Book Review: Nature Play Workshop for Families

Happy Publish Day!!!🎉🎉

Thank you to @Netgalley and Quatro Publishing/Quarry @quartokids for letting me preview

this amazing book Nature Play Workshop For Families by Monica Wiedel-Lubinski & Karen Madigan. 

The timing of this book is perfect.  If you are like me I am looking for ideas to do with the children

that can be done at a safe distance.  This book is filled with wonderful ideas and activities that can

be done in your yard or at the park/nature trail.  No special supplies are needed, you can use what

is around you.   

What I loved about the book is the easy to follow layout.  Each activity has simple directions

along with beautiful photos.   All the activities are divided by seasons which makes it easy to

plan outings and activities. The last two chapters are activities you can do anytime. 

 

I set up an easy to do scavenger hunt that we did in our own backyard. 

I only had to print out a page from the back of the book. 

We grabbed our magnifying glass and headed out to the garden.  

The activity took about 15 minutes. Depending on the age of your children you could

extend it longer.

 

If you don’t have children yourself, this book would make a great gift to give to your

grandchildren or other young children in your life.  

Mouse Unit

Now that school's are closed, I know many parents are struggling to find activities to do with their little ones.  It is no different with my family.   My little grand-daughter is not getting the services that she needs.  Her mother and father are at home with her trying to adapted lessons that are sent home for all the students in her class. These lessons do not meet her IEP goals.   So I created a unit at her level and can be used for any preschool/kindergarten level children and it's easy enough for parents to follow.    

It centers around the books Mouse Paint, Mouse Count, and Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh.  I went to the NAEYC and read the guidelines and made sure that the unit was appropriate and followed their curriculum guidelines.  The unit has a little bit of everything in it: art projects, number and pattern games and a flannel board story.  I tried to keep it as simple as possible and even added steps of how to change it up for different levels.  

 There are ten different activities for your child/children to do:
Activity 1:  Science and Art Project
Activity 2:  Color Patterning Cards
Activity 3:  Color/Shape Memory Game
Activity 4:  Flannel Board Story
Activity 5:  Mouse Counting Cards
Activity 6:  Mouse Bingo
Activity 7:  Mouse Shape Art/Class book
Activity 8:  Pattern Blocks with Shapes
Activity 9:  Roll and Cover Shape Game
Activity 10: Vocabulary Match Boards/Writing Center Cards
Additional Book List/Rhymes

This unit is available at my TPT store and May 6-7-8, 2020 I am hosting a giveaway on my Instagram account.  Stop by and follow and maybe you will win a copy of the unit.  

Stay Safe and I hope you get a chance to get outside and enjoy some nice weather.  😀 

Creating A Home Schedule

I know everyone may be stressing out about what to do with the kiddos home all day long.  How do you balance your work, house work and create fun meaningful learning activities for your children.  

First of all my advice is to keep it simple.  Sit down with your children and come up with a schedule that will work for all of you.  Try it, depending how old your children are at the end of the day/dinner time talk about what worked and what didn't work.  You may have to tweak the schedule a bit to find out what works best for you and your children.  The past year I have retired from my teaching job and have taken on the responsibility of watching my two grandsons.   They are five months apart, right now they are three and two.  Generally, I have them on Tuesdays and Fridays, however time is flexible depending on work schedules and other appointments.  We have a great time visiting the library, zoo classes and children museums.  However, just like everyone else we have to make some adjustments.  Keeping a basic schedule is important to me and to the boys.  It helps to keep our schedule simple and light.  Right now our basic schedule looks something like this:

9:00 Pick Up Boys

9:20 Arrive back at my house free play outside for a bit (Check on bird feeders & walk around the house and talk about the garden.  Right now we are talking about the signs of Spring.)

9:45 In the house for some more free play (Sometimes we use this time as baking time.  We like to make cookies and banana bread.)

10:15 Snack

10:30 Learning Time (This involves reviewing the alphabet and counting and shape patterning.  This is simple using the same charts each time they come so they know what to expect.)  Next we have a story and a project.  Our projects are simple and generally have something to do with a letter of the alphabet or seasonal activity. I find many of my ideas on Pinterest.
   

11:00 More Free Play 

11:30 Quiet Table Activities (Puzzles/Coloring/Simple Activities that I have already taught them how to do.) -- I use this time to make lunch.

12:00 Lunch/Clean Up
   

12:30 Storytime

1:00 Nap time

3:00 Outdoor or Indoor Free Play/Weather Dependent

4:00 Clean Up and get ready to go home

I know I have the little guys and things may look very different if you have older children, however with older children they should be able to help more and do more independent reading, writing and activities on their own.  Set goals for the week and work towards them as a family.  

I know many bloggers/teachers are posting things to do and things to purchase.  My plan is to post simple activities that we are making at home with the resources we have on hand.  I like to refer to them as Make and Take.  I will also post one or two free resources I encounter on the web that I feel are worth sharing.  

Scholastic Learn At Home

 Brainpopjr.   

Thanks for Reading :)