Rock Sale

 One of my five year-old's favorite "game" to play is what he calls Rock Sale. It is something he created almost two years ago. He gets out some of his favorite, polished rocks and puts them out in an organized way. Next he calls out "Rocks for sale! Who wants to buy some fancy and beautiful rocks."  I am then instructed to make an inquiry about his wares. He attaches a dollar amount to the rocks ($100 each and $1000 for the Pyrite-it is gold after all). Then I hand him play money and he gives me change. After this interaction he wants to switch roles. It is silly but he loves it. He asks to play this almost monthly. It is so fascinating the things kiddos come up with and enjoy!

Tape Roadways

I am working on being more of a "Fun Mom", which doesn't always come easy to me. With my long hours of work and school I am trying to sneak in play times that my son won't easily forget. When I saw this on Pinterest I knew I had found a winner. I just bought masking tape and proceeded to make roadways all through out the living room and dining room. The more furniture you tape up the better. Then matchbox races here we go!

"A" driving on his road

Don't you love the randomness of things on my floor-like deodorant. Ahh-life with a 15 month old.

Parking Lot

He is such a ham ;0)

Max our Scout Elf

With the boys being sick my Christmas festivities have not gone quite as planned. That being said one thing I have been able to keep up with is our Christmas Elf, which came to live us for the first time this year. I think the Elf on the Shelf is one of the funnest way to introduce a Christmas tradition I have seen. We are having so much fun with him in our house. Here are some of greatest memories of Max so far!

Stealing my Supreme Hot Cocoa

Ready for take-off

Composing a new Christmas Carol

Hanging from the chandelier

Doing some caroling

Reading "A Child's Christmas in Wales" by Dylan Thomas with his pal

Going down the firehouse pole!

Practicing snow angel making

Going Fishing!

Fine Motor Skill Racing & Sight Word Parking

I will be the first to admit that it is really hard for me to get on the floor and play with my boys. I would like to think that if I had a girl it would be easier. I could easily see myself setting up dollhouses, having tea parties, and dressing up like princesses. However, racing a train around a circle track or pushing cars back and forth-my brain will not slow down for. There is a lot of guilt wrapped around this, so in attempt to get down and play with cars I made a racing track out of butcher paper. One wavy path and one zig-zag path, both having a start and stop. "A" chose different Matchbox cars and Ready, Set, Go we were racing each other. What he doesn't know is that this is a great way to work on fine motor skills. Plus, it was an experiment on which was quicker (zig-zag or curvy). He then chose to put a strip of paper across the two to act as a bridge. Of course, if he crossed the bridge and I happen to be on the other side he could bonk me off. He had great fun and have Mom doing it with him made it so much better!

Then to add some sight word practice in I made a parking garage (actually just spaces on a piece of paper). I wrote all the sight words he is really struggling with. At first I would call out, "Can you park in the HERE parking spot", and he would then drive and park. Once he filled up the spaces he called out the words for me to park in. That is great because it not only taught him to guess a word based on the beginning sound, but he had to read them aloud as well. It was just a great way for me to assess his understanding. He absolutely loved this and wanted to play it 4-5 times, three was my limit ;0). There is always next time though!

Tea Party for Boys

The other day "A" surprised me with his own version of a tea party. There was no china or fancy tablecloths. fact there wasn't even tea, but juice boxes instead. What I also found was my ceramic ramekin filled with dog food for his stuffed animal and board games propping the toys up to eat.

Experimenting with Ramps

Over at PreKinders Blog I found another great science idea, using ramps. I set up ramp with some materials from my backyard. Then I chose 10 items to have "A" roll down the ramps. I made two boxes to sort the ones who would roll and the ones who would not. The rule was that the item needed to roll down the entire ramp and not fall off halfway, if it did then it went in the No box. Of course, he was able to test the item more than once to make sure it wasn't user error. Now like all good scientist it is important for the child to first make predictions and then test them out, which is exactly what we did. I have to say "A" loved this and keeps pulling the ramp back in the house to try new items.

Our original 10 items were:  tambourine, water sensory bottle, baby grip ball, sorting ring, triangle, wooden circle, wheel, wood dowel, Mr. Potato Head (without accessories), and a heart cookie cutter.

Science Center all set up

Predictions:

The Experiment:

The Results:

Did any of the result shock you. They did us!

