and this is one of the types we don’t grow ourselves, although I’m hoping that changes in the next year or two. 

When I saw this fun idea for miniature apple pies over at  My Montessori Journey, I knew we had to try it! 
The apples we used are Firesides – a crisp, juicy, mostly sweet apple.

These aren’t really a cooking apple, but when you have an abundance of them you use them in anything and everything. :)  I think they turned out very tasty in our mini pies.

First roll out your pie dough.  Ours was store bought – once upon a time I wouldn’t have gone that route, but let’s be honest – those days are over for at least a while.  I am all about ease and convenience right now. ;)
M used an empty margarine container to cut circles from the dough.  They were just about the right size for our muffin tins.  Place them in the muffin tins so just a bit overlaps the top.


Peel, slice, and chop the apples.  Place a good amount in each pie.  We used 3 large apples to make 12 pies.

Add a dash of flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, and allspice (or nutmeg) to each pie.  As you can see you don’t have to be exact or even add the same amount to each pie.  In fact, a 4 year old can do this just fine. ;)  
Cut out more circles with a cup and place the circles over the pies, then cut a slit in the top.  
Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Delicious!

We tried this with frozen blueberries and strawberries too – yum, yum, yum!  Just add brown sugar and a little flour to the frozen fruit.

Have a beautiful day! :)

Our Thankfulness Tree

Last year we began a very sweet tradition – during the 7 days before Thanksgiving we each write (well, M dictates) one thing we are thankful for on a paper leaf every evening. 

We talk about the things for which we are thankful during our dinner, then afterwards we pin the leaves to our felt tree.  By the time Thanksgiving rolls around our tree is looking beautiful and festive, and we are in a thankful frame of mind.

Thanksgiving is a hard time for me – several years ago, when we were wanting a baby so very badly, I found out I was pregnant on Thanksgiving morning.  It was also the 10 year anniversary of our first date.  It began as a wonderful, wonderful day.  But unfortunately the day ended in a traumatic fashion in the emergency room with almost no hope of a viable pregnancy (although hope is exactly what I held onto).  After the long weekend I went to my doctor for a follow up exam and found that I had, in fact, lost the baby.  I still miss that baby.  I still love that baby.  I am still thankful for that baby and the other babies we had for such a short time, and I’m especially thankful for the baby we were able to hold onto, who now makes Thanksgiving a little bit brighter again. :) 

{Remember, please, that holidays are not easy and happy times for everyone, and make sure to count all your blessings!}

Our leaves for this year, cut from fall-themed scrapbook paper:Really, don’t they resemble little mice lying on the floor?

Our felt tree, tacked onto the flannelboard and ready to go:

This was cut from a pattern I drew and enlarged; if you are interested, you can download the felt tree pattern here.

Have a beautiful day! :)

Learning by Heart – Week 5

“The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom”
– Henry Ward Beecher

We are finally getting into our “rhythm” here, and it feels so great!  I’ve lightened up my own load by deciding to only do preschool activities 2 to 3 days of the week, and to do them in the mornings, which is key for us.  We are both more enthusiastic about this kind of thing in the morning, rather than in the afternoon after being busy all day.  We’ve established a sort of schedule that is really working for us.  I hesitate to use the word “schedule”… The idea of a schedule can feel stifling and for many of us just leads to feeling more pressure.  That’s not at all what I’m talking about – I want to free up time and energy and feel less stress!  Really what we are trying to do is establish good habits that make it easier for us to use our time wisely.   More on this in an upcoming post!

For now, on to what we accomplished this week:

SHELF ACTIVITIES:

D and E items for our phonics box:

dragonfly, diamond, dog, duck
(oops!  somehow only the D items made it into the photo.)

Letter Crafts:

I continue to make and print out a quick sample of the letter crafts for M to “read” and make on his own.  I do believe interest in these is waning though, so in a couple of weeks we may take a little break from these.

D is for Dragon (from No Time for Flashcards).

d is for door (from No Time for Flashcards).  Open it up to see…dots!

