More Use of Do-A-Dot Markers

Wow! It’s been months since we last used these markers.  My son love them the first time I gave it him.  He loves making dots and sometimes would smear them if he gets tired.  He enjoys using these markers so much that he started to apply them on his body and it was so difficult to remove them.  Sadly, it wasn’t that washable in same way as the other markers and crayons. 

And he was so happy to see these markers again. I decided that maybe... he’ll try to use it properly this time (crossing fingers). Just note, when a child uses them, be sure to supervise.

Math.  Tens stamping game.  Here we used the marker to stamp the number/s whenever I mentioned them (on a story).

LANGUAGE.  Word identification.

ART/COLORING.  We also used it for coloring.

        

Homeschool Wrap-Up

Mavi is 38 months old.

These days, my son isn’t into homeschooling.  All he wanted to do was play-pretend Artzooka or Mister Maker.  Whenever I ask him if he wants to play a game, he would always say “No, I’m playing artzooka.”  And this is the reason why I, at the moment, postponed my planned homeschool curriculum and decided to whip out activities randomly whenever he wants to do some ‘schooling’.  I really don’t want to take that play pretend at the moment because he really really enjoys pretending that he can create crafts and stuff without me being there. 

I am religious in reading books to him in the morning, but there were times that I get to be busier during the day so I would up reading books on him in the afternoon or during bedtime.  Sometimes, I also forget to read books because of chores and personal work.  So I decided to read at least one book everyday just to ensure that we have read a book.  And this week, we read Gingerbread Man (and The Very Busy Spider, The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Billy Goat Gruff and Kid’s Bible, etc).  Here  Mavi took out the animals that appeared in the Gingerbread Man story and in The Very Busy Spider.  We did some role playing using these animals.

We made Gingerbread Man paper dolls and dress them up.  My son enjoyed this the most!

 

Made window ornaments using colored tissue, construction paper and contact paper.

MATH

Practice counting using the leaves as we were discussing about the season Fall the other day.

Then we work with some patterns.  I downloaded this from here.

In lieu of Thanksgiving, we made our Gratitude Leaves and hung them in his room.  While I wrote all the things that I am thankful for, my expressed his gratitude by drawing those things in the leaves! (He’s busy with his Button Snake)

 

Counting from numbers 1 to 50 using these number chip cards which I made out of cardstock.

I made these CVC cards so we can practice more of CVC words. We're done working with our pink series and before I move to blue series, I wanted to expose him to other cvc words, those that were not included in our pink series set.

 PRACTICAL LIFE/SKILLS

I made this button snake for him to practice buttoning (and unbuttoning).  He got hooked! I was surprised to discover that it was difficult for him to insert the button in the felt squares. But after a few tries... he finally figured out how to do it.  I plan to make a few more, and vary the button shapes/sizes.

 

He’s just into writing these days. His favorite sketch pad is my notebook even though there are plenty of paper around the house! Thank goodness he doesn’t write on the wall.

 

Tearing paper and gluing them.  He wasn’t into this activity.

I am still trying to expose him to painting.  For some reason, he lost his interest in painting.  He just wants to draw(using oil pastels) and write... and painting his least favorite. Maybe, it’s because he doesn’t have a suitable table to paint, and is not comfortable doing this activity on the floor :) Yep, we’re still looking for his work table.  And we left his Crayola Paints back in SG, so that means, I need to shell out a few more cashing(again) to get him some paints.

 

Playdoh free play.  Always a favorite :)

FIELD TRIPS/OUTDOORS

A friend asked if we do outdoor activities.  Of course we do! We never missed an opportunity to go out when there’s sun! I’m an outdoor person and I wanted my son to pass that to my son :) It’s just that, well I wanted to keep those moments private so I try not to talk about it here nor post pictures of it.  So here’s the proof that we do go out.  This was when we took a day tour at the city center.  We visit this beautiful park where we get to see lots of ducks on the pond.  Then we walked our way around, do some sightseeing and just enjoy the crowd, the sun and mother nature.

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Gratitude Leaves for Thanksgiving

My son and I started writing all the things that we are thankful for in these leaf-shaped cut-outs.  After, we hung them in his window. 

Montessori Wrap-Up

We did these a few weeks ago and because we spend too much outdoors these days... I forgot to write about it.

