Big Energy-Little Learners...Can I do it all?

This summer I have kept a mixing bowl outside for free play.  It has come in handy for our outside play on multiple occasions. The most popular play is making potions There is something about having a tub or mixing bowl outside that makes the kids want to make 'potions'.   I think it is just a natural pretend play idea.  We don't talk about potions nor watch witch movies so I am not sure where exactly the idea comes from. But as they were mixed they asked if they could have scissors to cut up their ingredients. Doll Dragon liked cutting the leaves off of the weeds and gathering supplies or ingredients Summer Dragon liked stirring Little Dragon liked squirting water into the bowl Then dancing around it singing songs Going through my pictures I noticed that the boys seem to be more drawn to the messy potion making then the girls.                   The girls played shopping or Barbies instead. 

Play outside week took us to a fun local outside play spot.  The River.  There are many great things to do on the river and they hold festivals during the summer.  It is exciting and busy so the kids always feel like we are really doing something when we go there. For this visit we spent our time at the fountain!  The fountain water shoots up in the air as the kids run through it Then they would giggle and run around anticipating the fountain to start shooting again Of course they all kept running back to us too just to say hello Then it was back to running in the water!  The sun hide behind some clouds and it got chilly so The Dragons grabbed their towels  When the sun came back out and warmed the cement The Dragons put their towels down to soak up the rays We brought plenty of snacks and The Dragons all earned a free kids meal with their week of reading from our local Library. A nice free summer day of play

Reading my lesson plans may seem like a lot but we still have a lot of down time and play a lot during our lessons.  I like to keep my kids busy to keep them out of trouble.  I am a stay at home mom to be a mom and be involved in my kids lives and help them thrive as much as possible.  I don't always finish everything in my lesson plan but I would rather be over prepared then under prepared.  If the kids get bored during a lesson I switch it up or we move on to the next activity.  I try to keep it open for choice in what we do next and ideas on how to do the activity differently.   We often stop in the middle of the activity to add some movement or goofiness so we are having fun together.   It may not work for every family but my kids ask to do preschool and usually look forward to our day of fun activities.  I am planning for a 5 day lesson plan.  These links only document 4 days.  If I find the time I will try to upload the 5th days lesson. I have them handwritten in my bind

Reading my lesson plans may seem like a lot but we still have a lot of down time and play a lot during our lessons.  I like to keep my kids busy to keep them out of trouble.  I am a stay at home mom to be a mom and be involved in my kids lives and help them thrive as much as possible.  I don't always finish everything in my lesson plan but I would rather be over prepared then under prepared.  If the kids get bored during a lesson I switch it up or we move on to the next activity.  I try to keep it open for choice in what we do next and ideas on how to do the activity differently.   We often stop in the middle of the activity to add some movement or goofiness so we are having fun together.   It may not work for every family but my kids ask to do preschool and usually look forward to our day of fun activities.  I am planning for a 5 day lesson plan.  These links only document 4 days.  If I find the time I will try to upload the 5th days lesson. I have them handwritten in my bind

Reading my lesson plans may seem like a lot but we still have a lot of down time and play a lot during our lessons.  I like to keep my kids busy to keep them out of trouble.  I am a stay at home mom to be a mom and be involved in my kids lives and help them thrive as much as possible.  I don't always finish everything in my lesson plan but I would rather be over prepared then under prepared.  If the kids get bored during a lesson I switch it up or we move on to the next activity.  I try to keep it open for choice in what we do next and ideas on how to do the activity differently.   We often stop in the middle of the activity to add some movement or goofiness so we are having fun together.   It may not work for every family but my kids ask to do preschool and usually look forward to our day of fun activities.  I am planning for a 5 day lesson plan.  These links only document 4 days.  If I find the time I will try to upload the 5th days lesson. I have them handwritten in my bind

