Everyday Education: Cars and cowboys!

Bub is our only boy... but he is ALL boy, for sure.  Today, I introduced them to some "rough-and-tumble", action-oriented activities.  The goal was to combine play and education in the most basic way, introducing a new, educational element to toys that my kids already love and play with!

We started our day with sorting cowboy figures!

The cowboy figures came in a bag from the local dollar store, as did the foam sheets that I cut the squares to sort onto from.  The bag was a bit hard for them to get into, especially Bigger Bit, so I emptied the cowboys into a big mixing bowl, and let them go at it.  I was surprised with how well Bigger Bit did with this activity - she really is picking up the names of the colors!  The Princess tried to act disinterested, but when we were finished ask if the game could stay out on the toy shelf so she can play it again.  Bub was, obviously, especially delighted by the use of action figures! 

Next, they decided to work on their letters.  We've been reviewing the letter "A" this week, especially writing the letter A.  So I cut "A" shapes out of foam sheets, and let them "teach" their cars how to write the letter A.

 We drove the cars over the letters for a while.  This is great to develop their perception of the shape of the letter - it's a fun way to "trace"!

Once they decided they remembered the shape of the letter, we decided to put their "A" knowledge to a very fun, albeit very messy, test!  We "drove" our cars through a paper plate of green finger paint (non-      

 toxic, of course).

Then, we made the shape of an "A" by driving our cars on blank pieces of paper!

We tried this activity a few times, and they honestly loved every moment!  It's hard to make a perfect letter using a car toy, but they got the idea.

(Note: While the finger paint cleaned very nicely off of the small car toys we used, I wouldn't recommend using an expensive or special car toy for this activity.  The paint might not come off.  Packages of cars are available at WalMart, the dollar store, the grocery store, and tons of other places for very cheap, or use older car toys that wouldn't be missed if they got ruined.)

Bub's been very interested in learning math lately, especially the concept of addition.  He adds things all day long - cars, food items on his plate, toys, whatever he can think of.  So, I thought that an outdoor, action-oriented addition game might really appeal to him.  He loved it, as did The Princess.  While Bigger Bit isn't quite old enough to grasp the concept of addition, she enjoyed the exercise, and the added element of following a sequential series of directions was great practice for her.

I laminated and addition strip cards with answers between 2 and 5 (basic addition concepts), then mixed them up.  The kids took turns picking a card, reading what it said, then running as fast as they could around the yard to pick up the correct number of leaves.

This was Bub's first addition strip.  He read that it says "1 + 4 = 5".  He needed a bit of a reminder of what the "+" and "=" sign were the first time, but after that he remembered without a problem.

Once he read his strip, he was off and running!  He ran around the yard to catch the scattered leaves that had fallen.  "One leaf.... plus... one, two, three, four leaves... is FIVE LEAVES!"  He brought me back the leaves, and we lined them up.

The Princess loved this game as much as Bub did.  She was very concerned with lining her leaves up evenly, as you can see.

While Bigger Bit didn't get the addition concept, she did take her turn racing.  I told her, "First, run over there.  Then, get a leaf.  Finally, run back to me."




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