My boys are obsessed with dinosaurs. I figured at some point this phase would hit. I remember my brothers going through it. But I continue to do double takes over and over again as I hear Noah and Jude spouting off dinosaur names and knowledge. Their brains are little sponges!
One of my favourite dinosaur shows that they've been watching is called Dinosaur Train. For a few reasons;
1. It's educational. In every episode they talk about hypotheses {hypothesi?}, are introduced to new dinosaurs and their characteristics and hear from Dr. Scott, the paleontologist. It's hilarious to hear my boys repeat {word for word} the facts that are presented.
2. It promotes adoption. I know. This one is a bit weird. But it's true! A family of pteranadons {the flying dinosaurs for those who aren't well-verse in dinos} adopt a baby t-rex and journey all over the different dinosaur eras {via the Dinosaur Train of course} to discover what kind of dinosaur he is. I love this one.
3. It doesn't push "the earth is hundreds of millions years old" agenda. The boys have also really gotten into Land Before Time movies where it is mentioned many times that dinosaurs were on the earth millions and millions of years ago. Now I'm not 100% sure of where I stand, but I think I fall into the "Young Earth Creationist" view. So I appreciate Dinosaur Train's approach.
4. The characters come up against problems or conflict but are corrected gently by their parents and bad attitudes and whiny-ness aren't perpetuated.
It's a cute show and our boys love it.
Now I'm on the hunt for dinosaur resources that don't preach the "Old Earth" theory. Anyone know of any books or other resources? {They don't have to be accessible to me in Uganda, but I will tuck the advice away for later.}
Showing posts with label resources. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resources. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Thursday, July 12, 2012
fun and free resources for kids at home!
this morning involved
listening to disney songs and feeling our bodies move to the music.
exercise {for me} on the stationary bike and reading under the tuscan sun.
a brief quiet play time for the boys in their room {and a subsequent mess of cars, blocks and books covering both their beds.}
a relatively unmessy but definitely poopy accident by jude.
laundry {both washing and folding}.
a free, fun and educational activity that suited both my boys' learning levels.
this free printable can be found here {a fantastic site. check it out!} and is all about matching colours and words in an ice cream store!
i decided to split the activity into two - noah's involved matching popsicles to the correct colour word and he really enjoyed sounding out the colours and trying to find words that matched {or at least matched the first letter}.
noah decided he wanted to tape his popsicles down after matching them to the correct words.
jude's sheet involved matching up the right ice cream scoop to the cone with the same colour on the top. i hadn't planned on this happening, but both activities fit where the boys are at exactly.
and jude decided that he wanted to glue his scoops onto the sheet.
this was a really simple and easy activity to do with both my kids and teaches about colours and fine motor skills {or at least, it ended up doing that as both wanted to affix their "cold treats" to the paper}.
and they focused on an activity.
for all of about 10 minutes.
awesome.
some other great resources for fun learning that we make the most of in our house are:
we give books - a free, online library of books that you can read to your kids just like you would a book. not as great as holding a book, but when libraries are limited {as they are here} it's a fantastic opportunity to read, read, read! my boys' current favourites are big, red lollipop {the same book we took out at a library in guelph and loved back then, too!} and max's chocolate chicken.
starfall - i mentioned this in another post, but it's a great, free website that teaches kids all about letters, phoenetics, and reading in a simple but fun way. i think it's cute to see noah maneuver the mouse and click away and hear him echo the sounds of letters.
robert munsch's free audiobooks - when i found out almost all the robert munsch books are available as audiobooks for free online, i immediately set to work downloading all of them. now it's noah's most requested thing to listen to during his afternoon quiet time. i love that he knows so many of the books i grew up reading and it's super cute to hear him reciting along with the story.
then of course there's the millions of fantastic websites and blogs that can be found by googling or looking on pinterest. my next plan is to make up some quiet time bins or bags for noah and jude that i can vary throughout the week. stay tuned for some fun ideas for that!
listening to disney songs and feeling our bodies move to the music.
exercise {for me} on the stationary bike and reading under the tuscan sun.
a brief quiet play time for the boys in their room {and a subsequent mess of cars, blocks and books covering both their beds.}
a relatively unmessy but definitely poopy accident by jude.
laundry {both washing and folding}.
a free, fun and educational activity that suited both my boys' learning levels.
this free printable can be found here {a fantastic site. check it out!} and is all about matching colours and words in an ice cream store!
i decided to split the activity into two - noah's involved matching popsicles to the correct colour word and he really enjoyed sounding out the colours and trying to find words that matched {or at least matched the first letter}.
noah decided he wanted to tape his popsicles down after matching them to the correct words.
jude's sheet involved matching up the right ice cream scoop to the cone with the same colour on the top. i hadn't planned on this happening, but both activities fit where the boys are at exactly.
and jude decided that he wanted to glue his scoops onto the sheet.
this was a really simple and easy activity to do with both my kids and teaches about colours and fine motor skills {or at least, it ended up doing that as both wanted to affix their "cold treats" to the paper}.
and they focused on an activity.
for all of about 10 minutes.
