PreK Homeschooling Archives - Page 5 of 5

DIY Beach Play Sand Sensory Activity for Kids

July 29, 2013 by Selena Robinson 9 Comments

We usually do a family vacation in the summer, but the funds were just not there for it this year. Boo.

So we had to find a way to bring the beach to us. And that’s how we ended up making this DIY beach play sand!

Our kids are huge sensory seekers, so this soft and moldable play sand was a wonderful sensory experience for them.

I will say that it can be rather…messy, so take my advice and lay a few towels down before you get started.

After that, it’s a snap to make and they’ll play with it for hours!

If your kids love this, try our fun Coffee Filter Beach Ball Craft or read some sandy stories with our list of Beach Books for Kids!

DIY Beach Play Sand Recipe

To make this beach play sand sensory activity, you’ll need the following: (This post contains affiliate links. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

Whole wheat flour
Baby oil
Silicone baking molds
Large container for holding the “sand” (We just used our roasting pan.)

We started off by reading the classic book Curious George Goes to the Beach.

In the story, George explores the water, builds sandcastles, and (of course) makes a mess by being curious.

Then we looked at some pictures of professional sand castles. The things people can do with sand and spray bottles are just incredible.

C/O: Tim Jenkinson

C/O: Jeroen Kransen

Naturally, the kids wanted to play around with some sand of their own.

To make our own “sand”, we used a classic play sand recipe featuring one part baby oil to eight parts flour.

I decided to use whole wheat flour, since it looked more like authentic sand than white flour.

I had to work the baby oil in with my hands to get it to distribute evenly. It was actually quite therapeutic.

Then we dropped in some silicone baking cups and a few bento molds and the kids got to work!

I just stuck our “sand” in a roasting pan, but you could easily make this on the driveway or in a sandbox.

See how well it sticks together?

It works beautifully with baking molds, but if you have buckets or sandcastle molds, this would be fun to use with those as well.

The kids absolutely loved it! And it literally took five minutes. Beach fun without sand in your shorts!

Love this activity? Don’t miss these other fun summer ideas!

This post is part of the Summer Book and a Big Idea linkup from iHomeschool Network! Click on over to read more book-based learning ideas from my fellow bloggers!

Poppins Book Nook: Making Helicopters!

June 25, 2013 by Selena Robinson 5 Comments

*Disclosure: This post contains affiliate ads.*

It’s our first time joining the Poppins Book Nook blog hop and we’re extra excited to show you a couple of our transportation-themed activities! First we got started by reading a couple of Anne Rockwell books:

In both books, our kids took to the helicopters and trains. That’s actually pretty natural, since until a few months ago, they were Thomas and Friends addicts. Naturally, we followed up our reading by watching Go-Go Thomas.

As we watched the show, the kids called out the different vehicles they saw: trains, helicopters, boats, front loaders, buses, and more. (Of course, they called them all by name.) Afterwards, we decided to make our own helicopters. I stuck a push pin through a popsicle stick and then stuck the pin tip into a pencil eraser to make DIY helicopters.

Now the trick with these is to rub them back and forth between your palms and then roll it once all the way through to make them fly. It takes quite a bit of practice, but the kids were up to it!

Look at the determination and intensity on Pooh’s face!

Success!

Piglet was rather bored by it all, but we had a great time!

Be sure to visit the other blogs participating in the Poppins Book Nook fun this month!

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom – Royal Baloo – 3 Dinosaurs – Monsters Ed – Chestnut Grove Academy – Growing in God’s Grace – Royal Little Lambs – Life with Moore Babies – Teach Beside Me – The Usual Mayhem – Mum Central – Fantastic Fun and Learning – Kathys Cluttered Mind – Play Create Explore – Toddler Approved – Growing Book by Book – Adventures in Mommydom – B-Inspired Mama – The Fairy and The Frog – Edventures with Kids – Learning & Growing the Piwi way – A Gluten Free Journey – Mom to Crazy Monkeys – No Doubt Learning – Preschool Powol Packets – To The Moon and Back – Our Craft ~N~ Things – Farm Fresh Adventures – Proverbial Homemaker

And stop by tomorrow to see another one of our transportation activities from June! Keep on learning!

