Pins and Needles

Do you have Pins? some Yarn? a pillow?

As I was sitting and finishing up some holiday crafting my son Max couldn't keep his hands off of my pin cushion. He kept taking pins off of the magnetic holder and dropping them on the floor. No good with a baby around. So I grabbed a pillow from the couch and turned it over and told him that he could press the pins into it. It started with him just randomly pushing them into the pillow.
Then he started lining them up and called it a train.
And then he said they were flowers in a garden. I love adding a little fuel to his fire so I asked him if he needed some water to help his flowers grow. I gave him a piece of yarn and told him it was his hose. He "watered" the pins and as he did I slowly raised each pin like they were growing. He was tickled with this little game. We watered and grew and then pushed down and watered some more.

As we played this little garden game I thought about using the pins as pegs on a geoboard. Do you remember geoboards in school? I did a spin on it and placed the pins in a certain shape and had him follow the pins, wrapping around each one as we went along. (knot the first one around the first pin) You can see the house in the first picture. We did a few shapes and a few letters together before it was time to clean up and do who knows what.

I love impromptu diversion. Let them lead. You just bring the fuel.

COST: Ummm..... please tell me you have straight pins! and yarn or string! and a pillow?

Variation: use different color yarns and create different artwork. Take pictures before disassembling. For older kids, have them try to place the pins to create pictures like a dot to dot. if you have multiple color pins, they could have to connect them in an order, like rainbow order or something. That way they could create something and a friend or you could complete it. I just had a great idea - what about turning over couch cushions and really getting crazy? You would have to definitely explain that pins don't go into anything, but if you had a canvas-y type couch or the undersides weren't something you would ever use, you could create some real masterpieces. I could see older kids trying to line up the pins in a way to spell their names in cursive using the yarn..... or creating a grid and putting objects into the grid. Make a zoo grid, a jail grid, a collection grid, a snack grid. Okay, I just love lateral thinking. I'll stop now.

Who knew Canadians were this cool?

I came across a website that was a list of online kids computer games. I will just start by saying that as a general rule, I do not like video/computer games. Ask any former student of mine.

Some, I would concur with them, are educational, but the majority (at least the ones that they play) are not. So, on this site Max and I messed around and I got him playing a few of them. I originally got on to find a game that would encourage his current love of letters. Well, we weeded through the muck and found a gem.

A Canadian site developed by a kids tv network called tvokids. Maybe you know about it, I didn't. The games are great, have cute artwork and are seriously so funny. Maybe I am a nerdy mom but this one makes me laugh out loud. I dare you not to laugh. I loved this one (the bird's voice is so cute - OH - DID YOU HEAR THAT???) and this one too. Max loved this one as well.

So I mention that it's Canadian because you will hear a couple Canadian-ish things, like zed, which is what they call the letter z apparently. Maybe my Canadian brother-in-law can clarify that for us -- what's up with zed? and you will also hear a bit of Canadian accent, like the word out sounding like oot. Cute little Canadians.

Have fun! Let me know if you find any other favorites!

A Walk Down Sesame Street

On our daily walk/jog I try to think of new things to do to make it more interesting. We walk on the opposite side of the street and I push the jogging stroller toward the oncoming parked cars. So, we are actually ON the street. Are you picturing this? Maybe you feel more safe in your neighborhood on the sidewalk, but our neighborhood is pretty low traffic.

For weeks now I have been playing "I spy" on the walks.

Do you see a flag?
Do you see a red car?
Do you see yellow flowers?

Last week it dawned on me that these walks were turning into an authentic learning experience. I started going toward the cars and reading off the license plates to the boys . After a couple of days of this we turned it into a game that we couldn't go any further until Max recited the license plate to me. He is getting good at it. I am walking toward it and stopping now but when he gets better I will go faster and faster until he can say them before I even reach the car and I won't have to stop at all anymore.

We also read addresses on mailboxes, curbs and houses. We read stop signs.

COST: FREE
VARIATIONS: Make a specific thing you are hunting for - flags, flowers, trucks, pumpkins in the fall (when MAx was an infant we went on a pumpkin hunt in the stroller and counted the pumpkins). An older child can walk on his/her own and bring a clipboard and tally the things that are seen. You could even make a scavenger hunt type list for the things you see on a walk. Friends could make lists for each other and walk around the neighborhood. You could have all the number or letters and cross them off on a sheet (license plate bingo style).

shedding some light on the alphabet

I mounted these vintage flashcards onto the wall of my boy's bedroom with mounting tape. At night as a part of our nightly routine, we use a flashlight that we keep by the side of the bed and we go through an alphabet quiz. I ask Max for a letter and then he points to it with his flashlight. It's a fun way to practice our letters.

Cost: less than five dollars for flashcards, or free is you make you own on the computer and hang them up.

Variation: For older kids you could say a word and they would have to shine the light on the letter it starts with. Or you could shine the light on a letter and they have to say a word that starts with that letter. You could get really tricky and say, What is the third letter in penguin??? Also, we sometimes take the flashlight around the house and do a bit of a scavenger hunt. Where's your toothbrush? Where is the refrigerator? Where is the front door? Where is the baby?