Bugs

 

BUGS	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Table Time (letters/math)	Salt-tray writing		Learn how to spell Asher	Make a snail from playdoh, make a caterpillar	Incy Wincy spider singing
Craft	Spaghetti spider web and handprint spider	Make a paper plate frog, hand prints as feet and long red tongue	Bottle top bugs	Make a peg dragonfly by twisting cellophane in the middle of a peg. Use egg cartons to make bugs, add pipe cleaners and decorate with textas.	Draw a garden with spiders, ants, butterflies, caterpillars, snails and asher to tell a story about his picture
Game/Activity	Hide and seek toy insects around the house - use magnify glass to find them	Playtime with daddy	Read and act out the hungry caterpillar		Act out different creatures - frog, snake, bird, spider
Outdoor	Explore at the park	kindy	Family Outing	kindy

 

Book of the week - The Hungry Caterpillar

This week we did find that there were a lot more spontaneous activities that popped up - for example one day Asher just asked if he could do some cooking as he saw me making dinner in the kitchen - and he kept asking  for his own ingredients (like from last week's five senses theme). So he and Jet sat and made their own concoctions of spices and playdoh! It was great to see their imagination and here asher's dialogue to himself as he was playing. It is messy and takes effort but I like the pros better then the cons.

We managed to take the boys on a bush walk at the end of the week...first off it didn't begin so well as asher had a big fall and then spent the rest of the walk in pain being a decent graze to his knee. Come to think of it I don't think in his 3 and a half years of life he has ever grazed his knee which bled so it was a bit of a big deal although i know this is what will be the norm for the rest of their lives as these boys are serious dare devils! On the walk we were able to listen to the noises of the bush and asher spotted lots of insects included a jumping spider on the ground that I have no idea how he could see as it was so tiny. The hike ended with a picnic by a little stream and some rock throwing as per usual between asher and daddy - asher always wants daddy to find the biggest rocks ever to throw into water...and johnny being johnny is totally up for the challenge. These boys are seriously lucky to have a dad like him because he really loves to just get down and play with them - no matter what it is he's up for it. Such a good daddy! I'm all crafty and educational focussed and he's the playful one - so I'm learning to take a leaf out of his book. The baby is a little scared of wildlife as we had some close encounters with a few bush turkeys. Asher rescued us and chased them away though...it was a great way to end our bug themed week and again another lovely memory to add. It also was part of our summer bucket list so we have done well!!

One afternoon we took the boys for trip on the free city ferry we have - asher loves boats and water - but he was out of sorts as it was after he had spent the day at kindy. Probably tired and needing to just have some down time...in the end we grabbed a half price dinner that we usually go to - healthy foccacia toasted sandwiches...so yummy! The ferry ride home was a bit better but he was just too excited and didn't want to sit down although that was the rule. Jet on the other hand was just taking it all in as we floated along the water. We got to see lots of tall city buildings and go under the huge bridge - both boys loved looking up underneath - it was a very cheap easy outing - even better when toddlers aren't tired and cranky.

We made bugs out of pipe cleaners and egg cartons to start the week off and I was really surprised by how long this kept asher engaged - he did really well. I also laid out some construction paper for asher to tell me what kind of bugs he wanted in his garden. I drew them with textas and gave asher some crafty supplies to decorate his bugs with. It ended up being a few pages of lots and lots of bugs, and I couldn't believe how long he kept at it - almost a whole hour all up. I thought that was an achievement. This involves me sitting there with him for the hour - not me getting an hour to myself - but that outcome is incredible as normally he would be bouncing to another thing in 30 seconds.

We were able to take a nice quiet walk to a near by playground one morning and on our walk I talked with the boys about which bugs or insects they thought might live at our park. When we got there, a nice bunch of different birds came by to say hello - I had made some snacks so they were eyeing them off - but on a few occassions we got to see a couple of birds dig around in the grass for food which led to a discussion on what birds eat - bugs! We saw a magpie grab what looked like a worm, or something bug like and fly away with it in his mouth. It was pretty cool to have the boys see that. After play time for a bit we went exploring around the park as it is by a stream with lots of trees and shrubs. We found a pretty large dead spider which Asher got so excited over as he could see everything up close without the thing running away. A walk to the park is so simple but can be very tiring for mummy's but I'm glad I did it. Both boys were walking on their own so didn't involve me pushing a pram up the and through the hills in our neighbourhood. They were both beat by the time we got home and that worked for me as nap time was easy. I'm happy to say that at 3 and a half years old,  asher does well to take a 2 hour nap every day plus then goes on to sleep almost 12 hours each night. Jet being so young does the same but that's just what I would expect but for asher to keep at it with the day time nap is heavenly! I bet as soon as this baby arrives he won't be so good at it. He will be 3 months off 4 years old and really nap time should be dropping by then - but I know that I can get him to stay in his bedroom and read books for an hour and then have a reward of his favourite show afterwards, that he will do it. Of all the things that I find challenging in his personality there are soooo many good things like this, that I am thankful for. Every mother needs naptime each day just to breathe, have a quiet lie down or just be by herself. Well if not every mother - definitely this mother.

