Intergenerational Learning

Recently I suggested to my Mom that we start a photography challenge with my kids. The idea is that every few weeks we will all have one specific thing to focus on when taking a picture and then all share the our results. I am hoping that it will be a learning experience for all of us and that it will be interesting to see each of our photos next to the others.

I am mostly doing this in conjunction with my Photography blog so the posts will be there but I will up date you with the address to see them at here.

So without further delay here is the first post. http://emiliabrasierphotography.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/the-learning-of-photography/

Summer Bucket List: Challenge

I recently joined a summer bucket list challenge which means I needed to make a bucket list! My plan is to write a list and then create new blog posts to go with them when I finish one and then link it up to the list. So here goes.

1. Library Summer Reading Programs
2. Star gazing
3. Camping (even if it is in the back yard)
4. Daily journal for the 5 year old, picture for the two year old
5. Eat a Rainbow Challenge
6. Summer scavenger hunt
7. Run in the sprinkler
8. Plant child friendly garden
9. Dinosaur eggs
10. Mountain dew glow bottle
11. Forts!
12. Pick Strawberries
13. Pick Raspberries, marionberries, blueberries, peaches
14. Watch fireworks
15. Catch bugs and talk about parts of an insect, draw pictures of them
16. Popsicle stick puzzles
17. Have a tea party, invite kids friends
18. Go to the fish hatchery
19. Make Moon Sand
20. Make playdoh
21. Photo shoot of the kids with funny props
22. cloud watching/naming-talk about weather cycle
23. Make a volcano
24. Go visit Mt. St. Helens (active volcano)
25. Balloon tennis
26. diversity with eggs
27. moon cycles with oreos (this will be a major treat for my kids!)
28. Make dry erase letter tracers/word tracers
29. Pick an animal day
30. Play hotel
31. Use vinegar to blow up balloons
32. Make animals out of hand and foot prints
33. Picnic
34. Kayaking
35. World learning day
36. Yoga 2 times a week
37. Fly our kite
38. Bubble snakes
39. Make humming bird feeder
40. Sandpaper art grocery bags
41. Water fight!
42. Family contribution chart (chore chart by another name)
43. Eye spy bottle
44. Go swimming
45. Load and Tote (see http://creativewithkids.com/toddlerhood-the-load-and-tote-phase/)
46. Build with blocks/knock them down
47. Go to the farmers market
48. Fill the sensory table with something new at least every other week if not more
49. Homemade shrinky dinks (http://creativewithkids.com/recycled-plastic-shrinky-dinks/)
50. Yarn obstacle course in the hall
51. Bubble painting
52. Do at least 10 science projects (ideas: http://blogs.babble.com/the-new-home-ec/2012/06/04/25-at-home-science-experiments/)
53. Giant ice cube dig
54. Fairies in a jar
55. make ice cream
56. water balloon target practice
57. sidewalk chalk
58. baseball game
59. glow bubbles
60. beach
61. Make pie
62. Go to a concert in the park
63. Hula hoop
64. Learn to ride bike without training wheels (5 year old)
65. Go to OMSI
66. Go to a theme park
67. See a waterfall
68.  Make rocket packs
69. Watch a meteor shower
70. Make gak

I reserve the right to add to this list as I see fit ;)


Thanks to Cuegly for many of these ideas. Pintrest is awesome too! Keep in mind that this list will get filled in with links/pictures as I go (and maybe more ideas).

Getting Outside, Good For Everyone

One of my person favorite things to do during the spring with my kids is to get outside and go on a walk. Using the sunny days to renew my energy and fill me with warmth as well as getting my kids some much needed time to burn off steam after strings of rainy days.

There are many benefits to getting outside other than just a chance to see the beauty of the day and get my kids tucker out. A few benefits may include getting vitamin D needed for keeping us healthy and happy, it helps with absorption of calcium, keeps our brain working, helps keep our mood up, may help prevent cancer, and more. Although you can get Vitamin D from food sources why not get it from outside where it naturally and directly comes into our bodies? Also recent research has shown that getting out in nature for 20 minutes may help decrease attention and behavior problems as much as medical treatments. (Do not take my word for this. Please research it on your own if you are suffering from any problems that require medications.)

There are also numerous learning opportunities for little curious minds when you are outside. You can stop and listen for changing sounds, look for movement caused by animals or wind, talk about the ecosystem and how each part works with every other part. Talk about similarities between the things you see and differences as well. How are plants and animals the same, what is different about the insect you just saw and the worm?

One place I have really enjoyed taking the kids (so you can go if you live near by) is a national wildlife refuge called Steigerwald Lake. This is a great easy walk with lots to see and provides a very different ecological system from the forest lake near where we live.

I highly recommend checking it out they have made if very kid friendly with little statues around the walk for added interest. Or if you do not live near by try to find a Wildlife Refuge near you.

You can sort of see Mt. Hood in the distance there.

Don't forget snack time.

