Funday Friday: Bereishit (Creation) Theme Weekly Round-up

Over the last several weeks, especially with the onslaught of holidays here, I've found our Fridays are best spent in a more low-key manner. Rather than following a typical homeschooling routine of activities, I usually set out some Shabbat themed favorites on the table before my son wakes up. We listen to music, we finish up any projects left over from the week before and we get in the mood and prepare for Shabbos. I also designate these days as Field Trip Fridays. We get out plenty during the week, whether to playdates, story times, parks or errands. I save longer trips like museum visits for Friday mornings. It adds a special flavor to the day as we get ready to welcome Shabbos into our home and also ensures that my son has plenty of running and playing time before busy household preparations set in. (Then I don't feel quite as guilty if we pop on a favorite video for him so we can cook and clean!)

We are wrapping up our weekly theme of learning about Parshas Bereishis, the story of Creation. I really do love this theme as it promotes so many methods of exploring, learning and playing. Jewish philosophy teaches us that the purpose of world--of all of the elements and creatures that G-d created and continues to create in each moment--is for us. Our purpose here is to infuse G-dliness into the world through mitzvot, through connecting with our Creator and performing positive deeds. This is a lofty idea we can bring down to even young children through involving them in acts of kindness each day. This was an element I also tried to include in our learning this week. Here's a round-up of some of our favorite activities from this week's theme.

Happy Friday & Shabbat Shalom!

 There are a lot of great arts & crafts projects to help teach and represent the days of Creation. We loved working on these over the last 2 weeks and seeing them displayed in our dining room.

Now all that's left is Yom Shabbat!

We took learning about the creation of birds and fish to the next level. We made a trip to our local pet store to look at fish and birds and to purchase some bird seed to make a treat for the birds outside as the weather gets cooler.

We didn't want our pet fish to feel left out of the activity either, so my son helped feed them as well!

We used a few pine cones we had collected for our nature observation station, some peanut butter and a plastic spoon and "shmeared" the peanut butter over the pine cones. 

Next we rolled them in the birdseed...

And hung them on a bush out front! If we're lucky (and quiet enough), we may get to observe some feathered friends enjoying the fruits of our labor! 

Funday Friday: A Peek Inside Our Sukkot-themed Playroom Plus a Quick Yom Kippur Wrap-up!

Ah, to sum up the Jewish month of Tishrei in a few simple words: Cook, Pray, Eat, Repeat! Yes, we are busy here bouncing between preparing for holidays or Shabbos, observing holidays or Shabbos and squeezing in as much homeschool learning about them and fun play activities in between. We finished up learning about (and made it through) Yom Kippur early this week with a couple of activities based on the story of Jonah and the Whale that is read each year at Yom Kippur services. I introduced a more kid-friendly version of the story to my son.
(You can find a great one with activities for kids here.)

We added a cute craft and some Mad Science Monday Fun with a waterplay sink or float activity in the kitchen (while I got some cooking for before and after the fast done):

My son colored and decorated the paper plate we used for fins on this balloon whale. Inside (though not so visible) is a little Lego Jonah! My little one had lots of fun playing with the balloon "Big Fishy." He also had fun playing with the new Tinker Toys we got to parent entertain him on Yom Kippur. Actually, my husband also had fun with the Tinker Toys; he built a helicopter and subsequently popped the balloon. Shhh..my toddler hasn't noticed it's gone yet...

So I set up the whales and one toy man to play the part of Jonah. Apparently all the people of Nineveh needed a quick dip--the toddler got all of his other Fisher Price Little People to add to the fun!

And now on to my FAVORITE holiday of the Jewish year. Sukkot is coming! Here's a peek in our playroom at what we're doing so far:

Green scraps of tissue paper, construction paper and cardstock were great for sticking onto clear contact paper for this toddler friendly lulav craft. Adult assistance is required to roll it up at the end and the masking tape can then be recycled into the bottom portion!

Completed contact paper lulav and in-progress esrog made from Model Magic. Once it's dry we will paint it yellow!

For some more independent-play friendly activities and great Sukkah or indoor holiday decorations, a paper plate can be hollowed out in the center and covered over with packing tape or contact paper. Here is an invitation to stick on Autumn colored fabric leaves but the same can be done with paper scraps or tissue paper. To add a protective second layer (especially if your custom is to hang decorations in the Sukkah), you can staple on a second hollowed out paper plate prepared in the same manner over top.