Floating S Experiment

I am a huge science nerd! Growing up I was led to believe that because math was difficult to me, science would be as well. I avoided science like the plague. When finally, I was forced to get my lab science credits in college I was shocked to find that not only was I good at science but that I loved it. Science is such a great subject for children because it is all about exploration, wonder, manipulation, and amazement. It ties in so nicely to the concept of being playful! Those are all things I want to encourage with my boys and students, so I was more than tickled pink to find this amazing website (PreKinder.com) that is chocked full of science centers and experiments. This website has so many terrific ideas that my head is literally spinning! One particular experiment caught my eye because it uses Skittles. Skittles are "A's" favorite candy, but I have also read it is the worst candy for people on the market (healthwise). This being the case the only time "A" gets Skittles is as a special treat from Grandpa, and most certainly not from me. As a special treat I thought I would ease up a bit and do a Skittle science experiment and give him a few extra to eat-boy was he blown away!

The Floating S experiment, as it is called at the PreKinders website, is super easy to do and hardly any cost at all. The only materials you need is three different color Skittles placed S face up in a white disposable bowl (found in picnic area of supermarket) and a class of water. Place the skittles around the edge with some space between the three (think like a triangle). Pour enough water to cover the Skittles. Then observe. It is important to have the experiment take place where it is not shaky. The website has a printable to record observations too.

Some cool observations:

• The colors bled in an outer ring. When the colors met each other I thought they would start to mix (the red would meet the yellow and start to form orange). This didn't happen! The colors stopped when they met and decided to travel inwards.
• The red  color traveled the fastest, then the green, and the yellow was the slowest.
• The white S floated to the top. You have to observe it quick because the S starts to break down to white floating stringy stuff. 

"A's" prediction, experiment observations and picture of what he saw happen

At the end the scientist was rewarded with some of his favorite candy (NO-not the boxful but a handful)

Activity Bag #2

Well we have been doing activity bags for about three weeks and we love it. I normally keep it in the car and have used it frequently on long drives and mostly at restaurants. Once we even used it to wait in the passport line and all the other kiddos were jealous and wanted to join in. We have exhausted most items so it's time to rotate in some new fun items (mostly found at the dollar bin at Target). He wants to play with it now but he has to wait for a time when I really need it --come on parents you know when I mean!

The newest activity bag

(still kept in his green canvas bag he decorated with his name):

All the goodies in one place!

Target $1 Mickey Grab-N-Go back with coloring book, stickers, and crayons

Mickey Paint Chips: I have two of each to play memory or I thought we could use to markers and a mini boggle thing to play a made up came that involves counting forward and backwards.

$1 Target Putty: I don't know how this will go or just be a complete mess. It's about being a kid right!

Target Halloween Stamps $1 and Frankenstein Monster notepads also for $1

LeapFrog Explorerer. I hate video games but he it was xmas gift. He loves it and it has great educational games.

These are left over from the last activity bag: Little Kids mag (my fave for preschoolers) and sight word Go Fish cards.

A small wooden tractor puzzle (part of a 4 set made by Melissa and Doug)

Four See and Spell Wood Cards that have CVC words on them and the letters (also by Melissa and Doug)

Is it bad that I want to play with it too?

Lego Math Two Ways

The first lego math activity is all over the blogging world so it is nothing new. You just find lego pieces and create simple addition/subtraction problems. If you put two pieces together (addition) have your child find the piece it would make. If you have one piece and take away a portion of it (subtraction) what piece would remain. I went back and forth on if the lego's  I chose should be the same color (and easy to find the matching block). I was afraid it would be too easy but I did it that way anyway. I did put the answer blocks mixed in with a handful of other blocks so he was actually looking at the pieces and not just matching colors. It was the right choice because it was just the right level of difficulty. Perhaps in the future I will have the colors all mixed up so he will have to choose more critical thinking.

The second math activity was introducing the idea of inequality: greater than, less than, and equals. My friend at Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational created a fabulous game to teach these concepts using  two things boys love: Construction Vehicles and legos. She made a game board of two dirt piles at a construction site. Then taking two handfuls and placing legos at each dirt pile a student can count the legos to see if they are greater than, less than, or equal. For the cases where the piles greater than/less than she made cards with front loaders with the scoop making the inequality signs. For when the piles were equal she made a pick-up (or dumptruck) grill be the equal sign. The way she explains it is "that the front loader always wants to pick up the heaviest load so the scoop needs to face the largest load". What a brilliant way to build a connection for boys (and girls) in regard to a difficult and easily forgettable concept. "A" loved this and in between each problem he helped on the construction of the building. We will definetly do this activity again! To get the printable for the boards and cards go to her sight above. Trust me you won't regret it-she has tons of fabulous ideas!