I recently read an article on the play versus learning dichotomy in early childhood education (and shared it with my facebook friends). If you are not familiar with this topic, give it a read, but I'll try to describe it briefly.
Should early childhood education programs focus their attention on play or direct instruction in "academic" areas like math and reading? With the increased pressure for students in elementary schools to meet mandated standards, many educators worry that early childhood programs will place less value on play and focus their attention on skills needed to succeed on statewide tests and assessments.
The author of the article I linked to above argues that it shouldn't be an either/or dichotomy; that both play and direct instruction serve an important purpose in early childhood classrooms.
And, I tend to agree. Baby bookworm is not in a formal classroom, and will probably not be in one until she reaches preschool. While we do many activities and lessons that have a clear learning agenda, I always try to give her time in the day to play. I try to find a balance between "learning" and play. And as I write this last sentence I see how strange this topic is....because play involves learning, too!!
What skills do children gain through play? Here are just a FEW things. This is not an all-inclusive list, but hopefully gives you an idea of the importance of play in the development of babies and toddlers.
1) Language Skills.
When you and your child play "kitchen" together (or engage in any other type of pretend play) - think of all of the varied language that you use. "Now, take the spatula and flip the pancake (child does the action). OK, great. Now pick up the chopping board over there behind the microwave. We're going to chop up some fruit to have with breakfast." Pretend play (as opposed to playing with manipulatives such as puzzles) provides a fabulous way to expand your child's language skills because more varied language is often used.
2) Pre-Reading Skills.
Try reenacting your favorite story. Not only will it be fun, but you will be teaching your child the important connection between written and spoken language - which will help in learning to read.
3) Gross Motor Skills.
Playing at your child's favorite playground is a great way to get him to release all that energy and take a nice long nap. True. But, it's also a fabulous way to build gross motor skills. All that running, jumping, and climbing (or crawling) is well-needed practice. Throwing a ball or kicking one is also great for coordination and balance, too.
4) Listening Skills.
Do you often sing playful songs together? Babies and toddlers love to do fingerplays, or read books that have songs that go with them (see my recent post for an example). The bonus is that this type of play builds listening skills.
5) Social Skills.
While true joint play may not develop until preschool years, babies and toddlers are learning important prosocial behaviors early on. For instance, young children learn to imitate their peers, recognize other children's expressions and feelings and imitate or identify them, and learn about turn taking and sharing. Finally, play is a great way for a child to learn about conflict and how to resolve it.
Given the importance of play in development of skills, how do you incorporate play into your child's routine?
Well, one way we have been trying to incorporate play in our lives, given the colder weather in our neck of the woods, is by visiting local indoor gyms or museums.
Recently, we discovered The Little Treehouse play cafe in Chestnut Hill, and have been spending our rainy and cold afternoons doing some play-based learning in the comfort of their modern-style play room. The nice thing about this place is that it's incredibly baby and toddler friendly, but preschool-aged children would enjoy it as well. There's a small slide, lots of pretend and manipulative toys, an adorable playhouse with lots of comfy pillows inside, and even some books. Since it's a cafe, you can grab something to eat and let your child explore. A nice concept, if you ask me. It's even BYOB. If you live in the greater Philly area, you should check it out, especially if you are looking to do some play-based learning in the company of others.
So my post cannot be complete, of course, without mentioning at least one book. This week we came across a new book at the library called A Few Blocks by Cybele Young. It's a tale of two kids and how they use their wild imaginations while they journey a few blocks to school. I thought it was appropriate for this post - imagination makes even the simple things more enjoyable!
I'm happy to introduce my very first guest post, written by Ms Maria who has been a preschool teacher for nearly 30 years. She has taught in a private preschool setting and for the Head Start program.
Today she shares with us a quick lesson that she uses in her classroom to help strengthen young childrens' knowledge of colors, shapes, and counting.
In my classroom I use this activity with the children to introduce several learning concepts in the same lesson.
We begin by reading a Donald Crews book called School Bus. It tells of the travels of school buses in the course of a day. It is a book that I generally read at the beginning of the school year since children are just becoming accustomed to riding the big yellow bus all on their own.
Following the story, we do a school bus project that incorporates math skills.
What you will need to do this project:
1. Black, red, yellow, blue, and green construction paper
2. Scissors
3. A glue stick
Prior to doing the project with your students or child, you will need to cut the yellow paper into the shape of a bus. Then cut out 1 blue rectangle for the door of the bus; cut out 2 black circles for the wheels; cut out 3 green squares for windows; cut out 4 small red triangles for lights. If your child is older you can also add an octagon for the stop sign.
