Our Mother Goose Time curriculum box was full of so many fun activities this month. We started to get back into the groove of things. Next month I will have to share some tips on how I go through the box to find the activities that will work for B-Mouse and the ones that will work from L-Bug! You can check out my post from last week to see how I created the perfect busy bags for L-Bug to do during quiet time. Shape PlayB-Mouse had a blast with these fun foam shapes! She is learning "in"... cleaning up toys by putting them in a bin, picking up her laundry and putting them into the basket, so naturally putting these foam shapes into the small bin was right on track to reinforce this topic! In they eyes of a toddler everything that goes in, must come out. Normally when I have her put things "in" I ask her not to dump them out because it's during clean up time. So B-Mouse was thrilled that she got to dump these little foam shapes all over the table! Some other ways I used the foam shapes with B-Mouse was to talk about colors! The hearts came in three colors: red, green and yellow. For older kiddos you could play a sorting game. You could have them sort the hearts by color into the three baskets. You could also have them sort the shapes by small or big. I didn't get to snap a picture, but L-Bug used the heart shapes on a pattern mat that came this month. Then she created patterns of her own! It was a great quite time activity for her to do :) WritingThere were so many great activities in this month's kit! L-Bug really loved practicing her cursive writing on the name tag. She started learning cursive this year during first grade. We've been using the New American Cursive book and it has been an amazing tear free tool! It has helped L-Bug grow to love cursive writing. For B-Mouse I wrote her name with a sharpie in print. Then I have her the name tag to let her color on. I kept pointing to the letters and saying their phonetic sound. I also helped her trace the letters in her name. She wasn't a big fan of mommy holding her crayon... we only got through three letters!
But she sure does love to color.
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One thing I love about our Mother Goose Time subscription is that the curriculum comes with just about everything we need. Aside from crayons, scissors, glue and simple items like that all of the other materials are prepped for you. Our curriculum box is used by a oNe YeAr old (yes B-Mouse had a birthday) and an almost sIx yEaR old (just a few more weeks, till L-Bug's birthday). We only need one curriculum kit because there are a lot of activities that B-Mouse just isn't quite old enough for. These adorable Make & Play activities are just one example of a project that she wouldn't quite get. However, they are the perfect quiet time, art activity for big sis to do! Since L-Bug is a first grader there are lots of things she can do on her own now. She loves art AND she loves imaginative play so these activities are fun for her. I've adapted the idea just a little bit so that she can do it more independently. Using the Make & Play activities I was able to set up enough busy bags for L-Bug to do all month long. I did this at the same time as I went through the curriculum setting up B-Mouse's activities. The only thing I needed that didn't come in the MGT box were ziplock bags. I used 1/2 gallon ziploc bags and everything fit perfectly. We have been just sticking the bags back into an art drawer once a project is done, that way I can reuse them when I set up for next month. I used the art materials from each Make& Play activity. The materials are all in the bag, but some "tools" may be missing. L-Bug has her own box of crayons, pencils, markers, scissors, glue, tape, etc... If she pulls out a busy bag she can take a look at the materials and the card and then decide how to make the project. By not putting all of the tools inside the busy bags L-Bug gets to be more creative. She has to use critical thinking and problem solving skills to think through how to do the project and what she will need to use. It is also really helpful to me because then I don't have to worry about adding anything later. Once these bags are set up they are done! Adding these cards from the "My Creative Mind" page into the busy bags had two purposes. 1) It made it easy for L-Bug to identify which busy bag went with which project. She just has to match the pictures. 2) L-Bug loves to read! She likes to reads what the card says. Every time she has finished a project she comes and tells me what she read on the card, what she can do with her project and we talk about the "ask me" prompt. The Make & Play cards (shown in bottom on left) I keep in a card box. When L-Bug is ready to do a quiet time art activity (usually when little sister is napping) she can look through the cards and then choose which one she wants to make. Inside of a reused school bus box I have all of the materials (along with a matching card from the "My Creative Mind" pages) inside of the busy bags! L-Bug looks through the Make & Play cards, decides which one she wants to do, then goes and finds the matching busy bag. Once L-Bug has finished her project and has gotten a chance to tell me all about it, we go to the monthly theme poster and I have her tell me which topic it would fall under. This helps bring the activity full circle and back into the thematic study. At the start of the month while I'm doing set up work for B-Mouse I chat with L-Bug about the theme for the month. I ask her questions to find out what her understanding of the weekly topics are. That way as I go through my lessons with B-Mouse I can gauge how to also include and challenge L-Bug. So far these busy bags have been a blast! B-Mouse takes her nap and I typically use that time to get cleaning done. So having a quiet activity that L-Bug can lead herself through is a win for this mama!
