A Final Farewell to Pumpkin Books and Activities: Pumpkin Pumpkin and The Pumpkin Book

Today is Halloween and October is coming to an end....and even though there is now snow on the ground at our house, I am doing one LAST pumpkin post.  I guess the pumpkin theme could potentially carry over into the Thanksgiving holiday as well, but after today, I promise to put the pumpkin books and ideas to rest until next year!

Two fabulous pumpkin books that we discovered recently and read were:

Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington

and

The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons

Both books tell of the life cycle from seed to pumpkin - so in that respect they make a great science lesson for little minds!  Pumpkin Pumpkin has much fewer words than The Pumpkin Book, so if your child is under 18 months I might try this book first.  The Pumpkin Book also tells of the traditions and cultural meaning of pumpkins and Halloween.  Although it is longer, it could easily be paraphrased for the under 3 crowd, and the photos are bright, bold, and interesting so young children (including baby bookworm) would likely find them captivating.

To go along with our last pumpkin books of the season, we did our last pumpkin learning projects as well!  Check it out:

1) We carved a jack-o-lantern.

• To work in a little science lesson, we "dissected" the pumpkin, scraped out the pulp, and "examined" the seeds. I asked baby bookworm, "what do you think would happen if we saved one seed and planted it into the ground like Jamie in Pumpkin Pumpkin?" She did say it would "grow".
• To work on our math skills, I asked baby bookworm to "estimate" or guess how many seeds there were inside the pumpkin (to which she responded 3).  Then we took a few handfuls and made piles of 10 seeds, and counted by tens.
• To work on creativity, I let baby bookworm draw a face on the pumpkin with a pen (with my help) - then I used a pumpkin knife to carve out the face.  I did let her poke each piece out, which she found very fun. 

2) We played 10 "questions" (although some were statements) with 4 very different kinds of pumpkins that we had picked up over the past few weeks.  Basically what I did was I asked baby bookworm a series of questions such as the ones listed below.  It was a great way to practice listening skills, following directions, and for me to assess baby bookworm's receptive and expressive language. 

• Can you show me which pumpkin is the biggest?
• Can you show me which pumpkin has stripes?
• Can you show me which pumpkin is the smallest?
• Can you show me which pumpkins are round?
• Place the orange pumpkin on the ground, and hand me the white pumpkin.
• Place the smallest pumpkin in front of the largest pumpkin.
• What color is this pumpkin (as I pointed to the white one)?
• What shape is this pumpkin (as I pointed to a very round one)?
• What colors are on this pumpkin (as I pointed to the yellow and green one)?
• What is this part of the pumpkin called (as I pointed to the stem)?

Baby bookworm LOVES to show me what she knows, so we played many rounds of "10 questions".  She did very well with all responses too, but she did have some trouble with the two-step statements.

Obviously this game can be played with a number of objects, so give it a try!

3). We played a sequencing game. 

• After reading both books, we made a picture time line of the stages in the pumpkin's growth cycle. 
• I would say things like, "What happens after the seed is planted?"  (of course, baby bookworm needed help with the questions and I would always refer her back to the pictures in Pumpkin Pumpkin)
• If your child is older, once you have your time line established, try mixing up your pictures and have him reorder them back into the correct sequence.
• You can also try putting the pictures into the correct sequence, but leave one picture out.  Have your child guess what is missing.

  Remember, even though we did these activities with pumpkins - you can work on similar skills with different objects and books.  And any of these activities could be modified easily to fit your child's age and

ability level. 

Can't wait until next pumpkin season already!

Happy Halloween and stay safe!

Countdown to Halloween: Go Away Big Green Monster Book and Craft

One fun Halloween book that we own that I have yet to share with our blog audience is Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley.  It's a unique book because there aren't really illustrations in it, just shapes of body parts that make up the Big Green Monster's face.  The reader makes the big green monster appear and "go away" by turning the pages of the book - each page adds or takes away a piece of the monster's face. 

Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley

Baby bookworm really enjoys this book, and it's a great, short lesson in body parts and colors.  And, of course, it's perfect for this time of the year.  You can also buy a storytelling kit to go along with the book from Lakeshore Learning - and we borrowed this one here from baby bookworm's Nana who is a preschool teacher. 

As a little craft to go along with this book, we made our very own monster puppet.  Here's what you'll need to make one with your baby bookworm.

