Playful Learning Blog

First Pick(up) of the Season

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:43:23 -0500

We have had a few days of sunny, almost-feels-like-spring weather. One of our favorite early spring experiences is to reacquaint ourselves with the beach and gather the season’s first pick of shells and pebbles...

Beloved Read Aloud Books

Wed, 3 Mar 2010 20:38:10 -0500

In honor of World Read Aloud Day, we have gathered a few of our most treasured books for reading aloud together.

What are your family favorites?

* If you are reading this in an email update or RSS feed click here to view our list.

Poems for Many Voices

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:58:25 -0500

We love poetry in our house! The girls enjoy rereading their favorite poems again and again and will often choose poetry collections for their nightly bedtime reading.

The other day I happened upon this review for the book Messing Around on the Monkey Bars and Other School Poems for Two Voices by Betsy Franco. I was immediately reminded of one of my classroom favorites from the same genre Joyful Noise: Poems for TwoVoices by Paul Fleischman. Now that both girls are reading, I knew they would have a lot of fun with these poetry books so I went straight onto our library’s Web site and ordered them.

Once they got the rhythm, they could not put the books down. They loved it so much that they chose two of their favorite poems and recorded them as voice memos on their iPods. They delighted in hearing their voices and listened to the recordings over and over. It turned out to be a great tool, as they started to notice and make comments on their tone, expression, and fluency of reading. So, here you have it—reciting and recording poetry is the first item on our “Productive Uses for iPods” list.

* If you are reading this in an email update or RSS feed click here to listen to the podcast.

Healthy Lunches Smarter Planet

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:48:46 -0500

I am thrilled to be a new contributor over at Simple Kids. Today’s post is about packing healthy lunches for a smarter planet. I would love it if you stopped by to say hi :)

It is also worth paying a visit to Simple Living Media’s newest blogs. I am loving Simple Homeschool and Simple Organic!

It is an honor to be working with such an amazing team of talented women...

Going Green: A Radio Interview

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:23:33 -0500

Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a lively discussion on the radio with Bob Deluca from Group for the East End and Anita Wright, an amazing environmental educator who works with many of our local schools. It was a great discussion about how to nurture an environmental consciousness within children.

If you are reading this in an email update or RSS feed you may need to click here to listen to the podcast.

What are some simple things you do with your child(ren) to foster an appreciation for nature?

First Sewing Project: iPod Case

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:47:41 -0500

I mentioned a while back that for Christmas, the girls received new sewing kits. After flipping through their new sewing books, they decided that the first project they wanted to take on, was to make cases for their new iPods (Christmas present from Grandma). They were inspired by Kata Golda’s photo pockets and wanted to dive right in. I followed their lead because their confidence far outweighed mine.

They started by selecting colors for their felt and thread. Next, we measured their iPods and then cut the felt so that it was 1” wider and three times, plus 1” taller than the iPod (I hope that made sense). Our felt ended up measuring 4.5” by 5.5”. Then we folded up the bottom flap to make a two-inch pocket and pinned the sides in place. I demonstrated the whipstitch to the girls and they quickly took over the rest of the sewing. When they were finished, I hot-glue-gunned Velcro to the inside flap so that they could securely close their cases.

The cases turned out to be adorable and very functional. They hold both the iPod and headphones, which is extremely helpful for taking them on the go!

Watching their enthusiasm and positive attitude was enlightening. Unlike me, they felt no need to conform to the “follow each step carefully” approach to the project. The girls made adaptations (sewing a button on the front instead of the embroidery) as they went along and never looked back. They have not yet labeled themselves “non-sewers” and hopefully never will.

*Stay tuned as I explore ways to put the iPod to productive use!

Valentine’s Candy Heart Math

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 16:02:31 -0500

This entry was originally posted at Blissful Kids on February 11, 2009
Do you ever wonder what to do with all of the Valentine's Day candy that your children collect this time of year? We put it to good use by doing this simple graphing activity, using the popular candy conversation hearts.
Materials:
• one box of candy hearts per child
• one printed copy of the Valentine’s Heart Graph per child

Start the activity by talking about graphs and how they help you to easily read and compare numbers. Introduce the concepts of rows and columns and invite them to take out one heart at a time and place it in the correct color column. As they are putting their hearts in place it is fun to read and discuss the text in the hearts and to make hypotheses about which colors they will have the most of and which colors they will have the least of. When the graph is complete teach them how to "read" their graph by asking how many hearts they have of each color. If you are doing this project with more than one child, it is also fun to have them compare results and draw conclusions about which colors in the boxes are the most and least commonly found.
Of course you have to finish with a taste test!

Handwriting Practice

Thu, 4 Feb 2010 05:59:43 -0500

My five-year-old daughter came home from school the other day and could not wait to show me how she was learning to write her letters. I was thrilled because her school uses the Handwriting Without Tears program, which I think is one of the best. It was so wonderful to be able to sit quietly and listen while she taught me how to write capital letters.

Materials
• Alphabet Chart
• Small slate chalkboard (HWT sells a nice one, but we found ours at a local toy store)
• Chalk
• Sponge cut into a one inch square
• Small bowl of water for cleaning sponge between letters
• Folded paper towel

Steps
1. Write the letter on the chalkboard using the alphabet chart as a model
2. Retrace the letter with your finger
3. Retrace the letter with a wet small square sponge (make sure to squeeze all of the water out first)
4. Retrace the letter with a folded paper towel
5. Write another letter and repeat steps 1-4

More Handwriting Inspiration
Wooden Alphabet
Sandwriting by The Write Start
Penmanship by Angry Chicken
Learning Time by Inchmark
Letter Tracing for Little Ones (printable)
Amazing Handwriting Worksheet Maker (printable)