You pick apples in the fall and berries in the summer.   So that's what we did!  This was a first time berry picking trip for the whole family.  We had also never tasted black raspberries, red raspberries yes, but not black.  How different can they taste?  They were DELICIOUS!   The farm we picked at was nice.  It wasn't packed with people and the employees were very helpful.  The business was very kid friendly which was a plus.  They gave each of the kids their own little bucket to pick raspberries with and then a larger bucket that we could all contribute too.  There is definitely some work required for black raspberry picking.   The berries were kind of hard to see if you just looked at the plant, you had to move leaves around a bit to see the hidden groups of berries.   The difficult part was moving around the leaves without getting pricked.  Raspberry bushes have thorns.  Even with thorns The Dragons did a great job at finding their own

For Jerry's birthday The Dragons wanted to get him squirt guns.  They are no use in March (his birthday month) but come summer The Dragons were ready to get gun squirting! As soon as it was warm they reminded me to grab those guns for play! Our summer theme this week is outside play and squirt guns have many possible play options.   Plus they are fun to play with over and over again!   The Dragons chased each other around the yard And just stood and squirted each other in the face!  They squirted other things too, like super hero's and watered the plants These guns stay outside full of water.  Everyday I fill them up and everyday they are used.  Either to squirt each other, plants, or used as an ingredient in something The Dragons are cooking. Constant entertainment and no planning ahead :)

Reading my lesson plans may seem like a lot but we still have a lot of down time and play a lot during our lessons.  I like to keep my kids busy to keep them out of trouble.  I am a stay at home mom to be a mom and be involved in my kids lives and help them thrive as much as possible.  I don't always finish everything in my lesson plan but I would rather be over prepared then under prepared.  If the kids get bored during a lesson I switch it up or we move on to the next activity.  I try to keep it open for choice in what we do next and ideas on how to do the activity differently.   We often stop in the middle of the activity to add some movement or goofiness so we are having fun together.   It may not work for every family but my kids ask to do preschool and usually look forward to our day of fun activities.  I am planning for a 5 day lesson plan.  These links only document 4 days.  If I find the time I will try to upload the 5th days lesson. I have them handwritten in my

Reading my lesson plans may seem like a lot but we still have a lot of down time and play a lot during our lessons.  I like to keep my kids busy to keep them out of trouble.  I am a stay at home mom to be a mom and be involved in my kids lives and help them thrive as much as possible.  I don't always finish everything in my lesson plan but I would rather be over prepared then under prepared.  If the kids get bored during a lesson I switch it up or we move on to the next activity.  I try to keep it open for choice in what we do next and ideas on how to do the activity differently.   We often stop in the middle of the activity to add some movement or goofiness so we are having fun together.   It may not work for every family but my kids ask to do preschool and usually look forward to our day of fun activities.  I am planning for a 5 day lesson plan.  These links only document 4 days.  If I find the time I will try to upload the 5th days lesson. I have them handwritten in my bind

I am going to do my best to follow and post a theme of activities each week to do during the summer.  These activities will include fun outdoor activities, crafts, reading/storytelling, and other learning ideas. It is important to keep the mind fresh during summer break so kids are ready for school when it is time to go back. I am not taking it too heavy on the learning side, I want summer to be a fun time for exploring and play.  I still want the kids to look forward to summer break. This is the first year I am trying a 'plan' during the summer.  I will be posting our activities here and other activities on my Facebook page  Big Energy Little Learners. I hope you get inspired! Here are our activities for week 5: Week 5: MUSIC I am not going to lie this was a hard week for me.  I have a hard time encouraging music because it easily gets really loud.  My future husband works from home and there needs to be a certain level of quiet required for the job.

I was very excited to paint to the music.  I wanted this to be an exciting activity for me to join the kids in.  Of course it doesn't always go as we plan because God has a plan and his plan was to teach me a different lesson today. I had been building up this activity most of the day, again I was excited! I had wanted to start it after breakfast but we ended up going on a spur of the moment hour run/walk so the activity got started later then usual.  Because it was later in the day, which means there was a lot of playing going on beforehand, we had to clean up before we could proceed.  Painting can be messy! And I didn't want the paint getting on our other toys. Cleaning can be boring and Doll Dragon is easily distracted so she decided to go upstairs and go through the bathroom trash.  YUCK!!  This is so, so, so gross and unsanitary.  She is very curious regardless of the many, many times we have told and explained to her why going through the trash is NOT OK!  She even