F is for Fox

A to Zoo Animals with Mother Goose Time

F is for Fox

You've probably noticed that we've jumped around on the order of this unit quite a bit. It's been fun and we finally got to the day about foxes.

I remembered that I had a kids origami set with various animals by Djeco and one of the animals was a fox. In the guidebook it suggests reading the Aesop's Fable, The Fox and the Grapes. I figured they would pair together nicely.

So, Mr A and I got to folding the fox by following the instructions and using the pre-printed folding lines. He did very well following my instruction.

After our foxes were done, I read the fable while the boys acted out the story with the small bunch of grapes and origami foxes.
We learned that you shouldn't give up just because something is hard. Try again or try something new to figure out your problem. Getting mad and giving up does not solve any problem.

The boys love the storytelling sets, mostly for the cut outs. We combined a few separate activities into one, since I knew doing them separately would not work very well for the boys. The first was the storytelling set with the poster and cutouts, the second was the Story Starters and animal cubes. You were supposed to roll the two cubes and pick a story starter to tell a short story about the two animals that were rolled on the cubes. But, the boys rolled the cubes to add an animal to the poster and find a place for it to live. I chose a story starter and tried to get to the boys to answer. We didn't get very far with the stories.

The otter was laughing because he was being ticked by the bird.

The hippo was very tired from walking instead of swimming.

When the boys were over playing this game, Mr A wanted to take the animal cutouts outside. His favorite thing to do is hide them in the yard for someone to find. So, they played that for awhile.

Mr A lost interest in the MGT craft that was provided for the day. He said that it was something that they had already made and didn't want to do it. He's an interesting fellow. But, we did make a similar craft last year sometime... a letter F cutout that you turn into a fox by adding a tail or ears etc. I just think its funny that Mr A easily loses interest if its something he has already done or learned about.
We've been struggling with a few of the days this month because the animals have been repeats from other units... Dolphin, Elephant, Camel and several more. We've done them and Mr A was bored with it. The activities have been hit or miss. Oh well.
July's Art Studio should sure be fun... it's a lot different than anything we've done before.

Father's Day Celebration

Father's Day 2016 with Mother Goose Time

This year we didn't really have anything planned for Father's Day. So, while we were all lounging around, I set up a few things from the celebration kit... the bonus day from the MGT curriculum.

This ring toss game was really tricky. The materials were provided to make these cute little fish rings. But, the boys opted to use a rocketship instead of a water bottle. This was actually a pretty hard game to play. The fish didn't toss very well and nobody could get it on top of the rocket. Needless to say, they lost interest really fast on this one.

"Wow. I love this type of game. Can we play it right now?" Mr A noticed the Pin the Tie on Daddy game on the wall and got so excited. He loves this game that has been pretty regular in the celebration kits from Mother Goose Time.
Mr A took his turns and added 3 of the 6 ties.

Then he helped Mr Z with his turns. Mr A spun him around and helped guide him to the poster so he could place the ties somewhere on the poster.

Art time! The celebration kit had a fishing theme,

Always red for Mr Z.

He wanted lots of hand prints for several fish on his paper. Mr Z added his fishing pole straw, but then decided he didn't want it there. But, it stayed put anyway. We got out a few markers and he added some more details.

Mr A chose to use several colors for his fish hand. He added his straw too and kept looking at the picture in the guidebook to make sure he was doing it the same.

So we had a good day as a family, playing games from MGT together.

The Art Studio: A Look Into July

The Art Studio with Mother Goose Time

July 2016 Set-up, Overview

July is sure to be an exciting month with Mother Goose Time. It's all about art and we love art in our house... the mess, the freedom of expression, the process. It's all so much fun to do and observe.

Here's a small glimpse at what is come with the month's curriculum. There are many great components.

The first are the Job Shapes. They have the name of each daily activity printed on them. When a task, activity or project is completed you can add it to the poster. Each day focuses on a different color.

