Practical Life and Practical Fun

Today we spent most of our time learning about practical life and playing in the back yard.  In practical life we did pouring exercises that also involved spooning back and forth the ingredients.  One activity had beads (pony beads) and the other was a project with dry noodles.  The girls really love these activities.

Other activities included pouring sand into cups and spooning it also.  Maggie is watering a newly opened egg plant that you crack open to prepare the plant for growth.  In another photo you see the kids putting grow it eggs into a cup.  I figured Easter is just around the corner so we are about to do a presentation on the life cycle of a chicken.  We’ve read books before but I’m preparing formal lessons now.

We also used liquid in the tea party setup with food coloring and it was Lily’s idea to add the sugar.  Additionally, we added a sifter to the sand and beads and that added an extra step and activity to what we already had on the table.

I added the trinomal cube to the shelf today too.  Maggie picked it up but we did not complete this project.  Usually we do but it was lunch time and we had to pause.

Another fun activity on the shelves today were pattern cards with mostly sensorial items mixed with a few items from yesterday that were not explored as much or by both kiddos and practical life items.  The small, medium, large pom pom sort is still out and hasn’t been touched yet.  I also have a basket with small, medium, large, cards (with objects printed on them) to sort to go along with that task.

Mid-day we went outside to paint in the yard.  I set up a big table and canvased it with heavy paper and added paint.  The kids smeared their fingers through it and painted with brushes.  I added fly swatters as an interesting choice but it was only used until they found the bubbles where they became the subject of the fly swatter.  So the kids chased bubbles and then we used an old fashioned parachute for some fun (it was a windy day).  Finally the kids came back to the paint table after swinging and exploring and below is the aftermath.  They painted themselves lastly.  🙂  Thankfully my ipad/camera was not present outdoors otherwise it would have matched us all.  LOL.