Once you have everything cut out, you can then begin the project with the child. The child will glue each object onto the yellow bus. While doing so, ask the child a few questions such as: "Where does the door belong?" or "Where do the wheels go?"
Don't forget to review the colors and shapes of each object with your child, and to count everything as you go along!
A school bus project that teaches colors, shapes, and counting
You can even follow up the activity with another story. My favorite is Wheels on the Bus because my students enjoy it so much.
As usual, baby bookworm and I are still attending our weekly toddler storytime at our local library. This Fall they have added a craft at the beginning of the storytime that is in line with the theme for the day. I like the idea of the craft very much because it adds more meaning for the kids to the stories being read (not to mention interest too, because let's face it, 11 moms with their toddlers in a room can get a little crazy sometimes).
So, at our last storytime, we made a dog puppet (I would share a picture, but it got lost somewhere in the storytime room!?). He was cute, although, baby bookworm wasn't so interested in the coloring part of the activity as in the gluing part. All of the toddlers then used their dog puppets in the rhymes and stories for the day.
Of course, after storytime we had to check out as many books as our little canvas bag could carry. Here are a few that are particularly noteable in my humble opinion.
And, as a way to make these take-home stories more meaningful to baby bookworm too, I paired them with a bunch of activities!
This is a story about a little girl, Nancy, who likes everything to be fancy - from her bedroom, to her dolls, to her food. She even likes French because everything in French sounds fancy! What I love about this book is that it uses lots of "fancy" words like plume, fushia, tiara, and stupendous (can you say a vocabulary lesson in disguise?). As a little girl this book would have been one of my favorites, and as a mom I don't mind reading it 10 times a day at all! Nancy is an adorable, lovable character who is full of spunk, attitude, and personality.
Not sure why we hadn't checked out this book earlier because baby bookworm is such a girly girl. And not surprisingly, Fancy Nancy has become her new best friend. "Ooh, la, la" has also become the expression of the week.
Do I think a little boy would love Fancy Nancy just as much? I'm honestly not sure. But it can't hurt to try. At the very least he may develop an appreciation for the "fancier" things in life, and learn a few new words.
Activities we did based on this book:
Since Fancy Nancy is full of fun, fancy vocabulary words, I came up with a few arts and craft projects to really help baby bookworm understand these words from this book even more.
We made a Fancy Nancy puppet with a boa
Fancy Nancy puppet- we used construction paper for the face; crayons to
decorate; pipe cleaners wrapped around a finger made the curly hair; glittery
foam paper made the crown; and feathers made the BOA
We decorated our own tiara
The TIARA was made from a crown bought at a craft store; we used stickers, feathers,
and pom poms to decorate
We made a plume
We made a PLUME pencil from colored feathers and
masking tape.
I kid you not - she now asks for her PLUME to write with.
A Gerald and Piggie Book. Another cute one. Oh, wait, they all are cute. Why? Because kids love these characters, and parents love the somewhat adult humor. I Will Surprise My Friend is a book exactly about what the title suggestions. These two best friends decide to surprise each other by a rock (each sitting on one side, not seeing the other), only to realize that maybe it wasn't such a great idea after all. What I love about this book is how each character's personality shines......you have the worry wort Gerald who is polar opposite to happy-go-lucky Piggie.
I think it's safe to say that baby bookworm loves all Mo Willems' books, especially those from the Gerald and Piggie series.
Well, since the Mo Willems books are generally checked OUT of the library, when I saw ANOTHER one on the shelf, I had to (of course) get it too. My Friend is Sad is about Piggie's adventures in trying to cheer up his good ol' pal Gerald, who is sad. Piggie tries everything - dressing up as a clown, cowboy, and a robot - but nothing works. When Piggie shows up, though, Gerald finally shows his happy face. There is an adult level of humor to this book, too, which makes it clever and fun for both adults and children alike.
Baby bookworm has grown to love this humorous duo to say the least!
Activities we did based on these books:
At an age when tantrums are common (I wouldn't know anything plenty about that), these books provide a great opportunity to talk about feelings and to build communication skills in toddlers.
