Hickory Dickory Dock Clock

Ryan and Justin enjoyed our Jack Jump Over the Candlestick and our Row, Row, Row Your Boat activities, so I proposed we do something for Hickory Dickory Dock.  I knew that I had a clock art project from when I taught kindergarten.

I decided to just draw the clock rather than trace it.  I used crayon to make nice thick lines.  Justin cut out the brown clock body and the white rectangle all by himself!  I was quite impressed.  I cut out the pendulum, clock hands, and face of the clock.  Those are a bit tricker and he was tired from working so hard on his parts.

I printed out the numbers 1-12 and gave them to Justin to place on the clock.  I had him look at a clock and told him to put on the 12, 6, 3, and 9 first.  I was so thrilled with how well his project turned out that I decided to laminate it.  The clock was too long for my laminate pouches, so I used 1 1/2 of them.  I was nervous that it wouldn't work, but it did. :)

I taped the back of the clock to a shoebox so that it could stand up.  I made a paper mouse with a string tail and Justin was set.  He could now act out the nursery rhyme.  He loved it, but wanted to know where the other animals are.  His book has an animal for each hour.  I used my Boardmaker software to print out the other animals that are in the story.  They store nicely inside the shoebox when they are not being used.  Of course Ryan likes it too.  They will just have to share because we really don't need two of them around the house.

Paper Chain Countdown!

Since Rob was going to be gone for two weeks, I thought it might be a nice idea to make a paper chain and use it as a visual countdown.  Ryan is too young to understand, but I thought Justin would like it and it might help me see that time was indeed passing as well.  We cut the paper and made a pattern with the links.   There were some extra pieces, so I made Ryan a little chain so he would leave the real one alone.  Justin told me that he wanted another one too.  I took the remainder of the pieces and made him a short chain. 
We counted the days that Daddy would be gone.  Justin, always thinking, had an idea.  He wanted to use HIS chain instead of the long one.  That way Daddy could come home sooner.  Maybe we should have just stuck with marking it on the calendar.  We have been using calendars with Justin for some time now.  He seems to get that concept and views it as the authority as to what will happen and when.  Oh well.  I am enjoying watching the chain get shorter and shorter, though it is not happening fast enough!
This isn't the best picture, but here is the chain hanging along side of Justin's current reading chart.  We color in every 5th book a different color so we can practice counting by 5s.  He got 10s down easily, but 5s are a bit harder.  We have a song that goes with it and that seems to help make it easier.  I like the visual on the bookchart as a subtle reinforcer.  It is his reading chart, with an extra little teaching moment snuck in there.  My poor child.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat...

This week I decided to use an old box to make a boat.  All it required was me plopping the box on the floor and telling the boys that it was a boat.  I helped them in and we sang "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" a few times.   The toy mop and broom were transformed into paddles so the boys could row their way through the water.  Justin did not want me to be a shark in the water, so I decided we would do some fishing instead.  Justin as a fish puzzle with a little fishing pole that we got at Target last December.  Perfect!  Of course I have TWO boys, so I needed a second fishing pole.  I took a plastic toy rolling pin, a bit of twine, a magnet from the fridge, and a binder clip.  Those items became the second fishing pole!  I also found some fish from a file folder game and stuck paper clips on them so that there would be more fish for the boys to catch.  Easy.

I am hoping that the box doesn't get completely destroyed because I think it could be a fun totem pole at some point.  The boys can really get the boat rocking though.  Guess we must have some pretty major storms in our playroom.

Color Hunt!

Today I pulled out some 9 inch by 12 inch color flash cards that I made a million years ago (okay, probably in 1993) to try out a color hunt with my kids. Justin knows all of his colors and Ryan, though he is a bit young, likes to do whatever his brother does.

I held up a card and had Justin identify the color and then look around the playroom for something that was that same color.  He was clueless!  He wandered around aimlessly and I wondered if he might be looking for an identical flashcard or something.  So I modeled it for him and had him try again.  He did much better once he got the idea.  Ryan didn't know what was going on, but he loved having his brother find an object that he could bring to me.  I would thank him for the item, using the name of the object he brought and pointing out the color.

For the second round, I had Justin hold up the cards and I would look for objects that were the same color.  He loved being in charge of the cards and watching me run around the room.

We are ready for variations.  I am going to print out the color words so Justin can get some practice reading them.  I will let him match the card to the color flashcards we were already using.  This way he can self-check.  Ryan can carry around the color flashcard while Justin helps to find objects that are the right color.

I think I will have a speed contest.  I will see how many objects of a certain color Justin can find within a set time period.  We can keep track and then see what color is "the winner."  Justin is really into contests and comparing, so he will be excited to see which color wins.

Once Justin has found lots of different things (instead of always choosing the same couple of objects for each color) I might give him additional requirements such as it has to have red but NO blue.  It has to have green and be bigger than your hand.

Sometimes I spread the cards out on the floor and give Justin a group of objects to sort by color.  He really enjoys this too.  Ryan's main goal is to play with the objects and move them from where his brother put them.  When Ryan gets a bit older and he can do the sorting, I will have him sort by color while Justin uses tally marks to count how many objects of each color.  I will have him use the data he collects to complete a graph.

Perhaps after that I will toss the cards.  If I ever teach again  and need something like that, I bet I could make them.

Introduction

I find myself trying to come up with ways to keep my two kids (16 months and 3 years) busy and happy throughout the day.  Primarily, I am writing this as a resource to myself so I can remember what works and what doesn't.