Fun With Clouds

I started watching a friend’s little boy this week. This has helped me to be more intentional with my plans with Josiah. I decided to add a little more structure to our mornings, doing activities that the boys and Lexy can enjoy and learn from. This week, we focused on CLOUDS!

SENSORY TUB

I was so excited to come across some fun sensory tub ideas at Counting Coconuts. I followed her example and used:

-blue aquarium rocks for the sky

-cotton balls for the clouds

-rainbow pom poms

-silver pipe cleaners shaped like lightning bolts

-orange felt sun

-clear rocks (like the kind in floral departments) for hail

-blue beads for rain

I also added some toy airplanes and helicopters. Also, we used cds with storm and rain sounds while they played.

All three of them had LOADS of fun playing with this tub. There was a lot of pretend play…the planes had to land when the lightning came, ect. They also spend lots of time scooping and pouring.

I also used them time to talk to them about texture. The boys found things that were hard and soft. They also came up with words to describe the feeling of the pipe cleaners.

BOOKS and ACTIVITIES
I wish I would’ve taken a picture of the three of them sitting on the couch each day waiting for the story of the day. They were so cute. Each day we focused on a different book.

It Looked Like Spilt Milk – by Charles G. Shaw

The boys helped me to “read” this book by telling me what each cloud looked like. Afterwards, they made their own “It Looked Like” picture. I put white paint on blue construction paper. They used straws to blow (like wind) the clouds into different shapes. Then, they told me what their cloud looked like.

I wish I would’ve taken pictures of the final products. They turned out cute. We had two “It Looked Like a Butterfly” pictures and one “It Looked Like an Ice cream Cone” picture.

After a lot of blowing, they decided to paint clouds with cotton balls.

I worked on number recognition and counting with the boys with a simple game. They placed the correct number of raindrops on the clouds 1-5.

Little Cloud – By Eric Carle

This was another easy books for the boys to help “read.” After we read the book, we had our first ever, EDIBLE SENSORY TUB! So much fun! This idea came from Delightful Learning.

Each child got their own tub of whipped cream. I would’ve like to have them help make their own, but never got to the store to get what I needed. They used their whipped cream to make their own cloud shapes.

After a bit, I added some black food coloring to a little of their whipped cream so that they could create some storm clouds. It them became evident who was eating her project!

Science Experiment

I found this fun idea at 2 Teaching Mommies. After talking about what clouds are, Lexy predicted what happens when a cloud gets full. Prior to the experiment, Lexy felt the cotton ball and described it as light, soft, and dry.

Next, she dripped water onto the cotton ball until it felt full. She described it as heavy, soft and wet.

Then she squeezed the cotton ball, and IT RAINED!

Fine Motor Skills
They had fun working on their fine motor skills by transferring cotton balls with tongs.

Lexy decided to make a birthday cake out of cotton balls

Sequencing

They put storm clouds in order from Smallest to Biggest.

The Cloud Book – By Tomie de Paola

After reading about the different kinds of clouds, we went outside to observe clouds. Fortunately, we had a little break in all the rain. Unfortunately, the ground was too wet to lie in the grass to cloud gaze.

They also painted the clouds that they saw.

Music Time

A few times this week, I turned on some music and let them use instruments and jump around the room. I found a song on our “Hymns for Kids” cd called An Unclouded Day. After replaying it LOTS of times, we talked about that unclouded day we will have someday in Heaven!

Shapes in the Sky – By Josepha Sherman
Again, we talked about the different types of clouds. Then, they made a picture collage of the types using cotton balls.

We made a cloud in a bottle!
(picture coming soon)

We blew cotton balls with straws!

We walked on clouds! I was hoping to have a fogging day so that we could literally walk on clouds. That didn’t happen, so I had to improvise.
(picture coming soon)

Other Books we Used:

It’s Cloudy – By Julie Richards

Clouds – By Anne Rockwell

All in all, we had a very FUN and FULL week. Besides cloud activities, there was time for playing blocks, reading, playing outside, even a royal wedding… and much more!

To see what other preschoolers are up to, be sure to check out the Preschool Corner.

