The Art of Learning

When most people think of art they think of the visual arts, but it is so much more than that.  The arts encompasses music, dance, drama, culinary art, media art, and visual art.  So basically a bunch of things my girls love.  One of the great things about Mother Goose Time is that so many aspects of the arts are included in every lesson.  Of course there are art projects involving glue, markers, paints, etc.  But they incorporate more than just the visual arts.  Each day we start with circle time and sing songs.  There are also usually finger play or opening song ideas that involve acting out the lyrics.  My girls always love to get up and moving which is why we also receive the dance n' beats DVD.  We usually use it at the end of the lesson.  Over the past few weeks my girls have pretended to plant seeds, acted like worms, and even pretended to run their own produce shop.  One of their favorite dramatic play games was keeping toy rabbits from eating their produce, and they've played it numerous times since the first day we did it.  Addie has helped me cut fruits and vegetables and even started making her own mini pizzas with different vegetable toppings.  One of her favorite things we did this month was when we took a field trip to a local store and I let her use my camera to take pictures.  Children learn when they're having fun, and with Mother Goose Time my girls always have fun.  In fact they have so much fun that they never want to stop.  Addie is always begging to do more and I know once Elli starts talking better she'll be saying the same thing. 

working on a culinary treat

Produce

Mother Goose Time's day number nine topic was produce.  It actually took us two days to finish all the activities because we wound up taking a field trip.   The girls made their own little gardens out of  egg cartons that they painted the day before.  Then they looked at a magazine with different produce and used construction paper to make their own food items that they "planted" with popsicle sticks. We talked about what gardens need to grow, and Addie put hers by her window so it could get light.  Both girls loved these little gardens and have played with them numerous times since they were made.

Elli was very excited to see produce she likes

I made Elli's produce and helped her tape them together.

Addie made everything herself.

Next I brought out the pattern cards.  Addie completed the pattern and then made her own.  Elli came up with her own way to use the cards, by finding the matching produce picture to put on the pattern card.

Who else likes to eat food from gardens?  Rabbits.  The girls were so happy to finally use the rabbit manipulatives that came in this months box.  They've already played with them a lot since we received it.  I love that the manipulatives are things the girls can use over and over again, even once we're done with the moths theme.  I put produce photos around the room and put the rabbits near them.  The girls stood on the other side of the room and then ran and collected one rabbit at a time and brought it back to the start side.  They had to catch the rabbits before they ate all the produce.  they LOVED this game and we played it a bunch of times.  After awhile Addie thought it would be a good idea if we used a few rabbits and have me move them while she and Elli can around trying to collect them.

We took a trip to a local store, The Farmer's Daughter.  It's a beautiful store that sells fresh produce, flowers, and all kinds of locally made foods.  Addie asked to bring the camera and take pictures herself.  It was neat to see the picture taken from her perspective.

Photos taken by Addie

The following day we created our own produce store.  The girls picked the produce they wanted to sell and then I wrote prices for everything.  I gave the girls money and they had to buy the food they wanted within their budget.  Obviously Elli didn't understand this, and just took whatever she wanted. I worked with Addie on making proper change and learning money denominations.

stealing money

An InLinkz Link-up

Flowers

Both my girls love flowers, so I knew today's Mother Goose Time lesson would be a hit.  We looked at our letter F cards and then set out the flower on one end of the room and the letter F on the other side.  I put cotton balls all over the flower and the girls used tongs to pick up a cotton ball, run to the other side, and pollinate the letter F.  We talked about how flowers attract insects to the plants to pollinate them. They played this for a very long time.  At first I had them try taking turns, but Elli didn't really understand that she needed to wait, so eventually it just turned into a free for all. 

After they were sufficiently exhausted, they used the pattern blocks and shape mats to create flowers.

