Structured Play

Fall is here and it feels oh so good! Windows open, cool breeze flowing! This month our Theme is Pumpkins. We will spend time on alphabet and number practice as well as spending time working on motor skills and the always fun crafts! Keep checking in for free printables and examples of each activity. October Plans  

Today we set up an apple orchard in our playroom. We took the apple cards we have and placed them around the room. Jacob then grabbed a couple baskets and his dump truck  tractor.  Then we got busy being "farmers." We went apple picking and loaded up the back of the tractor.  Next, on the farm we fed the animals. Jake said that farmers must feed the animals and since we were apple farmers the animals eat apples! ;)  We went on to do some plowing of the fields and planting seeds. I asked what we were planting and Jake told me we were planting crops! He has learned all about farms from books and field trips. I let him lead the play and only suggest when his seems to be losing interest. I want Jake to learn to extend play and stick to a game for a longer time. This will help him pretend and play by himself and with others friends. It is an important skill to be able to do. And will actually help in creative thinking, writing, and creating. 

We took the apple seeds we have been collecting and put them between two plates to make an apple shaker. I had Jake count the seeds again just as extra practice. I then hot glued the pieces together because hot glue dries so much faster. I added a Popsicle stick while gluing then handed it over to Jake to decorate. He decided that he needed to draw an apple tree. He really focused making a long tree trunk, leaves and two apples on the tree. Isn't it cute?    Next we did a little singing and shaking! Our little guy even got to try it out! Shake, Shake, Shake!

Jacob did a little name writing practice today. He was asked to trace the dotted lines to write letters for his name. This is good practice with spelling as well. I had him say each letter as he wrote the letter.  As you can see he is very choppy and not exactly on the dotted lines. His motor skills are not quite sharp enough yet to be able to hold the crayon and he especially loses control as he works on towards the end. We also did a Missing Letter Name Practice. Both of these ideas came from Cherrios and Lattes ' Play to Write, Write to Read. These are good ways to practice names and writing. He gets very angry if he thinks he made a mistake. See the scribbling. I have to reinforce that it is ok to make a mistake and that everyone makes mistakes but we just keep trying. Practice is the only way to get better. When this happens I cannot help but think of my former students that did the very same thing and proceeded to throw fits and give up. I hope to help Jacob ge...

Today we did some Apple Picking! I drew (sorry for the lack of ability) an apple tree and some baskets. I taped apples onto the tree with numbers on them and behind them on the tree. I then added numbers to the baskets. I told Jake we were going apple picking to practice letter recognition. I asked him to pick an apple and place it in the basket with the matching number.  He, of course, grabbed 9 instead of starting with number one. But I let him keep going moving backwards. He was still matching and saying the numbers. I took turns with him we both said the numbers while matching. After we picked all the apples and placed them in the baskets we decided to put them back on the trees. This time I told him to start with one and count up to 9 as he put the apples back on the tree.  He enjoyed sticking the apples in the baskets and back onto the tree. It is amazing how much kiddos like tape. He loved that they stuck when he pushed them onto the paper. Keeping him in...

We did a little matching today through a  Apple Memory Game  I made.    I just printed these apple pictures on card stock, cut them apart and laminated them. For children too young for a memory game just spread the cards out face up and have them find the matches.      Jacob has just been playing memory for the last 6 months or so. We started with very limited pieces (3 matches, six cards total) at about 2 1/2 now at three we have worked up to about 12 pieces. Still not ready for a whole game. He needs to be reminded to take one turn and to try to remember where the pieces are before looking at them but he is getting there! 

Today we started our Structured Play time by reading Apple Countdown by Joan Holub. This is a great counting book. We did some counting practice as we read. It is important that I do not push Jake but keep him wanting to count so I do not make him count on each page. After reading I cut an apple and allowed Jake to pull out the seeds with a pumpkin carving knife. He is very interested in helping in the kitchen and always wants to help cutting. I decided to teach him how to use a knife safely. For starters I have him use this rounded edge knife. It is not sharp on it's end and the edges are rounded. It is great for sawing instead of slicing. Jake used his knife to pull out the seeds of the apple. The story told us that an apple can have between 5 and 10 seeds so we lined up our seeds and counted them. Our apple had seven.