Math – Page 7 – Butterbees and Bumbleflies

Apple Theme Center

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I’m all about quick, easy ideas that I can throw together in just a few minutes. This center was not one of those ideas. So if you are just starting with sensory activities for your kiddos, this is not the place to start. BUT – any one of these ideas on their own IS a fabulous start. You just might not be ready to put them all together on one day to create a center.

If you’ve read my blog much, you know that Becca is typically satisfied for quite a little bit the first time I intro an activity, and then beyond that, it usually only gets about 5-10 mins of play in a day, every now and again. The great thing about this center is that she has really been glued to it for quite a while, and will go and select a different activity different times… which makes me happy since I did take about an hour to put it all together. (As an aside – I’ve started this week going around and putting away old activities – storing them in labeled Ziploc bags – so that in a couple months I can pull them back out and they will be new again. Sneaky Mommy! 😉 )

The first thing you’ll need for your center is a place to put everything. Maybe you have an adorable little bookshelf that everything goes on fabulously. Or maybe you have a water table like ours (aff link) that is just waiting to be filled…

Here are the activities in my Apple Theme Center:

Word Building/Reading
Apple Sorting/Tossing
Rock Dumping/Shaking
Ten Apples Up On Top Reading/Building

Word Building/Reading
This activity has been in my brain for a while, but I hesitated to do it with her because I actually don’t have a set of magnetic letters. And then it hit me – I DO have magnet tape! So, I wrote the words I wanted on index cards, and cut out the letters. Then I stuck tiny pieces of magnet tape on the back! This little sheet tray I got at Dollar Tree in the cooking section. It’s also the perfect size for her little hands to haul out of the center and over the automan or couch for more intense play just focused on this activity. She has begun to try to read the words as sight words, and is doing really well.

Apple Sorting/Tossing
Again with Dollar Tree – I found these little green and red apples in the home decor section, and then I pulled the red and green buckets from her Farmer’s Market Set (Get Yours Here – Aff Link) and she can sort them. She has also enjoyed setting the bucket on the ground and stepping back to toss the apples into the correct bucket – making it a great gross motor activity, as well.

Rock Dumping/Shaking
I read somewhere that you could make rocks or other hard materials scented by adding tea leaves to them (I honestly don’t remember where), so I got these green rocks, again, at Dollar Tree in the home decor section – literally right next to the apples – and I added Apple Crumble Black Tea to it – so they smell like apples! I had thoroughly cleaned and dried out a coffee creamer bottle, which is absolutely perfect for this activity. She loves to use the funnel and scoop to put the rocks into the bottle, then close the lid, shake it, and then open the lid and shake the rocks back into the bowl. It’s turned into a super fun activity that covers several of the senses. (SO IF YOU’RE JUST SELECTING ONE OF THESE ACTIVITIES TO START WITH, THIS IS A GREAT ONE!)

Ten Apples Up On Top Reading/Building
We LOVE the book Ten Apples Up On Top. So when I saw this idea from Ellen over at Cutting Tiny Bites, I just new we HAD to do it. Here’s how we extended her activity a tad. I printed up this sheet (FREE PRINTABLE HERE!) of ten apples, and let Becca paint them. (I had planned to do red, green, and yellow, and then discovered we were out of paint. So that might be an extension you’d want to add.. so that as you build, you can build a pattern!) After they had dried, I cut them out and taped them onto ten blocks. We only had nine that matched, so the tenth one is the “roof,” as Becca calls it. So here’s how you do it – as you read the book, you stack an apple block on top each time that the animals in the book add an apple. It’s super fun. Although if you pick a heavy top block like we did, you’ll end up with all ten apples up… and then dropping. But, that just adds to the fun!
Looking for the Ten Apples Up On Top Board Book? Here you go! (aff link)
Looking for wooden blocks? Try this set! (aff link)

Fyi – your Apple Theme Center will not stay looking like my top picture for very long. After lots of love, it might look something like this… but just know that this means its being well loved, and your child is getting lots of benefit from it… and if your magnet board looks like ours, you’ll know your hubby has been playing as well. 😉

Total Mommy Prep Time: All told, it probably took about an hour to put it all together – maybe a little longer?
Total Becca Play Time: She spent about 45 minutes here the first day, and has easily spent 15 minutes every day since then on these activities. VERY beneficial and well worth my time to put it together!

