Homeschool Preschool - Week 12

L and E are 39 months old.  This was a great week for early learning - we're really clicking into a rhythm and my girls are eager to learn new things and work patiently on their projects.  Here are some of this week's highlights..

Peek-a-boo Logic: Homemade Puzzle Game

If you've been reading my blog lately, you can tell that I've been a bit obsessed with homemade logic games this week.   I like to 'window shop' on Amazon and I always find neat brain puzzles for my kids that I can't afford right now, so I just let them inspire me to invent my own fun homemade activities.  This one was made for under $1..  I named it Peek-a-boo Logic, and it's a neat little game for a variety of ages (both my 3-year-old kids and my 30-something husband enjoyed it!).  If you want to find out more, read on...

IQ Blocks - Another Homemade Game for Visual Spatial Reasoning

If you liked my Find the Different Figure game, and my Homemade Tangram Design Cards, you'll probably enjoy this homemade IQ Blocks game as well.  I made it yesterday using second-hand building blocks we had around the house, some paint, and my photocopier-printer...

Montessori Monday: Pin Poking on Foil

My kids (3 years old) have never tried Montessori pin poking, which involves tracing a design onto paper and then cutting it out by making small pin holes close together along the outline of the image.  It's great practice for using the pincer-grip and a good exercise in concentration and precision.  I wasn't sure my kids were ready for it yet, so I thought we'd start out with a variation by poking pin holes into tin foil to make pretty patterns.  Here's how we did it...

Visual Spatial Brain Training for Preschoolers

I made up this game which L and E (3 years old) have been enjoying all week to test their visual / spatial reasoning skills.  I saw another parent in a forum talk about a $300 (!) game they were going to purchase for Christmas to teach their toddler how to take IQ Tests!  When I checked out the website, I saw a sample of the questions, and I thought "I could totally do that myself".  So I did.  Here's how it works..