Goin' Fish

Dash LOVES playing Go- Fish!

We play cards a lot in our house, but Go-Fish is definitely the favorite.

Recently, I've been trying to get Dash to know both his lowercase letters and capital letters, so I thought I'd incorporate it into his favorite card game!
It worked wonderfully :)

I had previously made some letter flashcards that were laminated for him to practice tracing his letters, so I dug them out.  I chose thirteen letters and found both the capital and lowercase cards for them (making 26 cards, total).

We played Go-Fish the traditional way, but in order to make a pair he had to match the lowercase letters with the capital letters.

Then, I got another idea.  Since we have also been practicing letter sounds...

Dash:  "Do you have any cards that say /sss/?"

Me: "Nope, I don't have any 'S' cards.  Go fish!"

Me: "Do you have any cards that make the /buh/ sound?

Dash: "Nope, I don't have any 'B's.  Go fish!"

And, that is how we've been playing Go-Fish!

He gets to practice matching capital and lowercase letters as well as practicing his letter sounds!  But, the best part is- he thinks he is just playing Go-Fish!

Here's a clip!
(I apologize for the horrible sound of my voice- I was sick that day.  And, I apologize for the length of this video.  After the first little bit you should be able to get a feeling for how the game goes!)

If you don't know how to play "Go-Fish", read below:

To play Go-Fish, deal out seven cards to each person. The first person will ask any person that they choose if they have a certain card. If they do they have it, they give it to them and that person gets a match. If they don't have it, they say "Go-Fish" and they have to pick up a card from the deck. If the card they choose from the deck happens to be the card they were asking for, they get to go again.  Each person gets a turn in a clockwise motion. The person with the most matches at the end, wins.

Pinto Beans

Bought a bag of pinto beans at the grocery store the other day :)

Decided to use them with Dash to work on: 

(1) fine motor skills (2) counting (3) letter formation and (4) gluing!

First, I spilled some out on the ground and asked him if he thought he could put twenty of them in a cup using tweezers to pick them up!  

(He loves a challenge)

Got the tweezers in a bug-collecting kit at the grocery store.  They're big and plastic and great for a four year old's hands. 

He got to work on improving his hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and hand muscle strength, but he thought he was just getting to play a game :)

Once he got 20 into a cup, we celebrated.  Then, for the next challenge.

I gave him this piece of paper since we were working on
forming the letter A's that week.

I poured a thin line of glue along the capital 'A' and he got
to press the beans into the glue.

The final product!

Who would have thought tweezers and pinto beans would be fun, huh?

When he gets older we'll have to try chopsticks:)

And for some more ideas regarding fine motor skills and even beans...

The other day we had a playdate at a wonderful creative friend of mine's house.  She had large pairs of kitchen tongs out in the living room.  

Dash and his buddy used the cooking tongs to pick up large lego bricks and bury his friend's little sister's legs as she sat in a laundry basket.  There were three giggling kiddos fully enjoying themselves...and improving their fine motor skills :)

Thought I'd also mention that when I used to teach first and second grade, during our plant units, we would make bean/seed pictures. 
This is a GREAT activity for kids a little bit older :)

I'd go to the store and buy all different sorts of beans

Lima beans, black-eyed peas, green-split peas, pinto beans, black beans, kidney beans, etc.  The more color variety the better!

I would divide them up so that each type of bean was in a different tupperware container for the kids to choose from.

Then, I'd give the kids a simple picture of a flower outline, like this:

...or this:

I would have them glue the beans on and create pictures.  I SOOO wish I had an example to post because they turned out so beautiful!
These students were super creative.

Some would outline the black lines with one color bean and fill the spaces in with another color.  Other students would use black beans to do all the ink lines and then use many different colors to fill in the spaces.  They loved this activity and it was perfect for the six/seven/eight year old range!

So, next time you are at the grocery store....
why not pick up some pinto beans?

Shaving Cream

When I used to teach first grade I would be disgusted
by how dirty the kids' desks got. 

 I mean FILTHY! 

So, we would clean them often.  But, on special occasions when they were already cleaned but I wanted them to shine (i.e. days where their families visited) they would get an extra cleaning treatment.

The students LOVED this method because they got to play while they cleaned.

I would squirt a bunch of the white creamy shaving cream (not the gel) onto their desks and tell them to rub it around.  They'd cover the desk with a layer of the shaving cream and then they could write in it. 

Sometimes we'd practice their spelling words in the shaving cream. 

Sometimes they got to draw pictures. 

But, in the end, we would rub that cream into the desks until it disappeared! 

Then, we'd get a wet paper towel and wipe off the layer of dried cream. 

