Game Spotlight: Q-bitz

No reading involved.

Arrange the cubes as quickly as possible to match the cards.

We add a timer to the game so that our youngest player is on par with other family members.  (His assigned head start is 40 seconds.)

As short or long a game as players want it to be.

We all win!
Play on!

Game Spotlight: Dragonwood

Dragonwood by Gamewright

Hey!  Our friends shared this game with us recently, and we loved it so much that it showed up under our Christmas tree!

Meets our family game criteria: 
Fun (obviously)
Easy to learn
Game stays fun for the entire length of play
Excellent for non-readerss
Good for 2 players as well as for more

Bonus gems:
Good for early math learners
Inexpensive
Reminds me of Castle Panic (though this is not a cooperative game)

I Heart Games

Honestly, I heart a lot of things.  All my friends know that I'm no minimalist.  And our game corner certainly reflects this fact!  Christmas brought some fun new additions, and as game-presents under the tree multiplied, Misa shared a cool challenge from BoardGameGeek that I'm excited to be trying.  I think she referred to it as the 10 in 10 Challenge -- the idea is that you play ten games ten times each in 2015.

Battlesheep by Blue Orange

I had planned to share this in January...  BUT, if you love games, or your kids love games but you don't, or you want to be sure game-playing doesn't get pushed out of the week, or you want to encourage game-playing, or or or -- it's not too late to jump on board (heh -- no pun intended there)!

As an added bonus, the challenge has encouraged me to pull out all of our games and look at the ones that we never (ever) play.  I piled them up, and we're playing through them and giving each a thumbs up or down.  And even if it's a thumbs down, we got a play in!  We gave it a fair shake, shared an experience, and reviewed it together.

Winning!

I'd say more, but when Linus saw what I was writing about he asked to play a game!  Gotta go!

Game Spotlight: Iguana Factor

I was green.
I did not win.

Iguana Factor has been on our shelf for years.  Correction, it's been between the shelf and the wall for years.  I thought it was a game useful only for practicing  multiplication facts.  Which is fine.  Multiplication facts are important.  Knowing them makes a lot of things easier to do.  But...

I realized yesterday that maybe I should check in on multiplication. Honestly, I can't keep up.  What does my sixth-grader know these days?  I thought this might be an interesting way to get some insight.

Guess what?  It's a FUN game.  It's really as much a game of strategy as it is a game about multiplication.  It works for players at all levels.  Linus was on my team -- great even for number recognition and practice.  Don't let the "educational" look fool you  -- it's like a two-for-one!

I've got to go -- I promised more rounds!

Project: Anything That Goes

What is Linus interested in?
Action.  Things that move.  Preferably, things he can make move.

That Santa -- he's a smart guy.  He brought a Thames & Kosmos Air + Water vehicle set for Christmas.  Boy, do they make some great sets!  (I imagine we'll have a few of these when it's all said and done.)

We've built a few of the models so far.  This was the "tank," and it got great reviews!

I love this activity as an illustration of how much (academic) learning is happening using a project-based learning approach.  And to be clear: this isn't the real point.  But I think it's worth noting.  He's just "playing."  He loves to make things go.

"I want to build this, Mama!"

"Where does this piece go?"

"Do we have two big circles?"

"If we snap all of these together they make a chain that connects the gears."

"I can do it!"

"We need a ruler!"

"Fifty pumps to make it go!"

"When I pump it, the water goes from this tank to this bottle."

"We need signs!"

Need to Get Away?

Made by friends, this beautiful origami ornament inspired us to share it with our book club.  We fancied it looked like a whimsical hot air balloon, transporting us over oceans and continents, just as it did Professor William Waterman Sherman and his fellow Krakatoans in The Twenty-One Balloons.

 Follow the simple directions for a waterbomb base.

Then complete your balloon.

(This site has clear and easy directions for so many kid friendly projects.)

 Thread your needle with embroidery floss.  

Be sure the eye of the needle will pass through the beads you'll be using.

Tie a bell onto the end of the floss (where you would normally knot it).

 String beads.

   Add your balloon by inserting the needle through the blowing hole 

and pushing it through to the other side.

  String more beads.

Tie it off by creating a loop, for hanging.

Bon Voyage!

Leaping Game Spotlight!

