Sheep in the Meadow

Nursery Rhymes with Mother Goose Time

Little Boy Blue come blow your horn.

The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.

Where is the boy that looks after the sheep?

He's under the haystack, fast asleep.

A Make & Play craft. A horn made of a paper cone and cardboard tube taped together. They have been getting lots of play.

Sheep in the Meadow (and cow's in the corn) was a great math game using number cards, a play mat and the animal counters. W e received the sheep with this month's kit, but we also used the cows from a few months ago. It was nice that this game also came with two ways to play... count the animals to match the number or add two numbers together.

Mr Z used sheep for one number and cows for the other. We stuck with single digits for the most part.

 He also took a small break to play the animals a song with his Little Boy Blue horn.

 Some more adding and counting...

 Cows in the corn, all lined up.

This was a great little game. Even though Mr Z is not at all interested in academics, he had fun for a few minutes. (Mr Z is more of the gross motor, physical seeking boy at this point.) Though he is getting better at his counting with a bit of help. He normally counts 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10. The number cards went up to 20... so for the adding side, we just used the numbers up to 10. Anyway, I was impressed with this little game. Mr Z practiced counting and 1 to 1 correspondence while counting and pointing to the animals.

What fun.

The Invitation to Create

Nursery Rhymes with Mother Goose Time

1 2 buckle my shoe

3 4 shut the door

5 6 pick up sticks

7 8 lay them straight

9 10 lets do it again

The Invitation to Create for this little rhyme was to make your own door. The boys loved looking at the different types of doors on the inspiration photo. They were quick to find their favorites.

MGT provided the sponges, small cups and rectangular plates for the project.

 Mr Z decided to use his sponge as a stamp and make a square stamp design.

 Mr A used the corner of the sponge as a brush to make squiggle lines. I'm always amazed at the differences in execution of the crafting projects. The use of materials can vary and make such different products. Its so fun to see what happens as they create.

Manipulatives Monday - Giveaway!!

UPDATE: this giveaway is now closed. thank you for your entries. congrats to the winner. I've emailed and you have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected.

Manipulatives Monday

A Giveaway by Mother Goose Time

As a Blog Ambassador for Mother Goose Time, I've been given the opportunity to participate in a giveaway that the company is hosting. You have a chance to win a set or two of these fantastic "toys" by simply reading this post and doing a few easy things at the end...

Now, we've been taking a break from the blogging world for a while and this is the perfect way to get back into it. I was feeling overwhelmed with using curriculum and adapting to having a newborn around. But, now the Little Miss is at an age where I feel like doing MGT again is do-able. So... here it goes... a simple review of one of our favorite aspects of the curriculum... manipulatives, specifically the counters.

We've been using MGT since 2014 and have quite the collection of the counters that came with most of the curriculum kits. I have stored them in a plastic bin on an easy-to-reach shelf and they get TONS of play. Worlds are being created constantly with various scenarios and its great fun listening to what they come up with. Options are endless with these things with the different kinds of "counters" we've gotten.

February 2017's theme is Nursery Rhymes and the manipulatives that were included were these blue and yellow sheep. We love the animal counters! They are among the favorites and they are the first things to be pulled out of the box each month. But anyway, the sheep also have two different sizes; a big and little. I love the quality of these animals. They are a great quality of rubber that can withstand quite a bit of rough play.

These have been used for making patterns.

Also included in this month's kit are wooden lacing shapes. Mr Z got right to work lacing and lining them up for a game of his own. These are great for fine motor practice, (some 3d) shape identification and color sorting.

A few months ago we got a set of stacking cups. Each a different color and numbered. These have been fun for the boys too.

They have been stairs.

They have been color sorting cups and used for counting objects.

They have been houses.

Counters that we've received from various units include vegetables, plastic keys, little people, small medium & large bears, vehicles: dump trucks, fire trucks, boats, planes, trains, bus and animals galore: elephants, cows, horses, rabbits, gorilla, tiger, giraffe to name a few. (And if you're wondering those porcupine balls are not really manipulatives per se from MGT, but they were sent for crafts and painting projects. I just cleaned them and kept them in our plastic bin. Porcupine balls are mostly used as food for the animals or plants in the worlds that the boys create.)
Our animal and vehicle counters have been in water, in the mud, in the sand, hidden for games and loved tremendously. The durable plastic and rubber that is used for them has helped them last for a long time... and that's a good thing with the craziness that happens around here.
We have used these counters for different activities about comparison of features, weight and talking about size.
Side note... we've also gotten other things like plastic shapes, wooden blocks, barrel of hooking monkeys, lacing beads, stacking snap cubes, rubber band boards and all sorts of other good stuff.

