Preschool Master List

March 2, 2014Leave a comment

I read a lot of kid activity blogs and other preschool related things…I decided to bring a lot of what I read and pull it together in a large category list. Here it is. Feel free to comment if you want any elaborations.

Sensory

dough like
water/liquid
dry goods
texture materials
smelling
tasting
hearing

Build

blocks, tower
legos
tracks

Fine Motor:

re-fill and empty
cutting
snaps/buttons
string
sewing

Gross Motor:

sports
exercise
movement

Matching and Categorizing

colors
shapes
puzzles
size
location

Art

collage (contact paper)
markers
crayons
watercolor
tempura paint
chalk
glue and paper
photography
cutting/paper folding
sculpting/constructing

Language

read-to
identify to read
writing letters
spelling words
constructing stories

Imaginative

small worlds
dress-up
mimic/pretent

Music

listen
create
dance

Math:

recognize numbers
count
arithmetic

Social Studies:

follow directions
interact with others
games
geography
history

Practical Life:

time
care of self
care of environment

Science

experiments
cooking
botany
zoology

Quiet Time

February 28, 2014Leave a comment

Photo by PB

This is what my house looks like when I do things like post blog entries. And it is how our lives have been lately: pretty low key.

Family Pictures

February 22, 20142 Comments

Apparently my Family is not photogenic. I wanted a new family picture for my wall so I had my sister take some pictures…We didn’t spend a whole lot of time trying, because all of us were done pretty quickly. Observe.

This one is just a little awkward.

It’s not getting any better.

Some were just a bit painful.

Or devoid of real happiness.

Say cheese!

Someone likes funny faces

Hey, this one actually looks great!

Come on, a teeny smile?

Okay, that’s not really what I want.

And that isn’t a smile PB

You guys just want to stop don’t you.

I still love my boys even if we can’t get a decent picture.

Funny Kids

February 20, 20142 Comments

I found C outside sitting at the top of the hill on a sled. There hasn’t been snow there for quite some time.

Although an early spring is nice, I also wouldn’t mind some more time to sled. The kids have been riding tricycles down the hill instead.

We were looking at the calender, and I told PB it was President’s Day. He then tried to correct me, “Present’s Day was yesterday.” We had a birthday party for Grandma the day before.

We were watching a Piano Guys video. PB ask, “Who sang the song.”
I said, “The Piano Guys.”
PB said, “No, who sings the song with the words.” He meant the original song the Piano Guys were remixing. I didn’t know. He said, “It’s One Republic.” He was right. My kid knows music better than me.

Vacation Across the Desert

February 13, 2014Leave a comment

After a year of work, my husband finally got a vacation. We took a short trip out west to visit our twin siblings. (We are both twins: my twin sister is in Nevada, Joe’s twin brother recently moved near Sacramento.) It was a short and fun vacation.

But not without mishaps. We ran out of gas 25 miles east of Wendover. It was a combined effort of stupidity. After a short, tense wait, we found a tow guy and payed $20 per gallon of gas. I was hope that would be all, but it was not to be. Our tire went flat on the way to Sacramento. Luckily it didn’t happen until after the snowstorm, and our spare made it the rest of the way. We did have to buy a new tire to replace a two week old tire. Turns out the hazard insurance was well worth it, though at the time it didn’t seem like we would be keeping the car long enough.

I’m still not done. At Denny’s, I was enjoying my meal, but the food apparently hated me and prevented me from inhaling. After a few moments, I realized that I would rather breathe normally, and Joe successfully rescued me. I was fine, although a bit embarrassed.

Because sitting around talking, playing games and shooting Nerf guns gets a little old, we also went adventuring. First stop was the Discovery Museum in Reno. It was one of my favorite museums I’ve been to, there was lots to keep everyone entertained including brain puzzles that had me stumped. In Sacramento we went to the Zoo and Fairytale land, which were both fun.

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We had a great time. The warm weather in Sacramento made me realize how nice spring is. We had left our home in a snowstorm: but when we got back there was next to no snow. It feels like spring. And I realized I’m not quite ready for spring. I still want to sled and snowshoe and peruse seed catalogs.

Peace Outside

February 4, 20141 Comment

I don’t quite get using winter as an excuse to stay inside. Sure winter is cold, so you can’t just throw the door open and go outside in bare feet and whatever you happen to be wearing. And sometimes it takes awhile to get boots/jackets/mittens and whatever else everybody needs on and get out the door. We also never quite stay outside as long as when it is warmer either. But ultimately I love playing outside in the winter just as much as any other season. We go outside nearly everyday. And we don’t limit our excursions: this week we’ve gone sledding, played at a park, gone disc golfing, splashed in puddles, played basketball, shoveled snow.

In winter, the ground is covered in snow. Plants are bare or have lost all their color, there isn’t tons of people out and about. Winter is peace and rest. I would hate to stay inside and miss the sweet calm and solitude I feel when I got outside.

Crystal Gardens

January 31, 2014Leave a comment

What looks like a fun science project in pictures was actually a bit of a nightmare. There’s nothing hard about what we did. We combined equal amounts of Epsom salts and warm water and put it in the fridge. The next day we had crystal gardens, that are still holding up almost a week later.

What pictures don’t show is the half cup of Epsom salt spilled on the floor. And then, after that was mostly cleaned up, a puddle of broken mason jar, water and salt.

The results of our experiment are: don’t involve a toddler.

At the Hill Aerospace Museum

January 29, 2014Leave a comment

World Map

January 23, 2014Leave a comment

I’ve been recently try to integrate more Montessori methods in my school. It somewhat can get expensive and complicated, but they also have some great ideas and materials. I recently put together this Montessori-inspired world map.

I used material I had on hand. My template came from Imagine Our Life, who has a more awesome version on her site. I used Velco stuck to the foam board to make it a puzzle. PB is already interested in geography: one of his favorite computer games is to look around on Google earth. He’s enjoyed this map and it was pretty easy to make.

School Projects

January 21, 2014Leave a comment

One of our big projects for school was moving the school room downstairs. Previously, we had been using the downstairs living area as a master bedroom. It was the only way we could sleep near the kids. But we decided with a baby monitor and kids that usually sleep through the night it didn’t matter that much. The upstairs attic room makes an awesome master bedroom, and the downstairs living area makes an awesome school room. It was a good move. (Minus the occasional two-flight of stairs in the middle of the night to adjust Mr. C’s blankets and tell him to go back to sleep.)

Now we can paint on already paint-stained tile:

I’ve been picking red a lot to paint with it, and I have no idea why. It reminds me far too much of blood and has the greatest tendency to stain. I do like only giving the kids one color to paint with, it is just a little more simple.

The kids also made a cool hat with piper cleaners and a colander.

Now Mr. C is going to time travel past his whiny, crying far too often stage. (Or I can hope. He is a sweet kid, just recently he is discovering he wants things he can’t get and he doesn’t like it.) Speaking of wanting things, nothing gets the kids into the kitchen like announcing that I am making cookies. They love, adore, and nearly worship cookies. Here is Mr. C covered in cookie dough.

One final picture of a contact paper collage. The collage was worked and re-worked for a couple of weeks. PB is now old enough to cut out his own shapes too.

Liz Braithwaite

Category: Life