We talked about what the characters in each book were feeling at particular moments; I pointed out Piggie and Gerald's expressions and how that corresponded to their feelings; we also talked about what actions contributed to each character's feelings
We made a list of different feelings (I kept it fairly simple, though): Happy, Sad, Surprised, Angry, Excited, and Shy and we talked about things that make baby bookworm feel each emotion. For example, baby bookworm feels sad when she doesn't get an oreo cookie, and excited when she goes swimming or to the library.
Lastly, we cut pictures of faces with different expressions out of magazines; we glued the faces on popcicle sticks and filed them in a feelings folder. Next time baby bookworm throws a tantrum, I plan on getting them out so she can show me how she feels.
Baby bookworm gluing her faces on the popcicle sticks
I added labels on the sticks. We found happy, sad, shy, angry, excited, and surprised.
please, baby, please
by Spike Lee & Tonya Lewis Lee, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
This is a tale that most parents of a toddler can probably relate to; it takes the reader through the joys and the frustrations of a single day bringing up a baby who is on the move. How many times in a day do you say "Please baby please?" The vibrant and detailed illustrations in this book really brings the story to life.
Baby bookworm thinks this book is funny because the toddler does all the things she's not supposed to do. I don't THINK she's getting any ideas....
Activities we did based on this book:
This book provides a good opportunity to teach your child about routines, times of the day, and decision making.
We talked about all of the things baby bookworm and I do in a typical day - we eat breakfast, go to the playground, go to an activity such as story time, take a nap, eat lunch, and so forth
I recorded all of the things we do in a day and then cut each activity out
We categorized our activities into things we doing in the morning, things we do in the afternoon, and things we do at night.
I made 3 categories: morning, afternoon, and night and we categorized
each thing we do in a typical day; baby bookworm needed a lot of guidance
but enjoyed herself
If you find yourself saying "No" or "Please baby please" quite often throughout the day like the mom in the book, when the opportunity arises, try to get your child to make his own decision. Ask him, "would you like waffles or toast for breakfast?" or "would like to play with blocks or with puppets?" Offering choices helps to teach decision making and to eliminate conflicts. We'll be trying this tactic out this week!
Don't forget that young children need supervision and guidance in all of these
activities, which will maximize learning!
Have fun with these ideas, or pairing your own favorite books with an activity. Feel free to share your ideas!
Baby bookworm loves to read (that IS the definition of a bookworm).
When we go to the park, in fact, she'll manage to find a book that is stashed in the underneath part of her stroller, underneath a blanket, which is underneath a ball. It's like she has some freakish 6th sense for books. This is sometimes much to my dismay, though, because the whole point of GOING to the PARK is so that she'll run around like a crazy toddler, tire herself out, and crash for a good, long 2 hour nap so mommy can get some much needed time to sip coffee, read blogs, and unload the dishwasher (not to mention pee in private).
The trip to park is NOT so that she'll sit on the park bench reading, which is something we do plenty of at home. But what can I say? Some kids are climbers, runners, and jumpers; others would rather have their noses in books or be playing with calculators or something.
Nearly every day I have a run in with some random stranger who comments that she has an "amazing vocabulary for a child under 2", or says something like "boy, she talks a lot". I'm still waiting for someone to comment that she is amazingly athletic.
I know that gross motor skills, though, like running, jumping, playing ball, balancing on a one foot, or walking up and down the steps are really important! So if baby bookworm only wants to do one lap around the playground before acting bored of it, then I probably need other ways to help strengthen these skills.
You can probably guess where this is going.......
Here's some books that we've read recently and how we have used them to foster the development of gross motor skills.
This book is about a little girl who loves ballet. She leaps, tip toes, flutters, reaches, dips, and twirls as she pretends she is a ballerina on the big stage. Her parents, of course, love their ballet "concert".
Simple text means this is an easy book for your toddler to enjoy over and over, and read from memory. Baby bookworm is a huge fan.
Gross Motor Activity: Reenact the story.
Terry, the little girl, loves to move like a real ballerina. When she does an action like a ballerina such as "flutter" or "twirl" or "tiptoe" - invite your child to move in the same manner
Be sure to model the movements for your toddler and have fun with it; the more you get into the activity, the more he or she will get into it
You can also demonstrate words in the book with common household items; for example, to help your child understand what it means to "float," use a feather or a balloon. Then ask your child to mimic the movement of the object
You may want to ask your child if he or she needs more room to leap, flutter, or twirl? Why?
