What is Missing? Preschool Color Fun (Slow and Steady 3.2)

Looking at the activity in the guide I thought surely this was going to be so simple it'd be boring. Wrong. T had a ball with this activity. He mastered it quickly yet constantly wanted to play it. We had five colors of paper. First I started out hiding one color each time, then as he mastered that I hid two. He had fun remembering which was missing.

Preschool picture books, books of animals, rocks, and minerals (August favorites)

We read several times a day. First thing in the morning, throughout the day, right after lunch and before rest time. During rest time I turn on a longer "chapter book" on CD for him to listen to quietly while sitting on his bed. I've noticed he can listen to larger chunks when a chapter book is read on tape than any other time. Over the month of August we had fun with picture books like Caps for Sale, and enjoyed books on animals, rocks, and minerals.

I absolutely love "If You Find a Rock". My son was riveted. Each page has a photograph of children playing with rocks: climbing, skipping, and more. The text on the opposite page describes in clear, flowing language something you can do with a rock you find. It brought me back to my own childhood.

 

T loves this anthology from Little Golden Books. It has A Home for A Bunny and other fine stories, which were perfect for our theme this month. 

These two books (DK Eyewitness Mammal & Usborne First Encyclopedia of Animals) were not books read from cover to cover. Yet T really enjoyed leafing through the pages, looking at pictures. Occasionally he'd stop and ask me to read about a particular picture.

When we explored a honeycomb purchased at a local farmer's market we also read about bees & honey in a Magic School Bus book. I've enjoyed The Magic School Bus series for years. Yet this is the first time I've read this particular book. It's now a favorite part of our Magic School Bus book collection.

There are some chipmunks who cluster around the bird feeders at the local nature center. T just loves watching them scurry about. He also enjoyed this book from the Smithsonian Institution called Chipmunk at Hollow Tree Lane. It is a little wordy for a 3 year old, yet somehow kept his attention quite well. Follow along with a chipmunk as it spends a day gathering food for the upcoming winter.

 A Bed For Winter is a very informative book about animals preparing for hibernation. You follow along with one particular animal as it searches for the perfect place to stay. Along the way it meets several other creatures and sees where they are planning to winter.

Have you read Sylvester and the Magic Pebble? If not, you really should. It's a charming tale. Tells the story of a donkey who loves collecting rocks. One day he finds a magic pebble, and makes a rather rash wish...This book made for a perfect transition from the animals theme to the rocks & minerals theme.

This must be T's favorite book from the entire month. And would you believe it's the longest? Yes, the chapter book modern classic A Bear Called Paddington is heard almost daily in our house. Even now that it's September and we've moved on to yet another story he'll often turn on our Paddington CD. I discovered a little while back that if I play a nice, long story on his CD player during quiet time he happily settles in. Sometimes he falls asleep listening, other times it only seems to keep him awake. But he's relaxed. He rests and listens. The particular recording I bought is performed by actor Stephen Fry. He does a marvelous job bringing the story to life!

What have been some of your child(ren)'s favorite books lately?

Wordless Wednesday: Coin Sort (age 3 activity from Slow and Steady Get Me Ready)

Here are highlights of last week's activity from the marvelous book Slow and Steady Get Me Ready by Oberlander. Would you be interested in more highlights from this books? Weekly, or maybe monthly, perhaps for Wordless Wednesday or some other series? I'm trying to figure out different topics I can regularly blog on here at Wee Wonderings. I'm also thinking of a Preschooler's Kitchen Counter showing what my 3.5 yr old likes doing with us in there...

                                                   Coin identification and sorting:

Used pennies and nickels.

Oops, dropped the wrong coin in...

This looks right!

Got it!

Now again, over and over. This is fun!

Menu Plan Monday: A New Favorite Lunch Recipe!

It's been a while since I've joined in Org Junkie's Menu Plan Monday blog hop.

 I've been posting my menus on the Cooking for Your Family message board. Still, it's time to post my plans here again. I'll try to highlight any new favorite recipes on Menu Plan Monday as well.

