Glowing Bubble Bath

Here's some pictures from Grace's Glowing Bubble Bath. 

Supplies- Neon paint, Black Light, Spray Bottle, and Bath Toys

I mixed water and neon paint together in a spray bottle. 

She spent the beginning of her bath spraying all her bubbles so that the whole bath glowed.

 



Then I gave her some bath toys and neon paint.

We took turns writing her name on the wall and making designs.

She painted her duck so that it would glow.

She had to paint her faucet protecting duck also.

 

Her favorite part was spraying the bubbles.  She keeps asking to do it again.

Light Table Sand Math

Here is a look at how we have been practicing math with the sand tray on the light table.

Learning how numbers are represented with dots and tally marks.

 



Learning the written word along with the number, dots, and tally marks.

Practicing number recognition.  I write the numbers in the sand.  Then I call out a number and she finds it and erases it.

 

Distinguishing between 6 and 9.  I write a bunch of 6's and 9's in the sand then we play a game.  She rolls a dice and flips a coin (I have taped the coin up and wrote the number 6 on one side and a 9 on the other).  If she rolls a 3 and flips a 6 then she has to erase 3 6's from the sand tray.  She keeps going until all the numbers are erased.

Practicing addition and subtraction.  I set up a problem for her and she completes it.  I like to add dots or tally marks under the numbers because right now she still needs to count to come up with the answers.  When she starts being able to add in her head I will stop adding dots and tally marks so that way she can practice without counting.



Sprinkler Fun

My daughter is so lucky that she has the Daddy she has.  He is so much fun, encourages her curiosity, and helps her live out her dreams.  I try to be fun and laid back but I often find myself thinking about the amount of clean up that will have to be done before I agree to let her do something she is asking. 

 

For example- Running through a sprinkler in the park. 

 

Grace really wanted to run through the sprinkler and my first thought was no because we were on our way back to the car and I did not want her to be soaked.  Daddy however immediately said yes and just shrugged and smiled at me when I gave him a look. 

 

Not only was he willing to let her run through the sprinklers but he was willing to accompany her when she got a little scared about running that far away from us.  If it would have just been me and my daughter and I had said "yes you can run through the sprinklers" but she was too scared I am sure that we would have been heading back to the car nice and dry because I would not have been willing to sit in wet jeans for the car ride.  Luckily Daddy is willing to sacrifice comfort to bring his little girl's dreams to life (also willing to carry her Tinkerbell backpack).  Here are some fun pictures. 

 

 

After running through a couple times with Daddy, Grace started running around by herself.  She tried running under the streams, avoiding the streams, and jumping over them.  She even tried to closely inspect how the sprinklers work.

 

 

What joy my daughter would have missed out on if Daddy would not have been willing to say yes or participate in her adventure.  I learn so much by watching my husband interact with our daughter.

Early Reading on Light Table

Here is a look at some of the fun early reading activities we have been doing with our sand tray on the light table.
 

Writing short-vowel words for her to sound out.  We also practice spelling simple words.

 



Writing short sentences or phrases that include sight words or easy to sound out words.

Right now Grace is really enjoying learning how to spell animal names.

I choose an animal and write the name in the sand.  Then she sounds it out.

After she has read the word she draws a picture of the animal in the sand.

Practicing word families

Practicing blends

 



Practicing sight words

 

I love using the sand tray on the light table because it allows my daughter to be more active during her reading lessons.  I love hands-on reading activities because it is not practical to expect a young child to learn by only sitting at a table and completing workbooks. 

 

That being said we do spend time sitting at a table working on lessons during the day but I add a lot of activities and breaks in between the sitting/workbook work.  We only sit and do workbook lessons when she wants too.  I do not force her to sit at the table and complete a set amount of work.  When she is done we are done.  That means some days we do no sit down work and other days we might spend a few hours through out the day working at the table. 

 

My goal this year has been to teach her to love learning and find joy in it.  I am slowly trying to acclimate her to the idea of sitting and doing quite work for short periods of time just to prepare her for school in a few months (we will be homeschooling so I can still build in a lot of hands-on work but she will be expected to sit still for longer periods once "school" starts).

Sticks and a Sponge

Here is a look at the fine motor, sensory box I put out recently.

 

I grabbed a bath sponge and her neon stir sticks (from Walmart) and put them in a container.  The sticks have a rounded edge so it is a little difficult to poke them in the sponge but she was able to do it.  This activity was a great way to strengthen her hands and fingers.  It also kept her busy for about 30 minutes.

She was able to remove and reinsert the sticks a lot of times before the sponge got destroyed.

Black Light Solar System

Grace enjoys playing with her glow-in-the-dark stars and planets but they do not glow for very long and she has to "recharge" them a lot.  So we tried them with the black light.  Problem solved!  They glow great and there is no need to take breaks and turn the lights back on to "recharge".

Here is a picture of the planets and stars randomly spread out on her table.  We did put the planets in order but I must of forgot to take a picture. 

 

We spent more time talking about planets and solar systems than ever before because we didn't have to take breaks.  The planets held her attention longer and she was able to learn more.  Wish I would have thought about this when we first started learning about planets.

 



Zekiah got in on the action as well. He loved the glowing star.  He was waving it around so much that I was worried he might poke his eye out.  His smiles kept me from taking it away though.  He just looked so proud of his star.

Reading, Counting, and Money

This is a fun activity that I came up with to help my daughter practice her reading, counting, and money skills all at the same time. She loves this hands-on activity.

 

I wrote simple words on the her plastic eggs. 

She must sound out the word and say it correctly before she can open the egg.

I filled 10 eggs with 10 pennies each.  As she read the words, opened the eggs, and collected her pennies I had her place them on her hundreds chart.  She would read each number as she placed a penny on it.  When she collected 100 pennies we discussed that 100 pennies made one dollar.  We moved her pennies to the side and went to work on the last two eggs.

 



I filled the last two eggs with five dimes each.  We discussed that dimes are worth 10 pennies.  As she collected the dimes she placed them on her hundreds chart in the tens spot.  When she collected her ten dimes we discussed how they equaled one dollar also.  We talked about how it only takes 10 dimes to make one dollar but it takes 100 pennies because they are worth less.

 

Grace did such a good job with this game, especially since we were connecting a bunch of fairly new concepts.  We played twice and then she asked if she could be done and put her money in her piggy bank.  We will definitely be doing this activity again.  I have a number of ideas of things to add to this activity- sight words, nickels, quarters, counting without the number chart, etc.