The Human Body: Digestive System

We really have been doing more than Bible and Science around here. I just can't seem to find the time or the energy to blog about it...hopefully soon! However, I do want to update on our study of the human body. It is so fun to hear Lexy dialouge with Josiah about the things that she is learning. She will say things like, "Look, here is a joint. It helps you bend." Or, "Josiah, drink your milk so that you can get calcium to make your bones strong." Sometimes the dialouge is much longer as she tries to describe different processes of the body to him. It is cute to hear her version of what she has learned.

Our study this week took us through the digestive system, and Lexy was fascinated. Once again, most of her learning happened through looking at pictures in Human Body books and talking about them. Here is a list of a few books that we used:

1. The Digestive System by Darlene R. Stille - This book was written in simple enough language that Lexy could comprehend. There were a few parts that went into a little more detail than she was interested in.
2. Eating Right by Elizabeth Vogel
3. The Quest to Digest by Mary K. Corcoran - This book is definitely geared toward older kids, but the illustrations and the way in which it was written grabbed her attention.

Before reading the books or doing any experiments, I asked Lexy where the food that she ate went to. She pointed to her leg. She later found out that she was partly correct. When food travels through the small intestines, the nutrients from the food are absorbed into the bloodstream and taken all through the body.

Experiments:

We talked about whether we could still digest food if we were upside down. How could it to down? We hung upside down while eating a cracker to investigate. She discovered that the food still went down.To show why, we took a tube of toothpaste (I had to remind myself that this wasn't wasting since it was being used for an experiment) and squeezed it. We turned it both ways and watched the toothpaste come out. The esophagus is much like the tube. It is a muscle that pushes the food the direction that it needs to go.

Lessons Learned:

1. Food travels through the body through the digestive system.
2. The digestive system is made up of the esophagus, stomach, small intestines, and large intestines. She can point these out on a diagram.
3. The stomach churns food and mixes it with "stomach juices" which break the food down.
4. Nutrients from the foods go all through the body.
5. Food that can't be digested exits the body.
6. To prevent germs from getting onto the foods we eat, we should wash our hands before we eat.
7. You can help foods move through the digestive system by eating plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Next week, we will wrap up our study of the human body by looking at the brain (not literally).

Other Human Body Lessons:
1. Muscles
2. Bones and Lungs
3. The Five Senses, The Heart, and Book List
4. Introduction

Human Body: Muscles

There is not much to share about our study of muscles. Most of our learning came through reading, looking at pictures in books, and short discussions.

Video:
We also watched a short video from kidshealth.org. There is a whole section on "How the Body Works." We watched the section on muscles. It is definitely geared toward older kids, but Lexy still enjoyed watching it. For some reason it will not let me link to it, or I would



Experiments:

I showed Lexy how to "make a muscle." She put one hand on her bicep and flexed. By doing this, she was able to feel her muscle with her other hand.

Then, we also took turns looking at the muscles in our legs. While wearing shorts, I stood on my tiptoes so that she could see the muscle at work in my calf. Then, she did the same.

We also took some time to stretch our muscles. Her favorite part, by far, was exercising her muscles!
Lessons learned about muscles:

1. Muscles are attached to bones by tendons.
2. We use muscles every time we move.
3. Some muscles are voluntary - we have to make them move.
4. Other muscles work without us doing anything - like our heart.
5. Our muscles become stronger the more we use them.

Other lessons on the Human Body:

1. Bones and Lungs
2. 5 Senses, Heart, and Book List
3. Introduction

A Mother's Day Tradition

This Mother's Day marked our 2nd annual "Operation Plant the Garden." Lexy has been looking forward to this for several weeks. I'd have to say, that I have been looking forward to it too. It is fun to get the whole family involved in the planting, watch it grow, and reap the benefits (salsa!) this summer!

Of course, Lexy wants to know why we can't plant a garden like this in our own backyard. I'm not sure if my excuse is good enough for her. I'm simply not up to keeping up with a garden. We very much enjoy helping with Mamaw and Papaws garden...and they generously share with us!

While waiting for the planting to begin, Lexy and Mamaw weeded other areas of the yard.


"Man's work..."
Last year, Lexy enjoyed the digging and planting. This year, watering was way more fun. As soon as a plant was in the ground, she was there with the watering can.


