learning Archives – The Pinterested Parent

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learning

Fri
29 ^th

Alphabet Soup

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My daughter is very passionate about books. She loves to read stories & she loves to make up stories of her own. She used to ask me to write her stories as she told them, but recently, she has been wanting to write down her own words. She composes her stories and asks me to spell them for her, but sometimes gets frustrated with her letters. We have been working on practicing our ABC’s and we came up with this quick & fun craft and activity.

We sketched out a simple bowl shape & then cut it out. We did the same with a spoon & then glued the spoon to the bowl.

My daughter gathered up a few different shades of markers & started writing out her alphabet.

She added a few meatballs to go with her letters.

She spread her letters out all over her soup bowl, squeezing them in wherever she could. Me made a couple bowls of soup. She had fun with it & it was a great way for her to sharpen her writing skills.

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Fri
20 ^th

‘If You Give A Mouse A Cookie’ Counting Game

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I think most of us have heard the story ‘If You Give A Mouse A Cookie’. If you have not, it is a tale of a mouse and a series of events that occurs as a result of him getting a cookie. It is a fun book to read & my daughter just loves it.

We often joke with our daughter & say “If you give a Mai A Cookie”. This joke came up this week. “How about you give Mai 1, 2, 3 , 4 cookies, mama?” Nice try! She did not get 4 cookies, but she did give me an idea for a fun craft & counting activity.

What you will need:

Paper Plates

Construction Paper

Paint

Glue

Markers

Directions:

Sketch & cut a mouth hole out of a paper plate.

Paint your paper plate in brown & let dry.

Cut ears & a nose out of construction paper & glue onto the plate.

Draw in the eyes, mouth & whiskers with marker.

Glue around the sides & top of the back of the plate & glue to another paper plate. Leave the bottom unglued so that there is an opening at the bottom.

Cut 10 circles out of light brown construction paper small enough to fit into the slot on the mouse’s mouth.

Draw chocolate chips on them.

Cut 10 squares of paper & number them from 1 – 10. Mai did such a great job writing out her number cards.

Now you are ready to play your game.

Mix up your number cards & have your child draw one. Have them feed the mouse that number of cookies. Another option is to make the cookies with a certain number of chocolate chips & feed them the cookie with the correct number of chips. Let your child decide which they prefer.

Feed your hungry mouse. My daughter wanted to feed both mice. She counted out the cookies for both mice & fed them both full.

When you have used up all your cookies. Just shake them out of the opening that you left at bottom.

I had a hard time pulling my daughter away from this. She was having a lot of fun with it. She gave both mice their cookies over & over again. And of course when you a give a mouse a cookie, don’t forget, he is going to want a glass of milk to go with it.

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Like ‘If You Give A Mouse A Cookie’?, try the whole series of books.

Fri
25 ^th

Button Soup Counting Activity

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We have a lot of buttons in our house, a lot of buttons. They are great for fun & colorful crafts. My daughter loves to craft with them & she loves to play with them too. She likes to separate them into color piles & use them in games of make believe. One of her favorite things to do is to make pretend soup. This gave me an idea. We could turn our game of pretend into a fun counting activity.

We made a recipe which incorporated counting, measuring, separating colors & following directions.

Here is a printable version of our Button Soup Recipe.

We set up a large empty bowl & another filled with water. I told her to measure & add 4 cups of water to her empty bowl. She carefully measured out her scoops & added them to her bowl.

We read off the numbers & colors of each ingredient. She dug through her pile of buttons & counted and pulled out each color.

She mixed up her soup enthusiastically & in the end added the whole bag of buttons after finishing the recipe.

This was a fun activity. You can change the recipe to add different ingredients & more measurements for a lesson in measurements as well.

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Sat
20 ^th

Water & Ice Science For Toddlers

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When choosing science experiments to do with my toddler, I find that the simpler the experiment the better. She loves water play, so the experiments with water are our favorites. I found the great ideas for these fun & easy experiments from two of my favorite science sites for kids www.sciencekids.co.nz & stevespanglerscience.com. Make sure that all of these are done with parental supervision.

Water Transfer Experiment

All you will need for this experiment is 2 glasses, water, a couple of drops of food coloring & a couple of sections of paper towel.

Place 2 glasses next to each other. Fill one of the glasses with water. Add a few drops of food coloring to it.

Twist 2 sections of paper towel as shown.

Put each end of the paper towel into both of the glasses.