So, I will admit.... I feel like I have seriously slacked this time around. This was one of the first sensory activities I have really set up for B-Mouse to do! Just another reminder of why I decided to start this tot-school journey again. I love that the Mother Goose Time curriculum has started incorporating STEAM Stations! We had activities similar to this before, but I love that they mindfully incorporate activities that lead the kids to learn about the world around them in a hands on way.
Before realizing that the shapes were hiding in the grains B-Mouse needed to taste test all of the grains. She spit out the oats and the rice, but was digging all around for the cheerios! And of course the shapes had to be tasted too.... It is very important to note that these manipulatives are meant for older children. If you are planning to do tot-school I highly suggest you keep a close eye on your little one while they are playing with any of the pieces. They are a choking hazard. Grain Discovery was a hit! It was fun to have some sensory time with B-Mouse. Here are some more fun snippets from the week! Coloring pages and the letter A. These card were meant to be turned into a booklet, but I know B-Mouse will pull them apart immediately.
If we can manage to keep the cards intact I am going to get a laminate roll and use them as matching cards. All of the letter A cards can get put in a pile :) ,,I was so excited when that little yellow school bus showed up on the front porch! L-Bug was so excited to dig into the box with me and start exploring all the materials. She was checking out the Getting Started guide and spotted an old friend. She said, "mom isn't this KK?"
We worked together on setting up our school area. It's fun to add a little character back into our school routine! Mother Goose has a bright sunny window to hang out in along with our alphabet grass, weather sign and number tree. L-Bug helped me cut all the grass and put it up.
We had one last addition to our school space and I had to snap a picture of it. Many of you may remember my DIY interactive magnet board from my FCC home. Well, we don't have as large of a space as we once did so I found this great magnetic board to put up! AND I am so in love with these amazing story time pieces. They are so cute and very sturdy! I know they will be a hit with B-Mouse.
After a nearly two year pause from Mother Goose Time, I am so excited to announce that we will be resuming our MGT journey. This time around is going to look different than before though. When we took our pause in early spring of 2017, I was closing up my Family Child Care Home and preparing our family for some big changes! Since that time, we moved (twice), got pregnant and had a baby (who is turning one in two weeks), began and finished Kindergarten with our oldest (and we are now in the last semester of her First Grade year)! So many changes.... Those of you who remember our start with Mother Goose Time remember the days before I had a part-day preschool. It was just a tiny-tot and I! L-Bug was the star of the show as we shared our experiences learning with Mother Goose Time. This time around L-Bug is a budding first grader. She started Kindergarten at 4 1/2 years old. She has continued to grow and learn in amazing ways! She is now in the last semester of her first grade year. She attends a rigorous private school where she goes to classes two days a week on campus and then has home studies the rest of the week. She is on track to complete this year with straight A's. I truly attribute a lot of her "advancements" to the fact that we started tot-school young. Mother Goose Time provided us with an amazing opportunity to foster a love for learning. Now that L-Bug is in the first grade I won't be using the Mother Goose Time curriculum for her main lesson plans. However, I have plans to incorporate some extra fun back into her lessons using MGT. We didn't start back up with MGT for L-Bug.
I can't wait to share this experience with you all. These are some adventures you don't want to miss!
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Disclaimer: I am an affiliate blogger. In some cases I will make a commission from external links leading to purchases. Thank you for your support to my blog! Your purchases help this mama stay at home with the kiddos and continue doing what we love.
Proud supporter of Mother Goose Time curriculum!All the posts in this blog are from real life experiences. We've taken the activities and materials provided in the Mother Goose Time curriculum and modified it in different ways to fit our lifestyle. Enjoy the read!
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December 2023
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