The Rotation of the Earth

Hello!   At one of our visits to the public library Little One decided he wanted to check out books about space.  In the space section was a book called "Sunshine Makes the Seasons".  It looked worthwhile to check out, so we took it home for a look.  Turns out to be a pretty cool book!  I highly recommend checking it out.  It is a cute story that has some great discussion on the changing of the seasons.  Plus it has the directions for how to do these lessons at home.   As you can see in some of the pictures below, it shows how to use a round object and a pencil to show the axis of the Earth, the tilting of the Earth, and how the Earth rotates around the Sun.   We used a tennis ball, sharpie, and pencil to do the activities in the book.  We went into a dark bathroom and used a flashlight to shine light on our "Earth" to show the "Seasons".  The flashlight represents the "Sun".   It was a lot of fun and I think that LO learned a lot about the seasons from this book and its activities.

Homeschooling with Daddy :)

Hello!  Usually I do the "homeschooling" lessons so it is a lot of fun for Little One when daddy decides to do some school lessons.  :)  We are using the Seton Press Handwriting series.  My son is a PreK4 so I started with the Kindergarten book.  I like the series because it has a small daily worksheet to do each day.  The lesson on Monday introduces a weekly concept which is reviewed each day and then completed on Friday.  Each page starts with a "this day is ___" and then has a quick activity to do like identifying things in the room that start with the letter that we will be working on.   It's a very gradual process that reinforces the same concept until the student has mastered the concept.  It is a Catholic curriculum and has religious references and prayers.  It takes us about 5 minutes a day to complete.

Daddy also had the opportunity to take LO to the public library for a Lego contest.  LO built a structure and then presented it to the judges.  He won a certificate award :)  We were very proud of him.

                                     

Foam Sticker Artwork - fine motor artwork :)

Hello!  One way to develop a preschooler's fine motor skills is to have them use stickers to make artwork.  In this activity, Little One had to take the paper off the back of the foam stickers and place them on a large piece of white construction paper.  We used a religious theme but any type foam sticker would have the same results.   Once he stuck all his stickers onto the paper, we used paint dabbers to paint all the foam stickers.  This now makes the artwork a stencil.  We then placed another piece of white construction paper on top of the original picture and used a wooden roller to put pressure on the picture.   The last photo is our finished product :)  One picture is the stencil and the other is the print!  Very cool :)

Felt board - The Woman Who Swallowed a Fly

A great thing to do for storytime are felt board stories.  One of the stories that my Little One likes to do is "The Woman Who Swallowed a Fly".   He will do this one over and over again.  He likes putting all the pieces inside the woman.   We read the book while he plays with the felt pieces.  I also have the key words on cardstock to put on the felt board to re-enforce the words as we go through the story.

Sea Urchin Lesson :)

Hello!  So my Little One is obsessed with anything that has to do with the ocean.   We love the Magic School Bus books, DVDs, and kits.  LO asked me if he could make a sea urchin.  Well, I have never made a sea urchin before but I thought this sounded like a doable quick project.  I ended up just using Playdoh and toothpicks.  We rolled the Playdoh into balls and inserted lots of toothpicks for the sea urchin spikes :)  Soooo easy, yet so fun :)  We read the Magic School Bus book called "On the Ocean Floor" and pulled out LO's ocean encyclopedia and read about sea urchins, specifically about the dangers of them.  We learned a lot. :) 

This summer we traveled up to Maine and went to the Mount Desert Oceanarium.  While at the oceanarium we had the opportunity to touch a real, live sea urchin!  LO was so excited!  :)  During the presentation on the sea urchin, he told the staff volunteer about how HE had made a sea urchin.  She looked a little perplexed until I explained that we made one out of Playdoh and toothpicks.  :)  He then proceeded to tell HER all about sea urchins.  Everyone in our group was very impressed with his knowledge on sea urchins :)  It was definitely a great homeschooling moment!

Beading - Great fine motor skill :)

Hello!  One great way to work on fine motor skills with preschoolers is to have them do bead work.  My little one loves to make bracelets and necklaces.  We use pony beads and string.  He also had to use his scissor skills to cut the string.  I helped him with the knotting of the string.  I tyed one pony bead to the end so that all the beads would not fall off. It was a fun activity that really made him concentrate.  Look at the focus on his face :)

What do you do for fine motor skill development with your preschooler?

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Starfall at the public library

We go to the public library on a weekly basis.  We meet with our mommy group - Novamommies.com which is part of The Mommies Network.   We do not usually use the computers but I needed to get on to print some things.  While I was working, little one decided to get on a computer next to me.  This was the first time he had ever used a public library computer.  I helped him sign on by using his library card.  He then requested that we navigate to Starfall.com.  I was very impressed that he used the mouse and navigated around the website like a pro :)  He "read" some e-books and played some of the free educational games.  Starfall is a great FREE website for learning :)