Chronicles of Summertime: Day 26

Over the weekend, we visited with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma and grandpa. The kids all had fun playing together! We went to a carnival and parade where Snugglepuppy got to ride rides for the first time. He did the swing ride and the cars and the bouncy house.

Day 26:
We went down to visit grandma and the family again today. There were some bees outside, so the kids ended up staying inside playing video games most of the time. Snugglepuppy watched and one of the cousins helped him drive the racecar in the Cars Wii game. He also worked on a puzzle where you match the mama and baby animal. They also used imaginative play with some plush animals. Snugglepuppy especially thought the Yoshi dance was funny. Ladybug was held by all and took a nap with grandma.

Later, when they were able to go outside for a while, the cousins made a movie about some Meta Knight character who was a prisoner in jail. Meanwhile, Snugglepuppy went on an "adventure" with Uncle A to the pond. He saw fish, turtles, and frogs and grandma and grandpa's dog jumped in and started blowing bubbles!

We left soon after that and the kids went to bed when we got home. Ladybug was very fussy tonight. She's been having belly issues :( Hope she feels better soon!

Chronicles of Summertime: Day 25

Day 25:
Daddy had today off work! We got up a little late and got ready to head to grandma and grandpa's house. Ladybug wore a new outfit.

We stopped at IHOP on the way.

When we got to grandma and grandpa's, the cousins were already there and running all over the farm shooting each other with squirt guns. Snugglepuppy joined right in even though he was tired from being up late for fireworks last night.

They played all kinds of games including kicking the ball into the soccer goal, riding the little bus around the field, and thieving velociraptors (?). Yeah, not so sure about that last one, but all I know is they were outside for a long time getting exercise and getting dirty.

Snugglepuppy even found a dead bunny and tried to pick it up. Good thing daddy was there to help him put it down and usher him away pretty quickly and get him cleaned up. After it was time for them to come in and eat, they watched some TV and then got washed up. We got Snugglepuppy to bed (he had a "sleepover" with cousins upstairs) and Ladybug to bed in her little portable bed on the floor by our bed and finally went to bed ourselves. Yay, we made it to the weekend!

Chronicles of Summertime: Day 24

Day 24:
Happy 4th of July! Today, we went to visit the cousins again at their house along with the other cousins from out of state. Snugglepuppy had a great time running around and having some imaginative play with them. The oldest cousin had set up the "4th of July Store" up in her room to sell glow sticks and other goods. Then, we went to the fireworks and Snugglepuppy did great. He said "boom, boom" when they went off. Ladybug didn't get scared or cry at all either for her first fireworks. I was so proud of her!

The Lid Game

Here is a very simple to create activity for very young children. I think I started this with L when he was about 9 or 10 months and he still loves it at 15 months. I got the idea from his school. They took a plastic container and cut a slot in the lid. Then the child can slide in baby food lids or some other small lids. For added benefit, you can add photos of family members, classmates or anyone you would like your baby/toddler to learn their names.

This was L's favorite activity for the longest time and he still plays with it once in a while.

You can also make a sort of family tree with circles just big enough for the lids so the child can match the person's name to the picture for older children or you can put a photo on the family tree for younger children. I love this idea because it allows children to see how family members are related in a very tangible way. It is hands on and hopefully more meaningful. And maybe they will even be less shy around the family because they are used to seeing their photos.

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHERE I LINK UP

Family Tree, Graph and Class Book

Here are a few of the things we did this week for our family study. This first activity is a very basic family tree that I made and sent home for the children to fill in with their parents' help. They were to draw each person, label them and tell what name they call mommy and daddy. We mostly used it (and will continue to use it) to talk to the kids about their family members and ask them questions about their family.

Next, we graphed the number of family members in each child's family. We glued a button on for each family member so it could be a visual representation that helps the children learn what graphs are for. At large group time, each child took a turn using the pointer to count the number of family members in their family and we compared who had the most and the least.

We also worked on our class book. Each child designed their own page with something they like about themselves. We took a photo of the each class (Morning and Afternoon) laying in a circle for the front cover and called the book "We are Special." 

We had to take 2 seperate photos (boys and girls) in the morning class since we have so many kids, they wouldn't all fit in a circle. P.S. Do not think it is easy in the least to get the kids to lay this way on the floor. It took us quite a while to get them there and all looking at the camera, but I think the final result turned out great!

I did end up binding the books. Yay, I learned a new skill, how to use the book binder:

Storytime Sunday: Family

It's FAMILY WEEK in Cachey Mama's Head Start Classroom! Here are some Todd Parr books that are great to learn about families:

Need I say any more about these awesome books? Well if that's not good enough for you, check out these reviews of Todd Parr's books.

Also, we are reading the book What Mommies Do Best/What Daddies Do Best by Laura Numeroff.

There are many more wonderful books about family. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but will see how this goes and go from there. Happy school week, friends!