Happy to have on our shelf a game with a name that says it all: Leaping Frogs.  No need to sit still!  Funny frog bean bags to bounce off a lily pad trampoline - perfect for us all.  

(Feeling mathy?  Make up your own rules about what to do with the numbers.  Feeling crafty?  Make your own frogs.  And lily pads.  What would you build as a trampoline?)

We must have frogs on our minds.  We're listening to The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker and yesterday Book! Book! Book! by Bruss & Beeke was excavated from our book stacks.

Wonder what else will pop up?

Family Intrigue

Stumbling across something the kids have been doing on their own is one of my very favorite things about family life.  I found this on the couch.

I was fascinated by this book as a child and delighted to find it for a dollar at the library book sale.




These are great books about secret codes:
Lu & Clancy's Secret Codes by Mason & Cupples
Mysterious Messages: A History of Codes and Ciphers by Blackwood
The Usborne Book of Secret Codes by O'Brien & Riddell
Let's Investigate Codes and Sequences by Smoothey & Baum

Game Spotlight: Is Back!

Why not pull out a game this weekend?!

Maybe a new one, maybe an old classic -- like Linus and I enjoyed.  Every time we play a game, it goes a little differently.  We're all different each time, after all, having had a different kind of day, full of different experiences, people, thoughts, and moods.  We've learned new things and gained new perspectives since the last time.  But, mostly -- it's just fun.

This time, we made up stories for how exactly that bucket kept getting kicked over, spilling all of our delicious cherries, and what we did when the bird stole our cherries.  And that dog -- well, she just usually wanted us to play fetch with her.  She always returned the cherries, and we usually found a good stick to throw for her.

Happy weekending.

For the Love of Pi. (Okay, pie.)

Experiment with pi.

Notice circles.

Really think about pi.
Really, really think about pi.
Be open to pi.
Be serenaded by pi.

EAT pie.

Happy Pi Day

...yesterday.  

BUT, every day is a good day for pi(e).

Just Felt Desserts

Here's the book I sat down to craft with...

Here's the book I ended up crafting with...

Dessert anyone?

These are all the supplies it took.  The book is great, but you can do them without, too.  Math this morning, anyone??

The petit fours are wood blocks from the craft store, covered in felt that I cut in a cross shape -- trace your cube to make a template that will strategically cover all six sides.

The foundation for the pie is a strip of cardstock, with tabs running along the top, bottom & one short side.  They're notched at folding joints and all along the shortest side to create a curve for the "crust edge" of your pie.  Make your pie form from your template by folding it to form a triangle.  Tape the tab down.  Using your pie form as a guide, cut 4 pieces of felt: one to wrap around the pie (the color of your filling), one for the bottom (crust-colored), one for the top, and one for the edge crust that's taller than your pie, trimmed with pinking shears.  The meringue and whipped topping... a little trickier.  Here's my template.  Another excellent geometry exercise.  Cut it from felt and gather the tips, securing with a needle and thread.

I love that this fulfilled a need I had to create something, to be absorbed in something new, AND they make sweet homemade toys for my children.  I hadn't planned any of it -- but there you go!

Number Patterns

We've been working with patterns in math lately. Our wonderful Mathy Mamas at math group kicked off our year with a hands-on exploration of Fibonacci numbers.

I've seen math referred to as the "science of patterns."  This made more sense to me when I heard myself say to Sela one day as she worked through a math problem, "Look for a pattern.  What do you notice?"  Sadly, "exploring" math is still outside my natural comfort zone as a homeschooling mama, but I came across an article that focused on "pattern-based thinking."  I liked that term.  It's concrete language to help me remember that when children are comfortable looking for patterns and then using those patterns to solve problems, then they can develop understanding of new concepts in the same way.

So, I enjoyed the kids enjoying exploration of this math pattern! They used natural objects, graph paper & colored pencils, dough, pipe cleaners and beads.  We keep saying we're going to make Fibonacci cookies -- why haven't we yet?!

These books are fantastic -- engaging and not overly complicated -- and I highly recommend:
Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci by D'Agnese
Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature by Campbell

I listened to an interview with the author of this book and it sounded great -- I hope to read it sometime,

The Man of Numbers: Fibonacci's Arithmetic Revolution by Devlin

For more activities, either with a nature-based or pencil & paper focus, I came across these two sites worth checking out.