I love these photo cards of famous paintings from various artists. They were first to be laminated and I have yet to find a good way to display them.

The Money Kit. Each kid will be able to gain a better understanding of earning, spending, saving or giving money through activities for the day. You may need to "buy" materials for your craft of the day by spending some of your dollars. You may need to give a friend a dollar to help them buy something.

Falco the Featherless Bird is part of the Money Kit and focuses on character building traits. A story of Falco is given and the feathers reinforce one of these traits daily. On the back of each feather is a scenario to decided whether Falco has earned or lost his feather. I made copies of the Falco coloring sheet and then colored one myself to be the mascot and of course he was laminated. These traits connect to the money aspect for example... using generosity to give a friend a dollar to help buy materials if he doesn't have enough money in his folder.

The story book of the month is a fun way to introduce mixing colors. We always love the books that come with the curriculum.

With a craft of some kind everyday, this month is set up to be like a camp-style layout. I am excited. Its something completely different than we are used to and I feel like it will be a good for Mr A.

M is for Moose

A to Zoo Animals with Mother Goose Time

M is for Moose

I don't usually focus too much on one activity that we did. Instead, I just do an overview of what we did for the day while highlighting things. But, this was a fun math lesson from Mother Goose Time.

Moose Math. It consisted of a number cards, mini popsicle sticks, and a sheet with a moose missing his antlers.

Each boy picked a number card and put it on the blank space. Then added that many of sticks to their side of the antlers.

Mr Z could tell me which side had more sticks. With Mr A I tried to work on greater than, less than, or equal to. We talked a little bit about how the "alligator mouth" eats the larger number and how the equation is read after you determine which way the sign goes. Mr A was also hoping that there were more number cards than just 6 but I forgot to make some of our own.

This was a great activity for both boys. It was simple enough for Mr Z but could be extended to something more advanced for Mr A. I was impressed... because normally I don't do very well at accommodating the learning levels of both boys.
What a fun little game to practice math.

I love this picture of Mr Z pretending to be a moose. We were making up our own song about a moose and the sound the letter M makes. It was fun to watch and listen to Mr Z as he danced around like a moose singing the tune we made up.

Happy Learning with whatever you are working on.

Listen and Obey with Experience God

God Asks Me to Listen featuring Noah and the Ark

The Experience God Christian Add-on

Sunday morning we continued talking about the Bible story, Noah and the Ark. This week's focus in the lesson book was listening to and obeying God. Last week we covered the story itself and how one might hear what God is asking of us and how we could listen to something that can't be seen or really hear, but felt. It was a little confusing for Mr A.
This week we started Experience God by making the craft included in the children's pack for this weeks lessons... a hammer. Foil was given to wrap around the head of the hammer, but it deemed too frustrating to get it just right with the first one we tried and so both boys opted to color their hammers with markers instead. We talked about how if we listen to God and do what is asked of us, He will provide the tools necessary to complete the task... just like he did for Noah.

Mr Z was using markers as nails to hammer them, then pull them out.

I got out the box of wooden blocks and we all worked together to build an ark/boat. The boys used their cardboard hammers to nail the wood blocks together.

 Mr A had to add a door tall enough for the giraffe to fit under.

 We added rooms to the ark for the different animals to be with their friends.

I love how the explanations for the lessons are written simply. They are easy to understand and to talk about.

We had a fun time with the Experience God lesson this week. Unfortunately, the dog ate Mr A's hammer and he was rather upset. Mr Z uses his all of the time and slept with it the other night. Some crafts are just too awesome to let go.

Shedding Skin Science

A to Zoo Animals with Mother Goose Time

R is for Rattlesnake

I normally don't write about these much, but the science cards are so fun from MGT. They are simple experiments to get the kids introduced to science and connected to the topic in a different way. Most of the time, I usually don't have all the components of the experiment, or I am involved and don't many, if any, pictures.

The cards are broken down into 6 steps with easy instructions and pictures. Usually Mr A can figure out what to do just by the photos.

