Sunday, January 20, 2019

Learning about Blue!

I bought Sweet E this wonderful book for Christmas and it has become one of her favorites! 

Image result for colors lets learn them all

So I felt it was appropriate to begin our color themes, one third and final time. We started with blue!

Blue Discovery Bin
I filled a large bin with several blue things from around the house. Mostly toys, but a few other surprises as well. I wanted a variety of textures for her to explore, and opportunities for play along the way!


She began by connecting the blue Magna-Tiles together! Always a fun activity!


Then she went for some blocks.


Here's a surprise item: a toothbrush holder. She loved the popping sound it made when it was pulled apart! So she spent several minutes playing with this.


A car made out of Lego Duplos was a favorite discovery as well. She loved taking it apart, and going, "Vrrrroom." 


Next she hopped up onto the couch, reached back in, and found some soft pipe cleaners.


And a ball pit ball (more of those coming at the end of this week)!


Next it was onto the table (what a silly girl!) to play with the barrel of monkeys!


We left the bin in her room for the week, and she returned to it again and again. And every time we read her Colors book and came to the blue page, she would gesture toward the bin of blue items!

Blue Pom Pom Transfer
I gathered our blue pom poms and a spoon from her play kitchen.


She actually found this activity before I was ready to give it to her, and started transferring pom poms without any prompting from me. Of course, she did it while standing on her chair!


And since she was using a play kitchen spoon, she pretended to eat the pom poms.


I thought this would be a one-and-done activity, since it's not too exciting (to me), but she brought this over to her couch and did it again, and several other times throughout the week. Who knew!


Blue Playdough + Blue Manipulatives
This week, Sweet E helped me prepare our batch of playdough, by stirring the pot before I set it on the stove.


Then when it was finished, we went up to her activity table to play! I set it out with several blue manipulatives including star beads, gems, cut up straws and pipe cleaners, silicone cupcake liners and a couple of simple cookie cutters.


She sat on the table and got right to work, squishing and smooshing to her heart's content.


Then she sat down on a chair and we made some pretend cupcakes! Here she is blowing out the candle!


Her favorite way to play with playdough is to hide beads inside, and then look for them.


This gestures says, "Where are the star beads?"
  

A wonderful blue mess.


We brought it out again later in the week, and played the same games. Cupcakes...


Hiding beads...


But she also discovered a new way to play: placing the pipe cleaner into the straw. Great fine motor work, and she kept at it for a while!


Tissue Paper + Glue - Fish Craft
This was Sweet E's first time using a glue stick, and she liked it! Here is what we used:


I showed her how to dab the glue onto the paper and place a tissue paper square onto it, then she gave it a try!


Then she stood on her chair to keep the momentum going!


And then climbed onto the couch and bent over to continue!


And finally, she sat upon the table to help me glue the eye on.


LOL. She has a funny method to doing activities, but I think she really enjoys them. Here's her completed fish. I've added it to the growing artwork wall in her room.


Blue Bath
We finished the week with a blue bath! We threw a bath tablet into the water along with the bubbles, several blue ball pit balls and a few other blue bath toys as well. She always loves bath time!