Happy Monday Migration

I hope your Monday has been as fun and full as ours. Grandchildren 3 and 6 were here for the day so it was cousin bonanza! We played outside in beautiful mid 70's weather and the leaves were falling by the tree full. It was windy, warm, and smelled like autumn.

After introducing our calendar songs and routine to 3 and 6 the kids wanted to play outside in the sand tub. This is always fun if we can do it under grandparent supervision only. Parents have a tendency to get nervous about sand spilling even though its outside on the deck and then they worry about sand tracking. I try to remind them this is why I have dirt colored floors all through my house and a really good vacuum. It's just easier for everyone if parents are somewhere else.

While we were playing in the sand I told the kids that some creatures do not like snow. They were flabbergasted! The three of them are firm believers that snow is awesome! I explained that not everything can survive the winter so they make new homes in places where it never snows. I found puzzle pieces of a bird and butterfly and brought them outside to play. 3, 5, and 6 took turns digging nests and homes for the pieces to stay warm. 

They also decided to bury the letter N. Why not?

I remembered the animal pictures I found in the Day 18 materials and brought those outside too. These creatures don't Migrate but they do Hibernate which is something we all learned about last week. That's one of the great things about Mother Goose Time materials, they are so versatile. 

Once the majority of the digging was over and we were down to only sand tracking we switched activities to an inside, but still messy, painting one. I thought it was time to break out an oldie but a goodie, coffee filter butterflies. It was a lot of fun. We used water color paint and paint dabber markers. 6 decided to also paint dab her face but that's pretty standard for a year and a half year old. I forgot to take pictures of the finished product but you all know what they look like. After naps and after we waved good bye to 3 and 6, 5 and I decided to play with her butterfly before her daddy came to pick her up. She held it by the clothespin and I said, "It's about to snow!" She ran away, flapping the butterfly up and down and yelled, "Fly to Mexico!" 

Fun, fun day. 

Hibernation

I wanted to introduce the idea of hibernation before we started the lesson from Day 15 of Mother Goose Time and I remembered something my daughter-in-law did for her kids last winter using an appliance box. The box from my basement isn't quite that big but it is cave size for a 2 year old. We checked out the book, The Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and read it together. Then we decided to act it out. If you aren't familiar with the story here's a summary: a bear falls asleep in his cave for the winter. Other animals come into the cave, start a bonfire, have tea, and sing and dance but the bear snores on and misses it all. The first two animals to join the bear are a mouse and a bunny. Mickey and the Velveteen Rabbit were happy to play along but when we got to the badger, mole, raven, and the others, we had to substitute with Minnie, Daisy, Ernie, Sock Monkey, and Pete the Cat.

5 woke up from her nap with a fever which has lasted for a few days. Her mommy stayed home yesterday and they made their own bear cave. I went to their house this morning until my favorite son-in-law was able to leave work. While I was there we acted the story out again using her animals 

This bat puzzle from MGT was a good way to introduce other hibernating animals.  

5 had no idea what bats were and probably still isn't quite clear but if you asked she would tell you that they sleep upside down. At the suggestion of Mother Goose Time I illustrated this bat fact by hanging 5 upside down and asking her to go to sleep. She was giggling too much to comply. It was great to hear her laugh so much. Each time I would set her down she would say,"Again!" 

I asked her if people should sleep like that and she thought that was a funny idea. But she looked at the baby monitor, saw her sister taking her morning nap and said,"we lay down like 7 Baby."

She had had enough activity and needed to rest for a bit but first she wanted to show me how she looks when she sleeps. The eye covering was her idea. I have no idea why. 

After her little rest used the supplies from Mother Goose Time to Build a Bear Den. This one was a much more manageable size. It would have been fun to go for a nature walk and gather leaves and other things to make a bed for the bear cutout MGT gave us. But 5 was unable to go for a walk so we went to the backyard and gathered dry grass clippings. She drew a face on the bear and laid him in his bed. We decided her bear needed snow to let him know it was time to hibernate. A torn up paper towel was just the ticket. 

When enough snow had fallen I showed 5 the animal pictures provided for the Get Ready to Hibernate part of the lesson. We talked about them and where they hibernate. I hid them around the living room while she counted to ten (of course taking cheat peeks the entire count), and then began to "search" for the pictures. Every time she saw the chipmunk picture she said,"Hey, a chipmunk, just like Chip and Dale!" She decided these animals needed to be in the snow also.        

      

A fun morning. Thanks Mother Goose Time.