If you could be a flower, what color would you want to be?  Addie said purple, and Elli pointed to the purple and red paint.  They created their own flower costumes, complete with flower headband and leaf hands. Then we danced to the dance n' beats DVD.

adding the sunflower seeds

time to dance

We also completed the my little journal letter F page and Addie did her workbooks.  We didn't finish all the activities planned for today, since the girls spent so much time playing the pollination game and then dancing.  It's always a good lesson when your kids don't want to stop.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sprouts, Stems and Leaves

The girls have been having so much fun with this months Mother Goose Time theme, growing gardens.  They are so excited for the lessons and my oldest is always asking if we can do more.  The past few days we've been learning about sprouts, stems, and leaves.  The girls have sang songs, danced, completed art projects, done experiments, played games, read books, practiced writing, and just had an overall great time learning. Incorporating so many different learning styles really helps reinforce the lessons.

One of their favorite things we did was when we went on a walk looking for different stems.  They collected a bunch, which we brought home.  They each picked 2 of their favorites to trace and measure, and we were able to do all this outside while enjoying the beautiful weather.

picking plants with stems

measuring a dandelion stem

They also created their own seed stories by making a fingerprint and then adding roots, stems, leaves, etc.

We tried the celery experiment, where you put celery in colored water and the leaves change color.  Unfortunately I could only find celery with a tiny bit of leaves, and I don't think it was fresh enough to work well.  We left it in water for 3 days with only a tiny change to the leaf edges.

Luckily I found this youtube video that shows the results much better.

The second experiment we tried worked much better.  We put a plastic bag around some leaves and after about an hour we already had water forming on the inside.  This was a great way to show the girls that plants lose water through their leaves. 

The girls also made their own bean plants using the provided supplies.

We observed real plants that we've been growing:  sunflowers, peas and wheat.  The girls like the wheat because it was grown in a tube with a paper towel so you can see everything on it.  The seed, roots, and stem are all clearly visible.

And of course the girls also played games and completed workbooks.

playing a leaf shape hunting game

working on their my little journals

workbooks

Blogger:

An InLinkz Link-up

Worms

Every month when the Mother Goose Time box arrives at our door, the girls open it immediately.  Elli always takes the dance n' beats DVD out and has me put it on so she can dance.  Addie likes to look in every bag, without actually opening them, and see what she'll get to do throughout the month.  In April when the growing gardens box arrived Addie was very excited to see there was going to be a worm day.  Every day since we started this months lessons she's been asking when worm day would be.  Well worm day wound up turning into 3 days.   The girls just loved this topic so much that we kept adding on to it.

We started off completing our circle time routine.  Then I brought out the pink color bird and the colored worm cards.  The girls took turns pretending to eat the pink worm with the bird.

Then we flipped all the worms over and the girls took turns picking one while we sang The Worm is Underground.

The worm is underground,

The worm is underground, 

Elli, what color have you found?

Green worm is underground.

Next the girls looked for rubber worms that I hid, and then used them to paint their worm pictures.

While the girls painted I hid the matching cards around the living room.  The girls found all the cards, and then we played a matching game.  

We talked about how worms are good for the dirt.  The girls practiced rolling worms with play-doh and cutting them into 10 pieces.

Next the girls lay down like worms on butcher paper and I traced them and helped cut them out.  Then they decorated the kid sized worms.

An Elli worm.

We also read some books about worms.  After reading Winnie Finn Worm Farmer, Addie decided she wanted to start her own worm farm.

Which brought us to days 2-3 of worms.  We spent 2 days collecting 38 worms and creating a worm farm.

Elli spent most of the time jumping in puddles while Addie collected worms.

I also had a worm hidden picture and a short story about worms from a Highlights High Five magazine that we did.

We also checked on our grass seeds that we planted over a week ago and recorded the results.

The girls created a subtracting worm book, which was in the Dance n' Beats book.

The girls worked together to create their book.

Then they danced to Wiggle Worm.

Since the kids were liking worms so much we went to the library and found another book abut them.

An InLinkz Link-up