Stepping on the big shovel was fun, though.

Planting...

Everyone's got a job to do!

Watering...again...with Daddy.

Josiah slept through the gardening; however, he woke up and got to see baby birds in a nest.

Can't have all work with no play!

Corn Hole competition

A little driver's ed in Papaw's cars...

I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day!

Human Body Unit - 5 Senses, The Heart, and Book List

After about a week of exploring and reading our books on the human body, we finally delved into our studies more this week. I found many ideas from Refined Metals Academy.

Our Big Ideas:
1. We were created uniquely and with wisdom by God.
2. Our bodies are made up of parts that we can see (external) and parts we can't see (internal)
3. Each part has a specific function
4. We need to take care of our bodies by eating healthy foods, exercising, and getting plenty of rest.
5. Our 5 senses help us explore the world that God gave us.


The Five Senses:

We began our talk about the five senses by reading "My Five Senses" by Aliki. Then we had fun using our five senses!

touch: First, Lexy described how each of the textures felt on this Touch and Match board from Discount Supply. She used words such as: soft, bumpy, scratchy, hard, smooth, etc.

sight: She used the same board to match the circles to the correct spot on the board using her sense of sight.

hearing: We played a game using these Listen and Match wooden shakers from Discount Supply. We took turns shaking the boxes and listening to see if they were matches.


We also put on jingle bells and danced around the room to a Kindermusik cd. She loved the sound of the bells as we danced and skipped!

five senses art: We traced and cut a gingerbread man shape from sandpaper. She glued the gingerbread man onto a piece of paper. Then, she used a cinnamon stick to color the gingerbread man. Next, she decorated the gingerbread man with buttons and drew facial features onto him.

All five senses are covered in this little project! She tasted and smelled the cinnamon stick. As she colored with the cinnamon stick onto the rough sandpaper, she could hear the scratching sound. She saw the difference in color when she rubbed the cinnamon on the sandpaper. Lastly, she could feel the difference between the rough and smooth paper.

The Heart:

Our science experiment for the heart came from "Play and Learn about the Human Body." We took a balloon and filled it with water (colored red to look like blood). We placed a straw in the balloon to represent the aorta. Lexy lightly squeezed the balloon to represent the pumping that our hearts do. She saw how the pumping pushed the water out of the balloon, just as our heart pumps blood out and into our bodies. She really enjoyed this experiment and asked to do it several more times!

She learned that our hearts are muscles that grow as we get bigger. Our hearts are about the size of our fist.

She listened to Daddy's heart when he was relaxed.

Then, they both ran and jumped around for 1 minute. Afterwards, she listened to Daddy's heart again. She noticed that it was beating much faster. She also said that if felt as if her heart were going to pound out of her body.

She made a homemade stethoscope using a paper plate, aluminum foil, yarn, and one cup cut from an egg carton. She cut the inside from the paper plate and decorated it with stickers. Then, we covered the egg carton cup with aluminum foil and attached it to the plate using yarn. It turned out cute. She used it to listen to her stuffed animals' hearts.
She also used the stethoscope from her doctor's kit to listen to Josiah's heart. It actually looked really well!

She also learned that exercise is good for the heart!

lessons learned about the heart:

1. The heart is a muscle about the size of your fist

2. The heart pumps blood that carries oxygen throughout the body.

3. Blood travels through veins and arteries.

4. We can see our veins in our wrists and our arteries under our tongues.

5. Veins look blue and arteries look red.

6. Exercise is good for the heart.



Our Human Body Book List: These are the books that we've read or that I've got some ideas from for our unit.

1. The Busy Body Book by Lizzy Rockwell - A Kid's Guide to Fitness

2. Play and Find Out about the Human Body by Janice VanCleave's - Easy Experiments for Young Children - This is a great resource for simple experiments!

3. Why can't I Eat Just Candy? - by Ruth Thomson

4. Me and My Amazing Body by Joan Sweeney - This has been our favorite so far!

5. What's Inside? My Body?

6. The Human Body - Disney Learning

7. The Senses by John Gaskin

8. My Five Senses by Aliki

Next week we plan on covering the lungs and bones!