awesome.
some other great resources for fun learning that we make the most of in our house are:
we give books - a free, online library of books that you can read to your kids just like you would a book. not as great as holding a book, but when libraries are limited {as they are here} it's a fantastic opportunity to read, read, read! my boys' current favourites are big, red lollipop {the same book we took out at a library in guelph and loved back then, too!} and max's chocolate chicken.
starfall - i mentioned this in another post, but it's a great, free website that teaches kids all about letters, phoenetics, and reading in a simple but fun way. i think it's cute to see noah maneuver the mouse and click away and hear him echo the sounds of letters.
robert munsch's free audiobooks - when i found out almost all the robert munsch books are available as audiobooks for free online, i immediately set to work downloading all of them. now it's noah's most requested thing to listen to during his afternoon quiet time. i love that he knows so many of the books i grew up reading and it's super cute to hear him reciting along with the story.
then of course there's the millions of fantastic websites and blogs that can be found by googling or looking on pinterest. my next plan is to make up some quiet time bins or bags for noah and jude that i can vary throughout the week. stay tuned for some fun ideas for that!
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
ash wednesday
today is ash wednesday. the beginning of the lenten season.
each year, lent becomes more to me. i think this is a good thing because i think it means that Jesus means more to me - that He becomes more to me. so this is good.
i don't have any specific resolutions/goals/things i'm giving up this year, but my hope is to slowly introduce the concept of focusing on the sufferings of Christ to my kids as well as regularly spend time in both the Word as well as on some lenten meditations. and i'm also hoping to re-read Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper {free download!}. one of my favourite Piper books. if you haven't read it, it's a short book and a great way to focus on Jesus and what He's done for us.
if you're looking for some lent resources either for yourself or for your family/kids, here are a few places to start:
a daily children's lent devotional - counting down from days 40 to 1.
a blog post on why we do lent by the lovely Ann Voskamp
8 weeks of devotionals by Noel Piper
40 ideas to help with your lent preparations
and i'd love to have one of these candle wreaths, perhaps i'll find a master carver here and get one made for lent/advent...
make a Jesus tree by Ann Voskamp (scroll to the bottom)
each year, lent becomes more to me. i think this is a good thing because i think it means that Jesus means more to me - that He becomes more to me. so this is good.
i don't have any specific resolutions/goals/things i'm giving up this year, but my hope is to slowly introduce the concept of focusing on the sufferings of Christ to my kids as well as regularly spend time in both the Word as well as on some lenten meditations. and i'm also hoping to re-read Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper {free download!}. one of my favourite Piper books. if you haven't read it, it's a short book and a great way to focus on Jesus and what He's done for us.
if you're looking for some lent resources either for yourself or for your family/kids, here are a few places to start:
a daily children's lent devotional - counting down from days 40 to 1.
a blog post on why we do lent by the lovely Ann Voskamp
8 weeks of devotionals by Noel Piper
40 ideas to help with your lent preparations
and i'd love to have one of these candle wreaths, perhaps i'll find a master carver here and get one made for lent/advent...
make a Jesus tree by Ann Voskamp (scroll to the bottom)
Monday, December 5, 2011
a great Christmas video
so i found the perfect christmas video.
have you heard of this incredible program called Jelly Telly? it's all kinds of awesome.
so they have a christmas video {you can watch trailers for it here.} and i bought it and then downloaded it {over the course of many hours overnight - yep. our internet is slow-ish.}. we watched it this morning after working on paper snowflakes {one of our advent envelope activities} and building a fort in the living room.
anyway, this video is great. it is entertaining for the littles who may be on the young side to understand everything in the video, but it also explains everything from why we call it "christmas" to christmas trees to st. nicholas and how they all point to the birth of Jesus.
most importantly, the gospel is shared clearly. i love it.
it is exactly what i was looking for.
noah did throw an incredibly large tantrum after it was over when i said he couldn't watch it again {right away}, but i'm taking that as a sign that he liked it.
Monday, November 28, 2011
advent ideas
ad - vent
noun
1. a coming into place, view or being; arrival
2. the coming of Christ into the world
3. the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, observed in commemoration of the coming of Christ into the world.
this will be the first year we've actually done something intentional for advent {besides chocolate advent calendars}. i've been scouring the internet for ideas and talking to friends and so i thought i'd share what we'll be doing together as a family this year for advent.
advent envelopes
you can find a plethora of variations on advent envelopes on the internet {hello pinterest} but basically you have envelopes numbered 1-25 and open one every day. inside each {of ours} is an activity for our family to do together such as decorate gingerbread cookies or drink hot chocolate and watch The Polar Express or make paper snowflakes and decorate the windows. i adapted some ideas i found online to our not-so-wintery climate and i think the kids will really like them.
advent story books
so i kinda went overboard and ordered a bunch of books off of amazon for advent this year.
The Advent Storybook
24 stories told by Benjamin Bear's Mama to Benjamin as he impatiently awaits Christmas. each story brings you closer to the birth of Jesus and ties it all back to God as being the central focus of Christmas. love it. we'll be reading a story from this one each night before bed.