We love our counters and would love for you to win some kind of manipulativs of your own.

Remember, I am not sending them out myself... your info will be given to MGT and they will be sending your prize to you directly. I will be contacting you through the email that you leave in the rafflecopter entry for your mailing information. I will be forwarding your information to Mother Goose Time and they will get your prize(s) to you. Your information will not be used for any other purpose.
Winner will be chosen at random from qualifying entries.
I have no idea what they will be sending to you as your prize... but it will probably be super awesome. And if its something that I don't have, I will be jealous. =)
Only residents of the United States will qualify.
Any questions or concerns about your selected surprise item(s) should be directed to Mother Goose Time. Must 18+ years to win. Void where prohibited by law.

Good Luck, I hope you win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Visit my blogger friend's giveaway post over at Gift of Chaos and find the link for more chances to win some fun MGT manipulatives.

This Little Piggy

Nursery Rhymes with Mother Goose Time

These last few months have been a blur, an emotional rollercoaster trying to figure out our new family dynamic. A new born baby in Sept, the oldest starting school in Sept, intense emotional outbursts and all sorts of my own personal issues. I think the last few posts I've written were about our hard times here. I just couldn't blog for awhile. I was overwhelmed... but a few weeks ago, I knew we had to start doing something again. Our Mother Goose Time curriculum was being missed. I had to bring it back. Mr A was missing our together time, especially since he's at school for half of the day and Mr Z has been in a slump where he just wants to watch TV while brother is at school. MGT needed to reappear. So, here we are.... using Mother Goose Time to fill the time instead of watching TV again.

I used to think MGT was just filling the time during the day. But looking back on it, we were making relationships stronger, enjoying company of each other, smiling, laughing... and learning! I suppose it wasn't really the lessons that Mr A missed; it was the time spent with one another.

Yesterday, I told Mr A that after school I would have our first day of MGT ready. He was beyond excited to have MGT back.

This little piggy went to the market

This little piggy stayed home

This little piggy had roast beef

This little piggy had none

This little piggy cried Wee wee wee all the way home

Nursery rhymes are so fun, yet they are something I always forget. I never remember to say them or the words. I've never been able to make them stick in my brain to pull out when the kids need something fun. However this rhyme has come up a bit lately on its own, so it was fitting that it was the rhyme for day 1.

MGT provided a market game. Food cards, an open/closed sign, play dollars and photos for the foam cube. I added dollar amounts to the pictures. The boys took turns rolling the cube to see which food they needed to buy and for how much. I was the cashier. We exchanged food and money for quite awhile. I tried to get Mr A to roll the cube two or three times to practice adding, but he wouldn't. Though the first time he rolled the sandwich priced at $3, he told me on his own, "Here's your $3 for one sandwich, but if I buy two then its $6." Simple math without prompting. Cool. Mr Z did a great job with handing me the right amount of money for his food too. After a few times, they were finished and ready to move on.

Finger puppets: a Make & Play! Punch out piggies, noses and a picture to coordinate with what the piggy does in the poem. I helped Mr Z a little bit and Mr A wanted to make his look like the sample photo.

While the boys were making their puppets, I made a snack. Pigs in a Blanket. They were yummy. The boys were excited about a snack named Pigs in a Blanket, however I was the only one that ate them.

A chenille stem was included and I had no idea how to use it to make the finger puppets. I just taped up the sides. Mr Z went around the house reciting his poem and finding the puppet to match.

Day 1 of a unit always includes nametags for each child. They have different pictures on them and a nice large area for name writing. Mr A can write his own name and Mr Z needs help still. I had the nametags out to practice name writing, but a tussle ensued. A fight over the nametag with the spider on it. So, that was left out and tossed to the side. Arguments are frequent lately and its hard. I'm becoming more firm in learning how to deal with this brothers fighting thing. Its intense sometimes. Anyway, we like the nametags... but had to postpone them until the arguments stop... over a spider picture! How do they get so upset over these weird little things. Oh well.

But, what a fun first day. I know my oldest appreciated having this time set aside to be together. We are starting a bit late in the month... but its worth it. Making this time a priority to be together will hopefully help moods, attitudes and emotional outbursts. We will see. I was super excited to have the yellow box arrive at the doorstep again.

On to day 2...