What We Have Been Up To

We have been absent for a while and I wanted to give an update on some of the things we have been doing.

1.  Reading these wonderful Biscuit books almost every day!  Adeline loves these and so do I.  They are simple and use repetitive language, making them very predictable.

  2.  Playing with Unfix Cubes.  These are great little manipulatives that really work fine motor skill.  These cubes are also used to teach many math skills such as patterning, counting, sorting, counting, etc.  Right now we are just learning how to put them together.     

 

3.  Coloring our ABC's

4.  Learning animals,  I recently found a great box of social studies and science cards.  The cards are actual photographs.  We have been working on the animals first.

 
5.  Putting clothes pins off and on a box.

These are a few of the thing we have been doing during the past few week.   Adeline is scheduled for heart surgery in about three week.  We are praying that she stay healthy until then.

Activities For a Platform Swing

The weather is amazing here and we have been playing outside.  Last summer Adeline's grandpa built her this great platform swing and we have been doing many different activities on it.

First - Puzzles, both sitting on the tummy.  The whole time the swing is moving gently to challenge her balance and work the core strength.

Being on her tummy works on upper body strength. 

 Second - Adding rings to stacker both sitting and on the tummy.

Third -  Adding pegs to a pegboard.  I had to hold this in front of her but it worked great.

Fourth - Reading flashcards.

Fifth - popping bubbles.  I do not have a picture of Adeline popping bubble but this is also fun to do. 

Learning With A Box

Yesterday I was inspired when I visited The Happy Holligans.  I had an empty box laying around waiting to be used but I did not have an idea.  After visiting her "Drop Box" I had an idea.

I made a number box using our Rummy O tiles.  Adeline has been working on number identification so we dropped the number into the correct slot.

I covered a shoe box with paper, cut some slots, added a circle for the yogurt cup and we were ready to play.  This activity requires fine motor skills and eye hand coordination.   

Some other activities we have done in the past using recycled boxes are;

Milk Caps and a Box

Straws and a Box 

Pull Box

Cardboard boxes are great for teaching many different concepts.

Christmas Swirls

Christmas is full of sensory experiences.  Today I pull out some potato starch and we made goop.  You can use corn starch as well.  I just found a bunch of potato starch on clearance, so I stocked up.  My kids love this activity we do it often.  Add water to make a thick substance and add a few drops of food coloring.  Start swirling.  This uses some great fine motor skills.

 It starts to get ugly after a bit but just add a few more drops of color and your off again.

Christmas Sensory Play

We are starting to think about Christmas and winter.  Today I am sharing some of the sensory activities that we have been playing in lately.

First is a bucket of grain filled with snowflakes and trees.  I used grain as our base but you could use many different items such as rice, beans or popcorn.  We talked about the trees and colors while using some different utensils to dig.  

Second, is a pan filled with salt.  Salt is a great sensory experience and can be used as snow.

Adeline really got into hiding her hand in the salt.

Christmas tree ornaments;
We made ornaments using salt, cardboard and buttons.