 

E is for Elephant (from Totally Tots).

e is for egg (from Totally Tots).
There are so many great sites out there for letter crafts, and it’s hard to think of something original.  Next week, however, I hope to have a couple of new ideas, so stay tuned!

Tonging marbles onto Dinosaur suction cups:

Dropping water into Dinosaur suction cups with a pipette: the object of this was to drop just one drop of water into each little suction cup, then use the sponge to suck the water up.  This is a very Montessori-type activity, and a great explanation of how to set it up is here.

 

Play dough and Jolanthe’s great letter mats: I recently ran across these letter mats for play dough too; I really like them, but already had the ones pictured printed out.  I think I’ll be able to use both sets for different activities.

Whiteboard letter practice:

Using Wikki Stix to form letters:

 

Sand tray with pipecleaner letters:

 

Scissor practice pages: The stickers are there to guide him and help him stay on the line.  This is way too easy for M now (he’s been using safety scissors since he was just under 2 years old).  He did one page, then wasn’t interested.  I think I need to find something a bit more challenging in this area.  He used to really enjoy these; if you are interested in them, you can find them here.

I put out some sunflowers (from Michael’s – on sale!) for M to add to his autumn leaf arrangement.  I’m amazed at how much fun it can be to stick things into a block of foam.  The result is really beautiful (see photo at the top of this post).

 

 Making Mr. Pumpkin Heads:    I wrote about these in this post, and M enjoyed making them SO much.  It was the first thing he went for the morning I put them out, and they are all hanging in his bedroom.   Last night he asked me to make more of these for him to do – I think it would be fun to try with turkeys for Thanksgiving, don’t you? :)

 

 TOGETHER ACTIVITIES: 

 Tic Tac Toe: After seeing Jolanthe’s cute-as-a-button fridge tic tac toe game (here), I got out our tic tac toe game that I made last year (free printable!) and made it into a magnet game for our fridge.  I wish I would’ve gotten some action shots, because M loved playing this game!  After a few games he was really beginning to strategize, which kind of surprised me.  We’ll be leaving this up for a while!

While I was adding magnets to things, I decided to make his name leaves magnetic too and now they are on the fridge too.  M wasn’t too interested in placing them in order, but I like how they look so they’ll be staying up too. :)

Exercise:

Since E was one of our letters for the week, I thought exercise would be a good thing to add into our week.  Honestly, I need to start making this part of our regular routine, for my sake as well as M’s!  We have a Bobby Susser cd titled, “Wiggle Wiggle and Other Exercises ".  It is so much fun, and a great addition to our days.  I plan to find a variety of cds like this, or just come up with ideas, and plan some sort of exercise each day.  M doesn’t really need this, but somebody else sure does!   

                                      Twisting and wiggling away

Marching in a circle with his hands on his head
(actions for one of the songs)

 

Math:

My big plans for math have been kind of a flop lately.  The bead bars just don’t engage M like I’d hoped.  I’m disappointed because I think the Montessori method with the bead bars and number boards makes so much sense, but it seems to only confuse M and he’s not interested in sitting and listening to me say the same thing over and over or watching me do the activity first. 

It seems to me that before we start looking at how and why the teens, twenties, and so on have two digits and what each place value is, M just wants to count.  He just wants to know the numbers and their order before we go any further.  So we’ve been doing a lot of counting (more on this next week), and I decided to make an activity that engages his whole mind and body, and ended up creating a number line game.   We played it for the first time this week.  It is very active, and a lot of fun.  I hope to give it its own post sometime soon (a printable will be included!):

Science:

We’ve been talking a lot about leaves lately, so we pulled out the leaf nomenclature cards and M matched the parts up.  He really loves this type of activity for some reason (partly because the black and white pictures with only one portion colored are interesting, and partly because he pretends he can read the big words :) ), so I hope to make more some time soon.We also did a science experiment related to this with celery, which will be in a post on Sunday. :)

I’m linking this post up to Preschool Corner and Weekly Wrap-Up; be sure to check them out!

Have a beautiful day! :)