Sensory Play with Magic Muck

February 18, 2013 by Selena Robinson 9 Comments

You ever have one of those days when the kids are just bouncing off the walls but it’s too cold to go outside and you’re too broke to go anywhere else? Yeah, that was us one day last week. Plus, Piglet was nursing constantly and I was just exhausted and desperate for something for the kids to do. As a last resort, I went rummaging through our homeschool closet for a quick activity that wouldn’t be too messy or expensive.

Then I remembered the book: The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions: More Than 65 Wacky, Wild & Crazy Concoctions.

I got this over a year ago, but I think we’d only made one thing from it before last week. (I’m really awful about that.) Anyway, I looked through it and ah-ha! Magic Muck sounded like a perfect time-filler, especially since our kids are extreme sensory seekers.

What is Magic Muck, you ask? It also goes by the name “Oobleck“, so you’ve probably heard of it before. It’s just cornstarch, water, and a bit of food coloring. But, the neat thing about it is that the mixture behaves differently, depending on how much pressure you apply. When you initially touch it in the bowl, it feels firm, but when you pick it up and squeeze it, it runs through your fingers like a liquid. Very cool.

We laid down some packing paper and stood at the table to feel it. Instead of giving each child his or her own bowl of it, I did a communal bowl to encourage everyone to stand still. I’m sure that if all the kids had a bowl, I would still be cleaning Muck off the walls a week later.

See how the texture looks firm in the bowl, but runny off of Tigger’s hand?

The funny thing about sensory play is that you never know how the kids will respond. Tigger and Pooh loved it. In fact, they’ve been asking to do it again every day since. Roo? Not so much. I brought him a bowl of water to rinse his hands in and he asked if he could just put his hands in that for play instead. Which he did happily for over 20 minutes.

To each his own…

Have you used sensory play with your kids? We’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments. Keep on learning!

Learn Rounding Numbers the Easy Way

January 28, 2013 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Okay, I admit it: I’m not the most patient person in the world. Which is yet another reason why I love homeschooling so much. We don’t have to meet arbitrary deadlines for scholastic progress, so I can take as long as we need to cover one topic.

One of the things Tigger struggled with early on was rounding and estimating. When we originally covered it in grade one, she couldn’t let go of counting each number and just guess at the amount. But, when you think about it, that makes sense.

We spend weeks teaching them how to count and then after they learn that, we tell them, “Okay, now don’t count. Just guess how many you think there are.” In retrospect, that does seem kind of silly.

Thankfully, I found an easier way to help her learn rounding numbers!

Image: ganko / Dollar Photo Club

Learn Rounding Numbers the Easy Way

Instead of trying to discuss rounding over and over again, I just dropped it and decided to come back to it later. This time, she picked it up on the very first day. She learned rounding and I got yet another lesson in being patient.

Tigger really does well with step-by-step processes, so I used this anchor chart that I saw on Pinterest as our guide for the week. With each problem, we walked through the process and by the end of the lesson, she was doing it in her head.

The basic strategy to learn rounding numbers is:

1. Find the place to which you are rounding.

2. Locate the number to the right of that place and draw an arrow to it.

3. If the number is 5 or more, you round the underlined place up.

4. If the number is less than 5, you keep the number in the underlined place the same.

5. Change everything from the arrow to the right to a zero.

Done!

It does take a few tries and we spent our entire math lesson that morning going over the steps. But when Tigger got it, she retained it and (finally!) conquered rounding. 🙂

Now I’m not a professional educator, so I don’t use anchor charts all the time, but I have found them to be extremely helpful for teaching multi-step processes. If you’d like to look at some of my inspiration, follow my Anchor Chart Ideas board on Pinterest!

