Sights and Sounds Outdoors - Mother Goose Time

To start off our second week of Sights and Sounds of Winter, we moved on from Orchestra to Sights and Sounds Outdoors.  Instead of doing daily posts I am going to try to do weekly posts, plus some extras.  Some weeks I might do more when we did really well at doing all the activities, but we have been doing pretty bad the last couple weeks because...  WE HAVE A NEW BABY!  Which means that I am getting up a few times a night and feeding the baby a zillion times a day, plus I really like to snuggle the baby all the time, so school time IS being done, but not nearly as well as we did the first week.

Day One: Animal Tracks - We had a weird day, because we had to drive down to Michael's school to drop off some paperwork (we also went to Target where he got the Pikachu hat he wore all day), so we did half of school time in the afternoon and the other half in the evening after the girls got home.  The circle time activity was making tracks in the "snow" with the provided Shape Builder manipulatives.  The snow was supposed to be flour, but since I was doing it on the carpet I decided to go with baking soda so I could throw it all on the floor and vacuum it up later.  HE LOVED IT and probably would have done it all day if I had let him.  We also sang "Walk Like A Bear" to the tune of "Frere Jacques" and he ACTUALLY participated this time (singing and acting like animals) which was nice to not just be acting silly alone LOL.  

Then Little Guy made a Reindeer Headband.  It killed me inside to let him do it basically himself, because it does NOT look like the example they showed us, but he had a lot of fun making it, and then more fun by acting like a reindeer.

We played a board game called "Animal Tracks" which was part of the day's supplies.  He beat me twice and took turns really well.  In the evening we played a game where they kids were supposed to follow prompts in a story I read, and he didn't really do well unless he was instructed EXACTLY what to do.  Afterwards the kids all made tracks out of play dough, although he really just played with the play dough while the girls made tracks.

Day Two: Ice - This was a big science day, but it started with an art project called Icicle Drip Painting.  I mixed water and white paint, then Little Guy used an eye dropper to make icicles that dripped from the eaves of a house.  He actually tried to draw things on the house today, like doors and windows, although with a lot of prompting.  Then he sprinkled glitter on the paint to make them sparkle.

*Side Note - I don't know for sure that it was on purpose, but the concept we were working on at Circle Time today was 7, and there were seven icicles hanging on the topic poster.  I liked that!*

Then we experimented with how you can make sounds with ice, including splashing it into water, stirring it around in a bowl and dropping it.  Last week I realized that science is not Little Guy's strong point yet (he IS only two!) but he did pretty well at this one.  Then we did more science with Fizzy Ice (baking soda and colored vinegar).  He was less interested in this than I thought he would be, I think if I do something like this again I won't use food coloring so I can let him do the dripping, which I think will capture his attention better.  Last we did MORE science!  We did Ice Fishing, where we used salt to melt a string onto ice cubes, but Little Guy was not gentle enough so we did it twice and I helped him pick it up, but he still was pretty proud!  

At the MOMENT we were done with school time, we got a phone call that we were going to be able to pick up a newborn at the hospital!  So we spent the rest of the day buying baby stuff!!!!

Day Three: Owl - This was our first day with the new baby and we didn't get a whole ton done...  He made an owl p
uppet which was pretty cute, and played a pattern game.  He could make a pattern verbally (owl, owl, bear, bear, owl, owl, etc.) but couldn't replicate it on paper without help.  

We also did a Owl Shapes game where he matched the shape builders to owl shapes.  Which really just evolved into playing with shape builders.  I didn't take any notes or anything...  Newborn babies are distracting!

Day Four: Bells - Another day adjusting to a new baby in the house!  We made a bell shaker together, which he and the girls all enjoy playing with.  We also sort of did Counting Bells, where we rolled a die and then counted out that many jingle bells, but after her noticed all the colors I changed it into a patterns activity, which he did pretty well at.  

Day Five: Winter Birds - Today we did all the activities, and had a lot of fun.  First we did Circle Time (we do Circle Time almost every day, but sometimes I mention it when something is extra fun or interesting), and sang "A Little Bird" to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb.  Little Guy liked it so much we did it three times so we could do all the birds from our Bird Matching Game.  

Next we played Winter Charades.  We used vocabulary building cards that related to our theme of Sights and Sounds of Winter, and acted them out for the other person to guess.  He did really well, and participated really well.  School time is really helping him be more enthusiastic and interactive.  He called the horn a trumpet, and referred to the bird as a "winter bird".

Then we blew feathers around before making a Cardinal Scene.  Next we played a Bird Matching Game where I hid half the birds around the room and then he had to run around and match them.  He did really well and learned the names of all the birds while we played.

Last, but not least we played Help the Bird.  Mother Goose Time supplied us with Basic Needs Cards (food, shelter, water, and love) and then we "built a nest" and first he sat in it, and I drew a card to find his need, and fulfill it.  Then I sat in the nest and he did the same for me.  It was really sweet and he has talked about it a couple times since.

Overall I am amazed at the continuous quality and level of fun in both weeks we have done so far.  There is a huge variety of activities every day, which teach tons of different skills while playing.  

Little Guy and I get to use Mother Goose Time for free in exchange for sharing the experiences with everyone!  It is a great system, and we appreciate it a ton, but it doesn't influence my opinions, I am genuinely super blessed to be able to use this and everything I say is true!