Preschool Activities

Dallin usually Tags along with what every Ryan is doing if he can. I have been horrible about not being more creative and spending time with him. I in no way feel is it vital to his education or stopping his learning at all, but I do feel that it is very important for me to spend time with him too. These are just a few activities that he likes to do. Here we are using high lighters to trace d and b 

We made a shape Pizza and talked about colors and shapes which he new but I knew he would like the activity anyway.

Letter fishing, always a favorite. I got this pole at target I think almost 8 years ago, it keeps getting broken but I refuse to throw it away we love it. (Unless I can get another one- we had two at first but the other broke behyond repair).

I searched and found a ton of fun things to do with blocks but he does not care this is what he likes best. Quick race builds. Then we talk about who's is the tallest? who's is the widest? who has the most blocks used? etc. lots of fun.

Dallin like to make letters, Ryan does his reading words, the older boys love to practice spelling no matter who you are they love it when the sand try comes out. I am not a huge fan  of the mess but every once in a while I pull it out.

making patters. I will make a bunch of patterns then me will need to match or continue the patter. Fun for him to do right by me when I am doing math with Ryan,

I do not have dates but these were all done sometime from September to October of 2014

Learning b and d and other fun things

These are just a few of the preschool/First Grade Activities we have done. 

 I found this book at the Library, I love it. Wish I owned it. BUT it is out of print so it is expensive. BUT we enjoyed the Library copy, and learned all about shapes, this was really a review but this book had some shapes that are more then the standard shapes. Then we drew all kinds of shapes out side with chalk, also traced the boys and had fun, making all kids of chalk drawings.

Another one we like is "guess where the rock is" we got these stackable cups from Ikea, but anything will do, we put a small rock under one then they take turns moving them around and hoping the cups around switching things up fast then you try to guess where the rock is. Lots of fun, great at developing skills with paying attention, and focusing etc.

 Both boys know what better b and d are but when Ryan is reading he often times mixes them up. I thought it would go away but even after a year of reading and he is reading many words on his own he still mixes them up. I was super happy when I found this idea on Pinterest, worked like a charm! More details bellow.

 You can only Bulldoze a b! "b" is for bulldozer, and when you scoot a little bulldozer along it will stay straight, because it is a b! But, if you try to bulldoze a d, it will dump over because "d" is for dump!

This activity worked soooo well, and really make it click! when reading I tell him to check and use his finger like a bulldozer, if his finger lines up with a "b" then it will be bulldozed. If it hits a curve part of a "d" then he knows it will dump. After only 1-2 days of this activity he has got it, and does not mix them up any more.

I used some magnet letters and a little bulldozer that we already had, and drew a track on some paper.

K and Pre K activities!

My favorite kind of activities for younger kids are things I can do and make with them, and engage and really enjoy them with, BUT then they will keep enjoying it for a while, while I get things done with the older two boys. And these two activities fit that mold. 

 Kool-Aid Play-dough- there are a million recipes on Pinterest I used what ever one I had the stuff for. My kids love this, it is soft and smells really yummy and had bright colors. If you kids would eat it then I guess it would not be so good- but my kids really enjoyed it.

 Then they will play and play with it for a while :) we also use it for school activities too, you can stamp numbers, letters, spelling words, math problems into play dough we use it a lot, then it gets dried up, and we go with out for a while until we make another batch. (12/2013)

I do not remember where I got this idea, I think Pinterest too. We had been learning about chemical reactions in our Real Science for kids program, so this was lots of fun. Just take a pan of baking soda. Then I got a bunch of containers fill them with vinegar and food coloring. I put a dropper in each color and let them at it. The loved the explosions that happened. Dallin would get all excited and say look! a Chemical reaction! Ha ha When they ran out of vinegar I gave them more until it was full of to much vinegar and would not react any more. 

 They loved it! Kept them intertwined for a while with the droppers it lasted a while. Great motor skill working with the droppers. I also told them if they poured it in, the activity would be over quick and they could not to it any more so they did not want that and were good about not pouring the colors in.

 They also had fun blending the colors in the explosions. (3/2014)

Pretzel Time!

While the older boys are at Homeschool PE once a week I try to make that My special time with Dallin. Today we made soft pretzels. They were really good. I found the recipe on pinterest. We did a letter for each person in the family, and then just made whatever shapes he wanted. I also made a yummy cheese sauce. I will have both recipes on my food blog, at some point. Feel free to check and see if I have gotten around to it. I tried to find the pretzel recipe but I could not right now sorry. 

 When the boys got home from PE they were excited to try the special snack Dallin made for them. He loves being with me in the kitchen, and then rolling out the dough to make fun shapes and letter. He is such a chatter bug, and it so fun to listen too. I love this sweet boy!

Another day we build lego creations using some duplo lego idea cards we found on Pinterest and of course we had to make a zoo train! my Dallin loves Trains! we did not fallow the cards exactly but they were fun ideas to fallow. I can not find the link now but Pinterest has a bunch. I just love playing with him, he is so fun to chat with. 

Preschool Indoor Activities

I really struggle with balancing by younger boys and my older boys. I WANT to spend time with them all but that is not always easy to do, and near impossible for me at times. So I strive for balance. Some things I plan I do with them, and some they do while I am working with the older two. These are a few ideas I got from pinterest. 

 They LOVE these. I made shapes for them out of making take as a Target but it did not work out so well, they just like shooting them. They play with these often LINK HERE 

 PomPom Soccer LINK
Ryan said this was way to easy, Dallin liked it better it was more challenging for him. The also Loved building the fans to watch the game from Legos (more pictures bellow)

 I kind of was on a making tape kick trying different active type things inside since it had been cold at the time. This was a fun Balancing activity- did not last long but the liked it.

