Bubbles in a Bowl and Other Water Experiments

My kids are always asking to blow bubbles, but now that the weather is colder, it's hard to get outside (and with the amount of bubble liquid that my kids spill I'm not going to attempt having them blow bubbles indoors).  Today after we did a sink/float experiment in the kitchen, I thought of a super-easy solution - put some water and dish soap in a bowl, hand each kid a straw, and voila - instant entertainment!  Just for fun, here's the train of thought that got us here...

Homemade Checkers Game from Duct Tape!

I've been wanting to introduce my kids to the game of Checkers, so I created this homemade version with a mat made out of colored duct tape (Duck tape brand) which turned out totally cute!  When my husband went to the hardware store to buy some black duct tape to 'fix' our chairs, I asked him to also pick up a roll in a different color or pattern, and he came back with purple Duck tape.  (If you're wondering about the chairs - since the kids have been using them, all our leather chairs have ripped, and the black duct tape solution was the best we could think of without spending tons of money on new furniture for the kids to destroy - thank goodness we never have guests!)  Anyway, with my black and purple rolls of duct tape, I set off to make a checkerboard mat...

8 Montessori-Inspired Learning Activities with a Battleship Game

Games that are meant for older kids can be used for fantastic early learning activities for the younger set.  I recently found a travel-sized Battleship game for $5, and my 3-year-olds have been having a great time using it for all sorts of neat Montessori-inspired educational activities.

Baby School - In and Out / On and Off

Baby H is 14 months old.  He is now walking around unassisted (he's not a baby anymore!), and is constantly imitating sounds and trying to communicate.  He makes up his own funny games to play and has a wonderful sense of humor (constantly trying to play tricks on his mom and then laughing).  I didn't do a special theme this week, but tried to give him lots of opportunities for practicing "in and out" and "on and off".  He's definitely trying to say those words (although they all sound alike).  Here are just a few of the things he's been doing that I remembered to take pictures of..

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..

Homeschool Preschool - Week 11

L and E are 3 years old (39 months).  I was still battling a sinus infection this week (which is finally clearing up with antibiotics), so once again our Homeschool Preschool time involved more games, fine motor skills practice, dramatic play, and ad-hoc activities than the usual planned work-trays.  It was a great week for working on visual-spatial reasoning, problem solving, and creativity...

Double the Ducks - Early Math Activities

My 3-year-olds adore the book Double the Ducks in the MathStart series by Stuart Murphy.  It inspired me to create an entire morning of activities for the kids around the concept of doubling numbers.  I included stickers, snacks, cooking, and painting activities and my children quickly caught on to this Math concept (so when we get around to teaching the multiplication table, x2 will be a piece of cake!)  Here's what we did...

Type a Story - Reading, Spelling, and Creativity

I can't take credit for this activity, because my daughter L (3 years old) came up with it almost all on her own.  My girls typed up sentences (with some help), printed them out, cut out the words, glued the words back together in the correct order on another piece of paper and illustrated their stories.  If you want to see the final results, read on...

Shiny Treasure Box Made From Chocolate Wrappers

I think my family ate a few too many Reese's peanut butter cups this Halloween!  I'm glad I saved all the colorful foil wrappers, because we used them today to turn a little shoebox into a shiny treasure chest..

Preschool Mini-unit on Whales

The twins are 3 years old (39 months).  Yesterday I found some science goggles for the girls in our costume basket and they pretended that they were diving masks and had an underwater adventure playing with the whales.  Today I decided to extend on their interest in whales and put together a mini-unit on whales for our morning Homeschool Preschool session.  We had a great time and learned a lot.  Here are the activities I included..

Baby School - Helpers

I usually post updates on Baby H on Sundays, but this week I didn't have that many new activities for him and didn't take enough pictures.  His older sisters have finally taken an interest in their baby brother and have been teaching him lots of things - walking, building with blocks, rolling a ball, etc..  They love holding hands in a circle and singing "Ring Around the Rosies".  It melts my heart to see all of my children getting along. 

8th Annual Homeschool Blog Awards

 

I've been nominated for the Best NEW Homeschool Blog in the 8th Annual Homeschool Blog Awards.  If you enjoy reading Learners in Bloom, I'd love your vote!  You can vote once per day from each device.  Thank you so much for your support!

Homeschool Preschool Week 10

L and E are 39 months old.  This week's preschool time was less organized than usual due to Halloween and the fact that I have a nasty head cold.  Rather than our typical math and reading lessons, we spent most of the week trying on different costumes and going on imaginary adventures, rediscovering games that have been sitting in the closet for a while, building things, and playing miscellaneous logic/memory games that I made up...

Super Easy Game to Improve Memory

I try to fit in logic puzzles and memory games in our Homeschool Preschool every day.  My 3-year-olds always have a good time with them and I've seen great improvements in these skills over the past couple months.  Here's a simple game we play to improve memory.  All you need is a set of small objects, magnets, or flashcards.  There are two ways to play...

Homemade Tangram Puzzle Cards

I'm so proud of how neat these homemade Tangram puzzle cards turned out, that I just had to share.  They only took about half an hour to make (maybe less), and my girls (3 years old) absolutely LOVED playing with them all evening.  Can you guess how they were made?

Glitter Gourds Autumn Table Decoration

A little glitter goes a long way in making ordinary objects look more festive.  This autumn/Thanksgiving centerpiece is ridiculously easy to make, but really looks beautiful (I don't think the photos captured it well, so you'll have to take my word for it).  As a bonus, my 3-year-olds were able to create it pretty much by themselves.  Here's how it's done...