Traveling Tuesday – Sensory Bins for Grandma’s House

As a travel agent, I often look for tips to help my clients have a better experience wherever they are going. Even on road trips. Especially on road trips. Especially on road trips… with kids. Our own children are far from easy to deal with on the road. Grayson is NOT fond of his car seat. On many levels… but especially if the car isn’t moving. Sadly, there’s not a whole lot I can do for him. BUT – the other thing he’s not fond of, I do have more control over – that being Becca’s volume. When she gets tired and frustrated, she gets LOUD. Really, really LOUD. And then Brother starts crying even harder and louder. And then Mommy and Daddy really just need ear plugs because there’s nothing we can do. We have been known to pull into a Burger King parking lot way after dark and attempt to tame the savage beasts a little by reading books and feeding a bottle. But honestly, we are still on the search for what works for us in the car. (And yes, I’ve tried a million cute games and magazines and magna doodle things. But, when it’s bed time, it’s just bed time, and nothing can change that.) So, my “Traveling Tuesday” posts the next few weeks leading up to your holiday travels for Thanksgiving will have tips and tricks for traveling with your kids, but it may be a while before they include anything for on the road… B/c we are still searching for that secret.

So today’s tip is about once you get to your destination – our trip was to the Grandparent’s house. The grandparents have great toys that are different from what we have, but I also know that it’s good to bring something familiar just in case little Miss Picky decides she doesn’t like any of the toys and the “I’m BORED!” statement comes out. Thankfully, we did really well on this trip – I think because Mommy packed lots of stuff to do in addition to all the fun stuff already there.

Becca loves sensory bins. And she loves sorting. She played with this bin a little bit there, and then has played with it a lot at home. So… how do you travel with a sensory bin? Because you’re probably thinking of a large tub with a lot of messy junk in it, right? WRONG. A traveling sensory bin should be something basic and simple, and not very messy. And most importantly, it needs to go in a traveling container that has a lid. You need something like this. (aff link – thank you!) I found some that were different colors, so mine is purple, not white like this one. But the important features are the lid, the clips to hold it closed, and the handle.

So what did I put inside mine? I got paper flower petals from www.consumercrafts.com (not an affiliate link, but it seriously should be as much as I love their stuff and tell everyone in the world about their website…), threw in some little white shiny poms for a different texture, and then did what I’m starting to become famous for – took foam butterfly stickers and stuck them together to create some nice thick, cushy foam butterflies.

Here’s one way she can interact with the bin – by sorting the flower petals by color, and putting the poms in a bowl. She seems to enjoy pulling out the butterflies and flying them around the room more, though. I’m good with that. In a couple days, I plan to throw all this stuff in a big ziploc bag, and hide it in the cabinet til Spring comes around. But with a little girl who loves flowers and butterflies, it’s NEVER off-season to make a butterfly/flower petal sensory bin! 🙂 I’m already starting to contemplate what sort of non-horribly-messy fall stuff I can throw in a bin… pictures will no doubt come later.

Total Prep Time for Mommy: This one took a tad longer than it should have b/c I had the darndest time peeling the back off of some of the butterflies to stick them together! I had estimated it’d take me about three minutes to dump it all together into the box, but with my sticker issues, it took more like 10 minutes.
Total Play Time for Becca: The first time, she was highly distracted (at grandparent’s house, remember), so she played with it off and on over the course of 30-45 minutes. At home, she has played with it exclusively for up to 15 minutes.

Clock Clothespins

In my ever-continuing quest to make new hands-on math activities, I decided to make a paper plate clock with clothespin numbers. We are still always working to improve Becca’s grip strength so that she’ll be able to easily manipulate a pencil before too long. This is a super fun little activity that not only does that, but also reinforces the location of each number on the clock. Once she gets further into telling time, I will add the “5”, “10”, “15”, “20”… to the end of the clips, like I have the “o’clock” on the 12. I love it when I can come up with a project for her that is fun now, but also will have a great expansion in the future. I also hope to add a brad and hands to this very same clock once she learns more about telling time, so that she can manipulate the clock face to say a variety of times. I love little Judy clocks, but why buy one when you can make a game that turns into a Judy clock?

It’s so simple to make! I suggest that you clip your clothes pins onto the clock before writing the numbers on them – so that they are oriented appropriately when you look at it. I also put numbers on both sides of the clips to reduce frustration. It easily stores in a ziploc bag – I used the smaller paper plate so a gallon bag is more than large enough for the clock and all the clips.