1. A colored paper plate
2. Yarn cut up into small pieces
3. A large popcicle stick
4. Neon paper with various kinds of eyes, and mouths drawn on (see ours below)
5. pom poms or construction paper (or any other "decorations") for a nose, paws, ears, etc.
6. Glue
7. Scissors

I told baby bookworm we were going to make our very own monster, and that she could make the monster look however she wanted.  I showed her the various parts of the face that were drawn on the neon paper, and then asked her what "kind" of monster she would like.  She exclaimed she wanted a mean monster, so I cut out the mean monster eyes and let her glue them on the paper plate.  Then she chose a mouth to also glue on.  We used a pom pom for a nose and construction paper for ears. Lastly, she glued the hair on her monster, followed by the popcicle stick on the back of the plate as a handle.

I tried to let baby bookworm tell me where each part of the face belonged, and I helped her squeeze the glue on the paper plate in that spot.  Baby bookworm knew where to put the eyes (although notice they are upside down), nose, and mouth all on her own!  Of course, we had practiced earlier with the puppet from Lakeshore.

Here's how her monster turned out. 

She paraded around the house with her monster puppet (which she was quite proud of) while I played the song Monster Mash. Cute, fun, and educational!

Just for Fun Friday: Pop-Up Fun

What's more fun to read than a pop-up book? We found this book at baby bookworm's grandma's house.  And, yes, it was only $2 at Dollar General (probably eons ago, though). 

We enjoyed Safety City: All About Street Signs over and over today.  And ironically, it did play into a trip we took later in the day to the children's museum.  The learning opportunity was not planned, however, as this IS just for fun Friday when we read for the sake of fun and pure pleasure.  But, I'm not going to complain about this happy coincidence! 

Safe City by Edmon J. Rodman and illustrated by Roger DeKlerk

Our happy accident at the children's museum!

I hope your Friday was just as fun as ours. 

Happy weekend.

A Field Trip to the Farm: Make YOUR Next Outing Your Best Learning Experience Yet

Today we took a trip to Vale Wood Farm.  It was overcast and rainy and even a little cold, but we still enjoyed the farm animals, pumpkin picking, "milking" of the "cow", and playing in an enormous box of dried corn (well, until we saw a mouse).

In preparation for our trip to the farm, we did some really fun learning activities.  And, of course, read a farm-related book.  Baby bookworm enjoyed telling the farmer's helper (or wife maybe?) all about the things she learned earlier in the morning!  Check out what we did.....

1) First, we read the Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown (yes, the same author of the Goodnight Moon) and illustrated by Felicia Bond. 

Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown

It's a cute story (that is very appropriate for both babies and toddlers) about all of the animals that live in a barn - the sounds they make and the things they do in a day.  It follows a very poetic rhythm, much in the same way that Goodnight Moon does, that makes it a comforting tale.  The pictures are delightful, too.

Big Red Barn Craft with Animal Stampers

2) Then, we did a little craft with animal stampers (these can be purchased fairly cheap from somewhere like Oriental Trading).  As baby stamped each animal on the page, we talked about the sound that each animal makes and some other characteristic about the animal (such as, a cow gives us milk, and a hen lays eggs). 

3) Then, we did a matching game with farm animals.  We sang Old McDonald Had a Farm....and I asked her to match each animal on the paper.  It was a great review of animal names, and sounds! 

4) Last but not least, we took our trip to the farm.  And, if you have any doubts that activities such as the ones listed above help a child to learn EVEN MORE while on a "field trip" - I assure you, they do!!!!  Not only do they help to stir up interest and excitement about the event, they help to repeat/reinforce the concepts we learned earlier (and repetition = learning), and they help to provide some base knowledge about new concepts or ideas that you may encounter on your trip.  Be sure to make explicit connections though!  Anyway, here are some of my favorite shots from the day.


And on that farm he had some....cows....

and pigs....

and chickens....

and tractors...

And corn in a sandbox!

And a fake cow to milk....

A little science...

More science...

And the yummiest ice cream ever!

Remember learning is a process!  Baby bookworm has been learning about farm animals since infancy through nursery rhymes, books, and songs.  Today she reviewed many previously learned concepts, and expanded on her knowledge.  She learned that a cow not only says "moo" and lives on a farm, but also gives us milk and ice cream; a pig not only says "oink" but it lives in a pig pen. 

Take a look at a few easy strategies that I use while on a field trip like this to take it from being just a fun event, to a real learning situation! 

