Weekly Learning Theme: Movement

I'm posting this one really late because I was too excited after our appointment on Monday to wait to announce our pregnancy and really wanted to post all the bumpdates as well.  I had so much fun with our theme last week.  There were so many activities to do and Carter had a blast with all of them.  I'm going to share the activities we did throughout the week, highlighting what area they fit into: field trip/interactive experience, crafts, songs, make believe, movement, and special snack.  I will also share our book list for themed-related reading throughout the week.

Listed below are the objectives I am focusing on for the themed weeks.  The highlighted objectives are ones Carter received exposure to during our theme this week:

1. Know the names of and be able to point out body parts.
2. Know names of objects and be able to point to them when asked.
3. Sort objects based on size or color/Match like objects together, for example match a circle with a circle. 
4. Play make believe.
5. Speak in short phrases and 2-4 word sentences. (He's done some 2 word sentences already!)
6. Follow simple instructions.

Activities/Movement:

• We practiced jumping, hopping, and skipping.  I would do each and then ask Carter to do it.  His version of skipping was hilarious.  He basically ran with a little hop thrown in every few steps.  I was pretty impressed he was able to even semi do it.  I didn't think he'd be able to attempt skipping as I always had a few 1st graders who couldn't skip.
• Carter also practiced swimming during our trip to Florida.  He also enjoyed some time in a floaty, kicking his legs.

• We ran races down the hall.  I would say, "On your mark, get set, go!" and we would take off down the hall.  Carter sure loves to run!  This weekend we were visiting my parents and their neighbor kids were outside playing.  The little girl ran races with Carter down the sidewalk and they'd even hold hands and run.  At one point he kept running after we'd hit our turn around spot.  I told the little girl to turn around and Carter would follow her.  Instead she yelled, "Carter I'll never leave you behind!" and took off running toward him.  So cute!

 

• I held Carter while I hopped, skipped, and jumped.  I wanted him to feel what it was like and I also verbalized what I was doing with my body as I did each of the movements.
• I took Carter on stroller runs and wagon walks.   

Enjoying a wagon walk to the library with Jake.

• We sat on the floor and rolled a ball to each other.  I talked about how we were pushing the ball and how the ball was rolling.
• Carter did his puzzle with the words "over, under, up, and down" with pictures to show each word.  I also used these words a lot throughout the week as we played.  We practiced over and under with chairs, tunnels, equipment at the park, etc.

• We played up, down, side to side.  I hold Carter and swing him down while saying "down", then swing him back up while saying "up", and when he's down low swing him side to side while saying "side to side".  He thinks it's hilarious.
• I got out a mat we bought a while back at a garage sale and we practiced moving on it.  I would ask Carter to go across the mat while doing different motions and he would do it.  I was quite surprised.  I said, "Hop across the mat." and he did.  Then I said , "Roll across the mat." and he tried.  I was surprised that after all those months of exclusively rolling he wasn't super great at it and mostly scooted across the mat while laying on his back, using his legs.  I showed him how to do a somersault and then helped him do one.  He thought it was a lot of fun and wanted me to keep doing it.  So we did it for a while.  After we'd done that for a while I let Carter do whatever he wanted and he spent most of his time running from one side of the mat to the other.

  

  Attempting to roll across the mat.

Crawling across the mat.

More "rolling" across the mat.

• I pulled a 2x4 Ty had laying around in the garage to use as a balance beam.  Carter immediately went to it and walked with one foot on the beam and one on the floor.  I showed him how to do it with both feet on the beam.  Then he alternated between doing it with one foot and doing it with both feet.  He was cracking me up!  We started with it on the carpet and then moved to the linoleum in the kitchen.  I was kicking myself for not starting in the kitchen because the board wobbled on the carpet so he lost his confidence and didn't want to do it with 2 feet anymore once we moved to the linoleum where it didn't move.

Craft:

• I cut a piece of paper to fit in our small, square cake pan and put a marble coated in finger paint on the paper.  I showed Carter how to roll the marble in the pan by putting his hands on each side of the pan and slowly lifting one side at a time.  He had a blast doing it although he sometimes grabbed the marble and manually moved it.  I would ask Carter which color he wanted to use and he would tell me which color he wanted next.  I was so impressed to hear him verbalize the color he was looking for.  If I point to something and ask what color it is, still nothing.  But when Carter wants to express what color something is or what color he wants, he knows the colors.  It was so cute to hear him say "geen", "boo", "puble", "red", "bink", "ownj" (this goes for both yellow and orange), and "brah".  Initially I tried to dip the marble into the paint container, but after dropping the marble into the orange container and having to fish it out, I came up with the idea to roll the marble in the paint on the inside of the lid after taking the lid off.  It was much more efficient.

