Finding Shapes at the Park

Activity completed April 2016.
 
Color and shape learning can come from anywhere... I've found I have had the best luck showing Tripp the shapes, colors, letters and numbers that surround us, rather than using toys and activity books specifically for that purpose. Who wants to be quizzed when they just want to play?

On a rainy day earlier this month we discovered a local park full of interesting shapes. We walked around and found all of the triangles. He identified each color inside the triangle, told me the yellow was his favorite, and asked for a photo in each one.

Train... Going Fast (Laminated Train Printable)

Activity completed January 2016.

Tripp loves the book Freight Train by Donald Crews. The book is very simple, following a freight train on its path through the mountains. Each train car is a different color and the illustrations are bright and bold.

Through the blog Mama's Happy Hive, I found this PDF which had very similar train cars to the cars in the book. We have a home laminator so I printed them out, cut each train and then we laminated them. Now Tripp can set up his own freight train however he likes, or follow the train from the book.

Colored Rice Craft

Activity completed September 6, 2015.

This was a simple addition to our fun with colored rice. It couldn't be easier - all you need is:

• Colored rice
• Cardstock
• Clear-drying glue

We each made designs with the glue on our paper. I went for a heart shape while Tripp experimented with how the glue flowed and how hard he needed to squeeze. Then we added handfuls of the rice onto the paper. A few minutes later I shook the loose rice from each paper and we had our colorful designs!

Exploring Colored Rice

Activity completed on September 15, 2015.

Tuesdays are the day Tripp and I get to spend entirely together. Usually we go to the library in the mornings, he naps, and then we have fun with an activity in the afternoon - anything from going to the park if the weather is nice to a craft or just free play. Tuesdays are great and I really cherish them, because all too soon he'll be in school and we won't have this free time together.

I thought having some fun with colored rice would be a nice way to spend one of our Tuesday afternoons. In the morning, before we went to the library, I followed these directions from Paging Fun Mums and by the time he was finished with his nap and lunch it was dry and ready to be played with.

While I was making the rice I let him choose the colors. We ended up with blue, green, yellow, red and a very dark purple.

We donned our winter hats, as you do, and got to playing. I had cups and bowls out to experiment with moving the rice. He got right into it.