Life With a Two and Four Year Old

Happy Valentine's Day Activity

2012-02-01T12:04:00.000-08:00

This activity can be used with both my kids with some adaptions, so just make changes based upon your child's age. For Cole, who is two, we talk about the colors of the conversation hearts and the colors of the bowls, the shapes, and work on counting out the little numbers (for example 1-3). He enjoys doing the game with Lillian who is 4 even though they aren't doing the same activity. Lillian plays the game multiple ways depending on her mood (game always sounds like more fun I think!). Some days she just chooses a card (one of my previous post tells how to make them) and puts that many conversation hearts in the bowl. Other days she'll put the number cards in ascending order by their value. Today she was going to "guess" how many hearts were in the bowl. Of course I jumped at the chance to remind her that she could also use the word "estimate", which she did then. Another day you may want to play the game and change it a little; don't even use the bowls or cards, but count the hearts by two's to see how many you have in your hand. Watch your child for cues and see how THEY want to play today. They'll have more fun and will likely play longer than if we tell them how they are going to do it!

Sensory "table"

2012-02-01T11:56:00.000-08:00

Lillian and Nicole love it when we get out the sensory tub. At school I had a $300 dollar sensory table, but of course here at home we don't have such luxuries so I created my own tubs! I use two different kinds depending on what we are going to put in it. During the Fall I used a long, heavy duty card board box that my sons train table came in. For this activity we got out our clear plastic tub. You need one shallow enough that the kids can reach in easily, but with high enough sides the items don't come out as they sift through the treasure. Today we put "rocks" in the table. I don't just have rocks in it though, there are also marbles, flower deco's they put in vases, etc. Some are round (good opportunity to teach the word sphere!), and others are round on one side but flat on the bottom. It goes with out saying that they are all different sizes and, of course, the colors vary. You can pick all of these, even the rocks, up at dollar stores so they can be obtained pretty cheaply. When we get done with a sensory item I store it in a clear container; plastic shoe boxes work well. Of course if you have young children who put items in their mouths you'll want to use larger items in your sensory tub until they out grow that stage. There are an endless number of possibilities for your tub: bows, ribbon, dry pasta, dried beans, and buttons are just a few ideas you might want to try. Don't hesitate to put an item in; what seems simple to adults children may spend hours exploring! Lastly, you might notice in the picture that I have provided the kids with measuring spoons, measuring cups, a bowl, a spoon, etc to use in the tub too. This helps them learn about volume and size and can help them develop large motor skills (filling the cups and dumping them into other containers).

Fall

2012-02-01T11:45:00.000-08:00

We did this fun activity in the fall, but due to the busy holiday season I failed to get it posted! However, you can either keep it mind for next year or use it during another season using different "props." We began the activity by having "an adventure" as my children call it - going off to explore is another way they refer to it. No matter, we grabbed a couple buckets and trecked out into the fields and woods surrounding our house and our families and gathered Fall items; field corn, fall flowers, branches, leaves, nuts and I even bought a couple yams from the store! Next, I put all our "treasures" into a box or tub and just let the kids explore it on their own. The only rule was they couldn't take it away, it had to stay with the box. Then a few days later I layed down our painting mat (plastic table cloth), and got out paper, paint, and brushes. I demonstrated to the kids how each item made its own unique pattern and then they spent time painting with the items we had found. Later, they painted the items themselves. This is a wonderful activity to teach about patterns, shapes, soft/hard and to explore with.

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake

2011-10-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

This is a simple activity, but can be as indepth as you want depending upon the amount of time you have available. To prepare I went online and printed out pictures of cupcakes. I always print things for lessons on cardstock because it holds up better and then I get it laminated. It cost a little more, but it will hold up much better. There were tons of options online (all I did was type in "pictures of cupcakes"), but I only printed pictures that contained a specific number of cupcakes (one cupcake, two cupcakes, etc). Then in either Word or Excel type up number cards to match. Even though toddlers can't read yet I still include the number word beneath the digit so they are exposed to the print. After reading the book "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake" by Laura Joffe Numeroff, I gave the children the pictures and number cards and explained the process to them. I only had to demonstrate with the first one for them to catch on. You can see in the above picture how the numeral one card was matched to the picture of one cupcake. I was pleased when, on her own, Lillian picked up the number cards and said "we can put these in order" and started putting them in numeric order (as you see below). It's important to give kids the freedom to explore activities like this on their own so they can come up with new twist like this too. As I mentioned earlier, this activitiy has many extensions you could do; do some activities with the letter C, color a cat or cupcake picture, sorting (these cupcakes have blue in them these do not or these have animals, etc), add two groups of cupcakes together and, the most obvious, make cupcakes!