You can watch the color creep across the paper towel as it absorbs the colored water. This will take a little bit of time. We kept checking on our glasses every few minutes.

My daughter was so excited once the blue water started dripping into the other glass. “Look mama! It’s dripping. Look Look!” Like I said, it is the simplest things…

After some time, the water will move from one glass into the other.

In between checking on our water transfer, we tried a couple of other quick experiments.

Sticky Ice Experiment

Cut a few strands of yarn or string & put them aside. Put ice cubes into a clear container of water. Lay the yarn across an ice cube or two & sprinkle the ice & the yarn with Kosher salt. Let it sit for a moment. The science behind it is that the salt will melt the ice & then as it sits in the cold water will refreeze around the string.

Lift the yarn & watch as the cube sticks to the string.

This last one was more for me than my daughter, as she was completely disinterested in this one, while I found this fascinating. Fill a glass all the way to the top with water. Place a piece of cardboard over the top of the glass. Place the palm of your hand over the cardboard and press putting pressure around the edges & in the center. You can feel a slight suction while you press. Flip the glass upside down & carefully remove your hand. The water & the cardboard should stay in place. Do this over a sink in case just in case.

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Fri
03 ^rd

Puzzle Pieces For Teaching Sight Words

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One of our favorite learning tools in our home has always been puzzles. Picture puzzles of course are fabulous for teaching them problem solving & matching up their shapes & colors, but many puzzles have an extra layer of learning to them. Puzzles have taught our daughter her US. States, a good portion of her countries & all of her planets.

We have puzzles everywhere, board puzzles, jig saw puzzles & large floor puzzles that clutter up our whole house.

The benefits have outweighed the mess.

We have been working on sight words & writing lately. Mai recognizes & can write & spell her name now. We have been trying to work on the other basics as well.

We used a blank puzzle that we have had lying around for a long time. You can purchase a blank puzzle for about a dollar at a craft store or you can just flip over your old puzzle & work on the back or paint over the front & let dry before adding in your sight words. As with most families of a small child, I am sure that you have several puzzles that are missing pieces.

Puzzle Piece Sight Words

Write out your sight word using magic markers or paint. Make a design across the pieces that you will be using to have a color & shape reference to join them back together. Make a small picture scribble of your sight word on the connecting pieces to help them understand what the word is. Mai knew right away that this was supposed to be her mama.

“Who is that Mai?”

“It’s Mama.”

“How do you spell mom?”

“M. O. M.”

We made an assortment of different words. We put each together & spelled them together. We also found another fun craft project with our extra puzzle pieces in the process. Stay tuned for our cute puzzle piece craft.

Thank you as always for stopping by. Please follow us on Facebook as well.

http://dabblingmomma.blogspot.com/2015/02/dr-seuss-cvc-words.html

http://tinytotsadventure.com/2015/03/20-name-activities-and-crafts-for-toddlers-and-preschoolers/

Wed
11 ^th

Teaching Patterns

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I hate going to work during the week & leaving our daughter. It breaks my heart not to be with her all day. Twice a week Mai goes to daycare. Daddy is home with her at least one day during the week because of his rotating schedule & on all other days my mother-in-law watches my favorite girl. It is wonderful that she is able to be in the hands of such capable and attentive people while I am at work. She learns a little from each of them. At times, she will come out with things that surprise me & I wonder “Where did she learn that?” Then I remember that she is surrounded by such wonderful teachers & influencers.

The other day I had on a pair of colorful striped socks. My daughter came over to me & pointed out all of the colors & told me that my socks had a pattern. I was so surprised & excited by her observation. Someone has been teaching her well. Wanting to see how well her understanding of patterns was, we did a couple of activities.

I printed out an assortment of different shapes & clip art from the computer. I cut them out into squares & laid them out on the floor in different patterns. I placed more cut outs in a pile, being sure that there was a shape that would be next in each sequence thrown into the pile.

I handed my daughter the pile & reviewed each line of patterns with her. I asked her to place the next square in each sequence. She did not let me down as she went down the line & successfully placed the next shape on each.

She made a few rows of patterns that she made on her own & then flipped them all over & said “Now let’s play the match game.” That is the thing about toddlers. Their attention spans are short. On to the next lesson…

There are many other things that you can use to teach patterns to your children.

