I have decided to start "home school" with Riley. Now before you jump to any conclusions (like I used to do when I heard the words "home school," hear me out. It's actually pretty cool. First of all, Riley is only 16 months old, so pretty much everything will be play-based. It's not like we're sitting here drilling her on ABC's and filling out workbooks. Yeah right. Basically it's just playing with her, guided by a theme each month (which I will choose). I might change it to two themes a month if we run out of activities or if she loses interest, we'll see. It's really all going to depend on Riley and what she's interested in at the moment.
SO... we started a little (or very) late this month, but for what's left of it, our theme is "Halloween". Here's just a little peak into what we're doing with our Halloween theme. I started by clearing all the junk out of Riley's toy shelf, and replacing it with things I picked to go with the theme, as well as some of her favorite non-Halloween related toys. Here's what her shelf looks like when she wakes up in the morning:
SO... we started a little (or very) late this month, but for what's left of it, our theme is "Halloween". Here's just a little peak into what we're doing with our Halloween theme. I started by clearing all the junk out of Riley's toy shelf, and replacing it with things I picked to go with the theme, as well as some of her favorite non-Halloween related toys. Here's what her shelf looks like when she wakes up in the morning:
Quick summary: (1) picture cards (2) puzzle (3) stacking blocks (4) shape sorter truck (5) home made straw container toy (6) block of fun (7) orange balloons (8) geometric stacker (9) orange items (10) Halloween treasure bowl (11) white and black items (12) Halloween (and regular) books.
I basically took a ton of her toys out and put them away. She had so many toys out, that her "playing" really just involved taking them all off the shelf and making a huge mess, but not really PLAYING with much of anything. Some things I left are obviously not Halloween-themed, and I left them because (a) she loves them and (b) they are good toys for learning. Things like the puzzles, the stacking blocks, the truck shape sorter, and the geometric stacker. Oh and her beloved flash cards. Those will probably stay out for quite a while.
Now for the fun stuff. HALLOWEEN THEME!!
BOOKS: All centered around Halloween. Riley usually prefers to read the same old books over and over, so I wasn't sure what she'd think about these, but she actually liked most of them! Here's what we got (from the limited selection at the library this close to Halloween) Normally I would get more, but there's only a few days left in the month, so I only got 6:
Now for the fun stuff. HALLOWEEN THEME!!
BOOKS: All centered around Halloween. Riley usually prefers to read the same old books over and over, so I wasn't sure what she'd think about these, but she actually liked most of them! Here's what we got (from the limited selection at the library this close to Halloween) Normally I would get more, but there's only a few days left in the month, so I only got 6:
Surprisingly she likes all of them, except the "One Witch" one, she's not really into it. Normally she takes a while to warm up to new books, but she let me read all of these with her!
SONGS: I'll be honest, I didn't know a single Halloween song. But thanks to the lovely internet, I now have quite a few. Best part? The ones I learned are basically just new lyrics to common tunes, so pretty easy. And since she knows the tune, she likes the songs!
POEMS: I have a bunch of Halloween poems/rhymes to read to Riley. She's generally not really that interested in poems and nursery rhymes, but I want to get into the habit of reading her rhymes and it's a pretty easy thing to do, so we'll see how it goes. Reading nursery rhymes and poems to your kids is great for language development, so in the future I'll share some of what Riley likes just in case anybody is interested. She likes them a lot better if they have some sort of action to go along with them. Here's an example (you can use your fingers as the "pumpkins":
SONGS: I'll be honest, I didn't know a single Halloween song. But thanks to the lovely internet, I now have quite a few. Best part? The ones I learned are basically just new lyrics to common tunes, so pretty easy. And since she knows the tune, she likes the songs!
POEMS: I have a bunch of Halloween poems/rhymes to read to Riley. She's generally not really that interested in poems and nursery rhymes, but I want to get into the habit of reading her rhymes and it's a pretty easy thing to do, so we'll see how it goes. Reading nursery rhymes and poems to your kids is great for language development, so in the future I'll share some of what Riley likes just in case anybody is interested. She likes them a lot better if they have some sort of action to go along with them. Here's an example (you can use your fingers as the "pumpkins":
ACTIVITIES: This was a little bit tricky, but also really fun to try and come up with things to fit the theme. What Halloween "activities" could we do? Here's what I came up with:
(1) Halloween "treasure basket." This is meant to be a Halloween themed sensory basket, so lots of things that are fun and different to touch- includes leaves, spider web, Halloween erasers, ribbon, spiders, tomb filled with confetti, mini pumpkin pencil toppers, rubber skeleton, a random pine cone or two... She LOVED the spider web, and loved trying to get all the spiders out of it.