Brown Bear Brown Bear

2011-09-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

Eric Carl has a wonderful book titled "Brown Bear Brown Bear" that we read recently. We've been talking about animals that hibernate in the winter and this gave us another opportunity to about what different animals do in the winter time. Over the coarse of a few days we made our own Brown Bear Brown Bear book. I printed pictures of different animals off the computer and wrote the words on each page to go along with the story (What do you see? I see a... looking at me). Then I gave the kids one page at a time and a different supply to decorate it with (tissue paper, water colors, sparkles, finger paints, etc). Then, after all the pages were dry, I stapled them together to make our own book. The kids enjoy re-reading the books they made!

Sink or Float?

2011-09-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

This activity involves water so it’s always a hit with children! There are multiple ways to do the activity and, even though you’re doing the same thing again, to kids it is a new activity. This morning Lillian wanted to know if some metal balls would sink or float. So we took them into the bathroom sink to find out. We have carried toys into the bath tub to test the theory, put kitchen utensils in the kitchen sink and, this summer, outdoor toys (including bikes!) in the swimming pool! We talk about if the items are lighter than the water, have air in them, and so forth. We’ve even found if we put enough water in the pool or tub and lay real still our bodies will float!

Trains

2011-09-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

Both of the kids loved this activity and I have to admit I did too. It's always fun to take the learning outside! We started our activity by reading Donald Crews book Freight Train. It is a short story so we read through it a couple times. During the second reading I had the children help identify the colors of the train cars. Afterwards we headed to our small near by city, parked the van, and walked the rails! The children had a ball and, of course, were full of questions. I loved that their brains were so engaged; we were just walking on a railroad track (does the train that goes close to our house come through here? What keeps the train on the track?). Who knew! We even got lucky and found a metal pin that is used on the tracks. It was great to have an item to bring home and show dad from our "field trip." Later, when we have more time, we're going to go up to Indianapolis so we can tour the train station and watch the trains come and go. The kids have always been fascinated with trains, as most kids are. Our house isn't to far from a railroad track and sometimes when we're outside we hear the distant sound of their horn blowing. If time permits we run to the van, load up, drive to the track and watch the train go by. We keep ear plugs in the car for the kids as it can be pretty loud. We've always had wonderful luck with the conductors too. They are always very friendly; waving and giving us some extra toots on the horn! When we got home we read a couple more books with a train subject that I had picked up from the library. Needless to say the kids had a lot to tell Dad when he got home in the evening! This is definitly an activity that we'll repeat again next summer.

Holiday Lacing Cards

2011-09-02T00:03:00.000-07:00

If your like me you like to buy holiday paper plates. These can, of course, be found at your dollar store or on clearance after the holiday too. It is very quick and easy to turn one of those paper plates into a lace up card for your child. Simply use a hole punch to punch holes either around the outer edge of the plate (not to close to the edge though) or if the design permits around the border of the picture. Then provide either a long shoe string or a long piece of yarn (put a small piece of scotch tape tightly on the end to lace with) and they can start lacing! I usually tie a knot in one end of the lacer so they can't pull it all the way through. This activity provides great hand eye co-ordination practice. If you desire, you can also number the holes with letters or numerals thus incorporating another element.

Record Your Own Story

2011-08-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

If you would like to record your own stories on the computer it is relatively simple to do. First go to the Audicity link, which I have provided below. You will need to install the program onto your computer. You will also need a microphone (these can be purchased at Walmart or Meijers for around $30). You are now ready to record! You can, of course, record anything you like, but we have found that the children enjoy listening to stories with the headphones. They especially like the ones Daddy records since he is working a lot of extra hours right now. They may not get to see him, but at least they can hear his voice and one of their favorite stories read by him. This would also be a fun way for elementary age children to practice their spelling words or math facts!

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Painting - make clean up a snap!

2011-08-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

The kids love to paint and asked all week to do it. We finally had the time this afternoon, so I got our paint supplies out. Having taught for 10-11 years I have learned a lot about this activity, mostly about making the clean up process quick and easy. First, we always either paint in the garage or outside. Today we had just a little breeze, so we ended up painting in the garage (I've learned papers blow away very easily!). To start with, I keep cheap dollar store table cloths on hand to use on our work surface. I always keep table cloths after our birthday parties too as they work well. Next, I filled a couple recyclable containers with a little water to rinse our brushes in, and grabbed some paper towels to have close by. I always put old t-shirts or something on over the kids clothes and we just reuse them each time we paint. Lastly, I poured some paint in disposable meat trays. Both the plastic and Styrofoam ones work well. This makes clean up a breeze; I recycle the water containers, throw away the paint trays, and just fold up (or throw away) the plastic table cloth.
I think its an adults nature to want the children to keep the paints separate, but this is a great learning opportunity. I happened to put pink and blue in one meat tray (at opposite ends). Lillian mixed them together and learned she could make purple. Of course this led her to wonder what other colors she could make. We had a great time and now have lots of art work for the Grandma's to have!

