Animal Tracks

Today we started week 2, sights and sounds found outdoors, with Mother Goose Time.  Up first was animal tracks.  Normally by this time in December we have a few feet of snow on the ground, so I had assumed I could take the girls snowshoeing to look for tracks.  However it has been unseasonably warm and we have no snow, none at all.  Thankfully Mother Goose Time had lots of fun ideas for today so the trek outdoors wasn't missed.

During circle time Elli played with the shape builders that came in this months manipulative pack. She made different tracks in flour with them.  

I read the interactive story, Snow Tracks, to Elli.  It gives prompt for the kids to act out as you read along.  There were also the storytelling pieces that she was able to use as a visual while I read the story.  

Elli made her own reindeer headband that she wore while pretending to be a deer. Addie saw it when she got home from school and just had to make one of her own.

I played animal tracks with Elli.  We took turns spinning a spinner and tried to collect all the animals and match them to their footprints.  Just from playing one simple game Elli was able to work on taking turns, following directions, matching pictures, working on colors, and using fine motor skills to get the spinner going.  She liked this game so much that we had to play it 4 times so she could have a turn at being every color.

Elli played with some arctic animals we have in the flour from earlier.  After that she used them to make footprints in play dough.

 I found a great book at our library that went perfectly with today's lesson. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Stringed Instruments

Today Elli learned about stringed instruments.  Mother Goose Time provided all the materials needed to make a cute violin craft, complete with bow.  We'll be adding this to the drum and kazoo that were made earlier in the week.  

 Elli got to play her older sisters violin and see the different sounds they can make.

Elli worked on making the letter V with wiki sticks and yarn.  We came up with a list of things that start with the va sound.  This was challenging since she has a cold and couldn't quite make the right sound.  She also looked at the hands on letters and phonics cards from the monthly pack.

There was a cute snack idea provided, unfortunately Elli does not like stringed cheese or pretzels and I couldn't really come up with anything that would work as a substitute that would look right.

The number 7 was introduced yesterday.  To reinforce what was learned we looked at the hands on number again today.  Elli also completed the number 7 page in her my little journal.

Elli made her own stringed instrument by putting rubber bands over a container that we have.  She would roll a die and then pluck the corresponding number of "strings."

 

Horns

Continuing with the orchestra theme, day 3 with Mother Goose Time was horns.

I introduced the number 7 today during circle time.  The girls worked together to put 7 leaves on the number tree.

We sang The Trumpet Goes Toot and then moved on to our first activity.

The girls decorated the covers of their my little journals, which they use all month long.  They made fingerprints and then turned them into musical notes.

 The girls had a lot of fun playing guess the sound.  I played them clips of different instruments from youtube and they held up the corresponding card.  Elli had fun watching the videos of the instrument being played and then trying to find the matching picture card.

Just like with woodwinds, playing a horn required breath control.  The girls practiced blowing a pom pom in a straight line. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Woodwinds

Day 2's topic with Mother Goose Time was woodwinds.

During circle time we talked about the wind and also experimented with a variety of whistles and straws.  

The girls looked for items that make noise on the monthly theme poster.  They also used the look and find glasses to find specific items and then followed the prompts on the back.  This is one of Elli's favorite things that we get with each monthly box.  She spends a long time looking at all the details in the posters.

We played a woodwind game where the girls would roll a dice and then cover the correct colors on their pipes.  For some reason this game did not make sense to me until after we were done.  I realize now the paper was supposed to be rolled length wise, which would have made the game work so much better.  Even though I messed it up they still thought it was fun.

The girls experimented with blowing feathers and then measuring how far they made them move.  

The girls loved making their own kazoos.  Addie decided hers sounded better if she blew in the side hole instead of the end, and of course Elli has to do whatever her big sister does.  They played with these all day and thought they were great fun.  They go great with the drum we made yesterday.

We also completed lesson one from the experience God pack,which is a monthly add on we receive.  I read the story cards to the girls and then they completed some of the activities.

 They drew pictures of what they thought angels look like.  We also talked about what they might sound like. 

 The girls colored the angel picture from their take home paper.

They finished up by making their own letter A angel door hangers, which they both hung on their door knobs.

An InLinkz Link-up

Drums

Today we started a new theme, sights and sounds of winter, with Mother Goose Time.  Week one is all about the orchestra.  First up, drums.

We started off with circle time.  This months color is white.  Elli took the white paintbrush and went around the house painting things that were white.

We sang our opening song, "Pound the Drum."  For the second verse we would pick different body parts to drum, such as the elbow.  

Every month the girls make a new name tag.  Elli can't write, but this gives her a chance to practice tracing and drawing.  It also helps her learn what her name looks like.  Since we were learning about drums today we practiced clapping out syllables and counting how many were in our names.

Elli had a great time using kitchen items as drums.  

Today there was a fun drum craft that we added to our collection of instruments after Elli was done making it.  

She had a hard time spinning it between her hands fast enough to make the drumming sound.

So she improvised and banged it on the counter.

Elli worked on patterning using the provided cards.  Then she drummed and stomped her feet in an AB pattern like we had created.

We read a book and talked about what we learned.

I always end the day with dance n' beats, which Elli loves to get up and move to.  Today she decided she would rather lie on the couch and just watch the DVD instead.  

An InLinkz Link-up