Last couple of weeks I've been trying new lunch recipes for the family to enjoy at work & home. Today we'll all be enjoying a Tabouli salad with balsamic glazed chicken. It might become lunch tomorrow as well because it sure made a lot! Last week our favorite lunch was a black bean and chicken wrap. So good!

Sunday: Spaghetti for lunch. Easy creamy chicken over rice for supper.

Monday: Tabouli salad with balsamic glazed chicken for lunch. Seasoned pork with noodles in creamy white sauce for supper.

Tuesday: leftover tabouli salad for lunch. Sweet and Sour Meatballs for supper.

Wednesday: Egg salad sandwiches for lunch. Chili for supper.

Thursday: Spinach and lentil salad with toasted walnuts for lunch. Shrimp etouffee for supper.

Friday: Chicken-Veggie Pita sandwich for lunch. Out to eat for supper.

Board Games, Blocks, & Bees- We Explored a Honeycomb! (Flowering Baby Curriculum update)

 One of the many activities suggested in Flowering Baby is playing with a board game. Here he's playing with one of his favorites, from Ravensburger. Chutes & Ladders-- great for working on number recognition and counting to 100!- is his other favorite.

 I am planning a summary of the books we've read this month sometime in the next week (next week we start a rocks & minerals theme). However, I can't resist highlighting this particular book. It's one of the books I recommend owning rather than simply checking out of the library. Beautifully illustrated, simple text. It's a delight. T asks me to read it over and over. I'm sure he'll have the words memorized soon...

 We also learned about animal habitats. One of his favorite days was when we took a long walk around the neighborhood looking for animal homes.

Safety was another area we worked on. T had our old address memorized and never quite got the address we lived in for a couple months when we first moved here. Now using the old "My name is ____" song  we're working on our new address. Flowering Baby Curriculum age 3 also recommended working on memorizing phone numbers.

I got out my phone, handed him his toy cell phone, and we practiced. Whenever he dialed the numbers correctly, I had my phone make a sound. Immediate reward for a job well done!

 One activity asked for designing and building bridges out of blocks. Oh, that was so much fun. I thought he'd never stop!

Blocks were again used for practicing sorting. I handed him a pile of wooden blocks and asked him to sort them into three piles, making sure there was something the same about each pile. He sorted by shape once (squares, circles, triangles he said) and by color another time.
 

The sorting began simply, with piles on pillows based on color...

But what preschooler can resist the allure of building with blocks? The piles quickly changed into

structures.

We also have been practicing writing letters (and saying their sounds) and numbers. A wooden box and play dough makes for good practice...

So does shaving cream on a mirror...

Finger paints are another great way to practice writing a name. Messy too. But the mess is worth it if learning is fun.  Also used the finger paints to practice making shapes.

Dip a whole side of a
 finger in the paint
and press it down
to create the sides
 of the shape.
Or use the fingertip to
create a
fingerprint
circle!


 



 








Caps for Sale was one of our books for the month. My sister had a copy at her house and read it to T via Skype. She lives across the country from us, so it was a delightful bonding time between aunt and nephew. T collected every hat he could find.




 Then he piled them on top of his own head! We only missed a puppet. Ahh, should have gotten out a monkey puppet.  I should've surprised him by sneaking up with a monkey puppet, grabbing a hat. I can picture him quoting the book saying "You monkey you! You give me back my cap!" Of course I'd only make the proper response, "Tsk, tsk, tsk!" Oh, well. In retrospect. Could've been a lot of fun. Walking around with a big pile of hats on top of a 3 year old's head is fun enough. There was a lot of laughter as it was.


But this. This was the highlight of the month for him. We went to the farmer's market and bought a tiny piece of honeycomb.

 

Gooey. Sticky. Delicious.

He really loved it. We also read a Magic School Bus book about bees with it. But oh, he loved exploring the honeycomb. Every day since then he comes to his papa or to me asking, "May I explore another honeycomb please?"