Focus on the action vocabulary words in the book; pairing actions with these new words will add meaning to them
Finally, in the last few pages of the book Terry dances with rainbow ribbons; regular party streamers would work fine for your make-at-home version. Try asking your child to do such things as "sway the streamers back and forth" or "make circles with the streamers" for added fun and learning.
Pretending to be a ballerina
Baby bookworm thinks she is VERY cool dancing like a ballerina. I think it's VERY cool she is actually enjoying her gross motor lesson. For fun, we usually put on her ballerina costume (reused from Halloween last year).
This is a story about a giraffe named Gerald who is a terrible dancer thanks to his long legs and wobbly knees. In fact, he's such a terrible dancer that all of the other animals in the jungle make fun of him at their dance. Gerald watches on the side lines as all of other animals dance beautiful waltzes, cha-chas, and tangos. Feeling down on himself, Gerald stumbles upon a friendly and wise cricket who teaches him that dancing is all about finding music that you love.
This is a truly cute tale that baby bookworm enjoys. We checked out the version of the story that came with the audio CD and I think it does a nice job of bringing the Jungle Dance and characters to life.
Gross Motor Activity: Dancing, of course! Baby bookworm loved this activity that taught her how different styles of music can influence how people move.
Start with your child's favorite song or genre of music and invite him or her to move his body to the beat
Next, change the music to a completely different style and see how this music inspires him or her to move
Talk with your child about the song's tempo and how that may influence his own movements (for example, if the music is fast does that make him feel like jumping? If the music is slow, does that make him want to sway?); try exploring volume too
You may even want to show your child dances from different cultures
Finally, try to see if your child can put two or three "dance" movements together. For example, can he or she leap, twirl, then sway?
Baby bookworm actually has a keyboard that has a tempo and volume control that worked well for this activity.
The keyboard we used with tempo and volume controls;
it also has kiddie songs on it
This is a fun nursery rhyme that can easily be acted out with toddlers. There are many versions of this story, and baby bookworm and I have one that is actually contained in a set of other nursery rhymes. Whatever version you have, though, will likely make for a great beginning to a gross motor activity, or for a before-bed treat.
Gross Motor Activity: Follow the leader. Baby bookworm loved this game which taught her about waiting her turn, and engaged her in some creative movement.
Start by explaining the game of follow the leader to your child; say something like, "Teddy bear will be the leader today. First he's going to do a movement, then you will do it next."
Then read the first few pages of the text...."Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around..." You can even demonstrate the movements with a toy teddy bear like we did.
Invite your child to do exactly as teddy bear does, and continue in this manner throughout the book. We actually added "baby bookworm, baby bookworm" when it was her turn rather than teddy bear.
Once you are done with the story, make up your own actions! We tried....jump up and down, give high kicks, do splits, leap with a bound, wiggle all around, bounce (a ball) up and down, and roll (a ball) all around, do a prance, do a ballerina dance, skip all around, and then fall down.
I think follow the leader is a new favorite game! We played this at least 10 times and she even wanted to then take teddy bear to the playground with her!
What happens if you don't have a toddler? All of these activities can be adapted for an infant or a child older than baby bookworm (who is almost 22 months).
to learn more about the development of gross motor skills, and the importance of bilateral integration in reading and writing, I encourage you to visit School Sparks.
I am sharing this post at the Learning All The Time blog; they host a weekly link up on favorite resources. Check it out for great ideas for kids of all ages.
Fall is by far my favorite time of year. Not because of Sunday football, picking pumpkins, bonfires, spiked cider, or scary movies. No, Fall is my favorite time of year because I associate it with learning. There is something about "back to school" that has always excited me. It could be the fresh start, new textbooks, or the thought of writing papers, but whatever it is, I fell in LOVE with being "back to school" (and school in general) at a very young age.
I've been "back to school" in some way every Fall for as long as I can remember. There was grade school, then high school, followed by college, masters program, then doctoral program. Once I was done being a student, I worked in a school, and also taught as an adjunct professor.
This year is different, though. For the first time I'm not "back to school" in ANY way, shape, or form. So to give me that back to school feeling, baby bookworm and I played school this week. I guess you can say we play "school" all the time, but we tend to do many activities on the fly, and not necessarily organized around a theme.
In honor of back to school, baby bookworm and I worked our way through eight "subjects" with a bunch of Fall inspired learning activities.
Here's a recap of our "school" schedule:
Subject 1: READING
For reading "class" we are read books about Fall (shocker, right?) such as....
