2011 July

10 Fun Things to do with Mr. Potato Head

Hi Mommy Teachers! It’s Casey stopping over from Kidspired Creations! As a former Pre-K and Kindergarten teacher, and a current stay-at-home mommy, I always try to think of different ways I can approach play time to make it a great learning experience too!

Today, we invited Mr. Potato Head to join in on our fun. My boys and I were all sitting around MPH and adding different parts to his head. He looked like a monster with an arm sticking out of his eye socket, eyes where his feet should go and a nose in each ear. As I watched my boys, James (turning 4 next week), was holding MPH and bossing Leyson (20 months) about what he should do with the nose in his hand.

I then turned this into a learning opportunity about sharing. I took all of the parts off of MPH and then told the boys that they can only put one body part in at a time and then it was Brother’s turn. An eye in for James, a nose in for Leyson, then back to James. See what kind of a cool monster we can make together!

This reminded me of a time that I subbed for a 2nd grade classroom. I had the students all participate in creating a monster that I drew on the board based on their descriptions. They each told me one thing to describe what the monster looked like and I added that to our drawing. I then had each student write a paper describing in complete detail what the monster looked like so that anyone who had not seen the monster that I drew could draw the same monster on their own. (What? The teacher didn’t leave a lesson plan for me and I taught the wee little ones… no clue what to do with 2nd graders).

So I asked James to describe the monster to me: “MPH has a huge blue muscles on his arm that is sticking out where his nose should be.”

Then, I got to thinking… how else can we learn with Mr. Potato Head?
Here are my top 10 ways that you can join in on the fun!

1. SHARING

2. DESCRIBING / USING DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE

3. STORYTELLING

(We made up a story about Mr. Potato Head’s adventures as a Firefighter)

4. 5 SENSES

Mommy: “If MPH is a firefighter, what is he going to use to smell if there is smoke?”

Child: “Nose!”

Mommy: “Great! What is he going to use to hear if people need his help?”

5. HAND-EYE COORDINATION

(My little one was having trouble putting the parts into the little holes, but after a few tries, he became a pro!)

6. BODY PARTS

(Placement and Name Recognition)

Easy: “Where is the nose?” (baby points)

Harder: “Is this a nose?” (baby says “yes” or “no”…or nods or shakes)

Even Harder: “Is this a nose or mouth?” (baby says “nose”)

Hardest: “What is this body part?” (baby says “nose”)

7. RIDDLES

Mommy: “This part helps keep his head warm when it’s cold.”

Child: “A hat!”

8. RHYMING

Mommy: “This next body part rhymes with ‘south.'”

Child: “Mouth!”

9. SORTING

10. MYSTERY BODY PART

Place 1 pair of eyes, 1 nose, 2 ears, 2 arms, 1 mouth, 1 hat, 1 mustache and 1 pair of shoes in a bag. Have your child reach his/her hand in the bag without looking and grab one body part. They must then guess which part they have in their hand.

Now, if you don’t have a Mr. Potato Head, he’s everywhere… in fact, he pretty much has his own website where you can search for all of the different Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head kits available. ENJOY!!!

A special THANK YOU to the ultimate Mommy Teacher, Jessica, for allowing me to share my playtime experiences with every one!

July 13, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Hobby Lobby Gift Card Giveaway!

Alright! It’s time for a giveaway, and at the request of my Mommy Teachers I am giving away a $25 Hobby Lobby Gift Card, shipped FREE to your front door no matter how you plan to use it.

So, here’s how to ENTER:

You can have UP to FOUR entries:

1. “share” The Mommy Teacher Facebook Page OR The Mommy Teacher Site with your fb friends, and let me know that you did (either in your comment or on facebook)

2. “like” The Mommy Teacher Facebook Page

3. “”follow” me on Twitter

4. “share” my link with your mommy teacher email contacts and let me know that you did (in a comment on this post).

The giveaway ends at Midnight on Friday, July 15th and I will
announce the winner on Saturday, July 16th! Good luck!
*US residents only

July 11, 2011 by Jessica | 35 Comments

Firework Writing

This morning when I was re-playing the 4th of July in my mind, and thinking It’s time to share a writing activity with my Mommy Teachers, I had an idea…how much fun would it be for little ones to write about and/or draw fireworks? And when I was thinking about a good “writing tool” for this activity I thought about the Q-tip. Let your little ones paint with a q-tip and then sprinkle glitter on top of their picture. Then, when it dries they have the perfect snapshot to “write about” – with your help of course.

This might sound like a headache because it is “messy,” but just lay down a bunch of newspaper and don’t sweat the mess because kids need these experiences for their creativity to blossom.

I found these q-tips if you want to dip the whole thing in paint and then lay it down in all directions to make it look like fireworks flares.

Me, My husband, and our one year old on the levee, overlooking the Mississippi this HOT fourth of July day 🙂

Some fireworks to jog your little one’s memory!

ooooohhhhhh…….aaaahhhhhhhh

Share your Fourth of July Family pics on the Mommy Teacher Facebook Page!

July 10, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Late Night Root Beer Float

This pregnancy my cravings are getting the best of me! I will have very specific cravings and then feel the need to feed my craving immediately…my last pregnancy this wasn’t really the case so I thought pregnant women who did this were a little crazy haha. But the other night, I somehow put it in my head that I wanted a root beer float even though I really haven’t craved many sweets this pregnancy, I decided I needed it at that moment. So, a little after 9:00 o’clock I told my husband I’d be “right back” and he laughed when I came back home with ice cream and root beer and didn’t hesitate for a second because I made my root beer float the second I walked in the door.

I wonder how many other Mommy Teachers are pregnant, trying to keep up with your little one and a meal plan for the week. This “Mommy Moment” made me think about one of the cutest Story Cook Books I have ever seen. My best friend made a cookbook that told children’s versions of recipes word for word. So for root beer float it might have said something like “Well, you need some ice cream and maybe some chocolate syrup if your mom will let you have it. Then you scoop two, no three, scoops of ice cream in a cup and pour the chocolate and root beer over it until it bubbles up and makes it foamy. Then you can eat it, but you have to hurry so the ice cream don’t melt!” So, to make a Cook Book of these “recipes” you would write each “recipe” – in your child’s own words and maybe ask some other questions to add to that page in the Cook Book like “When do you like to eat root beer floats?” or “What other kinds of ice cream would taste good with root beer?” or even “Does this recipe fit into one of the food groups?” haha that would be an interesting answer. And then you could put a picture of your child eating a root beer float on that page of the cook book.
I think that this activity is SUCH a great collection of your child’s thoughts. While it is a keepsake it also reveals their understanding of sequential order, how they use their senses to make observations, memory recall, quantities (if you ask them specific questions like “how much root beer?” etc.
Have so much fun with this and share pictures on the Mommy Teacher Facebook Page if you make one or already have something similar to this!

July 7, 2011 by Jessica | 0 comments

Sorting Numbers

Are you the type of person who likes to play around with fonts in a Word Document before you “feel” like you have picked the right one.
Well, if so, you will love the concept of this post.
I have made a template of numbers in several different fonts that you can print onto cardstock for your little one. Cardstock is much more durable than computer paper so I definitely recommend investing in some for free printables 🙂
Then, you can cut out the numbers – or let your little one practice their scissor skills and cut them out.
Explain to your little one that the line under the number needs to be at the bottom so you know that the numbers aren’t upside down.
Then, let your little one sort by number….putting all the ones together, twos, threes, etc.

This is a great activity to practice sorting, number recognition, and concentration on number formation! So here is your free printable: Number Font Sorting