Our custom is not to hang decorations inside the Sukkah, but we love hanging them indoors. The whole family got in on this collage last night to build and decorate our own Sukkah. My husband definitely got into the popsicle sticks (he's very much in the sukkah-building mindset this time of year!) and my toddler was VERY into the glue!

Well, our actual sukkah may not be finished yet, but here's our fabulous play suikkah! My little one has had a lot of fun in here so far!

Here we are today--same homemade felt lulav and esrog!

Here's a little blast from Sukkot past: my little one's first Sukkot with his very own handmade felt lulav and esrog

Funday Friday: Favorite Stories in Action, A Playful Story Stretcher

It's Funday Friday here. Generally speaking, that's the one day a week (other than weekends) that we come downstairs still in our pajamas in the morning. I still do homeschool activities, but our pace is a bit more playful and child-led as we get ready for Shabbos in the evening. Acting out favorite children's books is one of my favorite story stretching activities. I've mentioned the book, Is It Shabbos Yet? by Ellen Emerman before and it truly is a favorite among many children, particularly the one living in this house! The story is told from Friday morning when a little girl, Malkie, wakes up already asking if it's Shabbos yet. Her mother responds to this question throughout the day with "not yet," and invites her little one to help her with all of the many Shabbos preparations.
I've done activities with preschool classes to re-write children's names into the story and have them act out the steps to getting ready for Shabbos. As much as we adults can find the chores of cleaning, shopping, cooking and preparing for Shabbos to be daunting and sometimes even overwhelming, children inherently LOVE to help adults with these tasks and there are many ways in which even the youngest of hands can help. My son is no exception to this rule. He loves to clean and help in the kitchen. He doesn't always love actual shopping trips, but he does love to pretend about them in his toy kitchen area. We have a variety of plush, plastic and real Shabbos artifacts that he can play with and pretend with to act out the rituals of lighting candles, making kiddush, setting the table and having a Shabbos meal. He asks for Shabbos with the same eagerness as Malkie does (only usually beginning on Sunday morning and not Friday!), and so today when he brought me Is It Shabbos Yet? to be read aloud for the umpteenth time this week alone, I decided we would make a playacting activity of it.
Although we've done this activity before (we even did a Pesach version last spring), he was so excited to do it again today. Here's a few shots of the fun--wishing you all happy playing, acting, story telling and a wonderful weekend ahead!

Helping to clean for Shabbos! 

Shopping for Shabbos--adding a large recycled paper bag added a whole new element of excitement to playing in his kitchen set today!

Playdough Challah Station: when I am baking fresh challah, he's always the first in line to help, but for weeks I am not baking, playdough is a wonderful way to play about it. (Please forgive the purple color!)