We added a field trip to the bead store.  Can you see why?

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mix It Up Multiplication

Math can be lots of fun.  The mathy mamas who lead our math club have proven that for three years now.  (Thank you, thank you, thank you.)

Math can also be, at times... well, kind of boring.  Like when you're memorizing the multiplication table.

So, we like to mix it up when we can.  Here are a couple simple ideas we've enjoyed...

index card & old magazine

advent calendar goes all multiplication

 

practicing with a morning SURPRISE

(dry-erase crayons I discovered one day while shopping & snuck into the cart) 

It's good to keep a few tricks up my sleeve.

Here Comes Science Sampler: ROY G BIV

Today's Song:  ROY G BIV

First of all, Dress the Part (naturally).

Then... find something to do!

Read about it.

The Rainbow and You by E.C. Krupp
The Magic Schoolbus Makes a Rainbow by Cole
What Makes a Rainbow: A Magic Ribbon Book by Schwartz
A Rainbow of My Own by Freeman

Take your experiments outside. 
We used:
Exploratopia: More than 400 Kid-Friendly Experiments and Explorations for Curious Minds by Murphy

Barron's Science Wizardry for Kids
Experiments with Colors by Tocci

You can use whatever you have on your shelf, go to the library, or just use your favorite search engine for ideas.

Explore.

Discover.

Be amazed.

Play some games.

Start with Rainbow Sudoku

Make a rainbow maze.
(Try using drinking straws and 1-inch graph paper.)

Read some more.
A World of Colors: Seeing Colors in a New Way by National Geographic has us all WOW'd by its' simple and stunning exercises.

Be on the lookout for more related activites!

Have you ever noticed the rainbows on bubbles?

What else do you know about light and colors?

Ever been on a rainbow hunt?
How many creative ways can you play with color mixing?
Where would you hang a prism to make wondrous rainbows every day?

How about rainbow art?

How delicious can a rainbow be?

Just like the rainbow, there is *no end* to the possibilies.  There is, however,

...plenty of gold.

Our International House House of Pancakes, Day 6: France

We DO have a crepe recipe!

Sela found it later in a sweet little cookbook we have called Mom and Me Cookbook: Have Fun in the Kitchen! by Annabel Karmel.  Indeed!  Although she's always loved to read cookbooks, we don't cook from them nearly enough -- another reason I'm loving this tour.  But, I digress.  Of course.

'my favorite crepe'
1 cup flour
big pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup water
4 Tbsp butter

Sift flour & salt together and make a well in center.
Break eggs into well & whisk together.
Add milk & water to the mix, a little at a time,
whisking to make a smooth batter.

you've got to measure liquid *at eye level*

Melt 2 Tbsp butter & stir into batter.
Melt butter (not all remaining, but a little) in skillet in very hot pan. Reduce heat to medium.
Add 2 Tbsp batter per crepe. Tilt pan to create thinner crepe.
Cook for about 1 minute on each side.
Fill! (We used fresh blackberries, thawed frozen raspberries & whipped cream. Sela experimented with drizzling a little honey over it, too.)

Bonus: without a crepe pan, we made 'crepe critters' in our skillet. 

It just keeps gettin' better, huh?

What do you see?

This is even better than the cloud version because you can eat them after you play! With whipped cream.

Our International House of Pancakes, Day 5: Scotland

Very similar to the pancakes my family is (was!) most familiar with, we went to Scotland for these.
Aaaaaand, we really wanted to play "Blueberry Pancakes" by Frances England over and over (and over and over).  (To take a listen for free, scroll down to Blueberry Pancakes on the third album, "Fascinating Creatures" & click.)  Aaaaand, "Curious George Makes Pancakes" was Sela's favorite when she was two.  Now Linus loves it.  So many good reasons to eat Blue-ber-ry Paaa-aa-aaan-cakes...  Heart, heart, heart.

em's best pancakes
(seriously, the best pancakes I've ever made - these are not your everyday pancakes)
2 cups flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3 Tbsp melted butter
2 cups butter

Whisk dry ingredients together.
Whisk egg & butter.
Add buttermilk.
Add wet ingredients to dry.
Don't overmix.
Cook on oiled griddle.
Try to eat them using good table manners.  You can try...