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Number Recognition

One thing that we have been focusing on this month for Preston is number recognition and counting to 10. He can usually count to 10, but about half the time he gets a little confused with numbers 5-9. It looks something like this 1,2,3,4,6,8,7,10. Then other times he counts to 10 with no problems at all. Our Mother Goose Time curriculum luckily provides plenty of opportunity for practice with numbers and counting. We have been pretty much counting everything we can and we use the pig counters that came with Januarys Baby Animal theme all the time. This practice is seeming to be paying off, today he counted to 10 twice by himself and even threw 11 and 12 in there! sometimes I think he is giving me a hard time and that he can probably count to a thousand or something crazy but just enjoys confusing me. He was super proud of himself though and his sister and I each gave him a high five.

Yesterday we did day 18 which was about growing smarter. We played a great game called Smart Bear and it was completely focused on number concepts. We started off by talking about how baby bears learn to find food by watching their parents hunt and forage. I then decided that this would be a great time to explain that when I drag them to the grocery store it isn't to torture them it is so I can teach them to buy and purchase healthy foods. My preschooler totally bought it, my 8 year old looked me in the eye and said "WOW mom... really?" I smiled and said yup, now lets play this game. The game was perfect for what we are working on with my son. It included a dice so he could practice counting and then a bear card with corresponding numbers on it. The point was to roll the dice, find the matching number and then place a berry (game chip) on the matching number. I put all the chips in the middle and pretended they were on a berry bush. First I gave them a few minutes just to play with the chips and bears. They pretended the bear was picking and eating the berries. After they had a little time to do that I told them it was time for Mama bear to teach them how to find berries. I went first to show them how to play and then we rotated around the table. My son did pretty well. He was able to easily count the dots on the dice, and he could easily recognize the numbers 1, 2, and 3 on the bear card. The second time he recognized 4, but still had trouble with 5 and 6. I think we will continue to use this game, and I am going to try and make some different cards like this to do other numbers. Now I have a reason to get those 9 and 12 sided dice! This was such a successful and fun way for him to practice number recognition and counting.




This is our last week of Baby Animals, and we have really enjoyed it. I know they learned a lot because just the other day I was having trouble getting them to focus on anything so I decided to just go with it and let them play. I started to listen to what they were talking about during their game and realized that they were including a lot of the things they had learned from Mother Goose Time this month in their imaginary play. I think I've mentioned before that they like to play dog, but I couldn't believe it when they were talking about having puppies and nursing them. They also have included howls as their danger call which means they have to collect the puppies and bring them somewhere safe. So I went from feeling a little irritated that they were having trouble staying on task to happy that they were processing the information they have learned this month in such a fun way.

While I am sad to be finishing this months Baby Animal theme I am super excited for next months nursery rhyme theme. I already went to the library and have all the suggested reading books for the month on our shelf. Also I am going to print the coloring pages from the members resources page on the Mother Goose Time website because not only does this months color page have adorable pictures to color it also has the days nursery rhyme printed on it. My daughter wants a copy so she can color the pages and at the end of the month turn it into her own nursery rhyme book. February also includes a Valentines Celebration kit which I know my kids will love.  


*Mother Goose Time has generously provided our curriculum to us in exchange for our stories and honest opinions*




   

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