How to Start Your Own Learning Time

Summer is here!

{Oh No!}
What do you do?

My favorite summer was when my mom sat down with us and made up a summer calendar.
She wrote down something each day she was going to do with us.
Lots of the activities were outings to free places nearby.
We loved it!
Everyday we did our chores, and then went on an outing,
or did something fun at home.

That year it didn't actually include going to Disneyland. :)
But this is the only summer fun picture of my family.
Here is a summer calendar with a jump start of ideas for you.
You don't have to do something each day, you could even do onece or twice a week. 
It will make you realize how fast the summer will fly.

To start a learning time, I often like to think backwards.
Meaning, I think of an outing I want to go on,
and then I think about how I can enrich their knowledge before we go to that destination.
This will work with any age group.
So if I wanted to take my kids to the zoo, I would teach them about different types of animals. (ie. reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, amphibians).

This is a picture of us mapping out where in the world different animals come from.

Then I would start with the one they know the most about, and dig a little deeper and teach them something they may not know.
I look for ideas on pinterest, or just plain old Google.

Remember it doesn't have to be expensive, or extensive learning,
just dive in!  Your kids will be way more interested in any outing, if they have a little more background knowledge first.

Here are some of the fun things we did last summer:
Made Home Made Ice Cream

Ice Boats

The Science of Bubbles

Rainbow Water

Ice and Paint Balloons

Air, Water, and Ice Filled Beach Balls

Side Walk Chalk Paint

Princesses on Ice

If you need a jump off point,
check out my list of units page.
It's an organized list of all the themes and units I have done.

Here is my list of things to have on hand:
It's a little scraggly, because I just threw it together when I was talking to the women at my church.
These are just the things I love to have,
so no matter what comes to my mind, I can usually pull it off.

And the best news is, that you can find most of these things at the $1 store.  (Googly Eyes, Pipe Cleaners, Toothpicks, Glue, Water Colors, Glitter, Construction Paper and Popsicle Sticks.)
The only expensive thing, that is well worth it, is tempera paint,
which you can find at your craft store.

Happy Summer!

How to have a snowball fight without snow!

Around here there is NO SNOW!
It is a crazy 50 degrees outside.
Usually, this time of year is snowy and cold.

So we had to make our own snow!

We read the book, The Mitten,

to get us in a wintry mood,
Plus, I LOVE this book and I can't go past the 3rd of January without picking it up.

Then we did some sensory play with "snow"

AKA the insides of diapers and ice.
Sounds weird, but it makes a cool mushy texture that feels like snow.  Or you can buy the exact same stuff at a learning store for $1 for a tiny bag...
(All you do with diapers is to cut the back open, and peel the whole diaper open, then you pull out all of the fluffy parts, and shake out all of the dusty parts. Then mix it with water.)

I let them go to town with it!
I ran upstairs to grab my camera and they had starting playing pretend.

First they pretended that they were making snow cones,
and they had a big order, so they had to hurry...
(Hence the blurry photos.)
Then they had to make an ice pie.
It was so cute how they were working together.
We also had a snowball fight.
I took some of my old marshmallows and mixed them with powdered sugar.

I had them put on paint shirts,
and we went out to our snow-less yard.

Ready, aim, poof!

It was a great way to perfect their target skills,
without getting cold!

Can you see the powdered sugar cloud when M. threw her marshmallow?

This was SO fun!  They were giggling for days,
AND it didn't hurt!

If I were to do it again, I would buy the giant marshmallows,
And have one snowball station.
It would be a big bowl with powdered sugar and marshmallows.

Pirate Adventures

It's Pirate Time!

Miss Sassy decided she wanted to be a pirate for Halloween.

So we decided to learn all about it!

I found a letter P coloring page,

(But I don't like worksheets, I like learning pages.)

So we poured pirates gold on the letter P

aka glitter.

Children get such confidence from doing things on their own,

She painted the pirate and the parrot.

We also made a pirate hat and eye patch,

Which isn't part of her costume, it's just fun to make your own!
A few days later she went in the classroom,
and made an exact replica for her brother.

She went and played outside with her ensemble.

I also made a pirate treasure chest felt counting board.

Perfect for practicing.

Dino Days

We couldn't learn about reptiles,

and not learn about Dinosaurs!

We started out by learning how Dinosaurs com from eggs.

We read Dinosaur Babies.

It is great because it shows how the dinosaurs come from eggs.

We then got out our paper mache,

and balloons,

We made our own dinosaur eggs.

She didn't actually love getting her fingers messy,

so I had to finish making her egg.

We let them dry,

And secretly I put some of our dinosaurs inside.

Then I patched up the hole with paper mache.

Then she pretended she was a mama dinosaur,

and I was the predator.

She went and hid her eggs in the sand.

Then she pretended that they hatched,
so she could see what was inside.

Then she played in the sandbox by herself for a while.
(Isn't alone playing time the best?)

Here are the other Dinosaur Books we are reading this week:

First Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Pre-historic life.

The title is a little long and boring,
but this book rocks!
It is full of facts and right on a preschoolers level.

Ten Little Dinosaurs
(with the wiggly eyes)

This book is really fun,
if you can get past pronouncing all of the names.
It is good for talking about how dinos became extinct.

No T-Rex in the Library

is nonfiction, but really fun to realize
how huge dinosaurs really were.

Dinosaur Roar!

Is really great for little boys
aka Baby H.
All of the dinosaurs dance and walk,
and most of the words in the book are different sounds a dinosaur makes.

The Letter A Preschool Fun!

Today We Started Preschool!

We learned about the letter A.

We started by reading My "A" Book

By Jane Moncure

 

This is an oldie but a goodie.

Little "a" puts things in his box that start with the letter A.

When the box breaks,

An astronaut comes and puts it back together for him.

That inspired me to have the kids pretend to be astronauts,

and build their own space ship.

I got out an big box that I had and my scrap paper.

They cut out their own art work and glued it on the space ship.

Then we took it outside and they pretended to be astronauts.

I made astronauts helmets out of paper mache.

Go here for my paper mache recipe.

We also learned how to form the letter A

By putting Cheerios in the do a dot circles,

From Confessions of a Homeschooler

They ate Cheerios one by one when they finished.

For our snack, we made "apple trees".

We used a Ritz cracker, green frosting, a pretzel stick,

and fruit loops.

They had a lot of fun making these on their own.

And most of them made two.

(I separated the red Fruit Loops,

but they crashed to the floor just before everyone arrived.

So we had rainbow apples!)

These are the other Letter A books we are reading this week:

The Adventures of Abby Alligator

I like all of the reoccurring letter a words in this book.

My favorite part of this book is the picture page in the back.

The children point to the things that start with A.

Up, Up, Up,

It's Apple Picking Time

I love this book!

It is so fun for harvest time.

Alligator Alphabet

I like the artwork in this book.

I also like how every page is a different animal.

There's an Alligator Under My Bed

I haven't actually read this book yet,
But I love Mercer Meyer and I'm excited to get to know it!