Cell Phone Math

2011-08-26T17:01:00.001-07:00

Lillian loves this activity! There's lots of ways to use your cell phone to play math games while you wait in line or at an office. Sometimes I type the number and she tells me what is displayed or I say a numeral and she types it. One of her favorites though is Phone number math; I tell her Grandma's phone number (lucky grandma!) and if she can find the numbers and get it dialed she gets to talk to grandma! This is a great way to kill time and practice numbers (of course we do 10, 11, etc too; not just 0-9). I bet this will be a big hit with your kids too.

FREE and EASY

2011-08-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

Both of my kids love books on CD's and I love them because it keeps them busy while I'm driving. The library has tons of titles available too, so we can listen to lots of different stories. The children have their favorites, but I know they're listening because Lillian can recite the story before they even say it and Cole repeats his favorite parts after they read it. One of Lillian's favorites is The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We even expand on the story by retelling it in our own words and acting it out. She loves being the Billy Goats and, yes, sometimes she skips the middle Billy Goat Gruff, but that doesn't matter. What's important is that she gets practice retelling the story and developing her speech. I don't know how many times we've listened to a story and I've been asked "what's that word mean?" What a great way to expand their vocabulary too and, its free and super easy!

Writing Ideas

2011-08-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

Last week my cousin mentioned that her son, who just started kindergarten, isn't wanting to write his name. Amazing how different boys and girls are! Not unusual, but still discouraging. Most of the time we just sit down with pencil in hand, paper at the ready, and tell the kiddo it's time to practice. That just doesn't always work though. That's when its time to pull out the FUN writing ideas! There are numerous ways you can practice without it seeming like work and it "hooks" them in. Here are some you may want to try:

writing with crayons in the bathtub
on a magic doodle board
on a dry erase board
on a chalk board
sidewalk chalk outside
chalk on black paper
wikki sticks
"write" it in the air or on someone's back
shaving cream
in sand or pebbles

There are numerous ideas, but you have to take the work out of it and just make it hands on. And at this age don't worry about line use. Just work on how the letters are made and the rest will come later. Just have fun with it!

Can't get any easier than this

2011-08-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

We read library books! Simple, love it. For the first time Cole sat at one of the computers too and listened to a story it was reading. They both enjoy the computers at the library and I like it because the activities are at their level, there's no disk to change, and it can't mess up my computer. As an added bonus, the kids Highlights magazine was in the mailbox when we got home. Lillian's always excited to get mail so that always hooks her, but she loves the magazine too. She spent some time just looking through it on her own and then we read a couple stories from it. It isn't to expensive, plus we save them and read them over and over, so I feel like we get out money's worth.

Yertle and turtles

2011-08-08T18:36:00.000-07:00

We had the most amazing science lesson this weekend and, once again, I didn't plan ahead at all! Love it when that happens! I was driving down the road and, as the car in front of me had done too, I swerved some to miss... a turtle in the road!! I used to see them all the time growing up, but now it seems like a person never does. So I went half a mile down the road, turned around and went back. I was a bit worried. He had since been hit and was in the middle of the highway. I approached carefully and was thrilled to see his shell was only slightly damaged and he was still alive! I brought him (I guess it was a him anyway!) home and we put him in a box with about 2 ft high sides. Added grass, clover, a little water, and bingo, we had a turtle habitat. A little later I went out to the garage and he was upside down on the concrete. Bummer! We put him back in the box and moved the box in the shade on the ground. He stuck around for a couple hours and the kids enjoyed him. They put him on the grass, felt his shell and legs, saw him come in and out of the shell, learned they can climb pretty well (like out of a box), held him and in their own way learned about turtles. There's no better way to learn than with a live creature. It just isn't the same as peering through a fence at the zoo, or looking online or in a book. However, we are going to get Dr. Seuss' Yertle the Turtle book to read. What a perfect ending to our study. Cole asked today (this happened Saturday) about the turtle and him and Lillian went out "exploring" to find him. He's a very smart turtle though; he's still hiding. I told my Grandmother I wasn't sure I was really saving this turtle by taking him home to my children! In the end I didn't save him. He saved himself.

Calling All Readers!