And, Voila!  Beautiful, shiny, clean desks!

So, fast forward until Dash was about two years old.  He liked to draw.  He liked finger painting.

So, out came the shaving cream!

I put in on our sliding glass door.

He learned to write most the letters in his name with shaving cream on our sliding glass door.

These days, we're practicing how to form letters correctly.

He loves doing this! 

After practicing forming the letter correctly, he can draw and 'finger paint' all he wants.  When he is done, we wipe the glass door down
with some wet washcloths. 

  Clean sliding glass door and practicing writing his letters in one swoop!

The best part is how easy it is to erase and start over. 
Just rub the shaving cream around!

I know what you are thinking...messy, right?

 Really, it isn't bad. 

Just have wet washcloths and/or paper towels next to you
and let the kid go to town!

 If it gets on his/her clothes, it comes off! 

 If it gets on the floor, it wipes off!

Now, here's some tips...

(1) Don't use too much shaving cream!  It takes forever to clean it all up :)

(2) We never start until I have three or four wet washcloths sitting next to us.
Dash likes to clean his hands immediately after finishing and can't wait to make it to the sink, so the washcloths get plenty of use :)

(3) Don't start wiping off the shaving cream with the washcloths until you've "rubbed it in" as much as possible, first.  The shaving cream will get paste-like and almost disappear.

Here's a little clip of Dash practicing making a capital 'A'!

So, go buy some shaving cream and have some fun!

The Learning Box

Dash loves learning.  He loves playing.  He loves games.
A simple learning activity we often do is  "the learning box".

I got the idea when I saw these CHEAP cards at Target on the dollar rack.

Dash was three years old at the time and he was always asking. "What is that?" to everything we passed.  I figured it wouldn't hurt to expose him to knowing what more things were!

So, here's what we did...

First, we had to have some fun making the box.

Yes, he did his messy painting OUTSIDE in the kiddie pool while wearing Daddy's old shirt.

I told him that this was going to be his 'learning box' and I would put pictures inside of it.  The pictures would be of things he could learn about.

Then, I put twelve or thirteen cards in the box without him seeing.  I got him really excited about wanting to see what was in the box. I kept the box up high.  I told him he'd have to wait until the next day to choose a 'learning card' just to build up his anticipation.

The next morning, I told him it was time.  I kept the box just high enough so that he couldn't see inside and had him reach in and grab one card.

We rushed to the couch and I told him to show it to me.
Then, I told him two things: 

First, what the picture was (i.e. the Statue of Liberty) and
Second, one fact about the card (it's in New York).

Now, I'm not crazy.  I realize my three year old doesn't understand half the facts I tell him about these cards.  He doesn't know what 'New York' is.  But, it is kinda fun when he is watching a movie or sees a poster and says,
"Mommy, there's the Statue of Liberty!"
which has happened a few times.  And, it is even more fun when he whispers,
"It's in New York".

No, he doesn't remember half of them.  But, he gets SUPER excited and almost giddy about getting to choose a card.  It's like he won the lottery when he picks one out and peeks to see what it is.  So darn cute!

After he chooses the cards and I tell him about them, we do the next step.
We put the card in a clip.

These, too, I got at Target off the dollar rack.

The picture stays on the magnetic clip in the kitchen
where we see it for weeks.

Then, comes Dash's favorite part.  We play little games to quiz each other on the cards.  I'll be busy doing dishes and I'll say,
"Which picture is of something in New York?"
to which he'll rush over and point to the Statue of Liberty.  Most the time, he'll want to point to a card and then quiz me to see if I remember the name or fact about it (by the way, I usually do remember- hee hee).  But, I love that, too, because it means he is hearing the fact and name of it, again.
Or, I'll be making dinner and he'll come rushing in and say,
"Which picture is a bird that when it spreads its wings the span is as tall as Daddy?"

He loves it :)

We ONLY choose a learning card when Dash initiates it and asks if he can choose a card.
I usually limit it to one or two cards a day.
Once all thirteen clips are full I usually leave the cards up there for a few weeks before putting new cards into the learning box.

So, this silly little 'learning box' activity we do allows us to hear some daily conversations that sound like this:

Neighbor:  "I'm heading out to the desert this weekend."
Dash: "Scorpions are in the desert.  Be careful!"

Dash: "Daddy, what is that noise?"
Daddy:  "A cricket."
Dash:  "Oh.  A cricket's ears are on its knees, Daddy."

Or when I am on Facebook writing on a friend's wall and
her profile picture has the
Leaning Tower of Pisa behind her and Dash says,
"Look, Mommy!  The Leaning Tower of Pizza!"