I randomly found some good interactive books this week while waiting in line at the post office. They were an alphabet book and a counting book - but what made me purchase them was that with each book came a set of magnets - of all the alphabet and then of all numbers up to 10. So on each page the idea is to locate the letter/number and then place it in the correct spot. I really liked them and happen to find asher had already started to give it a go when i found the book amongst his others a few days after I had bought it home. The alphabet book is all in lower case - Asher already knows all of the upper case alphabet - but hasn't fully grasped lower case as yet so this is perfect. He also knows all his numbers but both books are going to be useful to little Jet, he also has started to give the matching a go and got a couple right...probably just a fluke, but to have him see and hold the letters is a good thing as his recognition is beginning.

I managed to get to the library during the week and found some different insect books including a couple on frogs, one about a lizard and one on the rainforest. One morning the boys jumped in our bed and we had a reading fest of all the new library books I picked up. It was sooo nice to be together and daddy was home! I have said in the past how much asher loves books and how he is truly engaged when we read them to him. He isn't running off and being loud - he is actually sitting nice and still and questioning what is on each page and just loves it. I am very thankful for his love of books and how this is an activity I know that will work - it is also going to be very beneficial when it does come time to when school starts. I know that he can sit still and that means everything! The books fascinated both boys and with each turn of the page Jet was saying 'animal' to everything - frog, lizard, bug - everything. It was very cute.

Today we went to the gym - saturday morning aqua aerobics is the best! Then we usually stop by a park or the grocery store on the way home. I had grocery shopped the night before so the park it was. We were lucky enough to stumble upon a free bouncing castle and sausage sizzle that was set up in aid of a political campaign in our area...happy as anything were the boys to join in and hey I didn't have to make lunch! This particular playground is a favourite as there is a pirate ship sort of set up. Asher loved pretending to be a pirate and acting out what a pirate would do. Underneath is a pretend cash register and counter for the kids to play shop - Asher managed to turn the shop into a train station where people were coming and buying tickets off him - I love to see how he can imagine simple things - this is all part of him learning and growing. Gives me lovely feelings especially when he is getting on well with the other children in his space!

Again we have really done a lot when you look back at it for this week, and there's always more that goes on that doesn't get a mention - the boys helping daddy mow our massive back yard, visiting grandparents and having play dates come over. This house is always alive and kicking.

Our Week

This week we started off not really following the scheduled theme by Play School - I decided to set up a few activities that were things I had just wanted to try and see how the boys took to it. I stuck some contact paper onto our windows in the boys toy room and let them do whatever they wanted. So both of them were loving looking out the window and making collages with all kinds of craft bits and pieces. Asher just kept asking 'what else can I put on mummy' so I kept digging in the craft draw and he was going for it for quite some time...he used popsicle sticks, pom poms, paper, glittery pieces and some animal stickers. Jet loves animals and was most fascinated by the animal stickers and the popsicle sticks - but he just loved sticking the pom poms and then tearing them all down again - but that was ok.

Another activity that we tried was from a science experiment kids book that I have - which has over 365 different experiments. The morning we tried this we woke up to rain so I decided to find something in the weather section of the book. I put some food colouring in cups and added droppers, placed a dish with paper on the bottom on the table and let asher do whatever he wanted. The idea from the experiment book was to mimic what rain drops look like, then you trace around the drop on the paper and then compare the different shapes they can make. Well it didn't really end up that way for us because asher just kept pouring and pouring and pouring from the dropper. But that was totally ok - he ended up coming up with his own ideas of what to do with it - ended up mixing the colours together and saying look mummy - look at the coloour it makes, then started making a 'storm' and more of his own raindrops. He really loves using those droppers as we have used them a bit in the past - i can see how good it is for his co-ordination as he really needs to use his thumb and index finger quite strongly for it to suck up the water. 