Celebrate Advent
this is a cool book that has 25 christmas stories from around the world with corresponding tree ornaments. i'm excited to read this book with the boys and i'm sure they'll be excited to have more ornaments to hang up on the tree.
The Story of Christmas
this is your typical "advent calendar" style book. it opens up to display 24 mini board books and read in sequence, they capture the story of the first Christmas, from gabriel's visit to mary (book 4) to the three wise men gazing at the star (book 9) to Jesus' birth (book 24). each book is one of four different trim sizes and features a gold thread loop so that after it's read, it can be hung on the Christmas tree. i think we might do this one in the mornings along with our advent envelopes.
christmas books
there are so many great christmas storybooks that i wish i could buy or borrow, but unfortunately there aren't really any public libraries here in kampala and my funds are limited but here are two i purchased this year.
Room for a Little One
this is gorgeously illustrated and a sweet story.
i think i was drawn to this because jude will often say to us before his nap or bed, "there's room, mama" and pat the space beside him on the bed.
Humphreys First Christmas
adorable illustrations and told from the perspective of one of the camels accompanying the three wise men. i think my boys will like this one.
family devotional
we have started the first of our advent devotionals. jamie's adapting this one from matt chandler's The Village Church for our boys in conjunction with The Jesus Storybook Bible.
other advent resources
i downloaded a few advent colouring pages for the boys and will probably bring them with us when we take off for a few days later on this week. you can download them for free here.
another great resource is a book called Treasuring God in our Traditions by Noel Piper. i didn't bring mine with me when we moved to uganda, but i wish i did! a friend of mine has a copy here and i'll likely give it another read-through. {note, this is not a Christmas/Advent book per se, but has a section on Christmas}.
the only thing i'm really lacking is some solid christmas dvds for kids. i'd love to hear your recommendations if you have any!
so that's what we're doing - maybe we won't get through it all, but we've got some great traditions that i'm ready to start with my little family here in uganda.
i'd love to hear what you're doing {or not doing?} this christmas!
noun
1. a coming into place, view or being; arrival
2. the coming of Christ into the world
3. the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, observed in commemoration of the coming of Christ into the world.
this will be the first year we've actually done something intentional for advent {besides chocolate advent calendars}. i've been scouring the internet for ideas and talking to friends and so i thought i'd share what we'll be doing together as a family this year for advent.
advent envelopes
you can find a plethora of variations on advent envelopes on the internet {hello pinterest} but basically you have envelopes numbered 1-25 and open one every day. inside each {of ours} is an activity for our family to do together such as decorate gingerbread cookies or drink hot chocolate and watch The Polar Express or make paper snowflakes and decorate the windows. i adapted some ideas i found online to our not-so-wintery climate and i think the kids will really like them.
advent story books
so i kinda went overboard and ordered a bunch of books off of amazon for advent this year.
The Advent Storybook
24 stories told by Benjamin Bear's Mama to Benjamin as he impatiently awaits Christmas. each story brings you closer to the birth of Jesus and ties it all back to God as being the central focus of Christmas. love it. we'll be reading a story from this one each night before bed.
Celebrate Advent
this is a cool book that has 25 christmas stories from around the world with corresponding tree ornaments. i'm excited to read this book with the boys and i'm sure they'll be excited to have more ornaments to hang up on the tree.
The Story of Christmas
this is your typical "advent calendar" style book. it opens up to display 24 mini board books and read in sequence, they capture the story of the first Christmas, from gabriel's visit to mary (book 4) to the three wise men gazing at the star (book 9) to Jesus' birth (book 24). each book is one of four different trim sizes and features a gold thread loop so that after it's read, it can be hung on the Christmas tree. i think we might do this one in the mornings along with our advent envelopes.
christmas books
there are so many great christmas storybooks that i wish i could buy or borrow, but unfortunately there aren't really any public libraries here in kampala and my funds are limited but here are two i purchased this year.
Room for a Little One
this is gorgeously illustrated and a sweet story.
i think i was drawn to this because jude will often say to us before his nap or bed, "there's room, mama" and pat the space beside him on the bed.
Humphreys First Christmas
adorable illustrations and told from the perspective of one of the camels accompanying the three wise men. i think my boys will like this one.
family devotional
we have started the first of our advent devotionals. jamie's adapting this one from matt chandler's The Village Church for our boys in conjunction with The Jesus Storybook Bible.
other advent resources
i downloaded a few advent colouring pages for the boys and will probably bring them with us when we take off for a few days later on this week. you can download them for free here.
another great resource is a book called Treasuring God in our Traditions by Noel Piper. i didn't bring mine with me when we moved to uganda, but i wish i did! a friend of mine has a copy here and i'll likely give it another read-through. {note, this is not a Christmas/Advent book per se, but has a section on Christmas}.
the only thing i'm really lacking is some solid christmas dvds for kids. i'd love to hear your recommendations if you have any!
so that's what we're doing - maybe we won't get through it all, but we've got some great traditions that i'm ready to start with my little family here in uganda.
i'd love to hear what you're doing {or not doing?} this christmas!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