 More pics of the Pompom soccer this was on the floor for a few days, the really enjoyed it.

PreK and Kindergarten Activites

Homeschooling lots of children of different ages is really a challenge. I have read and listen to lots of tips on how to do it and why. They are all different and work well for those families, THAT is the wonderful thing about homeschooling. I have had weeks where I feel like I am sinking in a sea of dishes, laundry and piles of "to do" school stuff. Or where I just can't seem to get anything done because my younger kids are distracting me. 

 I have tried giving the younger kids things to do while I work with the older kids, and I have tried just having them tag along while they sit on the older kids stuff, and this works "some" but I still find they are happiest when they get their school time too. I do pre K and Kindergarten level activities (just for the younger two boys) 1-2 times a week. The other days through the week, they each get their reading time with mom where we read books then do a puzzle or quick game etc. For me I find my younger boys are much better about doing "busy bags" or playing or doing things on their own better if they get some time with me too. For us, I give the older two something they can go by themselves (first thing after our spiritual thought), while I play with the younger ones, Then They are much better behaved while I work with the older two. Most of these ideas/activites are from early in the year but I am just now getting them posted. 

 Here are a few things I have done with my younger boys. Ryan (picture one) is making a number line up to 20 creating something from Legos for each number on the line. GREAT activity lots of practice counting. We did this over time, not all the numbers in one day. Picture two is similar, these are beads on pip cleaners, then a sticky note with the number on top. Dallin did 1-10, Ryan did 11-20 again we did a couple each week, then reviewed each time we got the project out again. They really liked it.

 Ryan LOVED this activity, and Dallin helped too. I would give them a letter in this picture it was the better B and he went though the house finding things that started with that letter. I then put the words on pieces of paper and we sounded them out, to match the word to that item. I went with him searching,  but he found everything on his own.

 This is a really fun Lego Math game teaching greater then and less than. I give them a container of Legos, and start the sand timer, they build as fast as they can until the timer is out. Then we count how many each person has, then see who has greater or who has less. Dallin just learns to count and number recognition, Ryan is really learning the concept of greater and less.

 For Dallin after we counded his I would give him four options of cards and say "where is the number 10? and have him find that card, that matches the number of Legos we counted. I did this for Ryan too, even though he already knows them.

I try to keep things simple around here, I do not have tons of time to plan, print, cut out and do long fancy things. These things are easy, and do not takes lots of time, but when for me, I find when I spend that time with my little ones, they are happy they do not feel like they are being pushed aside for the older ones, and I feel happy because I get time to enjoy my little boys personalities before they are all grown up!

Busy Preschool Activites - part 1

I find that when I give my younger boys something to do, then I am able to focus better with my older ones. When I do this I also must be realistic with the activities and how much time I will get out of them. I can not expect certain things to keep them busy for hours. But some will, for example play-dough my kids LOVE play-dough. Even with I do work with my older kids it is in pockets of 30 here and there mixes with other things. So these activies work well. Also I do not do these everyday. A lot of times my younger ones just do "free play" but when they do that to many days in a row they start to fight a lot, and get in to trouble so I try to balance it out. Here are some of the actives they like to do. 

 Toys and water in the sink. classic, they love it. I given them things that I know will sink and float and we talk  about that some, but mostly they just like to splash and play- then I give them towels to clean it up when they are done.

 This is not one of his favorites, but he will do this, He will also throw them in the trey. This keeps him busy for not more then 15-20 minuets but still good motor skill activity.

 This is Joey- I got him off Amazon the company is Melissa and Doug, they have a girl one too. My boys love to play with this, they will enjoy this activity for about 30 minutes give or take depending on the day.

 We have a rice bin with fake bugs- that I have shared on there they like that,  and this is similar, I already had the lentils, and the small pots the boys got at a craft they made at Lowe's build and grow activity, and I already had the fake flowers. I thought this might be to "girly" but you know they really liked it. There is a fake shovel in the box too, so they liked digging and shoveling the "dirt" into the pots and pouring them back and fourth. They will play with this for about 30 minutes- give or take I always put a sheet down to try to contain it.

 Another Fun activity we have done are they squishy gel ball things- they are actually meant for flowers  but they are fun to play with and squish up, and made a mess with. I got I think 12 pkg for $5 on amazon of the cheap kind. I took two pkg and let them soak over night, (I think I did it a little two long) and they swell up to the size of the little get bouncy marble size balls! They like to play with these for 30 minutes or so. When they are done I just keep a towel over then on the shelf, they will eventually dry out, and I have been told you can just soak them in water again. Even if they break I just still let them play in the squished up ones. HERE is a link to something like what I got.

 I think I have shared these before under the Lego ideas but the younger boys really love this! They like to build a maze but they dooo still need my help with that, once once it is set up, they love to roll the marbles in them. They will play with this 15-20 minutes give or take.

 This is another Busy bag Activity. One day when we went to Lowes for their build and grow activity I went by the hard wear section and got a bunch of random screws of all different sized and shapes, then I got the matching nut that went on to it. This was actually harder then I thought, and I had to have someone help me. But I ended up with about half a dozed. Then I also got some different Luggage locks, one with a key and one with a number combination.

They Love this bag it is one of there favorites of the quick busy bag activities I have put together. They just dump it out and then find the match, they like to open and close the lock with the key, and you can set the combo lock and I do that and just tell to them and have then try to line up those numbers, they will play with this for a good 15-20 minutes.

I know that it may not seem like a long time, but if I can have that much uninterrupted time, I can usually get through a good chuck of things with the other ones. Then read a book to the younger ones or then they play some. I try to balance structure, and unstructured activites, and be organized.  I have a general outline "plan" for the day, but usually we just go with the flow and do what we can.