All this week asher has been emptying the kitchen cupboards and getting every single piece of kitchen ware out and coming up with lots of different things to play cook. He hasn't really touched the kitchen cupboards since we first institited time out when he was about 18 months old because it used to drive me crazy! But now that he is using his imagination and its all in the name of play I'm totally happy and ok with it. So with all this messing up of my kitchen - one afternoon i set up an outdoor kitchen for the boys to get messy in. The ingredients all came from the garden so there was grass, shrubs, dirt and lots of water. I said to asheake it qr can I please order something from your cafe and he corrected me and said no mummy this is a restaurant! So it had moved up a notch. He was loving it.

Another thing we tried this week that we had done in the past but haven't gone back to for a while, was spray painting using plastic spray bottles with food colouring and water. This activity really excites asher as it really is like shooting a water gun and then a cool effect comes out on paper. I had to keep reminding him to keep it on the paper but since we were outside there was no real way of him causing too much harm. Food colouring seems to be the only pain option I'm going for these days as its totally washable and very easy to wipe away if its done straight away, poster or acrylic paint is expensive to keep buying all the time and very hard to get out of clothes.

I have been feeling very tired and in quite a bit of pain in my pelvis and lower back. I did gymstick class at the gym this week and man does that push you...but i am feeling strong and hoping all this will pay off when the birth arrives.

Go!

My beautiful Galaxy phone died this week, I am distraught! I could not justify going and buying a new one so have opted for a much smaller phone and without some of the cool stuff my old phone had. Such a bummer. But anyway it's just a silly phone.

This week we have been following the Play School theme of 'Go' and learning all about how different things go at different paces. It hasn't been particularly academic this week (am I ever?) but we have been getting through quite a lot.

Monday before heading to the gym - which was an awesome gymstick class by the way - we did some contact paper craft. I just stuck some contact paper to the windows in the toy room and let the boys decorate as much as they wanted. Asher really got into it and kept asking for more and more things he could stick on. This doesn't have anything to do with our weekly theme but it was an activity that helped the boys with their co-ordination and concentration. They loved their pieces of artwork hanging on the windows and could see them every time we left the house from the street.

I managed to find some simple readers at the library that Asher is just in love with. One was about what different jobs/occupations people can have as he always like to pretend to be a garbage man or a chef or anything for that matter. Another of the books was on how different things go fast or slow, he just keeps reading this over and over and although he can't read the words, after I had read it to him he memorised what I had said and the pictures also prompted him to know what the page was about. I love hearing him read to himself. He is totally content reading by himself for a good amount of time and that helps me a lot. He also loves reading to his baby brother and telling him to sit still and says " are you listening"...mimicking me a lot there.

We made paint this week, very very easy to do - first empty two tablespoons of Cornflour into a bowl, then add half a cup of cold water, then add boiling water until thickens. Add food colouring to make the paint colour of your choice. I put these in the fridge and the mixture turned out great. Seriously cheaper then acrylic paint and an activity to do with the little ones in itself.

Some time ago I bought a poster book of diggers and dump trucks, so we used our new paint and Asher was loving it. His favourite thing is seeing all the artwork he has completed hanging in their toy room. Another paint option is just food colouring with water and I like that the best as its seriously not messy at all. There can be lots of colour combinations too if you mix them up.

We did a bit of baking this week and Asher helped with pouring, measuring and mixing. And almost everyday this week he has emptied all of my cooking equipment from the kitchen cupboards and started playing with them. I really haven't had a problem with it as I just make sure he is the one to put it all back at the end. He has been talking to Jet about what he is making and telling him about the cords each item has and that they have electricity. It's pretty cool how these kids catch on.

I bought some magnetic books during the week and baby has been having fun doing those while we are completing an activity. They are also for Asher but Jet is really liking them. These books have the alphabet and counting up to ten where you have to match the magnetic piece to the correct spot on the page. I really like them myself.

I set up an obstacle course one morning for Asher to enjoy and it was a lot of fun. He got to jump, roll, crawl and run and I know that letting him loose with energy burning activities is great for him.

We read a lot of books each day here but something I really want to start working on is writing. I will aim to incorporate something next week I think.