Hello all you Lesson Plan readers! Guess what? I don’t have a lesson plan! [aaah! I know!]
Even though I don’t do a planned lesson plan like Jill does here on A Mom with a Lesson Plan, I do try to incorporate learning and, most importantly, learning while playing during our every day activities.
I bet you all know about Jill’s Mommy Fun Facts, and the first ten are fantastic! When Jill and I talked about doing a guest post swap on our blogs, I asked her about expanding upon one of her facts (I really love number 6, 7 and 10, what are your faves?). Instead of just expanding, guess how awesome she is? She wrote Mommy Fun Fact #11 at hands on : as we grow… Conflict Resolution!
Jill had approached me to contribute a guest post about a couple of themes that she’s got planned for the upcoming weeks. To be honest, I kind of shrieked to myself and freaked out [just a bit]! I’m terrible at planning ahead! I am definitely the Mom withOUT a Lesson Plan [secretly trying to be a Mom with one]! But she mentioned camping and Henry had recently gone camping with his grandparents and we had some fun with what was at hand.
Firewood!
Next time, before you start the campfire, try stacking the firewood first!
Make sculptures. Let your child loose with their imagination.
What is your child building?
… a road? … a house? … a hideout? … a tent?
Work with their imagination. Try utilizing what Jill talks about in her Mommy Fun Fact about Open Ended Questions and ask what it is they’re building instead of guessing and labeling it yourself.
Creating a firewood sculpture can provide some fun and easy learning opportunities.
Balancing the firewood takes thought and precision.
Add piece by piece in just the right place without making the entire sculpture tumble down.
Kind of a life size Jenga game.
If there’s a piece in the wrong spot, do you dare move it?
Will it all come tumbling down?
Letting your child in on the process of building teaches them how real-life structures are put together and will help them learn about stability and give them insight to why buildings are built the way they are.
Additional ideas to build off of your firewood sculpture:
- Create a small play space, add figurines and use your imagination.
- Add leaves and other natural elements [think rocks, dirt, sticks] and create a hideout!
- Line them up to build a road.
- Create letters or write your name on the ground with the pieces of firewood!
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I’m Jamie, a stay at home mom, with two boys that are completely full of energy. I write at hands on : as we grow about activities and art that I do with the boys, with lots of them being ways to use that energy to our advantage. I love to sneak in learning opportunities during their play and try my best at focusing on the process of a project, instead of the end goal. Find Jamie on Google+
Now isn’t this the best idea!! We’ll have to try this next time we light up the backyard fire pit. Thanks for doing the blog swap and bringing all our brilliance to a larger audience 🙂
AHHH! Thank you Rachelle!
I forgot about the fire pit! It’d be a great idea after the fire’s going too – to keep the kids away from the awe of the fire itself.
Aww, I’m the SAME way! I have to write lesson plans for my work, but I hate it. I am horrible at planning ahead, and I end up doing them on Monday of the week already started, and basing it on whatever materials are on hand. That’s how I work best–improvising!!! Honestly, I think that’s how emergent, play-based curriculum should be.
Gina – I do think activities that are child-led and play-based ends up teaching the child the most — but, I do secretly wish I was organized enough to plan ahead and figure out what we’re going to do… I think I’d be less stressed 😛
Thanks Jill for swapping blogs with me! Its been so much fun to have ‘different content’ on the blog — we’ll do it again!
Cool beans: two thumbs up on the blog swapping concept. (Didn’t Jamie Lee Curtis do that with someone successfully in a movie version? Was it Lindsay Lohan? LOL.)
Jamie, I love the sculptural building with ‘real-life’ materials exposure. I have an artist friend who does somewhat similar installations across the country & this would be very good preperatory play for children to explore her work.
Kudos.