Apples in the Orchard

We spent 2 days on the apple theme for day 6 with Mother Goose Time.  The first day was spent at the apple orchard, picking apples.  The girls loved going there.  They each picked half a peck of different apples.

Addie wasn't home for day 2, so I just used the Little Goose book and worked with Elli.  I love that Mother Goose Time can be individualized for each child.  Little Goose is a supplement with simplified lessons for toddlers.  I read the provided book, Johnny, to Elli.  We talked about the pictures and I had her find certain colored items throughout the book.

Elli loved her completed puppet.

After we read the book of the month Elli made her own Johnny puppet.  She played with it for quite awhile after completing the project.  We pretended he was planting seeds and eating apples.  I love that the provided pieces made him look like the character in the book, so we could use him to retell the story.

We looked at the life cycle of an apple tree and made up movements to go with each card.

Instead of doing the tray play activity Elli used a textured apple stamp to make prints.  She loves painting and picked this over the suggested activity.

I saved the last activity, taste testing the apples we picked, until Addie was home.  I knew she would be upset if we ate the apples without her.  We had 5 different types of apples; the girls ate slices from each and then picked their favorite. After we were done I cut up the remaining pieces and we made an apple pie.

Using Little Goose

 Elli loves Mother Goose Time, a little too much in fact.  There have been a few nights where she has gone to bed sobbing and saying "school stuff" after I've left the room.  I always tell her we'll do it again in the morning.  As soon as she wakes up she is saying "school stuff."  I have to explain we'll do it after we get dressed and eat, which usually results in tears.  Mother Goose Time has created a monster, but in a good way.  I love that she is so excited about learning and that to her school stuff is the highlight of the day (not counting when she gets to eat a dessert and watch Dora).  I never would have thought to do preschool activities with a toddler, but since I was using it with Addie it only made sense to include Elli.  When we started Mother Goose Time months ago I wrongly assumed Elli would only briefly be interested and that the activities wouldn't really hold her attention (she wasn't even 2 at the time).  Boy was I wrong, she loves it just as much as her big sister.  Addie wasn't home today and instead of waiting for her to get back, I decided to do most of the lesson with just Elli.  Usually most of the activities we do are catered more to Addie's ability and Elli just copies her.  Since Addie wasn't here I used the Little Goose lesson plan book instead.

I started by putting the gems for the craft in a dish of water.  Elli loved fishing them out, while counting.  A great fine motor activity.  Once she had them all out I gave her the rest of the craft pieces.

She made a handheld mirror and decorated it with the gems that she scooped out earlier.  

Then she practiced making different faces in the mirror.  

She also played an easier version of the feeling shapes game.  She picked the different cards from a bag, I told her what shape it was, and then she made the corresponding face.

After, she used the tanogram manipulatives to match the shapes.

 

Elli worked on the blue page of her my little journal.  She spent most of the time trying to peel a crayon, since for some reason she won't use any that have paper on them.  A recent development, which will hopefully pass quickly. 

She also completed the sad page for the my feelings booklet.  I gave her markers for this so crayon peeling was avoided.  After she finished that she danced to the friends and feelings DVD. There was a red light green light type game to play, but I think she'll have more fun with that once Addie is home.