Our outing today was to the Montclair Art Museum. Each month, the museum hosts a homeschool art class for 4-8 year olds; each month, the theme is different. This month's theme was seasons, weather and time. We first toured the gallery, looking at particular paintings that illustrated the theme. We saw some abstract pieces and some realistic pieces. The tour guides asked the children how they knew what season it was, or what time of day it was, or even what the weather was. In some paintings, the answers were obvious and in others open to interpretation. I was pleased with Angie's participation; she offered a couple of answers and observations and went along with the group with little concern for where I was in the room. Maddie, being just a bit on the young side, stuck by me or her sister, preferring me when her sister went ahead with the group.
For the art project, we learned how to use pastels and a smudging technique to create a really interesting effect. We tore a strip of paper in a curvy, mountainous way. Then we colored with the pastels near the torn edges of the paper. We laid the torn paper on top of our working paper, chalked side up, and smudged the chalk onto the working paper, across the torn edge. The effect was to make a clean, sharp delineation between the softly smudged colors and the paper itself. It was really wonderful and we all enjoyed making our own pictures of mountains and grass and whatnot.
We thoroughly enjoyed the program and we'll be back again next month.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Indoor Fun: Kinesthetic Simon
If you have children who require a certain amount of physical activity during the day lest they become monkeys swinging from any and all available furnishings, then you spend a lot of time trying to find games to keep them occupied. Our most recent game is a take on Simon, the memory game of the 80's where players repeat ever increasing strings of colored light patterns. But in this game, active participation is key.
Setup
First, make a six-sided die, preferably out of something more durable than paper, that you can write on. On each face of the die, write an instruction. Ours included, "clap your hands three times" and "spin around on your toes" and "jump up high two times". Anything you can think of that gets them moving.
Game Play
The first player rolls the die and does what the instruction says.
The next player rolls the die. Before he can do his instruction, though, he must do all the instructions that have already been rolled.
Example:
Player one rolls "jump in the air". She jumps in the air. Player two rolls "spin around". He jumps in the air, then spins around. Player three rolls "clap your hands twice". She jumps in the air, spins around, then claps her hands twice.
Penalties and Variations
There are a few ways to play this so that it is either competitive or not.
Method 1:
If, on any turn, a player cannot remember the full sequence, he is eliminated and the next player rolls the die and takes her turn. When only one player remains, he/she is the winner.
Method 2:
If, on any turn, a player cannot remember the full sequence, the game ends and a new game begins. Keep track of how many instructions you made it through. The goal is to keep the game going as long as possible and beat the previous record.
Method 3:
Have all children in the group do the actions at the same time. They can help each other remember the actions.
Benefits
This game improves memory and coordination.
You can change the game up as often as you like by making new dice with new instructions on them!
Have fun!
Setup
First, make a six-sided die, preferably out of something more durable than paper, that you can write on. On each face of the die, write an instruction. Ours included, "clap your hands three times" and "spin around on your toes" and "jump up high two times". Anything you can think of that gets them moving.
Game Play
The first player rolls the die and does what the instruction says.
The next player rolls the die. Before he can do his instruction, though, he must do all the instructions that have already been rolled.
Example:
Player one rolls "jump in the air". She jumps in the air. Player two rolls "spin around". He jumps in the air, then spins around. Player three rolls "clap your hands twice". She jumps in the air, spins around, then claps her hands twice.
Penalties and Variations
There are a few ways to play this so that it is either competitive or not.
Method 1:
If, on any turn, a player cannot remember the full sequence, he is eliminated and the next player rolls the die and takes her turn. When only one player remains, he/she is the winner.
Method 2:
If, on any turn, a player cannot remember the full sequence, the game ends and a new game begins. Keep track of how many instructions you made it through. The goal is to keep the game going as long as possible and beat the previous record.
Method 3:
Have all children in the group do the actions at the same time. They can help each other remember the actions.
Benefits
This game improves memory and coordination.
You can change the game up as often as you like by making new dice with new instructions on them!
Have fun!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Young Writers Club Week #1: Essays
"Where would you most like to live and why?"
I would like to live in a rain forest because it will have animals and I love animals.It will also have flowers and trees and I love them.
by Angelyn, age 6
I wanted to live in Florida because it has lots of characters like Jake, Izzy and Cubby.
by Madelyn, age 3 (dictated)
I would like to live in a rain forest because it will have animals and I love animals.It will also have flowers and trees and I love them.
by Angelyn, age 6
I wanted to live in Florida because it has lots of characters like Jake, Izzy and Cubby.
by Madelyn, age 3 (dictated)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)