Puppets, Pegs, and Bark Butter (our adventures with Flowering Baby Curriculum Continued)

Major progress last week when T started making his bed without being told. I don't care if it's not perfect. This is a milestone that makes everyone happy!


Our days are pretty busy. T loves to help me around the house. Cooking especially is a highlight of his day. I also notice much more enthusiasm over a meal when he's helped prepare it. Quiet moments are quickly filled with reading, exploration, and games with me. He loves reading so much. Today he sat quietly for about half an hour, turning page after page of a "Little Golden Books" anthology of animal stories.

Flowering Baby Curriculum continues to prove a great springboard for ideas. These are just a very few highlights since my last post. Enjoy!

We were supposed to play with forest animal puppets. T wanted to make a deer. So we grabbed scissors, glue, and other supplies and had at it. It was fun!

Still, the idea of playing with animal puppets called strongly. I could of course have run down to a toy store, spent a bundle, and collected a few puppets. Didn't though. It was a perfect excuse to return to the nature center. We played for a while with their collection of puppets.

Still another fun activity we did last week was learn about animal food. Any excuse to go outside is jumped upon by my little man. Oh, he loved hunting for animal food in the yard. When I first asked "Can you find something out here wild animals eat?" he brought the squirrel feeder to me. Soon though we were looking at bugs, nuts, and other such delicacies. We also took a trip to Wild Birds Unlimited, looking at all the different kinds of bird seed, squirrel feed, and even some food for deer. They had samples of "bark butter", so we brought a small sample of it home with us.

T showing off his bark butter.
It's supposed to attract cardinals, robins, and woodpeckers along with other birds. Applying the bark butter was so much fun. He dipped his fingers in the tub and smeared it in a line down the trunk of a tree. We can see the tree from our dining room window. I haven't noticed many birds going for the bark butter so far, but we'll see.

A "fine motor skills" activity quickly crossed over into the realm of mathematics. T had a blast building rockets, filling the board with pegs, creating patterns and shapes with the pegs.

 T seeing how high he can stack the pegs.

 Checking his pattern to make sure it is correct.

Today he had fun building a new, challenging puzzle. I was pleased to finally buy one that challenged him. The last couple puzzles I brought home he solved in no time (although he enjoyed it). I was thinking of buying one for ages 4+ when I saw this one by Lauri. It was perfect!

Flowering Baby "Curriculum" & A Nature Center Trip

I am thrilled with Flowering Baby (odd name!) age 3 so far. It really is a hidden gem. Reminds me of Slow & Steady Get Me Ready but greatly expanded. The real downside is it comes only on cd rom so if you want a hard copy you must print it out yourself. I haven't yet. There's so much material in FB it'd be expensive to print. I have occasionally written out a day or two's worth of activities on an index card. That's worked pretty well as I can stuff it in my purse or pocket. I'm considering doing that more often. It's convenient. A friend first told me of the program a year ago but I really didn't look into it. I sure wish I had. In fact, almost every day since I started in July I've asked myself "WHY didn't I get this sooner?!"

Flowering Baby age 3 is set up so you can find and fit in activities during your day whenever you feel the need for something. This "curriculum" really is different from most preschool ones I've looked at. It feels almost wrong to call it a curriculum. There is no set schedule/sequence you must follow (although there are daily recommendations for 5 days a week 12 months of the year, and levels for babies, one-year-olds, two-year-olds, preschool/age3, prek/k4). No cutesy crafts or worksheets. It really doesn't take planning. If you miss a day, it's ok. In fact the program encourages to pick up whenever you are when you receive it. We started in the middle of July so we worked through the body of the July activities. They flowed naturally through our day. If you are interested in natural learning integrated into your day but at the same time want daily activity ideas, this may just be what you want. Yet it is a curriculum at the same time. Your child will learn a lot, and at age 3 it covers more subjects than some preschool curricula I've looked at.

Flowering Baby is very play and reading based. It's well-rounded. We've done sequencing games, organizing groups of objects, playing with blocks, even board games are encouraged. You read a variety of books. It's not just picture books either. Generally in a month there's a large chapter style book in addition to several picture books. I was so excited when I opened up the July file and saw the recommended book was the original Winnie the Pooh. We'd already been reading it! For August you begin Paddington Bear, and read picture books about animal homes (even DK & Eyewitness books) and stories like  The Carrot Seed and Sylvester & The Magic Pebble (I loved that book as a child). A typical day will include the sentence "Read a book". Listening to music is recommended, with a different style or composer every month. August is all about listening to jazz.  Nature "studies" are natural exploration here, as is "science". Gross and fine motor skill games are included, again in a very natural, play-based way (nothing special you need to get/set up). Social skills, cultural knowledge (it's the 4th of July, there are flags everywhere, so why not point out the colors, create your own flag, or mention that the flag has a special name "Old Glory"?). Alphabet and math skills are presented in the same play-based way using a variety of games. Word games like "I Spy" or a game where you say a sequence of words and gradually make the string of words the child has to repeat and remember longer, and this coming month one of the activities is going to be practicing ordinal numbers using board games & toys. It really does fit in your day just whenever you need something. It's thorough, but not demanding of the parent.



In August Flowering Baby age 3 talks a lot about forest animals. So we took a trip to a nature center this week.

He loved feeling it spinning round and round in the water.

Woodpecker display. He's turning a key to hear the sounds.

Learning about the pros and cons of bug zappers. Apparently they kill more beneficial bugs than mosquitoes. :(

In the discovery center, there were artificial rocks that included a child-size series of animal burrows. On the outside of the rocks drawers containing different surprises.

Miles and miles of hiking trails.

Lifting a door of bark to discover pine cones.

Watching the chipmunks eating the seeds the birds drop from their feeders.

Seriously fun! A section of puppets, and a section of costumes. The costumes were of local wildlife. 

I didn't know about this- FREE!- nature center until this last week. We both loved it. Probably will be returning very soon and very often. 

3 Ingredient Playdough

I am so thrilled with this simple playdough recipe I found in Mudworks. The texture is fun. The time it takes to make it? None at all! Dump, dump, stir, and play. T had some fun measuring and mixing it as well.

3 Ingredient Playdough

1 c flour

2 c oatmeal

1 c water

Mix, knead, and play!

Wordless Wednesday - Swim Lessons

T has been taking swimming lessons at a local university campus since May. He loves the water, but will not jump into the pool or get his eyes under water. He's progressed to willingly blowing bubbles. Practicing kicking is his favorite! He'd do that the whole time if he could.

Common Poetry, Not So Common Board Books

Reading to a child can be delightful.

Or

Reading to a child can be a chore.

The book you choose to read can make all the difference between the two! Part of what can make reading a delight is reading a really good book. A book that appeals to your child and to you at the same time.

These are two such books.

Hey, Diddle, Diddle! by Salley Mavor is simply the traditional nursery rhyme in board book form. Nothing's added, nothing's removed. What makes this book stand out are the illustrations. The illustrator has filled every page with the most detailed felt and needlework covered pictures I've seen in a book. The pages are a real feast for the eyes. Simply beautiful! I hope to be able to collect more of Salley Mavor's nursery rhyme board books in the future.

The other book, titled Twinkle Twinkle Little Star actually contains the entire poem The Star rather than simply the first few lines we normally sing. The illustrations show various animals in a small town preparing for the night as the stars come out. It captures the wonder and delight of the stars expressed by the lullaby perfectly. I am so pleased to have found this book. We read it- and sing it- together all the time.