1. Practice using verbal patterns. “owl, horse, dog, owl, horse dog… What’s next?”

2. You can use assorted shapes & textures in your craft bins such as pom poms, beads & craft sticks.

3. Use magnets & alphabet blocks to show number or letter patterns.

4. Use paints, crayons or markers to show color patterns.

5. Legos or building blocks are a fun way to build 3 dimensional patterns.

6. Show them patterns on clothing or quilts.

7. Make snack time a great opportunity to teach patterns with fruit snacks, cereal or different shaped crackers.

She is learning so much & is becoming quite the little smarty. I know that we cannot take the credit for all of this. Mai is very lucky to be surrounded by so many people willing to feed her growing and curious mind.

Thank you as always for stopping by. Please follow us on Facebook as well.

Wed
11 ^th

Toddler Science Made Easy

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I must have lived a very sheltered childhood because there are so many things that I never did as a child. Having a child of my own, I have been introduced to so many things that I missed out on when I was young. It is as if I am reliving my own childhood vicariously through her. My husband on the other hand has the inside scoop on all sorts of fun stuff that I never heard of, mostly in the form of science experiments. He introduced me to baking soda volcanoes last year & then the other day when I came home from grocery shopping he was working with Mai on another one.

I walked in the door to see my husband & daughter playing with a Cartesian Diver. I am sure many of you have heard of this, but this is one I missed as a child. I must have dozed off during science class that day. It was such a simple concept and I was as fascinated by it as my daughter was.

Cartesian Diver

All you need is a clean soda bottle, water, & a ketchup packet (or in our case a duck sauce packet) Do a float test first on the packet to make sure that it floats.

Fold the packet in half the long way to insert it into the bottle.

Fill the bottle all the way to the top with water & put the cap back on.

Squeeze the sides of the bottle. The little ones will need two hands. Squeeze the bottle & watch the packet sink.

Let go of the bottle & let it float back up.

Mai had so much fun that it inspired a few more experiments.

Salt & Ice Experiment

All you need for this experiment is some ice, salt & food coloring.

On a baking tray, lay out some ice. You can choose to use a large sheet or cubes.

Sprinkle salt on the cubes. The salt will cause the ice to beginning melting where sprinkled.

Squirt different colored food coloring onto the ice & watch as it seeps into the ice and follows the melted tracks. It makes a lovely effect.

We also had some fun experimenting with oil & water this week. For more on our oil & water experiments please check out our latest article in SEEK MAGAZINE.

Thank you as always for stopping by. Please follow us on Facebook as well.

Fri
21 ^st

Learning To Write The Alphabet With Tracing

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We have had a rough couple of nights at the old homestead. My daughter had been sick with a bad cold, fever & vomiting. Yesterday my husband & I stayed home from work with her. She was in good spirits and seemed to be on the mend. She was very excited to have us both home.

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We did a lot of snuggling and drew some pictures & colored. The other day Mai wrote the letter “T”. It was her first written letter. She was so proud & so were we. She held up her piece of paper & showed my husband & me. She beamed. Today in the midst of some of her drawings she made some more Ts. She has mastered the letter T now, but what about her other letters. T doesn’t want to stand alone. He wants his friends.

Lately she has been talking a lot about school. She throws on her backpack & tells me she is going to school on the school bus. She will kiss me goodbye & drive away on her little pink buggy. It is adorable.

Today, we took her role play a little further & had a mock classroom. She took the bus into school, walked into class & removed her backpack just in time for roll call. Today’s lesson…learning to trace our letters.

Laminated Tracing Cards

These were quick & easy to make. You can print out ABCs from your computer or write them out yourself. I did 3 letters per row. I added dash marks to the inside of the letters to give her a guide to trace.

Cut out a rectangle around each row of letters to form a card. Place each card into a laminating pouch or sheet & trim if needed. The laminating pouches come in different sizes. We used 3 1/2 X 5 1/2. We used a laminating machine, but you can find self-adhering laminating sheets or pouches at an office supply store.

This will create 9 cards total.

Class is now in session. I quickly showed Mai how to trace inside of the letters.

She jumped right into to each card and showed me what she could do. “Look Mama teacher. I traced it.”

She very carefully traced within each letter.

She was upset when she had realized that she used the brown marker instead of the pink. I showed her that she could just wipe the card clean with a tissue. She was happy to clean off the card & mark it again in the pink.

We had a great lesson today. She even taught her baby how to trace her letters.

