Goodnight Moon
When working with my daughter, Leia, we like to have a weekly theme based upon a book. This week we focused on the book, "Goodnight Moon," by Margaret Wise Brown.
Leia, is 3 years old and she loves book that are predictable and have repeating phrases. Books, like "Goodnight Moon," encourage her to become a confident reader, because typically, when we read the book together enough, by the end of the week she is able to "read" the book on her own. This book also great for setting the stage for teaching children about rhyming words.
In order to make the book more interesting though, we do different things through out the week that goes along with ideas from the book.
For sensory play this week, we made "moon sand" or "cloud dough." The recipe is 8 cups of flour and one cup of baby oil. I made a smaller batch, using two cups of flour and 1/4 cup baby oil. I also put in some scooping toys and cookie cutters. Throughout the week, Leia had access to the kitchen drawers and to her toys, to add items when playing. By the end of the week, Leia had decided to include, "Buzz Lightyear" to the moon sand, he is a space ranger after all :)
We also did an art project. In the book, one of the pages says, "goodnight stars." On a black piece of construction paper, Leia painted with different colored paints that I had mixed with glitter to get a starry night feel. After painting, she also used different color metallic star stickers. This project allowed her to use creativity and also work on her fine motor skills.
This week for math, we focused on patterns. I cut out different color mittens and started different "AB" patterns for Leia to finish. This also allowed Leia to work on her pasting skills, something she really enjoys. When doing this activity, Leia asked me, "where are the kittens?" Why hadn't I thought of that on my own? I told her to kiss her brain for having such a wonderful idea.