Fall
Bright baby touch and feel
This is a touch and feel, first-word "baby" book that is full of Fall words and objects. Even though I imagine this book is meant for a much younger audience than my baby bookworm, since she LOVED this book last Fall I thought we would take a look at it again. Repetition enhances learning, as you probably know. Plus, it's kind of amazing to me that in one year's time she can now say all of the words in the book, and "read" it on her own.
The bottom line: If you have a newborn or baby under the age of one, I highly recommend this book as a good way to introduce the season and work on receptive vocabulary. If you have a toddler, I think it's still a good book for expressive vocabulary and even to do a little sight reading.
This is a book about a bunch of mice who are preparing for a Fall harvest party and trying to keep a cat from ruining their fun. In order to do so, they decide to scare that "scary cat". Boo to You! has great illustrations that are incredibly crafty. Ehlert mixes different textured papers, string, and photographs to make beautifully artistic characters in this book. Baby bookworm loves the part of the book where they scare the cat, and also loves the last two pages that list a bunch fall items (many of which were new to her such as a gourd, pecan, and sycamore fruit). You and your baby bookworm might want to read this book cuddled up under a blanket with a warm cup of hot chocolate - it just gives you that kind of a feeling.
Baby bookworm has been on an Arthur kick lately. Some of the other Arthur books in the series can be quite lengthy, but I found this one to be the perfect compromise between too easy and completely overwhelming.
In this story, Arthur is given the task of raking leaves from their yard - which he doesn't find very fun! But with the help of a few of his best friends, he finds the job done in no time, and they all end up enjoying themselves along the way.
This is a great book to help get you in an Autumn mood because it reminds you of all of the fun things you can do, only during this time of the year. The story repeats the line, "I know it's autumn when...." which is a fabulous way to begin a discussion with your baby bookworm about how the two of you know when it's autumn.
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While reading these books to your baby bookworm don't forget to work on concepts of print, and explicitly point out and talk about any new vocabulary you may encounter (for strategies on how to do this, visit here).
Also have a discussion about Fall, and remember to refer back to these books if you do any other Fall inspired activities. Making connections between old and new knowledge is one easy way to help aid learning. Read on to see how I've used these books to make connections among different aspects of baby bookworm's knowledge.
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Here's a list of some of the Fall vocabulary we learned with the help of these books: Gourd, Autumn, Jack-o-lantern, Harvest, Squirrel, Bonfire, Rake, Mum, Acorn, Hayride, Apple, Indian corn, Pile of leaves
Subject 2: MATH
For our math lesson we played a sorting counting game. What I did was assemble little acorns out of construction paper ahead of time, and marked each one with either an uppercase A or a lowercase a. Then I had baby bookworm place each into one of two baskets that were labeled with an uppercase A or lowercase a. We counted the acorns as she went along. We talked about "more" and "less" as well (our uppercase A basket had more than our lowercase a basket).
In addition to this being a math lesson, it snuck in a little phonemic awareness too, which is an important pre-reading skill!
Making Connections: Baby bookworm learned the concept of an acorn one day while we were at a garden that we frequent. When we read Boo To You! I pointed out the acorns to baby bookworm in the pictures and said "remember when we picked up acorns at the garden". She said "yes, like a hat" - referring to a conversion we had had previously about how the top part of the acorn seemed like a hat.
Now when we did this math activity I referred back to both of her previous experiences with acorns. We got out Boo To You! again and I said, "Look, mommy made pretend acorns that we can play a game with".
This activity was a great way to use a word that we had learned before but in a new context.
Subject 3: SCIENCE
Our science "class" consisted of a taste testing and apple "dissection" (by the way, baby bookworm knew the word apple before this lesson, but not in the context of Fall). I bought one granny smith apple and one red apple and cut them up into small bites. We then tasted each one and talked about how they tasted different. I introduced the words "sour" and "sweet" to baby bookworm. We also talked about the different parts of the apple like the skin, stem, and seeds and discussed how apples grow. Then we "dissected" the apple by peeling off the skin and cutting it open to reveal the "star" and seeds (which baby bookworm found fascinating).
Baby bookworm and I also compared apples and arranged them from biggest to smallest, talked about how the biggest apple felt heavier than the smallest apple, and discussed the shape of the apples (which she exclaimed were "round").
This activity is a great ACTIVE way to learn new vocabulary, and has lots of hidden math lessons too. If you want to branch this out as a math activity, you could pair this lesson with the book Apple Countdown (for a summary of it, visit here).