Follow Selena – Look! We’re Learning!’s board Anchor Chart Ideas on Pinterest.

How did you help your kids learn rounding numbers? Share your tips in the comments!

How to Teach Preschoolers to Play Quietly

January 28, 2013 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Are you homeschooling more than one child? If so, you’ve probably dealt with the challenge of getting your preschoolers to play quietly while your older kids are working. When I first started this school year, I envisioned all of my children sitting quietly at the table working together.

Here’s the problem with that scenario: Roo and Pooh are three and four years old, respectively. They’re not going to sit quietly on their own for long.

Instead of peacefully working, Roo took to making faces at Tigger while she was trying to work and Pooh busied himself by asking me a million and one questions. Something had to give.

Fortunately, I learned a wonderful way to teach preschoolers to play quietly and I’m sharing it with you all today!

How We Taught Our Preschoolers to Play Quietly

What helped us get our preschoolers to play quietly? Morning Time.

When you get a chance, click over and read the post about Morning Time at Hodgepodge to find out what it entails, but it’s basically a training session to help the younger kids get used to working quietly by themselves.

I decided to let them listen to a Bible drama about the 10 Plagues and play with LEGO DUPLO Blocks. It did take a few tries to help them understand that they actually had to be quiet for about 20 minutes, but they got the hang of it by the end.

Tips for Getting Preschoolers to Play Quietly

That picture right there? A thing of quiet beauty and a joy forever. 🙂

We also instituted a list of Quiet Time activities. Since the boys aren’t reading yet, I made a sheet with pictures of quiet activities they can choose from.

They can select which one they want to do and then stick with it for 20 minutes while I finish a lesson with Tigger. It’s working so far!

If you’d like to use a Quiet Time activity list with your kids, feel free to download our free Quiet Time Activity Cards! You can cut them out, laminate them (here’s an affiliate link for my favorite laminator), and let your preschoolers pick which activity they’d like to do!

To get your set, click the image or the link below to download them!

>>>Free Quiet Time Activity Cards<<<

Resources to Help Preschoolers Play Quietly:

Here are some more excellent resources to help your kids learn to enjoy quiet play!

For more resources for your smallest learners, follow my Learning for Little Ones board on Pinterest!

And get even more ideas for parenting little ones below!

The Best Picture Books for Three-Year-Olds

Free Alphabet Animals Flashcards

10 Ten Minute Preschool Activities

Building Fine Motor Skills with Play Dough

January 21, 2013 by Selena Robinson 4 Comments

In case you missed our previous post about my homeschooling resolve in 2013, one of the things I’m focusing on is being less “boring” around my kids. So, I’m trying to add in more art play since everyone loves art in our house.

Our boys, Roo especially, really need to work on fine motor skills. And I wanted to help him improve those skills without making it into a chore he’d hate.

To make the day less “school-y” and more fun, we decided to work on building fine motor skills with play dough! Talk about something that’s not a chore at all, right? 🙂

Image: nadezhda1906 / Dollar Photo Club

Building Fine Motor Skills with Play Dough

I’ve actually had these Play-Doh sets for a while but we haven’t played with them nearly enough over the years. One is the Barnyard Pals playset and the other is the Sweet Shoppe playset.

When we work with play dough, I like to have the kids use tools to shape it and manipulate it. That way, the kids can work on using their hands to grasp, pinch, and move small bits of dough. Fine motor skills ahoy!

As you can see, this is not an activity that requires any direction from me whatsoever. I just bring out the set and hand out the canisters and let them get to it. 🙂

Roo was content to sit and make Play-Doh ice cream all morning.

Pooh used multi-colored Play Doh to make some pretty colorful dreadlocks on a plastic pig.

As someone who has dreadlocks, I was only moderately offended.

Tigger made a blue mohawk on her purple rooster.

Pretty sharp, huh? I think I’m raising a house of future hairdressers.

