Cutting Activity – Barber Shop Pretend Play

  
Inigo is just learning how to hold the scissors, how to coordinate both hands together when cutting, how to open and shut the blades of the scissors to cut smooth lines, and how to stay on a line when cutting. 

So when I thought of the idea of setting a pretend play barber shop I knew this will be a hilarious activity.  

Plus, he thought it was a ton of fun to be a barber for the day.
    You can have the template from krokotak.com. I made my own hairdo and used the goggly eyes as well. 

This is a perfect fine motor strengthening activity for little hands working on improving dexterity and motor skills. Im sure in no time his scissor skills will be fabulous! 

 
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Have an inspiring, positive week ahead! Stay blessed!

Fine Motor Play – Pushpins and Rubber Bands

I loved to have our own DIY geoboard using chopping board and nails but that’s quite tedious. So I opted to use the IKEA corkboard instead. So easy, much easier than making one with nails.

The #cerradoboys are loving their little geoboards so much that I thought I would share it here too.  With just pushpins and some rubber bands they are able to create their own designs.

They have been enjoying making all kinds of wonderful designs, while Inigo has been working really hard on stretching the rubber bands over the pins.   

 The pins are of course sharp. But I am happy and confident for him to use them anyway, under supervision. 

Thursday Arts and Crafts

Hello and Goodbye October.Wow is it REALLY almost NOVEMBER? Sounds crazy just saying it!

Today we will take break from doing STEM activity but rather focused on kids imagination.

Since the #cerradokids are complete I set up a simple invitation for them to work on. To br honest, I really don’t have plan of making one but they keeps on bickering and tattling. 

The invitation was too simple. I just pre-cut the shapes, put some apple stickers and eventually added googly eyes.   The simple invites turns out a real fun activity for them. They were so focused and creative. Angelo was making a game called Reel Steel and he even narrates to me how his game works. Seems that he is applying his English lesson. Infact there are explanation, instructions, design and information on his collage. His imagination is beyond what I expected.When he’s done he proudly show it to me. 

This young man has a big future in Digital World!😍
   

 Now let’s see Inigo’s artwork. I was pleasantly surprised how he used the shapes. He literally knew what are the shapes for. He asked for ky help when he wanted to add eyesglass to his robot. He used the stickers for his Apple tree. Kuya Angelo helped him to draw the buttons.

  What really caught my attention is how he incorporate his happy meal toys to his collage. He is making a story and looks that retelling one scene from the movie The Secret Life of Pets. A great way of expanding his vocabulary words.  
Because Angelo and Inigo were too busy with their own work I helped Isabelle making her artwork. She’s not quite interested and just enjoying the sticky glue.  

  

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Have an inspiring, positive day ahead! Stay blessed!

Learning through play – Pipe Cleaners and Colander Fine Motor Play

  
Pipe cleaners has a lot of purpose in homeschooling but one of my favorite is using it for fine motor activity.
After setting up a pile of pipe cleaners and a colander.I showed to Isabelle and Inigo how to insert the pipe cleaners into the holes. They were immediately intrigued by the activity and set to work exercising their fine motor skills.   This activity also exercises hand-eye coordination, problem solving skills, and requires the kids to focus on the task at hand. I loved watching them working together and enjoying at the same time.  

STEM Activity – Toothpick and Clay Geometry

Happy Wednesday! I just recieved the text from Angelo’s school that there will be no class tomorrow due to teachers training. And while we have extra off we also need to study his Math lesson. 

I love making learning fun in our homeschool…I try anyways!I’m always on the lookout for any STEM project with a WOW factor and today’s engineering activity will definitely cover his Geometry lesson.

In an effort to do that, I introduced the activity by asking him to draw the 2d shapes in our learning journey notebook, while I piled up supplies on the table. Then we started to talk about the sides and vertices so he could gain confidence and get a solid grasp of the activity. We used the toothpicks and clay to build each shape.     This simple demonstration will introduce a complex engineering concept to kids visually. What I loved about this activity was there has been a big interest in 2d and 3d shapes. He has a great time naming the shapes that has parallel and perpendicular lines.  

This just proves the power of differentiation and multiple learning strategies! 

Messy Fun Art Tuesday

Messy play can be fancy and you can prep all sorts of stuff if you have time.But on those days … like most! … when I’m back footed and winging it simple no prep painting sesh is my best friend. Just grab a paint, brush and newspapers and let the kids do the work.      

    
   
  

Fine Motor Skills – Straw and Pasta

The other day, I was looking for a quick activity that would be fun for Isabelle. She gets bored with her toys after awhile, and constantly looking for her brothers. The #cerradoboys were out for their haircut bonding😜.

Since I constantly looking for new activities using materials in our home.I grabbed few sticks of pasta and a handful of straws. We only have the paper straws right now, so I cut them down to fit into her tiny hands. 

When I set out the materials, Isabelle was immediately interested in them. She wasn’t quite sure what to do with them, though, until I showed her how to put a straw in the pasta.

It took a lot of concentration, but she did it!

It was a lot of fun for her, and so easy to put together. I know we’ll do it again soon.

Enjoy watching!

  

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Have an inspiring, positive homeschooling ahead! Stay blessed!

STEM Activity – The Dancing Raisin Science Experiment

With just two simple ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen, you can get this party started!

 
Materials You Will Need:

• 2 clear glasses 
• A box of raisins
• Clear, well-carbonated soda or water (we used Perrier water but Sprite will work as well)

 
Instructions:

1. Pour soda into the glass.
2. Drop four or five raisins into the glass.
3. After about a minute, you will observe raisins moving up and down in the glass. Watch how the bubbles control the movements of the raisins!

What makes the raisins dance?

The soda water has lots of carbon dioxide, which makes the liquid bubbly. When the raisins are put in the soda, the carbon dioxide molecules collide with the raisin and build up in the raisin’s nooks and crannies. The carbon dioxide is less dense than the the raisin, and when enough bubbles join together, they attempt to lift the raisin to the surface. 

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Have an inspiring, positive homeschooling ahead! Stay blessed!

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Learning through play – Learning about Emotions

On this activity we used corkboard and playdough and started to create different emotions – happy, sad, mad.

  

As he worked at the playdough by putting the features of the face into IKEA corkboard, we also had a great time talking about the different emotions and even acting about the facial expressions.

  
Inigo had a fun time making faces – a great introduction for toddler learning about emotions.

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Have an inspiring, positive day ahead! Stay blessed!

STEM Activity – Rainbow Skittles Candy Experiment

This is a classic skittles science experiment that everyone has to try once!

 All you need are three things: Skittles, water, and a shallow bowl! That’s easy enough right?    

Setting up skittles science is so easy.

    First, I let them add the skittles around the edges of the bowl. We used at least four of each color. You can chose whatever combination you like or experiment with patterns.

    Then we fill a white shallow bowl with about a 1/2 inch of hot water. The bowl doesn’t have to be filled completely.

  The skittles start to dissolve pretty quick so keep your eye on them.

  
    
    

The Science behind it…

Skittles are made of ingredients that are prone to dissolve in water easily.