(1) Halloween "treasure basket." This is meant to be a Halloween themed sensory basket, so lots of things that are fun and different to touch- includes leaves, spider web, Halloween erasers, ribbon, spiders, tomb filled with confetti, mini pumpkin pencil toppers, rubber skeleton, a random pine cone or two... She LOVED the spider web, and loved trying to get all the spiders out of it.
(2) Halloween color sorting- I already had an orange and a white trick-or-treat bucket, so we went with that and filled each bucket with its respective colored items. I didn't want to spend any money, so I searched the house and found everything I could that fit the color theme, and stuck it in the basket. So we're clearly working on orange, black, and white.
(3) pumpkin seed sensory bowl- we're going to try playing with pumpkin seeds this weekend at our pumpkin carving party, and see how that goes. I think this time I'll give her some different sized cups or bowls and some spoons and see what she does with it. Maybe a water bowl as well so she can drop the seeds in there if she wants?
(4) Making pumpkin bread from scratch- this is our activity tomorrow morning after breakfast! We're going to make pumpkin bread and she gets to help measure, pour, stir, and then do the dishes with me! And of course EAT the deliciousness!!
(5) Orange balloons! Good for learning colors, and for comparing sizes (4 different sized balloons), but mostly just good for throwing and kicking and shouting "boons boons boons" over and over again! Also, very good for covering with stickers! (please excuse the pants-less baby, it was almost bath time).
(5) Orange balloons! Good for learning colors, and for comparing sizes (4 different sized balloons), but mostly just good for throwing and kicking and shouting "boons boons boons" over and over again! Also, very good for covering with stickers! (please excuse the pants-less baby, it was almost bath time).
OUTINGS PLANNED
(1) Halloween Day at the zoo- SO excited for this one, we're going on Saturday!
(2) Trick-or-treating! There's an awesome neighborhood by our apartment that has great decorations and lights and is super kid friendly, so I can't wait to check it out with Riley.
(3) Halloween children's parade on Monday- hurray for another excuse to put on her Halloween costume!
(4) San Jose Children's Museum- tomorrow with Grandma (not Halloween related I don't think...)
(5) We carved pumpkins once already, and we'll be doing it again at a pumpkin carving party on Sunday!
(1) Halloween Day at the zoo- SO excited for this one, we're going on Saturday!
(2) Trick-or-treating! There's an awesome neighborhood by our apartment that has great decorations and lights and is super kid friendly, so I can't wait to check it out with Riley.
(3) Halloween children's parade on Monday- hurray for another excuse to put on her Halloween costume!
(4) San Jose Children's Museum- tomorrow with Grandma (not Halloween related I don't think...)
(5) We carved pumpkins once already, and we'll be doing it again at a pumpkin carving party on Sunday!
Now just because we pick a theme doesn't mean we don't do other "normal" stuff. We do. In fact, Riley's favorite thing that I just made for her? Totally not Halloween related at all. And total cost? $0. I took a container of puffs, cleaned it out, and filled it with straws that we already had. Minimal effort, literally HOURS of fun for her. She takes the straws out, puts them back in. Piles them up, carries them around, chews on them, blows through them, the list goes on...
Sooo that pretty much sums up our Halloween theme work!! I'm loving having an excuse to do some new and creative things with Riley, and she seems to really be enjoying it too. Next month we will probably have two themes I think- first "transportation" (think cars, trains, trucks, planes, bikes, etc) and "Thanksgiving," although I think the Thanksgiving theme may really revolve around turkeys, as I don't think pilgrims and such will be all that exciting for her, but who knows. Maybe Indians? I don't know yet, we'll see.
Also? Riley turned 16 MONTHS OLD today, so stay tuned for 16 month update coming tomorrow.
Also? Riley turned 16 MONTHS OLD today, so stay tuned for 16 month update coming tomorrow.
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