Making Connections: An apple was not a new object to baby bookworm; but here I expanded her understanding of this object. We talked about how apples come from trees and that apple picking is a Fall activity. We got out I Know It's Autumn and discussed the front cover making the connection back to a familiar learning context.
Subject 4: SOCIAL STUDIES
Our social studies lesson wasn't too involved, but a good time nevertheless! All we did was use baby bookworm's map of the US to talk about the different regions of the country and what Fall might feel and look like in that region. In this particular puzzle that we have, the pieces are actually divided up by region (not state), so it paired very nicely with my lesson. We got it pretty cheap too from a Borders bookstore that was going out of business.
Subject 5: RECESS
For "recess" I wanted to get baby bookworm running around to work out some of that energy even on a rainy day (seriously, what is WITH this rain - it's been non stop for days on end). So I made up a leaf pick-up game. What I did was I used some fake leaves that I had gotten at the craft store (for another project, but why not use them twice?) and we pretended to rake them into a pile (just like Arthur does in Arthur Jumps Into Fall). She loved the raking part and even correctly used her newly learned vocabulary while doing this activity.
Then baby bookworm and I had a race to see who could run over to the pile and pick up a leaf first. Recess would have been better outside, but we had a blast anyway. I actually worked up a sweat, and baby bookworm got in some exercise while working on her gross motor skills.
Raking leaves like in Arthur's book
Making connections: We made the obvious connection with this activity back to the book we had read, and it made her want to go read the book again! We also talked about the color of the leaves; we took a peek outside on this dreary day and I pointed out that our leaves were still on the tree and green. I asked her what color Arthur and her leaves were and she told me "oranges" (yes, like the fruit). Then I explained more about the season of Fall and that soon enough our leaves outside would turn colors. I think she's looking forward now to jumping into a real pile of leaves! And when she finally gets her chance, trust me, I will remind her of this very activity.
Subject 6: ART
Art class consisted of a few projects.
Free style painting with apple "stampers" --
making the connection back to our apple tasting
Fall collage made from a Family Circle magazine --
making the connection back to the collage in Boo to You!
Apple mosaic made with contact and tissue paper --
not sure if there was a connection here other than back to
apples being a Fall object
Art is a great way to enhance fine motor skills. For a few other ideas and more information, read this old post.
Subject 7: MUSIC
We learned this song for music. Baby bookworm LOVED it. WARNING: your child will want to watch this no less than 20 times in a row and you will hate me for it.
Making Connections: I connected this song back to Boo to You! where there is a page of jack-o-lanterns (pumpkins). I actually think I may also do an art project with baby bookworm based on this song.
Subject 8: THEATER
For our "theater" class we played house. I had baby bookworm put on her apron and we pretended to cook a Fall harvest meal (like in Boo to You!) on her play kitchen. We pretended to make corn on the cob, a turkey, and apple pie!
Cooking
Carving the turkey
Enjoying the feast!
AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITY
For our after school activity we played dress up, which baby bookworm LOVES to do. She was SO proud of herself in her cheerleading outfit! We tossed around a stuffed football for added fun!
Supporting both Mommy and Daddy's favorite teams
Pretend play is a fantastic way to build language skills, so you might want to get those Halloween costumes out a little early. To learn more about the benefits of pretend play, click here. Playing ball is a great way to foster the development of gross motor skills.
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So what is the Ed Psych 101 "back to school" lesson for YOU?
Happy back to school everyone! And happy learning!
So the day after the hurricane tropical storm was a very lounge-around kind of a day, and I sooooo desperately needed a nap. In fact, I felt like I had a hangover except that I hadn't even gone to a fun hurricane tropical storm party!
Here's why I was sooooo tired the day after the hurricane tropical storm, in case you were wondering:
At approximately 10:30 PM on the previous evening, a tornado warning was issued in our area. More precisely, the emergency broadcast system interrupted our regularly scheduled programming (with that horrific beeping sound) to say that a tornado might tear the roof off of our brick townhouse.
Oh, that's not what it said? Well......that's what I heard.
Not everyone was as lucky as us, though. This is an uprooted
tree - just minutes from our house.
