This week, Geek and Sundry celebrated International Tabletop Day, streaming board game play and collecting money for Extra Life. I love Geek and Sundry and really appreciate the role board games can play in anyone's life, but especially the skills kids can gain. As such, in addition to our regular reading, painting, performing and coloring, we've been playing a lot of board games.
Jeremiah picked out a new game for Genevieve, and we've really enjoyed it. Hoot Owl Hoot by Peaceable Kingdom was a great hit. Peaceable Kingdom tries to be environmentally friendly in their production and they create a lot of cooperative games. I love cooperative games because instead of pitting players against one another, they encourage teamwork. Players win or lose together, and frequently they may all lose but they have fun together. This game involves matching colors and allowed some fun storytelling about the owls flying back to their nest. Genevieve is learning a bit of strategy, slowly realizing that it's not always best to play your favorite color and that although the suns are pretty, they move the game closer to the end.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Game is based on the Eric Carle book. The furthest a player can move each turn is 4 spaces, using number recognition from the spinner and one-to-one correspondence as the piece is moved. There is a moon space, leading to a missed turn which is an interesting lesson for preschoolers. She practices counting skills as she collects food for the caterpillar at different stops. She loves helping everyone reach the end so that everyone becomes a butterfly.
We played some classic games like Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders. I love the history of Chutes and Ladders, being a lesson in karma. Some of the boards have fun illustrations to demonstrate that. It can be tricky to navigate the board, so preschoolers may need some guidance but there's plenty of counting and one-to-one correspondence. We somehow finish Chutes and Ladders, but Candy Land's art is too distracting.
I have fond memories of entertaining myself with different challenges in Hi Ho Cherry-o, so I love playing this with Genevieve. It's great counting, and you can play cooperative or competitive. The newer version has a puzzle for the cooperative version.
Finally, we played more matching games. Christmas, animals and habitats, and Jake and the Neverland pirates. All these games help with concentration and social skills.
Genevieve and Tobias also watched us play some different board games with friends. She was able to come and go, helping me when she wanted. She liked helping choose where to stop in Tokaido and building bamboo and rolling dice in Takenoko. She also enjoyed showing off her art to Dad's friends.
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Monday, April 24, 2017
Dad Came Home
Other than celebrating Earth Day with gardening and flying kites, we took the week off from formal lessons this week to enjoy Daddy's time off. We put on performances - dance and storytelling. We went to the farmers market after our gymnastics and dance class. We played a lot of games and read some of our favorite books. We spent a day just having fun building with blocks. She played some ABC Mouse and PBS Kids games when Daddy was busy.
Monday, April 17, 2017
Easter and the 100th Day
This week we celebrated the 100th day of the year, Passover, and Easter. We also celebrated dad's return home, made a blueberry pie, and watched a Tall Tales puppet show at the library.
For the 100th day of the year, we built piles of 100 items like pasta, buttons and beads. We explored different ways we could create 100 cents. Genevieve made a picture with 100 stickers and we worked together on a book with 100 words as well as patterns with 100 shapes. We read Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten and created the 100 day hash. We ended our celebration with a game of Chutes and Ladders, which has 100 spaces.
We read several Passover and Easter books, talking about the traditions and Biblical stories. Genevieve loves the Matzo Ball Moon and the pictures in A Sweet Passover. She found The Matzah that Papa Brought Hom havee a little long in it's repetition, but liked the picture hunting for the afikomen. We compared this tradition to hunting for Easter eggs and talked about the different ways we had read about
She loves Betty Bunny, so we read Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake and Betty Bunny Loves Easter. We referred to Betty Bunny later when we needed to think about being patient. We also read a Disney princess board book about Spring and a Snoopy book about the Easter Beagle. We did lots of egg experiments to go with Easter. We had great success removing the shells with vinegar and shrinking the inside with corn syrup. We had less luck pulling the egg into a bottle. Our matches were extinguished too quickly to heat up the inside. But Genevieve did have fun using an egg carton and Easter candy to play Mancala. She also helped decorate for Easter, dye the eggs for her hunt, and did a quick egg hunt in our backyard.
For the 100th day of the year, we built piles of 100 items like pasta, buttons and beads. We explored different ways we could create 100 cents. Genevieve made a picture with 100 stickers and we worked together on a book with 100 words as well as patterns with 100 shapes. We read Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten and created the 100 day hash. We ended our celebration with a game of Chutes and Ladders, which has 100 spaces.
We read several Passover and Easter books, talking about the traditions and Biblical stories. Genevieve loves the Matzo Ball Moon and the pictures in A Sweet Passover. She found The Matzah that Papa Brought Hom havee a little long in it's repetition, but liked the picture hunting for the afikomen. We compared this tradition to hunting for Easter eggs and talked about the different ways we had read about
She loves Betty Bunny, so we read Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake and Betty Bunny Loves Easter. We referred to Betty Bunny later when we needed to think about being patient. We also read a Disney princess board book about Spring and a Snoopy book about the Easter Beagle. We did lots of egg experiments to go with Easter. We had great success removing the shells with vinegar and shrinking the inside with corn syrup. We had less luck pulling the egg into a bottle. Our matches were extinguished too quickly to heat up the inside. But Genevieve did have fun using an egg carton and Easter candy to play Mancala. She also helped decorate for Easter, dye the eggs for her hunt, and did a quick egg hunt in our backyard.
