Inspired by “the alphabet tree” by Leo Lionni and “Small Medium & Large” by Jane Monroe Donovan we embarked on our tree creating adventure.
Christmas Word Trees
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Lets Bake, Pumpkin Muffins!
Some of my fondest childhood memories definitely include baking with my grandmother. She was always so patient with me, which I believe made me more interested in learning and everything tasted so good. She was teaching me math and science skills long before I started school. Though most importantly she created a warm and nurturing environment that years later still warms my heart while passing along culture. When you involve children in an activity that they usually see adults perform it also boosts their confidence. There are so many factors that contribute to our cultures. Culture is passed from generations through language, story telling, and traditions. All things that are important to me while raising J & A. This week we made my favorite Pumpkin Bread (Muffins in this case). This recipe isn’t from my grandmother’s kitchen but I think it will stay in mine for years to come because it is absolutely delicious!!!
Manipulating Shapes
Continuing on with our shapes theme. A & J were given a set of plastic shapes to play with. They weren’t given any specific guidelines at first. If there’s one thing that I have learned with children is to let them explore something new on their own. Once they’ve been given the chance to explore they will typically pay more attention for instructions.
Pony Beads, Letter “C”, and Shapes
This week’s theme was shapes.
The first activity was threading pony beads onto a shoe lace. This gave A & J the opportunity to practice their fine motor skills, colors, and patterns. They were first asked to pick 2 colors and put them on the shoelace arranged into a pattern. They did this twice and shared their patterns with each other upon completion. I then allowed them time to simply play with the beads. They thought it was fun to fill the entire shoe lace and compare whose was longer. J couldn’t get the beads on his lace fast enough whereas his sister was putting them on 2 at a time. It was interesting to see their different approaches.