                                           ************************************************

Learning About Learning from Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist who made some important contributions to our understanding of learning and cognitive development.  Of course, his theories have been scrutinized over the years, but he is still considered one of the great pioneers in the field of psychology and education.  According to Piaget…

● learners are active beings who actually create/construct their own knowledge

● learning must not stress isolated parts, but must be integrated and clearly organized 

● social interaction and language are valuable tools for learning and gaining developmentally-appropriate skills, especially when that interaction occurs between two peers who are functioning at about the same level of understanding

● cognitive development relies on two mechanisms that occur simultaneously: assimilation and accommodation.  In order to learn, a child must be able to assimilate, or incorporate new elements of the environment, into his or her own existing schema.  At the same time, a child must accommodate, or modify his or her knowledge, to meet the demands of the environment

● when a child encounters a problem or situation that he or she cannot assimilate into his or her current knowledge, they are thrown into a state of contradiction or puzzlement (or disequilibrium); this state is crucial to learning because it leads to an orderly reorganization of concepts, which leads to a higher level of understanding

So what does this mean in practical terms for you (the parent, caregiver, or teacher)?

*Try to engage a child’s previously learned knowledge; make a bridge between what is known/previously conceived and the new learning material

*Challenge your child – pose questions and problems for him or her to solve to push their understanding of concepts to a higher level

*Actively cooperate with your child and discuss things in your environment; that is, hold a conversation with them where they can equally contribute to the topic

I hope your next field trip becomes your next best learning experience yet!

Four Fun Search and Find Books: Teach Your Child Comparison, Matching, and Object Recognition The FUN Way

We love search and find books at our house.  In case you are unfamiliar with these books, they are books where the child has to find various objects hidden within a scene.  Each page usually has a different list of objects to find in a new scene.   

Search and find books are actually quite educational, even though there isn't necessarily much "reading" going on.  But, they are great for toddlers and teach things like comparison, following directions, matching, object identification, and sometimes things like colors, shapes, and counting. 

Here are four that we use quite often! 

1) Tinkerbell: First Look and Find

This is a great search and find book because the book itself is large, the pictures are very vibrant, and the pages are quite sturdy.  In Tinkerbell's version the images include lots of fairies, animals, and objects exclusive to "Pixie Hollow" - where the book takes place.  The fairy theme is really cute, especially for girls!

There are many very similar versions of this book - in case you aren't into Tinkerbell!  Check out Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: First Look and Find, Dora the Explorer Scavenger Hunt: Look and Find, or Hide and Seek Near and Far: Sesame Street First Look and Find.

With it being Halloween season we've also been enjoying Winnie the Pooh's Happy Halloween: First Look and Find, which I reviewed last week.

2) I Spy: Little Book (board book)
An adaptation of the original I Spy book.

I like this book (and the I Spy series) because unlike the books mentioned above, it uses many "common" children's toys in the pictures.  It is also full of rhyming riddles and bright colors, which make it fun for toddlers. 
 

3) Things That Go!: Search and Find

Baby bookworm can play with this search and find book literally for hours! Most of the "things that go" in this book are labeled, which I like because it helps the child associate the written word with the picture.  The search and find scenes include an amusement park, a town, and a farm just to name a few.  It's a fun way to learn all about objects that move (like a roller coaster or push toy) or different vehicles (like a motorcycle or mail truck).  We'll be learning from this book for a long time!

4) Where's Waldo?
By Martin Handford

Yes, so Where's Waldo? books are for older kids and even adults.  BUT...baby bookworm loves to play Where's Waldo? so I thought I would include it.  This is a search and find book where you have to find Waldo and his crew of friends while they are on their travels.  These are HARD books.  So hard it actually takes me a looooong time (I won't admit how long) to find Waldo hidden in the scene.  The illustrations are REALLY detailed (that's the point) but they are also really artistic.  Baby bookworm really loves just looking at all of the silly characters throughout the book.  And, once I finally do find Waldo - I point it out to baby bookworm....and we put the book away.  And guess what?  The next time we play Where's Waldo? baby bookworm can find exactly where Waldo is from memory.  How's that for a memory game?

Now, suppose you have a baby and not a toddler?  Well, I think these search and find books are great practice for building your child's receptive vocabulary. 

If you are looking for activities to go along with these books, here are a few ideas:

1) In the spirit of Halloween, a great search and find activity that baby bookworm and I played this week was "Ghostbusters".  Here's what you need to do:

• create a bunch of ghosts out of white construction paper
• place (or hide) them in a room in your house (outside could work too, though)
• play the Ghostbusters theme music
• invite your child to go on a ghostbusting search, and find all of the hidden ghosts!