I want "geen"!

Rolling the marble the special way.

Grabbing the marble to make the tracks on the paper.

The finished project was so cute!

Special Snack:

• We did a scavenger hunt for Carter's snack.  I took pictures of 5 different places in our house and printed a scavenger hunt sheet.  I numbered the pictures so we would go in order, starting in the kitchen and ending in his bedroom.  Then I put small snacks in 5 different containers and put them on the item in the picture.  I used raisins, Cheerios, graham cracker, cut up strawberries, and cheese as the snacks.  I put the cheese on the last item because I knew once he found the cheese the game would be over!  I figured I would have to help Carter with the first couple of pictures before he got the idea, but I told him I had hidden snacks for him and we had to find them.  I handed him the scavenger hunt sheet and pointed at the first picture of the car.  I asked him where it was, he exclaimed "car!" and took off for his car.  The next picture was harder for him because he didn't recognize it so I walked over by the counter, showed him the picture, and asked him where his next snack was.  He got so excited each time he found his snack and would dance around and squeal.  I thought he'd eat his snack as we went to the next spot, but he wanted to sit down and eat his snack before moving on.  He recognized his toys I'd used in the pictures, but I had to help him with the other places in the pictures.  I'd walk to the room where the item was, show him the picture, and ask him where his next snack was.  He started to lose interest a little bit at the end, but once he realized the snack was cheese he was very excited.  Carter loved this activity and it was so much fun to see him get excited.  I think 5 places on the hunt was too much for him and would go with 3 next time I do it.  There are so many ways to make it more challenging for older kids and to change it up to go with different themes.  We will definitely be doing a scavenger hunt again!

The scavenger hunt sheet.

Studying the sheet.

Finding his first snack.

Eating his first snack and figuring out where to go next.

Discovering his 3rd snack.

Found his strawberries, the 4th snack.

Checking out the last spot.

He found cheese!

So excited for the cheese!

 Make Believe:

• We read numerous different books about how animals move.  On each page I would act out how the animal moved, pretending to be that animal.  Sometimes Carter would do the movements along with me, sometimes he would just watch and laugh.  It was so much fun!

Songs:

This week I used songs on CDs we owned more than I utilized Youtube.  We listened to Move and Freeze and Watch Me Listen off the CD Brain Boogie Boosters by the Learning Station and Becky Bailey.  Carter really liked Move and Freeze.  He would dance during the music although not doing the movements the song asked for and then would freeze in place when it said, "freeze".  We also danced to Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes off the CD 100 Sing Alongs Vol. 2.  Another song we danced to and Carter loved was Tooty Ta from the CD Dr. Jean and Friends.

Upside Down by Jack Johnson:

Shake Your Sillies Out by Raffi was his ultimate favorite:

Field Trip/Interactive Experience:

• One of our field trips was going to different playgrounds.  While playing I really talked up the movements Carter was making.  I talked about how he was crawling through the tunnel, climbing over the stairs, walking under the equipment.  Carter enjoyed bouncing on the teeter totter toys.

Playground fun!

Bouncing on a toy.

• Another field trip was to the Children's Museum.  Carter had a blast going through the tape tunnel.  We took some foam toys and made a balance beam for him to walk on.  There is a whole section for different movements using toys on a half-pipe.  Carter bounced on a ball, slid down the side of the half-pipe in a toy and on his stomach, balanced on a special toy, and ran all over the place!

Crawling through the tape tunnel.

Bouncing on a ball in the motion area.

Walking on our balance beam.

 

More tunnel fun.

Books:

We had a lot of fun with the movement books.  With most of the books we got up and did the movements in the books as we read the pages.  Carter especially loved the Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes books!  Any chance he gets to point to his nose makes him very happy!

• Llama Llama Hoppity-Hop by Anna Dewdney
• Skippyjon Jones Up and Down by Judy Schachner
• A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka
• Llama Llama Zippity-Zoom by Anna Dewdney
• Toddlerobics: Animal Fun by Zita Newcome
• Jump! by Scott M. Fischer
• My Very First Book of Motion by Eric Carle
• Run Like a Rabbit by Alison Lester
• Tumble Bumble by Felicia Bond
• Stretch by Doreen Cronin
• If You're Hoppy by April Pulley Sayre
• Hop, Hop, Jump by Lauren Thompson
• Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton
• Boing by Nick Bruel
• Clap Your Hands by Lorind Bryan Cauley
• Dinosaurumpus by Tony Mitton
• From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
• Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae
• How Do You Wokka Wokka? by Elizabeth Bluemle
• Move! by Steve Jenkins
• Shake My Sillies Out by Raffi
• Wiggle by Doreen Cronin