Looking and the salamander statue

You may not get very far during your walk, but that is not really the point right? In a previous post I talked about doing a scavenger hunt and that is a great activity to take on a walk like this. Have fun, sunny days are coming more and more as summer draws near (yeah).

There are a few more photographs from this day at my photography blog, http://emiliabrasierphotography.wordpress.com/tag/steigerwald-lake/

What is your favorite walk around your area?

Toddlers Want to Play Games Too!

Over the past few months we have been playing a whole lot of games. Mostly between my five year old and one or both of the parents. Recently my two year old has really tried to get involved in the games. She is actually okay at sitting with us and waiting for her turn. Usually I have her work with me so that if she gets bored because the game is taking a while my son can still finish the game with me.


She loves rolling the dice, spinning the spinner, or flipping over a card to see what move she is going to make. She is not so good at moving the piece to the correct spot. All as it should be. However, this also frustrates my son to no end and it makes it difficult to play a game when all of the pieces get swept off the board several times during the course of a game.


I had been thinking for a while that it really is a shame that games don't usually cover the age of 2 because both of my kids really wanted to play them starting at about 2. Also games have so many benefits to them and are fun for adults too.


I finally found one that I really, really like that is for ages 2 and up! I am so excited! My daughter also was so excited to get this gift from us for the holidays. We have been playing it ever since and let me tell you it is perfect. Haba has come out with a series of games called My First Games which all look great. I bought My First Orchard for my daughter.


                                                         

                                                                

           
This is such a great game. It uses many of the same skills that a normal board game would, like a dice and moving pieces, but it makes them easy for a toddler to understand. This game has four "trees" that each get a set of four fruits, each fruit having its own color (red, yellow, green, blue). There are five pathway tiles,  a bird (who is trying to get to the orchard to eat the fruit), and a basket that the players are trying to fill together.


You fill the basket by rolling the dice and playing according to the roll. If you get a color or a basket you put a fruit into the basket. If you get a bird you have to move the bird forward on the path closer to the orchard. Together the players fill the basket up and if they get all the fruit off the tree before the bird gets to the orchard everyone wins.


Why my kids love it:


The bright colors, large pieces, and just the fact that they get to play a game with all of us with out pieces being thrown all over. Although I will admit that part is not fool proof.


Why I love it:


My two year old can play a game from start to finish with us and really start to get what playing by the rules is all about. There are nice bright colors that make teaching about colors simple and a dice that allows you to work on matching of colors. The large pieces are so cute, little fruit shaped like red and green apples, yellow pears, and blue plums, cute.


This game did a great job of playing to the developmental tasks of a two year old such as learning about colors, same and different, working together, and the motor skills of moving a piece which is made easier by having the larger pieces and fewer spots to move the bird to.  This game does not take all that long to play which is great for this age group. Even my five year old enjoys playing it with us although he would prefer another game. I would definitely recommend this game to a friend and hopefully will have a chance to check out some of the other My First Games sometime soon.


Have you tried any games made specifically for 2 and up? Do you think it is worth the investment or would you rather wait until they get older? 

By the way if you are interested in getting this game I added in a link so that you can find it easily. Also I recently added in a bookshelf of some of the books that I have enjoyed with my kids or for myself. I hope you have time to look around and see some of the changes I have made to the site as I have gotten to know more about blogging!

A Science Museum Outing: OMSI

In Portland, Oregon finding a good indoor activity for the winter is essential. Our family has found that over almost all other places OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) is the best place to go if we are spending our day inside. OMSI has something for every age group, and I do mean every age group, from infants to adults. 


OMSI has been around for as long as I can remember, in fact I can remember going there as a child with my Father. It used to be located by the zoo but moved years ago to increase the space inside. There are two stories of great educational but fun interactive science exhibits showcasing biology, engineering, chemistry, physics and more. We have two main places that we love to go and visit every time we are at OMSI. These are the Science Playground which is designed especially for kids ages 0 to 6 and Turbine Hall. 

Turbine Hall has water rockets, orbit tables, both a physics lab and chemistry lab, a room where you build ball launchers, a few water tables where to create and test out different types of boats (sail or paddle), and more. The Science Playground was recently given a makeover of sorts and now contains a brand new water play area and quite reading tent. It also has a forest discovery area where kids can pretend to be a chip monk dressing up and hiding acorns in a tree, play with puppets, and check out the inside of a cave. There is a sand play area, block building, a shopping and cooking area, and a craft area that also always features either play-doh or gak. There is so much more in this area, I really could go on for pages. 


There is one more permanent exhibit area full of things ranging from live animals like rats, turtles, and snakes, to information about nanotechnology. There is a lot of stuff in this room about the importance of staying healthy and it does a good job of giving hands on ways to help this message sink in while still being fun.


OMSI also has a Submarine tour (you have to be at least 3 to go on), a planetarium featuring a wide variety of shows, the OMNIMAX Theater, a special exhibit that changes every couple of months and a cafeteria that actually has pretty good food.


Our family highly recommends OMSI especially for these dreary winter months.