Once we were finished, it was time to reinforce fine motor skills by….cleaning up! I’m only half kidding. Trying to get all those tiny bits of dough up is actually a pretty good skill builder. 🙂

How do you help your kids with building fine motor skills? Let us know in the comments!

ABC Letter Hunt for Preschoolers

January 14, 2013 by Selena Robinson Leave a Comment

Today ended up being ABC day in our house. While I didn’t set out to work on letter recognition today, it just kind of…happened. But that’s homeschooling for you! 😉

Pooh and Roo, in particular, are at the age where they’re interested in learning the alphabet. And I’ve been wanting to teach them to “spot” letters, so it was a fine day for an ABC letter hunt!

Our ABC Letter Hunt

At the library last week, Roo picked out the book “The City ABC Book” by Zoran Milich and we read it last night before bed. It’s a really cute book, showing how you can find the ABCs in common city signs and buildings.

I don’t think I would have ever looked at a bicycle path marker and seen an uppercase “Q”.

Naturally, we had to spend today looking for letters in our house. Tigger spotted this uppercase “O” right away.

Pooh found a lowercase “r” – the nozzle on the lotion bottle. (That was a pretty good one, if I say so myself.)

Tigger noticed an uppercase “X” in our bookcase.

I found lots of uppercase “H”s in the crosshatches of our board game chest.

And Roo found an uppercase “C” in our nursing pillow.

Have you had an ABC letter hunt with your kids? What letters can you find around your home? Let us know in the comments!

Keep on learning!

Feet of Strength….

October 10, 2009 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

So before jumping in the dino-stuff, I thought I’d finish up what we had left of me and myself. (Remember that way back when in September?)

Recognize this book?

A classic, right?

We decided to check out our feet, so we did the most natural thing, which is, of course, tracing around our feet with markers. Doesn’t everybody do that?!?

Here are Tigger’s:

Here are mine: (don’t laugh)

After some beautifying, we ended up with these:

After supplying Tigger with a brown crayon for her left foot, I asked her what color she wanted for her right foot. She replied, “Green”. When i asked why, she answered, “I like green feet”. …um, okay….

We cut them out and were prepared to finish, when Christopher Robin suggested the great idea of tracing Pooh’s feet. Here they are in all their adorableness:

So teeny! I mentioned doing Roo’s feet, but we didn’t think he would hold his toes out long enough… 🙂

All together now…

Anyone care for a waltz?

Me, Myself and Tigger

August 27, 2009 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Our first unit from Teach Me Mommy is “Me and Myself” and it teaches kids all about, naturally, themselves. Day 1 was about learning the day of our birth and our vital stats. We started with Tigger detailing things she likes to do. Running around and playing made the top of the list and I am quite proud to say that watching TV was far, far down the list.

Then we made a growth chart to measure her height. I spent the greater part of an hour carefully taping together cardstock and measuring the correct height off the floor for the chart to be perfectly correct and then, of course, trimming the edges as evenly as humanly possible. (Did i mention I’m still doing the type A rehab?)

After copious effort, I anxiously taped the chart to the wall to measure Tigger and what happened was this….

The child is already almost at the top of this thing! Lesson of the day for Mommy: “It does not have to look perfect, especially if it turns out you can only use it for a few months”. On to the next activity:

We baked cookies in the shape of Tigger’s initials. and I’m not ashamed to say I used the store-bought ready-to-bake cookies to do it, so there!Prior to baking the cookies looked like this:

Okay, it’s officially time for a new cookie sheet….and yes, Tigger’s initials spell the word “sir”.

After baking, we had the joy of feasting our eyes on this culinary creation:

Say it with me, my fellow type A’s: “It doesn’t have to look perfect, since you’re going to eat it anyway”. Besides, Tigger seemed quite pleased with the result.

She was even happier after the initial tasting….

Can’t argue with that face! And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to put the R cookie out of its misery. (Gruesome, I know.)