Horses and Rodeos

After learning about cowboy boots, cowboy hats and lassos, we moved on to horses and rodeos.  During circle time the letter H was introduced.  If the girls picked the card with the horse on it they got to gallop around the room.  Addie knows her letters so this was easy for her, but Elli is still learning what letters make what sounds, so it was a fun way for her to practice.

The girls tried to balance small objects on the horse manipulatives that came in this months Mother Goose Time box.  

We talked about how sometimes cowboys ride wild horses that try to buck them off.  The girls took turns picking the hands on letter H from the pile, putting it on their backs, crawling to the letter flag H and then bucking the H off their back.  

The girls had fun making their own horses that they used to race with.

The hands down favorite activity of the day was counting horses.  The girls started off by building a stable for the rubber horses.  They pretended to sleep and the horses escaped.  I hid them around the room and when the girls "woke up" they ran around collecting them.  We did with with 13 and then 14 horses. As they found the horses they would put them on the counting cards until they were all found.  Then we'd do it all over again, and again, and again.  

I was only able to get the girls to move on to horseshoe toss by promising we could hide the horses more when they were done.  They actually wound up having a lot of fun with this game as well, and played it for a bit before going back to the hiding horses.  I called out a shape and the girls would take turns throwing the provided horseshoes on to the matching shape.  

The global friend from Hungary was introduced during circle time.  Horseback riders in Hungarian rodeos do tricks on their horses.  Elli dressed as a cowboy and pretended to do tricks of her own.

Apparently jumping off an object counts as a trick when you're 2.

Elli loves to do puzzles.  She actually did the provided cowboy puzzle 5 times in a row before I told her it was time to move on.  

Elli used the horse manipulatives more today.  She worked on sorting them by color and size and then color and size combined.  We also practiced counting them.

The horses also got to compete in their own mini rodeo, complete with barrel racing and and a lasso contest.  Both Addie and Elli LOVE these horses and they get played with on a daily basis.  

Elli used the rodeo storytelling set to make up her own story.  It involved a clown who liked to race horses around barrels.  

Elli practiced using her lasso and doing tricks on a stuffed horses.  She also held on tight and rode a "bull" that jumped around the room.  She had such a fun time with the days lesson.  

Elli finished the letter H page of her my little journal.  She taped popsicle sticks to the page to make an H and practiced tracing the ones on the bottom of the page.

We read quite a few books over the past 2 days.