Structured Play

Joey enjoys turning his sensory box into a make shift kitchen. This month their are beans, a toy pumpkin, gords and counting blocks. He poured and stirred the beans making sure all other items were out of the box. He used the pumpkin to make pumpkin pie and we pretended to eat it. He also spent time counting the blocks and the beans. Remember the purpose of a sensory box is to explore texture, pouring, scooping. From there it is up to their imagination! Let them explore and pretend!

My 4 year old LOVES Wild Kratts on PBS Kids. I wanted to make his obsession with this cartoon to become educational. He was playing Wild Kratts after watching the show on a daily basis so I decided to make him a costume with some accessories. I was able to find some printables on PBS's website . I printed them and laminated them. The Creature Power Suit is made out of felt. It is a vest that can go on over anything that he is wearing. He can change his creature power and there is a pocket in the suit where he can keep the other "powers." I wanted to take it a step further by making his play educational. I printed out a paper with 4 boxes; Animal, diet, animal type, and habitat. After he plays we do a debriefing in the HQ- Headquarters. We discuss the animal and some of the traits. Since he is not writing yet, I printed out cards that fit into the boxes. This helps him by being able to choose from a group of options.  He was a "Whale" in his Creature ...

I pulled out the Story Board for this month's theme. I made my Story Board with felt. Then I cut the pieces out of felt as well. You can purchase some really cool Story Boards and "Story Pieces" but they are pricey so I just make my own. This Story Board activity includes a frog, pond, log, lily pad, and cattails. I modeled what I wanted Jake to do then let him take over. AND boy did he! I said, "Freddy the Frog went to jump on a log and, splash, he fell into the pond." As I recited the little poem I moved the frog around on the felt board. Jake took over doing the same a few times and then added on to our story. (That is the idea!) While playing he asked me where the frog's friends were. I said I didn't know so he went and pulled out some of his toys to befriend the frog. He decided the frog and the pond were on a farm. So he pulled his farmer and animals out. The cows drank from the pond and went for a little swim.  This activity becam...

Today we did a little in house fishing! This is a great coordination activity. I tied a string with a magnet on the end to a stick. We used those as the fishing poles (one for both of us). I then cut fish out of foam. I drew faces and scales on the fish. I just clipped a paper clip to one end to provide the metal.  I put these faux wood mats down for both of us. We each had our own and they represented our boats. We stood on our boats and fished over the side.  Jake had to really try to catch a fish. He had to dangle the "fishing rod" over the fish in just the right spot. He tried to bend down and use his hands but I told him he could not do it that way. And he quickly figured it out.  He caught all his fish and we counted them before throwing them back in. As we caught the fish a second time we named the color of the fish we were catching. This activity then took a step further and we "cooked" up our fish and ate them up. This was so much fun! We...

Pin It Still no snow in our neck of the woods so I had to get creative... There is a fun project going around Pinterst that I thought looked perfect for us to try! It was on Toys in the Dryer .  I bought a bar of Ivory Soap and cut it in fourths. I took 1/4 and microwaved it! Yes, put it in the microwave and started her up! We watched and quickly a change happened! Peek in there to see! Jake was mesmerized! How fun! The soup grows slowly and largely (that is why we used 1/4 of the bar). I am not sure what the chemical reaction is that causes this to happen, we aren't ready for the technical part of the experiment, but it sure is cool to watch. We pulled it out after the soap stopped growing. I do not know the exact time but it was about 30-60 seconds. The soap comes out pretty cool to the touch, but I still had it sit before letting Jake touch it. We "cooked" all of the soap creating a nice size for some "snow" removal!   I placed the ...

Pin It Today we read Amy Loves the Snow by Julia Hoban. Then decided to use imaginary play to act out the story. We had to use imaginary play especially since it was 60 degrees here today! No snow for us to play in!! In the story Amy and her Dad got dressed for the weather so we had to do the same. I have a hat, mittens and scarf cut out of felt for both of us. I had them hanging on a string with clothes line clips. I had Jake go over and take them off (hand-eye coordination, motor skills). He gave me purple and kept pink for himself. These were just cut out shapes but Jacob did a good job using his imagination with them. We then pretended to make a snowman. We packed the snow and formed it into a ball, rolled the balls and gave the snowman a face. All of this was done using our imaginations. Jake had no problems using his imagination and even pretended to pull a carrot out of his pocket. After we were finished we went inside to warm up with some hot chocolate....

Pin It This is the car mat I made for Jacob for Christmas. I actually made it last year but he has enjoyed it so much lately I thought I would post about it. I used examples from more than a few blogs to put this together. I included all of our favorite places and some places I thought would be fun. There is a gas station, train station, farm, bakery, fire station, car wash, library, police station, grocery store, zoo and neighborhood.  Jake uses all sorts of vehicles on the mat, even some of his big trucks. He loves construction and brings his construction equipment over to "work" on the area next to the mat to build a road or building that is not yet there.  He is using blocks to build a building. Notice he has his "workers" and his trucks. This play mat is a great example of pretend play. When he started playing with it he used the provided buildings and we would drive around visiting each one. The pretending was very surface level. Now he has moved u...

Reading The Polar Express has become a holiday tradition for us. I started it last year and it was so fun that I was quite excited for it this year! I have bells that I hide behind the book to use as we read the story. His eyes light up when he hears the bells and starts looking for them. I hold them in my hand and hide them when he looks! It is really magical for him! After the story I give him a bell just like the little boy in the story. Jake had to read the book to me after I finished! He has become a great "reader!" He is retelling stories by looking at the pictures and he has some books memorized. He also uses the pictures to read stories that he does not know! It is wonderful to sit and listen to him read! I really think letters and words are his strength over numbers. We will see, of course, but he really enjoys books! Next we did some imaginary play! Jake initiated this and I couldn't have been more proud! :) He is pretending to be the conductor in the...