Monday, April 10, 2017
My Princess
Since Genevieve is excited about princesses, I figured we would embrace it this week. In addition to the numerous Disney princess and Frozen books, we read several books about princesses, both real and pretend. The Princess Knight, like Brave, reminds girls that they are not merely a hand to be fought for. We've been reading some chapter books, so finished some of the Wide-awake Princess series and Merida Legend of the Emeralds. Genevieve loves the pink of Pinkalicious and loves predicting the end. We read some silly princess stories like Pirate Princess and the Paper Bag Princess. We read some international princess stories like Shibumi and the Kitemaker, The Princess who Lost Her Hair, and Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters. We read about Cleopatra and Princess Diana.
We talked about what makes a princess a princess and the skills they might need. We practiced music, dance, and sewing as princesses of old. We used hieroglyphics stamps to spell some words. Genevieve painted some pictures of princesses and queens, and practiced writing with a feather. We also created an acrostic from the word princess and built castles.
Genevieve has had some great pretend play, creating surprise parties and playing doctor. She's been telling stories and acting them out, pulling us along with her. We found some great books about being yourself and using art to forget about war. Tobias has been showing more interest in art as well.
We talked about what makes a princess a princess and the skills they might need. We practiced music, dance, and sewing as princesses of old. We used hieroglyphics stamps to spell some words. Genevieve painted some pictures of princesses and queens, and practiced writing with a feather. We also created an acrostic from the word princess and built castles.
Genevieve has had some great pretend play, creating surprise parties and playing doctor. She's been telling stories and acting them out, pulling us along with her. We found some great books about being yourself and using art to forget about war. Tobias has been showing more interest in art as well.
Saturday, April 1, 2017
How Does my Garden Grow
With Spring in the air, we've been spending a lot of time outside exploring. This week we've decided to spend some more time on plants, rocks, and dirt.
We read stories about fruits and vegetables, and the fun of growing plants. We read Eating the Alphabet, identifying fruits and vegetables for every letter of the alphabet. We read the Eric Carle books, The Tiny Seed and The Bird that Loved a Mountain. Genevieve enjoyed the artwork in How to Grow a Friend. We read as puppy Clifford learned about gardens and twisted our way through a vegetable patch. This was great exercise and inspired us to act out the part of a growing seed. We learned about a bunch of different kinds of weeds in Weeds Find a Way. Genevieve loves sunflowers so enjoyed Sunflower House. I love the story of The Princess who Lost Her Hair and Genevieve is into princesses right now, so she was interested and asked questions.
We sorted seeds, trying to guess what they would grow into. We counted out 5 of each and wrapped them in a damp paper towel to watch them sprout. We explored the garden with our our magnifying glass to see what we could find in the dirt. Genevieve took some of the rocks she found and sorted them by appearance. We talked about how they could have been made and what some of them might be. She also did an experiment to see if rocks float in water, because she thought that they all should. We made lots of our own flower art - using a soda bottle as a stamp, decorating paper doilies, and dissecting flowers and using the petals in art. We took some white flowers, trimmed their stems and put them in purple liquid watercolor to see the path water takes through the petals. She decided she wanted to paint some of the other white flowers with tempera paint too.
We read some counting books like Skippy Jon Jones 123, Five Little Pumpkins, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We practiced subtraction with Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. I was amazed at how well Genevieve did at finishing the patterns in National Geographic Patterns, but we had practiced patterns this week by using glitter glue to create color and shape patterns on her large Easter egg.
Genevieve found The Art Book for Children, which she has really enjoyed. It's inspired her to make a bunch of pom-pom creations (Olaf, Elsa and a dinosaur). She drew a self portrait, created some rainbow sand art and painted a princess as well.
We read stories about fruits and vegetables, and the fun of growing plants. We read Eating the Alphabet, identifying fruits and vegetables for every letter of the alphabet. We read the Eric Carle books, The Tiny Seed and The Bird that Loved a Mountain. Genevieve enjoyed the artwork in How to Grow a Friend. We read as puppy Clifford learned about gardens and twisted our way through a vegetable patch. This was great exercise and inspired us to act out the part of a growing seed. We learned about a bunch of different kinds of weeds in Weeds Find a Way. Genevieve loves sunflowers so enjoyed Sunflower House. I love the story of The Princess who Lost Her Hair and Genevieve is into princesses right now, so she was interested and asked questions.
We sorted seeds, trying to guess what they would grow into. We counted out 5 of each and wrapped them in a damp paper towel to watch them sprout. We explored the garden with our our magnifying glass to see what we could find in the dirt. Genevieve took some of the rocks she found and sorted them by appearance. We talked about how they could have been made and what some of them might be. She also did an experiment to see if rocks float in water, because she thought that they all should. We made lots of our own flower art - using a soda bottle as a stamp, decorating paper doilies, and dissecting flowers and using the petals in art. We took some white flowers, trimmed their stems and put them in purple liquid watercolor to see the path water takes through the petals. She decided she wanted to paint some of the other white flowers with tempera paint too.
We read some counting books like Skippy Jon Jones 123, Five Little Pumpkins, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We practiced subtraction with Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons. I was amazed at how well Genevieve did at finishing the patterns in National Geographic Patterns, but we had practiced patterns this week by using glitter glue to create color and shape patterns on her large Easter egg.
Genevieve found The Art Book for Children, which she has really enjoyed. It's inspired her to make a bunch of pom-pom creations (Olaf, Elsa and a dinosaur). She drew a self portrait, created some rainbow sand art and painted a princess as well.
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