Learning how to read using the pink series objects and Melissa and Doug’s magnetic letters.  What we did here is that I would make the sound of each letter of the word via segmentation and Mavi has to form that word using the magnetic letters.  I use the our CVC objects as his guide... but here he has to form the correct order of letters on his own according to the sounds I make.

Learning to count from 10 to 20.  Here he has to put the correct number of buttons on the sheet based on the number card I show him. This is just to enhance his counting skills for the ‘teens number.  We did an introductory to the ‘teens number here.

 

A matching game using number cards and beads.  He has to match the number cards to that on the beads on the felt sheet.

 

Using bear counters in practicing counting 11 to 20.

Skip counting by tens.  From here we will practice counting 30 to 50.. then to 100.  I will also start giving him skip counting activities by 2’s, 3’s and 5’s.

  

Guess the letter game.  He has to guess the letter that he is holding through his sense of touch.  It’s similar to mystery bag game.  This one he liked so much but he peeks through the eye mask most of the time... but it was really fun.  We should be doing this more often as it involves the use of his other senses.

 

Then he did lots of cutting and gluing.  Mostly he wants to do things on his own and doesn’t want to be instructed.  He would just ask me for a paper, colored pens, scissor and glue and would do free play.  He would pretend he’s ion Artzooka and doing crafts.  But I insist that I supervise as he is using scissor. 

              

He loves to draw... he loves to create trees, grasses, the sun... then there’s drawing of his family, with houses and cars :)

Gingerbread Man

We’ve been reading the story of the Gingerbread Man these days and did a couple of activities to go along with the book.

Making Gingerbread Men(or women).  I made use of our paper bags and cut the gingerbread man pattern by freehand.  Then I made clothes for them using construction papers. I also decided to add some ornaments in case Mavi gets bored of using papers :)

I made each a face and my son was more than happy to dress them up... each one differently.

 

He worked through all the the gingerbread men.  If you look closely, he even added small dots representing buttons on each clothing, “Just like in the book Mama!” he said.

Then we also worked on the story sequencing.  We did this a couple of times, first using the book as a guide.  Then after working and reading the book over and over again he can sequence the printouts without my assistance.  He would even use our Safari Toobs animals to demonstrate the event that happened in the story.  I downloaded this from Homeschool Share.

 

Size sorting of gingerbread babies, got this from Homeschool Creations.

 

Homemade 100 Boards

We left our 100 boards in SG, so what I did is to make this color coded cards and write the numbers 1to 100.  Today, we used to to practice counting from 1 to 50.   

I am still hoping that we could own our very own 100 Board though, but probably when that time comes, we might not be needing it anymore.

Halloween 2011

Growing up, we never had Halloween celebrations in the Philippines.  And when we moved here, I couldn’t resist not to comply with their traditions.    So to introduce the spirit of Halloween to my son, here’s a few of activities which we did last week.  Promise that I will be more prepared next year.

Making pumpkin faces.  I got the inspiration from here.  Too bad we didn’t have a real pumpkin(out of stock)  it would have been more fun.

         

Numbers and counters and sorting using Halloween foam stickers which I got with a whooping 50% off.

         

Lots of playdoh fun making monsters and this idea comes from Pink and Green Mama.

We also participated in our community’s Haunted Forest Walk which was held  last Sunday (October 30) at MP. It was a family event and the boy was so happy to see lots of kids in costume.  There was a long queue, but the line was moving so after around 15 minutes we entered the haunted forest.

                         

And these are some of the sights my son enjoyed and recognized.

Hansel and Gretel’s bad witch.  Farmers with pumpkin head... when he saw this he shouted “Pumpkin patch!”.

          

The spooky train which he didn’t find spooky at all. In fact he wanted to ride on it.  And the giant eyeball, which he admires!

         

These bird skulls were the only thing that scared him.  Look at how tight he hugged his Daddy!

On the left is a read giant spider with a man’s head.  It crawls down from tree, thus the blurry picture.  On the right is a Snow White’s stepmom mirror.

                        

Then the next day we went Trick or Treat in our neighborhood.  My boy had so much fun! He enjoyed meeting friends and receiving candies from our super nice neighbors. 

                        

We went with these nice girls.  They like Mavi so much.  They kept on laughing at him whenever he says “Happy Halloween” or “Thank You” and telling me that my son is so loud hahaha.

Post ‘trick or treat’ at home. I have to keep most these candies as we’re not allowing him to eat too much sweets.

Indeed a memorable Halloween for my boy.  Till next time!