Funday Friday: Tabletop Mural

 Ah, the last Friday before Labor Day. Most schools here begin after the long weekend and we will begin our own homeschool activities as well after squeezing in a quick weekend family trip to celebrate the end of summer. Some days just call for a little low key child-led fun. Fridays tend to be days like that in this and many Jewish homes as we get ready for Shabbat, and when you add packing and preparing for a family trip to that mix, turning on a great children's show or video can seem like the only option to keeping your sanity. It may very well be on our agenda today as well, but first I'm turning to one of my very favorite rainy-day or busy-day fixes: tabletop murals. I first set out this activity early in the summer when an unexpected very rainy day soaked out our plans of visiting the park and pool. Using a roll of white craft paper I keep on hand (this is one of those items on my mommy must-have list), I completely covered our dining room table. I set a different art medium in front of each of the chairs, turned on some music, let my son choose his first seat, have at it and rotate as he felt ready. He had so much fun with this that at dinner time, we set out some placemats on top and kept it up and running for the remainder of the week for him to revisit and add to. I had some fun as well by the end of it and when Friday afternoon rolled around, my husband decided it looked nice enough to cover with a clear vinyl table protector and use as our Shabbos tablecloth! Our son felt so proud that his artwork was decorating the Shabbos table and as a mom who would love to save every little scribble but recognizes the impossibility and impracticality of this, displaying his work in this way for that time felt like a wonderful way to honor the time and effort he spent.
This week rather than setting out specific materials at each spot, I allowed my son to choose a material he wanted to use and bring it to the table to use. Open-ended art activities like this are some of my very favorite. Process art is hugely beneficial for children in developing creativity, confidence and mastery of a variety of skills. What I call "cookie cutter projects," those with a specific goal and purpose, also have their place in my home and classrooms. It is important to develop skills in following directions and there is something quite quaint about a child-created duck that resembles a duck. Still, I feel that the most important art opportunities you can give a young artist--particularly one who may feel reluctant to participate in art projects or insecure in performing them "correctly," is the gift of free art or process art. In these settings, the child is given a specific material or set of materials or even just access to materials he or she can choose. The young artist decides how to use the materials and self-directs the process entirely. I am careful in these settings both as a parent and teacher to limit value-laden observations--even ones of praise, and rather to focus comments on purely objective observation. For example, I might say "I notice you are using the creamy crayons to make long lines" or "I see you're making a lot of brown dots with the dot markers in this area," rather than "what a beautiful picture you're drawing," or "that looks like a flower!" My intention is to validate his experience and process by noticing it rather than applying my own external value to it.
For some alternative extensions to this activity, you might:

• turn on music and play a game of musical artistic chairs! When the music stops, the artist switches spots and begins with a new material or brings the previous material to a new area to continue working
• make your tabletop mural theme related for a holiday or special event by focusing on specific colors, using stickers or gluing on shapes or pictures related to the occasion
• make a special picture in each spot specifically for the family member or guest who will sit there in lieu of place cards
• save your child's finished art to reuse as wrapping paper, book covers, homemade greeting cards, or to cut/tear and reuse in collage

Happy Playing & Creating!

Fun-day Friday: a Peek into our Playroom

Fridays are Fun-days here on the blog--a time to reflect on the week's activities and take a virtual peek into our playroom. I plan theme-related play and activities because planning and curriculum building is something I find enjoyable as a preschool-teacher-mommy. It also helps me to feel less overwhelmed when I am planning and choosing activities if I have a framework to build upon. That said, I do not introduce new themes each week--I go with my son's flow and my own energy levels. Additionally, you can also build activities built specifically on your children's interests or seasonal events and upcoming holidays. If you're searching here for play ideas, all posts include links to relevant labels that you can use to search from.

My son LOVES things that GO! We've been exploring a transportation theme over the past week that we will continue into the week to come. When it comes to theme-related play, I like to specifically take out toys and books we already have related to that theme. Not having all of the books and toys out at the same time helps reduce the sense of clutter in our already small apartment. Additionally, I think toy/book rotation in general helps to maintain a sense of novelty for little ones. I don't ever put all of the toys that are out away and swap; I think that might throw my toddler for a loop! There are certain things we keep out all of the time, like his kitchen set/dramatic play area. With a transportation theme, I might, however, add a couple of hard hats and construction vests to the dress up area. We also take theme-related library trips to check out books, CDs/DVDs and activity sets related to our topic of interest. If my son is particularly interested in a certain toy or material, I will even leave it accessible past the time that we complete a topic exploration and I am always amazed at how he integrates themes together!

"Blue Boat" Painting

Here's a look at some of our play over the past week:

I introduce alphabet letters to my toddler mainly through play and exposure. He is only two and pre-literacy happens in a lot of ways at this age--most importantly through exposure to language, sensory play and every day conversation. I will share more about how I introduce letters in future posts.

My kiddo gets very attached to particular books. Red Truck, Blue Boat, and Yellow Copter all by Kersten Hamilton have been longstanding favorites. Reading, rereading and rereading again can feel daunting, but I know repetition is an important tool for him. Story stretching activities, like our "Red Truck," "Blue Boat" and "Yellow Copter" paintings [the latter is not pictured below]j, are a wonderful way to expand on an interest and beat the monotony of a story you both probably have memorized by now.

"Trace the T" Table Time

BIG DIG Construction Sensory Bin

Sensory play is a great way to take the playroom outdoors 

"Car Wash"

Shaving cream is great for soaping up toy cars and finger-painting on the sidewalk!