So, I moved baby bookworm from her room on the second floor to our hallway on the first floor. Probably not the safest place for a roof tearing-off tornado, but we don't have a basement so it seemed like the next best thing. Daddy bookworm and I also set up camp for the remainder of the night on the first floor. Thanks to Facebook (because updating your status is the first thing you should do in the event of an emergency, right?), I realized my other mom friends were doing the exact same thing in their very own basements (so I felt a little less crazy). Daddy bookworm took the couch, but I insisted on "sleeping" on the floor next to baby bookworm (which might put me back into some kind crazy category again, I'm not sure). I explained to daddy bookworm that the floor was farther away from the windows than the couch; but, in reality, I just wanted to be as close to baby bookworm as possible so I could quickly snatch her up when the roof did come off of our house, like in The Wizard of Oz. Well, needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. And, the roof didn't come off of our house either, in case you were wondering. In fact, I'm pretty sure just a few sticks blew around our yard (thank goodness).
Anyway, despite desperately needing a nap after all of the evening's excitement, or lack thereof, the next day I got SUCKED into watching 3 hours of a show called Infested! on the Animal Planet when I should have been catching up on my beauty rest while baby bookworm was catching up on hers. Infested! is a reality show about people whose homes have basically been overtaken by some kind of animal (ants, rats, bedbugs, snakes, and even raccoons - I kid you not), and it's TOTALLY addictive.
What does any of this have to do with books and learning?
Well, after having 3 hours of life sucked away by this show, I realized just how darn interesting these "creatures" really are, and it inspired me to have a "bug" week with baby bookworm (at least something good came out of watching reality TV, right?).
I decided to focus on three "creatures," or bugs I guess, although only one of them was actually featured on the show (I'll save rats and snakes for when baby bookworm is a bit older). There are TONS of books that you can read that fit into this theme, but here are ones we have read in the past and a few new ones that we discovered this week.
SPIDERS
Ah, spiders. Cute and cuddly right? At least a few books make it seem so.
If you have a baby, check out the The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Baby bookworm and I used to read this beloved nursery rhyme book all the time at the library. Of course, you can do the most logical thing with this book and pair it with the song, which helps your baby associate written words and actions. We also used to sing a few different versions of the song: The Great Big Spider, or the Jumpy Jumpy Spider (or whatever your imagination can think up). It's really great fun.
Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider is another good spider tale that would be suitable for toddlers. Your child will no doubt love the colorful illustrations and enjoy all of the farm animals. Don't forget to point out the great moral of the story too....being persistent is hard work, but it pays off in the end.
Spiders Are Not Insects is a non-fiction book that we got from the library. It's a not so cuddly depiction of a spider, but incredibly educational and full of fun spider facts that even I didn't know. The photographs give you an up close and personal view (possibly closer than you may desire) of spiders. This book is part of the "Rookie Read-About Science" series made especially for little baby bookworms, and this baby bookworm truly enjoys it.
LADYBUGS
Our theme even played into her outfit!
Cute all around....although I can't think of the last time I've seen one, and I'm not sure if baby bookworm has ever seen one to be honest, aside from in these great books.
The Grouchy Ladybug, also by Eric Carle, is a book geared toward older toddlers, preschoolers and beyond. Not only is it a great story about a ladybug with a tough attitude, but it contains some wonderful educational lessons on bullying, telling time, and size comparison. I think it will become one of our favorites.
Another book probably intended for a preschool or older crowd is Ladybug Girl by David Soman and Jacky Davis. Even so, baby bookworm and I read it anyway. After a few read throughs (and being persistent like the busy spider)
she has really grown fond of this little girl in her ladybug costume who sets out to prove she's not too little after all.
A great non-fiction book on ladybugs that we found at our library is Ladybugs: Red, Fiery, and Bright by Mia Posada. It's a great book for toddlers that's full of brightly colored paintings and rhyming text. I promise you will learn more about ladybugs and their anatomy than you could ever want to know.
CATERPILLARS & BUTTERFLIES
Everyone loves butterflies. Caterpillars, maybe not so much.
Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of his best loved stories. It tells of a caterpillar's life cycle in a delightfully kid-friendly and educational way. Babies will love to look at the bright foods that the caterpillar bites through, toddlers will love learning to count, and preschoolers will enjoy a fun way to learn the days of the week. Baby bookworm and I actually have the version of the story that came with an audio CD which has proven to be a life saver on long car rides.
The Crunching Munching Caterpillar by Sheridan Cain is another book that tells of a caterpillar's transformation into a butterfly. It has more words than The Very Hungry Caterpillar and is less overtly educational, but a sweet story nevertheless. In this book, the caterpillar envies his flying friends, but is in for a wonderful surprise after a long winter's nap.
