Gingerbread Playdough
1 C. flour
1/2 C. salt
2 tsp. cream of tarter
spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves are what we had on hand so used.)
1 C. water
1 tsp. vegetable oil
Mix dry ingredients in saucepan. Add water and oil. Mix and cook until a dough forms.
Sure smelled good in this house today! We made the above "gingerbread" playdough recipe after we got back from the school and as it cooled a bit (in plastic wrap to help keep some of the warmth) we did our calendar, focus letter G work, and heard the story about the gingerbread man. If you can believe it, I don't have that book! And when I was at the library they only had Gingerbread Girl and Gingerbread Friends and I really wanted the classic story. So decided we'd find one online to listen to. Well, that was a good thought but do you think I could find one that was similar to the sequencing cards I had and had our favorite repetitive verse of "run run as fast as you can..."? No way, no how. :-P So, K. had to deal with me telling the story vs. hearing from a true story teller.
Telling stories without a book isn't my strong point. But it seemed to work out. After I told the story, K. retold it as I wrote it down. Always interesting...those retellings. This time though she got it right down. :-D I'll be leaving the sequencing cards out for future retellings! The playdough mats were from SparkleBox and the sequencing cards were from www.homeschoolshare.com
Gingerbread Family
I showed them how they could use the different size circle sponges to make a head and then add paintbrush rectangle body, arms and legs to make a simply gingerbread man. Then I encouraged them to make a family. When dry they will add oil pastel details.
Gingerbread Fine Motor Cards*
Wasn't going to add these to the blog but after seeing T. using them I decided to. T. is just shy of 2.5 years old. Typically he is given these cards and he does exactly what he is doing on the tray. But today, for the first time, we can see the two that he did before he went back to his typical use. I was impressed! 2.5 years of age is about when I start to see preschool tendencies. He's right on schedule. :-)
Gingerbread Sequencing and Measurement*
I like to add the extra nonstandard measurement task with sequencing cards. Remember to talk about 1st and last, even odd, smallest-largest/shortest-tallest, etc.
Gingerbread Man Puzzle*
Adding a little "copy work" to her scissors work today. :-)
Gingerbread Man Patterning*
She cut all the pieces out and created her own pattern using them all. It ended up being an ABC pattern and fit across the bottom of a 12"x18" piece of construction paper so I mentioned a crown and she was very excited about it so voila! The extra step to make a pattern crown. :-)
Gingerbread Stamp and Roll
You can easily find (or make your own theme related) sheets such as these. Typically what happens is the child rolls a dice and stamps from left to right until they get until the end. This time I traced a few more gingerbread at the bottom and wrote the numbers 1-12 randomly onto the gingerbread. The reason being is that if there is anything K. needs to work on is numeral recognition...for some odd reason! LOL So using two dice allow for a little more challenge in numeral recognition but also allows us to practice what "addition" means. I was also slipping in there that if we know what number the dice is representing, counting doesn't take as long. :-) She knows 1, 2, and usually three and four on a dice since we use dice often so today we worked on what 5 looks like on a dice. Good practice! By the way, she was giving the gingerbread "belly buttons!" Love it!
10 Little Gingerbread Men and Sorting/Descriptive Language
This activity had multiple goals. I really should have made sure this got done in the morning since K. is tired by afternoon and thinking about same and differences was a bit more difficult than it could have been. Keep that in mind when you are working with your child. The children are usually more capable of "academic" type tasks moreso in the morning than in the afternoon. :-) First off she sorted the 10 gingerbread into pairs/"sets of 2". She then told me why she put the two together. Then I challenged her with "what's different" in each pair. Great for noticing details and verbal descriptions. Then she put them into two lines, each with a "set of 5". She told me that 5+5=10. :-D Then after placing the tactile numbers in order from 1-10, she then used a dry erase marker to write the numerals up on the magnet board. Then we sang the song that went with this activity. 1 little 2 little 3 little gingerbread... the second vs. went along with whatever action word was used at the end of the first verse. For example...
Run, run, run 10 little gingerbread.
Run, run, run 10 little gingerbread.
Run, run, run 10 little gingerbread.
Run until the morning. (Clap, twirl, sleep, stomp were some of the action words we used.)
K. is getting more of a "homeschool" experience vs. a preschool experience since my numbers are so low and I'm not filling the spaces. That has pros and cons. Academically she is really progressing. Socially, she'll be fine, I'm not worried but it is something to keep in mind when you are deciding what is the best experience for your child would be.
* www.homeschoolcreations.com- Gingerbread Baby printables packet.