Ghostbusting!

Baby bookworm LOVED this activity - we played it a bunch of times.  The music really adds to the game so it's worth trying to find a copy of the song.

2) Play Read & Find (activity found on the No Time for Flashcards blog)

3) Create a DIY Eye-Spy Book (activity found on the No Time for Flashcards blog)

4) Create a search and find discovery bottle (activity found on the Diapered Daze and Knights blog)

Have fun searching and finding!

Pumpkin Math: Halloween Inspired Math Activities and Books for Babies and Toddlers

Over the weekend we visited with baby bookworm's grandparents, "Nana" and "Pap".  Since they hadn't seen her in over two months, they (of course) showered her with gifts in the form of her favorite "toy" (as if my house needs more books).  But, grandparents are for spoiling, I guess.  At least she was spoiled with something educational and something that she loves.  Oh, and I can't forget that she also got a "treat bag" full of Oreos, pretzels, and mini Hershey bars that I'm about ready to throw out the window because she now keeps asking for her treat bag at breakfast (thanks, Nana).

What I can thank Nana for, though, is this really cute Halloween recordable book that she gave to baby bookworm called 10 Little Pumpkins.  It is very similar to the Five Little Pumpkins (sitting on a gate) book (and song) that I have recently written about a couple of times.  Of course, 10 Little Pumpkins has few added verses! 

10 Little Pumpkins "Record a Story"

Baby bookworm likes this book because it has some funky music that plays along with each page (she likes to dance), and the pumpkin illustrations are pretty darn adorable. 

I like this book because I can get five minutes of peace with it.  The book is a wildly entertaining toy that she can play with and "read" all on her own! 

What I like even more about this book is that we used it as the basis for practicing some math skills.  Here's a recap:

1. I let baby bookworm "read"/play with the book for awhile on her own.  This part was pretty easy, and I got a few things done around the house.

Reading the book on her own - helped her to familiarize with the story
before our lesson in math

     2. Then, we had a conversation about the front cover of the book.  My goal with this was to have her
         practice counting to 10, and to see if she could identify the number 10.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: "Wow, look at all of those cute pumpkins on the cover of the book! Can you guess how many pumpkins there are?"

Baby Bookworm: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" (said very quickly while randomly pointing to various pumpkins)

Me: "Well, let's see...let's count them together. (I grabbed her pointer finger and then began to count) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.  There are 10 pumpkins all together.  Do you see a number 10 on the front cover of the book anywhere?"

Baby Bookworm: (points to the letter i) "That's the letter i"

Me: "You're right, but we counted ten pumpkins.  The number 10 is right there (and I pointed to the number). This book is called 10 Little Pumpkins. Can you show me the number 10 now?"

Baby Bookworm: (points to the number 10) "Right there!"

Me: "Way to go, you're right.  Now let's read the story."

      3.  As we heard Nana's voice read the story, I pointed to each pumpkin at the appropriate point and
           I also used my fingers as a counter as the story went along.  When she read, "the first one..." I held up
           1 finger, when she read, "the second one..." I held up 2 fingers and so on.

Identifying the number 10 on the first page

      4. Then we read the story again, but this time I kept count with little pumpkins that I bought from 
          Walmart (I really bought these because I thought it would be fun to hide them with treats, much like
          you might do with Easter bunny eggs).

      5. Following the second reading, we played with some Halloween stampers (also found at Walmart).  I  
          created an "equation" based on the story [an elementary school child may be able to do this on their  
          own] by using the the pumpkin stampers.  Then I showed baby bookworm that there was a pattern in
         the book.  One pumpkin, two pumpkins, two pumpkins, two pumpkins, two pumpkins, one pumpkin. 

         We counted all of the pumpkins in the equation and I wrote the numbers beside them.  I asked her to
         identify the pattern (the numbers 1 and 2, as well), and the number 10.  I even told her that the plus
         sign and equal sign are symbols (but obviously the concept of an equation and symbols is well, well
         beyond her capacity).

Our "equation" based on the book

In keeping with the math and Halloween theme, we also played a sorting game for fun with some colored spider rings and the small pumpkin buckets. 

Baby bookworm sorted the four colors of the spider rings into different pumpkins

And we completed our math lesson with a read through of one of our favorite Halloween books, Treat or Treat Countdown.

Trick or Treat Countdown

Love the cute pumpkin numbers in the book

Don't forget to point out the number words as well!


