Pattern Practice with Fruit

Okay who does not love fruit kabobs? I mean really what is not to love, fresh, healthy, pretty, tasty, I could go on and on. Recently we took the chance to make some fruit kabobs out of very simple ingredients and found that this is a wonderful way to work on patterns. 

Recognizing patterns and creating them is a very important skill to learn and it is something that preschools will usually be teaching children. You can make patterns just about anywhere with anything and it can provide a good source of entertainment too. What better way to work on pattern learning than using fruit (a healthy snack) and making a kabob. Not only will kids find this a fun and yummy activity but it will also help develop fine motor control and provide an educational experience. 

For these kabobs you could use any fruits that you have available and be as creative as you would like. We used grapes, apples cut into small chunks, and a pepino which has white and purple skin. We used popsicle sticks instead of skewers and they worked out just fine.  

Some ideas for this activity:

~ make a few skewers with some missing pieces of fruit and then have your child add the missing pieces in the correct order

~ allow the child to make their own pattern (that is what mine did)

~tell the child part of a pattern and have them create the rest on the popsicle stick

~draw out some pattern cards with colors of the fruit and have the children draw a card and create that card. 


What kind of pattern activities do you do with kids? 

Music Friday: African Playground

Is it really already this time of the week again? Man this last week has flown by. We had snow yesterday, March 1st by the way, what is that about? Really this is not the time of year that we normally have snow and I am so ready for spring that it really did not make me all that happy. Plus I was just kind of in a funk. But I digress...time to get out of the funk and into some fun very danceable music for kids. 

Today's pick is African Playground which is put out by Putumayo Kids. We have been enjoy this music for many years now after receiving it as a gift from some of my Mom's friends. I had the pleasure of visiting Africa in the fall of 2001 with my college Lewis & Clark College. It was a great experience and I was able to learn some Swahili while I was there. I learned just enough to try and teach my kids some of the basics like hello, the numbers, and a couple of phrases (I actually knew more at one point but don't retain languages very well). There are only a couple of songs on this album in Swahili but it is fun for all of us to sing with them. 

All of the music on the cd is is a lot of fun. It is neat to tell the kids about where each song is from and point it out on the map (my older one more than the younger). 

I think that music is one of the best ways to be introduced to new cultures because it is easy to translate to our life. This cd is a very upbeat, fun, collection of songs that are very easy to move to. I love this cd almost as much as the kids do or maybe even more.

                                       

What is your favorite music from another country? 

What is your favorite dance music?

Oh and make sure to check back next week, I have a great Music Friday planned! Hint, you could get it free!