Modification idea for older kids – if they are starting out already with clock knowledge, you could put the minutes only on the clip, with the numbers written on the paper plate, where they have to match “5” to the number 1, “10” to the number 2, “15” to the number 3, etc – matching “o’clock” to the number 12. You’ll just want to use a fine-tip Sharpee instead of a thick one like I did or your 55 won’t fit on the clip. 🙂

Total Mommy Prep Time: About 5-7 minutes b/c I didn’t put the clips on the plate before writing the numbers, and had to re-do some of them that ended up upside down..
Total Becca Play Time: The first time, she played with it about 7 or 8 minutes, but she was highly distracted. She has played with it for longer periods since then. And, again, any time it’s a re-useable activity, I never mind putting 5-10 mins of my own time, or even longer, into the project that I know she will use over and over again. 🙂

Sunday Sorting

Often on Sunday afternoons I’m left trying to find something -ANYTHING- to occupy Becca so we can watch football. This is one that seems to be a favorite – she’ll do it, and then come back to it later. And the best part is, I can do this with her fairly mindlessly while watching the game! 🙂

What you’ll need is an ice cube tray, and a bunch of poms. You’ll need to sort through the poms before you give them to your child, to make sure that what you are giving them will actually fit in each cube space. Then, dump them all into a container, and let your child sort! It’s the most fun if you have different sizes as well as different colors, so they are having to sort on more than one level of thinking.

Looking to buy poms? You can find them at any craft store, or save a trip and have them delivered to you! Here is an AWESOME option from Amazon for just $8.74 (Affiliate link – thank you!):
Pepperell Craft Making Assorted Pom Poms, Standard Colors, 750 Per Package

Total Prep Time for Mommy: About 3-5 minutes – just because I had to gather materials and sort the poms to make sure what I was giving her would fit and make sense.
Total Play Time for Becca: About 15-20 minutes at a time, several different times throughout the game, and then later in the week, too.

Money Monday

Today we’re taking a quick break from our Autumn activities to look at an easy-to-prep money project to throw together for your kids. I was at Dollar Tree the other day (insert the sound of angels singing here… ha!) and found an AMAZING veggie/dip tray that was exactly what I had been dreaming of… Becca is super interested in “monies” – mainly because she knows that they buy her things, but also because she gets to put them in her piggy “dank” and they make fun sounds. You gotta love the basic joys of childhood, right? When was the last time you stopped to listen to the sound of money clanking into a piggy bank?

Anyway, I digressed. I wanted to find a way to introduce the coins and their values that would be fun and simple now, but could grow more complex with her understanding. Enter the fabulous veggie and dip tray. (Again, with the sound of angels.)

Here’s what I did – I made this document – made available to you as a free printable! Woohoo – now you really are with me on the angels singing thing, huh? I knew you would be eventually. 😉 Print it out, color the coins (Sienna and Silver are the two crayon colors I used), and cut them out. Then, I used book tape to attach my lovely little coin labels inside each section of the tray.

Then here’s how I used it to teach: First, I sorted through our play coins and pulled out about half of the amount of each coin that we had (only one 1/2 dollar and only one Susan B.) – I didn’t want to be too overwhelming the very first time. Then I reminded her that play money looks a little different than real money (you could totally sort with real money if you had those coins laying around – I got these play coins in a set from the Target Dollar section, so we used these instead of dumping her piggy bank.) I reminded her of the names of the coins, and then told her what each coin is worth – placing one of that coin inside the section where it belongs. Then I encouraged her to sort the coins – looking at their size, color, and pictures to determine which picture they matched with. As she would place the coin in the correct spot, I would say the name of the coin and it’s value. “Good job! That’s a nickel – worth 5 cents.” It wasn’t long before she began parroting back to me whatever coin name and value I had just said. 😉 She got a little distracted and tired of sorting before she was done, but I pulled her back to the activity by doing some of the sorting for her and having her “check my work” to see if I was right. (I threw one quarter in with the dimes, and she did catch me, so I knew she was paying attention… I’m sneaky that way.) All in all, I felt like our first coin lesson went really well, and she asked to sort her “monies” later, so it was obviously something that she found fun and interesting.

Eventually, I would like to do this activity as a building lesson – where she would sort the coins and then count to see how much money she had in each section, and then how much she had in all. Would be a great way to sort her piggy bank before next Christmas – when I plan to have her use some of her piggy bank savings to buy a present for her brother, daddy, and each grandparent. And by that point, she’ll be familiar enough with the activity and with the coins and their values, that that will be entirely possible!

I hope that this activity helps you to make teaching about coins a little more interesting for your child! A fabulous extension that I already have in mind involves bills… you won’t want to miss that coming up here in a couple months! 🙂

Total Prep Time for Mommy – well, for you it’ll be about 5-7 minutes – download your copy of the printable, color, cut, tape, and then grab your “monies!” 🙂

Total Play Time for Becca – our initial lesson and discovery time was about 7 or 8 minutes, but she has played with it several times since then, and with the extensions I plan to do, this tray will be in use in our home for a long time.