 In summary, this lesson covered a wide range of mathematical skills including:
*Estimation
*Counting
*Sorting
*Patterns
*Symbols

Additional Notes on Mathematics Learning for Babies and Toddlers

Think your baby is too young to be learning math? Research shows that the foundations of mathematical thinking are amazingly present at a very young age….take a look at some findings I’ve summarized from Robert S. Siegler’s book titled Children’s Thinking (copyright 1998).

*Research has shown that babies under 6 months of age can discriminate one object from two, and two objects from three (discriminating among more objects than that poses a problem for babies)

*Studies have also shown that 5-month olds can realize the consequences of adding and subtracting small numbers of objects (sets of one to three)

*Understanding of ordinal properties of numbers (such as more or less) begins slightly later between 12 and 18 months of age

*By about 3 or 4, children become proficient at counting by applying “principles of counting”

*Most 5-year olds can count to 20 or higher, know the relative sizes of numbers 1 to 10,  understand the one-one principle that each object is assigned only one number word, and that the order of counting objects is irrelevant  

Remember, children's literature is a fabulous resource for learning mathematics! 

I am sharing this post at learning ALL the time's weekly link up - Favorite Resource This Week.
Please check it out for some other great learning ideas!

Top 5 Favorite Halloween Board Books for Babies

It's October, so I think it's fair game to really dive into the Halloween books.  OK, OK...so we've been reading them since the end of August, but at least I can be open about it now.  What can I say, we love Halloween and Halloween-y stuff.  And we especially love Halloween books. 

This Tuesday I'm listing our favorite Halloween Board Books....which would be very suitable for both babies and toddlers.  Next Tuesday I'll list our top 10 all-time favorite Halloween tales.

Trust me, these will get you and your baby bookworm into the spirit of the season!

Five Little Pumpkins
Pictures by Dan Yaccarino
Harper Growing Tree

A few weeks ago baby bookworm and I learned the song 5 Little Pumpkins.  When I saw the book version of the song in Barnes and Noble, it was much to our delight.  The illustrations bring the rhyme to life with boldly colored jack-o-lanterns that each have a different expression.  I highly recommend this book, but I think it's even better if you learn the tune and hand motions that go along with it.  Baby bookworm can now sing/read it all by herself!  And by the way, this book is a fun way to practice counting to five.

One Halloween Night
by Salina Yoon

We recently picked this book up for a good deal at TJ Maxx.  In the past 24 hours we've read it a ton too!  It is a play on the nursery rhyme "1, 2 Buckle My Shoe" but adds a spooky spin on the old classic.  Baby bookworm likes it because it's a lift-the-flap book - she loves to see what "Halloween-y" object is hidden under each flap.  From an educational standpoint, I love that this is a counting book that  incorporates the concept of "group" by encouraging the reader to "count groups of 3 and groups of 4" and so forth in the pictures.  Baby bookworm actually asked me, "what does group mean?"  I give this Halloween math lesson a thumbs up!

This Is Not A Pumpkin
by Bob Staake

This book is so great because it's simple.  The illustrations are nothing more than a white page with a "pumpkin" (or so you think).  Each page has a few words that go with the illustration; the ending of this book is a true delight that made us both smile.  I'm sure you can probably guess the plot of this "not a pumpkin" tale, but I won't spoil the fun.

Mouse's First Halloween
by Lauren Thompson and illustrated by Buket Erdogan

On a spooky night mouse creeps around and finds a few sights and sounds that scare him!  But, to his relief, he realizes that these sights and sounds are not so scary afterall.  This book has repeating text that is great fun for kids, and baby bookworm especially loves when mouse squeaks "Eek!" The illustrations have a softness about them that give the book an eerie, yet kid-friendly Halloween feel.  Baby bookworm was introduced to this book last year when she was 10 months, and it is still a great hit this year at 22 months.  I'm thinking it will be one of our favorite Halloween tales for years to come too.  It is available in hardcover and board book form.

Spooky
A slide and find book by Roger Priddy

Spooky is a very cool book.  In fact, I think it's my favorite out of all of these because it's so packed full of learning in a fun and um...spooky way.  In essence this book is a compilation of activities/games where the reader has to slide a panel to reveal the answer.  A baby would love this "peek-a-boo" game, and an older kid would love to actually play and learn.  There's numbers, shapes, matching and a couple others. 

So, yes, we are anxiously awaiting Halloween in this house, but in the meantime

will keep enjoying these books.

I really hope you get a chance to check out a couple of them.  You won't be disappointed.