I made a great discovery tonight as well. I found out that when I am mama teacher, she listens and follows directions much better. Our next lesson was cleaning up the classroom. All of her Legos & Play-doh cookie cutters were put back in their boxes without debate this evening. It was fabulous. Mama teacher will have to work on a potty training lesson next.

Thu
28 ^th

Lessons From The Kitchen

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I always found it humorous that children love doing the things that we as adults hate to do & vice versa. They fight naps & taking a baths while these are things that I dream about. Doing dishes & sweeping the floor are not my favorite activities in the world, but yet my daughter can’t wait to get her hands wet & pick up a broom. Children like to emulate what they see their parents doing. My daughter like many little girls has a play kitchen. She spends many hours a week cooking up delicious meals for mommy & daddy.

I used to find it difficult to prepare meals & clean up the kitchen with Mai running around. I realized the easiest way to get things done was just to involve my daughter. Cooking with my daughter is not only a fun bonding activity that we can share, but it also has a lot of learning opportunities as well.

1. Measurements – From as young as I can remember one of our daughter’s favorite toys has been our measuring cups & spoons. Now that she is older, she has learned that they are also used for other things. Show your child the different size cups & spoons & explain to them what each one is. Let them scoop and measure. Assist them for accurate measurements. Let them pour the measured substance into the mixing bowl or dish.

2. Following Directions – Toddlers are not always the best at listening or following directions. Our daughter is no different, but when we are engaged in an activity such as cooking or baking, she is surprisingly attentive. Explain what needs to be done in each step & let them help with anything that she can do safely. Offer them encouraging pointers along the way.

3. Hand eye coordination – All of that pouring & measuring requires a little bit of dexterity. It may take some time, but with practice you will see their abilities grow. Our daughter has become great at pouring.

4. Counting – This is an especially fun side activity while you cook. If you are working with items such as chick peas, lentils, pasta or chocolate chips ask them to count out a small number of them for you. My daughter loves counting and separating.

6. Teamwork – A lot of toddlers wrestle with asserting their independence. This is a wonderful thing, but it also important for them not to lose sight of being able to work together as a team. Cooking and baking is also a great bonding moment for you & your child or your whole family.

7. Reading labels – Reading does not always have to be in just your children’s bedtime stories. Take every opportunity that you can to read to your toddler and point out new words. If you are following a recipe, read it aloud and point out the words and pictures.

8. Home Economics – Let’s not forget the main task at hand which is to cook or bake something fabulous. At an early age your child is learning basic principles in cooking. Hopefully this will encourage a love for cooking and maybe someday they will be fixing you gourmet dinners & desserts.

9. Responsibility – Making a mess in the kitchen is the fun part, the clean up after leaves something to be desired. Throwing away trash, wiping down the counters and doing the dishes are chores that I could do without, but like I said before our children seem to love this part. That sets a good foundation for chores in the future.

Wed
30 ^th

What Puzzles Have Taught My Toddler & Me

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I think most mothers can agree that they feel a sense of pride when someone compliments them on their child, whether it is how cute they are, or well behaved, sweet or intelligent. It is nice to hear. I have been told for a long time how smart our daughter is. I have even had a few friends of ours with children ask for our secrets. I would like to take all the credit for it, but I do think much of it she was just born with. Of course we want to help our little one’s mind along & we do so by reading to her often, answering her never ending list of questions and by doing puzzles.

Kids learn to love puzzles from an early age. What’s not to love? They are bright & colorful with lots of pieces to play with and fun pictures. Puzzles aid in developing their fine motor skills, hand eye coordination and cognitive thinking. One thing that they taught me was I should not underestimate my child’s ability to learn based on her age.

At only two years of age my daughter knows all of her U.S states. She knows them by shape, location & name. She learned all of this from doing a puzzle. When we received the foam puzzle as a gift, I never imagined that she would actually be able to do it, but I would take it apart and rebuild it with her daily, pointing out and naming the states as I went. So sufficed to say we were shocked the day that she corrected her uncle as he was trying to place Idaho in the wrong spot. “No Uncle Pete, Idaho goes next to Washington.” From that day on she did her puzzle on her own without mommy’s help.

Don’t mind the fact that Massachusetts is missing.

From there we continued with the geography lessons. We introduced a new puzzle with all of the countries. The countries were all represented by animals indigenous to their region. “Look mama, the Panda bear lives in China.” Yes it does, baby. Yes it does. We now try to teach her everything regardless of how advanced it might seem. I will never underestimate my child again.

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