We discussed a little bit about why a snake sheds its skin. Mr A said it was because the snake grows too big for its skin and needs a new one. We talked about what a snake would use to get the skin off since it doesn't have any hands. Mr A suggested the sunshine because the heat would get it off. I mentioned things like logs, rocks or bushes and Mr A wasn't convinced those would be good options because those would hurt.
For the experiment:
Glue was squirted onto the boys' hands and spread thinly over the palm.

 We used the box fan to help the glue dry faster.

Then they peeled off the dried glue, trying to get big pieces. The boys spent close to 30 minutes, quietly peeling glue off of their hands. I thought to myself that this would be a good calming activity when they're acting all crazy or need a time-out.

I tried to ask questions like "Do you think this is how it feels for a snake to shed his skin? ... Shedding skin takes a long doesn't it?" They were rather occupied and only shook their heads. They kept comparing the piles of dried glue they collected from their hands to see who had more.

Mr Z liked peeling glue off of his hands so much that he wanted to do it the next day too.
A simple experiment to see "shedding skin" in action was a hit. I remember doing it in school when I was bored. Sometimes, the things you did in elementary school as a kid are the best learning experiences for your little ones.
MGT science for the win.

Sometimes You Need A Break

A to Zoo Animals with Mother Goose Time

T is for Tiger

The other day, I asked Mr A what animal he wanted to learn about. The response I got was, "I'm not ready for that question." I tried to explain that we didn't have to do anything right away, but that I just wanted to get things prepared. He reluctantly picked out Tigers from the the MGT daily discovery bags because he saw that it had a craft inside.

I looked through the guidebook and found the idea of making a collage. So, I figured that would be a hit since it was an additional craft. I gathered different colored scrapbook papers, in a range of tiger colors, for them to cut up however they wished and to glue onto a piece of construction paper. In the guidebook it suggested to use different old wrapping papers or tissue, but I didn't have any of that. After I gathered all of the materials, I called over the boys. I guess that was a mistake and it was too early for any type of learning discussion or activity.

A whole lot of whining ensued and fits over little things from both of them. Mr A only cut a few strips and Mr Z didn't want to do any cutting. He just wanted to glue and only got 3 shapes onto his paper before deciding this activity was not what he wanted to be doing.

So, I called it quits and sent the boys on their way to play how they wished. I guess I didn't listen very well when Mr A implied that he really didn't want to do anything for awhile. Sometimes you just need a break from anything structured.

The boys went the whole without doing anything MGT related... until almost bedtime. Mr A realized that they didn't do the Tiger Mask craft that he had originally wanted to do. So, we gathered up the materials provided from MGT and some crayons & markers and got to it.

For a few minutes the boys got distracted by tearing paper off of crayons. Looks of concentration on kids is so amusing. Focus shows on all parts of their little faces and it makes me happy.

 Mr Z scribbled all over his mask... with his tongue sticking out for more concentration and focus. (His daddy does it too. LOL)

 Mr A was insistent that I didn't look at his mask until he said I could. So I tried hard not to see it while I took a picture of his. He was trying to make his look the one on the instructional sheet.

 Mr Z finished his and was a tiger for a little while before sitting down to look at the pictures of the book, Leo the Late Bloomer.

 Mr Z needed to capture a picture of me and my tiger too.

Mr A finally finished and was satisfied with his. I had little tigers scampering about the house before bedtime.

I do give the boys so much time to be kids and play and imagine and be outside without any structured time. I'm grateful that they are allowed to be kids. I guess some days I do get a little selfish and want to get lessons done and I get too stubborn about it. I should have listened in the morning that they just wanted to play for awhile. I pushed them to do a craft when they weren't ready for it and it did not go well. That's my fault. They usually tell me when they are ready to be productive. I should listen better. We needed a break, I guess. That's okay. We ended up getting one craft done out of 6 activities from the guidebook. Some days that's just how it goes.