2011-08-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

I re-learned a lesson this past week. Oh, I knew it, I've said it to many parents, I've read it in magazines, but I didn't apply it to my own children! Let me back up a little. A few days ago my nephew, who will be going into 5th grade this year, went with us to the library. He wanted to get some chapter books off the rack. Of course since he was getting chapter books Lillian wanted some even though I told her they were to hard for her. She got 4-5 and I managed to put all but two back on the rack. When we got home she wanted to read the books. We did and while we were reading those books I had an "ah-ha" moment. She loves Scooby Doo so back to the library I went - to get a Scooby Doo chapter book. While I was there I saw the Junie B. Jones books. These chapter books have a 5-6 yr old as the central character and the book is written by her. So I browsed through the titles until I found two Lillian might like. We finished the Scooby Doo book and have started the Junie B. Jones books now. I felt so dumb though, telling her they'd be to hard for her. If a child shows interest, try it. If THEY want to do it they will be more likely to succeed. I've always let the kids help choose their own books, its important they have input, but in this case we were also successful because we chose books on topics that interest her. Just like us adults, if we aren't interested in something we're not going to want to do it! I know we aren't just going to stick with chapter books now, picture books have a lot to teach too, but its good to explore different types of books too. This week mom learned a lesson too!

Calling All Tactile Learners!

2011-08-03T11:30:00.000-07:00

My kids love working with their hands and, sometimes, it seems like the messier the better! The children wanted to get out the Play Dough this morning. I figured I'd put them off as long as I could. Don't get me wrong, I love the stuff; the feel of it in your hands, the smell, the things you can create. It's very soothing. But it's just so darn messy! That stuff gets everywhere. I gave in though and we got out all the rolling pins, and cutters, and supplies that go along with it. First; however, I put one of those cheap table cloths that you can get at the dollar store on the table. This way when we get done we can pick up the big pieces and then I can just take the cloth outside and shake the rest off. We use a plastic table cloth for most of our crafts as it speeds up the clean up process. A lot of people might not think playing with dough is educational, but it is. The children are building up those little muscles in their fingers, learning to control those little movements they're making with their fingers, and learning that different substances feel different. Lillian even offered to get out the sweeper when we were done to sweep under the table so clean up was a breeze after all!

Refrigerator style learning

2011-08-02T16:44:00.000-07:00

Our learning today was once again quick and easy. I let Lillian pick the pace and don't push it. When she says she'd done and it isn't fun any more, we quit. Today we made a game with cheap, plastic, magnetic numbers and letters. I think they can even be bought at the dollar store lots of times. I would put one on the frig door and she would tell me what letter or number it was. I also used this as a quick assessment; as I took them off I had two piles. One stack was the ones she knew right away and the other stack we need to work on some more. This activity didn't take any planning at all on my part which I love! I had a plastic tupperware on the counter beside the frig with the letters already in it for when we had time for a quick lesson, so it worked out really well.
It is Tuesday, so we took Grandma to the hair dresser's again this morning. While we were there I got out Lillian's electronic writing tablet. We only use it at special times so it is fun to use when we get it out. We practiced guessing the letter and writing a couple of letters too. It is a good tool for a quick review and time filler.

A Productive Day!

2011-07-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

Love it when we are able to get in two fun educational activities! This morning, to help Lillian pass the time, I grabbed a pack of alphabet cards. You know the kind, they have the letter on both sides and one side has a picture of an item that starts with that letter. I hurriedly made up a game; she chose a card and gave it to me (YES, she could see the letter but so what!), I said the letter sound and she guessed what letter made that sound. If she guessed correctly she got to keep the card. She really enjoyed seeing how many cards she could get in her pile. It was a nice, fun way for us to pass a little time while we waited on Grandma to do her arm stretches. I have even seen this type of flashcard at the dollar stores, so they can be obtained really reasonably.

A few days ago I took Grandma to the doctor. While we were waiting I flipped through a magazine and saw a delicious looking recipe. It was a Rice Krispy cereal bar dipped in chocolate, on a stick. When I got home I looked online and was able to find the recipe! Lillian was really excited about making such a delicious looking desert. So we melted, mixed, stirred, and poured it in the pan to cool (yes, cooking is educational; think about the measuring and counting used). Once they were cool I cut them into bars and attempted to insert the stick. That's when the fun really started! The sticks just would not stay in. We did the best we could to dip them in the chocolate, but we soon ran out of it. We put the pan aside for them to set up but it didn't do any good! As soon as we tried lifting them or holding them by the wooden stick they'd fall all apart. That ok though. We had fun cooking together and the kids enjoyed eating them. I just learned to send them outside to eat them and then I could just spray them off with the hose when they were done eating! Besides, the basic Rice Krispy recipe is a great recipe for kids to help make because it so simple to make.