learning time: colors

from water and animals, we moved onto colors and the story of noah's ark.  yes, animals could have just as easily been tied into this lesson, but i also like how the weeks seemed to flow together and somewhat overlap (which is not my original intention).

day 1:  JSB noah's ark story and handprint rainbow

•  we started the week reading the noah's ark story and talking about the rainbow and all of the different colors in it.  from there, i traced brendan's hand on a piece of paper that i placed on top of a stack of multi-colored paper.  i cut out his hand in the colors of the rainbow and he helped me glue them on.  i asked him what the colors were as went in order from left to right and he got them all correct!  (sidenote:  red, green, blue, and yellow are his best.  when he is really focused, he can usually also get orange, purple, and sometime brown)  he was so very proud of his rainbow and smiled so big when we showed lee that evening.
  
   
   

day 2:  color sticker book

• some days are busier and harder than others to adequately do our learning time during the day.  usually those days are also the ones when lee has class in the evenings so we still have some time left before the day is done.
• my cousin hannah picked this sticker activity book out for brendan for his birthday, and it became a perfect tool for color week.  brendan had a blast picking out stickers and finding their correct location.  most of the pages were designed to group together different objects of the same color.  he placed some stickers with the correct color and others he did not...partly because they were objects he was less familiar with and partly because he was just having too much fun with the actual stickers!  thanks again for the great gift!

 

 

day 3:   color sorting and thank you notes

• lucky for us, brendan received a great set of melissa & doug building blocks from GJ for his birthday, and i bought a set of small plastic bins from the dollar store as part of the decoration for his party...all of which were all the same colors.  i lined up the four different colored bins and let brendan choose a block from the box.
• first, we discussed the color block he chose.  then, i asked him which color bin it matched.  he only missed one out of the seven he did which i thought was a great first attempt at sorting of any kind.
• brendan's birthday thank you notes arrived and my great intention was to have them all mailed or hand-delivered prior to harper's arrival but that was only a halfway-successful plan.  like i have said before, brendan LOVES to color.  we had not colored with crayons in a while since he discovered his love for markers but i thought crayons were a better fit for the card.  i asked him to name the colors he chose as he colored and helped him with the ones he is still learning.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

day 4:   bay area discovery museum with friends

• although this awesome trip the discovery museum was not just to focus on colors, color was just one of many aspects to this great hands-on museum just minutes from our house (and free thanks to library passes!)
• in terms of colors, brendan particularly enjoyed painting the glass and coloring cards for grandparents' day that the museum so graciously mailed for us.
  
   

day 5:  fire truck box painting

• i should probably blog, or at least make note of, these events the day they happen, but i have not done that yet.  if i remember correctly, this particular friday was one in which lee took the car to work to save on his commute time.  on these days, we make sure to find plenty to do around here so we do not go crazy knowing we cannot truly get out and go anywhere further than down the street to the playground.
• i have to be careful to not become a box hoarder for all of our craft time because as soon as we have any kind of delivery or buy a huge box of diapers i want to set the boxes aside and find a craft that can make good use of it.  fridays with no car are perfect days for cardboard box activities.
• thanks yet again to pinterest, i decided to approach this paint project in a new way.  first, i drew out the sides of a fire truck on two big pieces of kraft paper.  then, i put dots of paint all over it based on the color each part should be.  THEN, brendan was free to "paint."  this helped it look somewhat like the intended outcome but also gave him a chance to practice using a paintbrush.
• i let the sides dry during naptime, and afterward, it was ready to drive.  i added a steering wheel for fun and drew in some buttons.  i am still not convinced he ever truly knew it was a firetruck but i do know he had fun painting the sides and playing in the box...the most important aspect of all.