The illustrations by Jack Tickle are super cute too.
A non-fiction favorite of baby bookworm's is Guess Who Changes by Sharon Gordon. This book tells of the life cycle of a butterfly in a very scientific and textbook-like way. There are no illustrations, but rather photographs detailing the caterpillar's metamorphosis into a butterfly. There's even a glossary at the end of the book. Baby bookworm LOVES this book and runs around the house exclaiming "guess who changes" all the time. It a perfect real life buttery tale for toddlers.
AND EVEN MORE BUGGY BOOKS
A page from Miss Spider's ABC
In addition to all of these books, there's two bug-themed alphabet books that we enjoyed: Miss Spider's ABC book and Bugs A to Z.
Miss Spider's ABC is an ABC book (which is probably obvious by the name, but I'm pointing it out anyway) in which all kinds of buggy friends are preparing for Miss Spider's surprise birthday party. We really love the vivid illustrations and baby bookworm likes to say "shhhh"as everyone hides for the surprise birthday party at the end of the book. Sometimes we even sing Happy Birthday to Miss Spider.
Bugs A to Z is also as the title suggests! A for Ants, B for Bedbugs, C for Centipede....and so forth. Each page is also accompanied by some pretty interesting info about each bug too.
A page from bugs A to Z
Now for those of you who may think that all we do all day long is sit around reading and reading and reading, I want you to know that we don't! We read A LOT and reading IS very important, but so is getting out and running around the park, playing with toys, doing arts and crafts, and I'll even go as far as to say watching *some* TV (although I don't recommend this for babies). I try to do a little bit of all of these things everyday to work on various skill sets. A lot of the time I even use books as an introduction to other projects or skills sets.
And that's exactly what I did this week.
Using our bug books as an introduction, and to spike curiousity in baby bookworm on the topic, we then extended our bug lesson into our arts and crafts for the week. And by the way, arts and crafts happen to be a great way to foster the development of fine motor skills.
I thought our art projects were worth sharing in case you want to have a bug week of your own! Here they are.
20-month old baby bookworm
holds the marker with
her palm
Spider project: Glue 6 Popsicle sticks on a sheet of paper like spokes on a tire. Using a marker, draw circles connecting the Popsicle sticks to complete the web. For the spider, cut out two egg holders from the carton for the head and body. Decorate the head and body with paint, markers, or crayons. Poke 4 holes on each side and thread pipe cleaners in each hole to look like legs. Bend the pipe cleaners to make joints on the legs.
Our butterfly project was one that I created on my own, although I usually get lots of great craft ideas from the No Time For Flash Cards blog. Definitely check it out if you need ideas like me!
Butterfly project: drop globs of paint onto the center of a sheet of paper,
fold in half, press down and then open and let dry. Once dry, cut out the painting
in the shape of wings. Glue one flat close pin on the center for the head & body. Use pipe
cleaners for antenna, and pom poms to decorate.
Ladybug project: Use a paper plate that is turned over for the ladybug's body. With a crayon or paint, make the "face" of the ladybug black and color the body red. Glue black pom poms on the body to create spots, and white pom poms on the face to create eyes. It can't get any easier.
Here's a couple of other ideas on how to enhance your baby bookworm's fine motor skills:
1. Play with stickers. What kid doesn't love stickers, right? Both fun and educational. The DK Ultimate Sticker Books are our favorite because they not only have up-close photographs (i.e., stickers) that you can peel off and reuse but they also read like a non-fiction book with a ton of fun facts. These stickers not only enhance fine motor skills, but are actually a mini "baby geometry" lesson too because the child has to stick the animal on the appropriate silhouette. We used the BUG book this week to go along with our theme.
A page from the bug sticker book
2. Take an adventure walk.
Now, I know that sounds more like it's a gross motor skill builder (and it is to a large extent), but don't just take any old walk - I'm talking about one where you become an explorer. You can make your very own explorer kit and collect specimens, dig under rocks with sticks, and write (or draw) your observations on a piece of paper or in a journal. It's a great active way to build fine motor skills. Baby bookworm and I are definitely going to create a kit and go on a bug hunt! We probably won't have to go too far to find a spider web to collect either, as I am staring at a few at this very moment (does this mean I should be cleaning instead of blogging?).
The Moral:
Don't trust the weather man
Reality TV is educational
Bugs make great pets
Books can serve as a great starting point for other skill building.
