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

Think Outside the Box Thursday: Yom Kippur for the Very Young

Every year after the sticky, sweet, honey-drizzled fun of learning about Rosh Hashanah passes, we quickly enter the time to explore a bit of a heavier topic--learning about Yom Kippur. In actuality, both of these holidays are occasions of immense joy that hold a great deal of weight. Yom Kippur, although a seemingly somber day of fasting, asking for forgiveness and committing to improve ourselves, is truly also a day of sweetness. It is a day on which we honor and celebrate the beautiful relationship we have with our Creator and how much stronger a bond can grow when a heartfelt apology is made. This is likely why so much of children's literature on the holiday focuses on the words "I'm Sorry." These two words are so very hard to say and yet so powerful when said with full intent.

Reading Sammy Spider's First Yom Kippur by Sylvia Rouss
Yes, he's in pajamas and his bumblebee hat from Rosh Hashanah...

When I've taught outside of the home, I strongly adhere to a policy that is sometimes seen as unconventional: I do not make children apologize when they are resolving conflicts. When a conflict arises, I model empathy, particularly for a child who may have been hurt. I offer language for strong emotions, such as "wow, you look so sad," or "that must have made you feel so angry," but I do not say "now tell her you're sorry." I do not force children to "hug and make up." How many times in our adult lives do we find ourselves stuck in strong emotions and conflict? Many of those times an apology would go a long way, but what if we don't feel sorry? What if we're not ready yet? How helpful is it to either party to apologize when that apology is not heartfelt? I teach students about apologies. I teach them that "sorry" is something you say, but also something you feel and do. When you apologize for something, you feel remorseful inside and you do differently in the future. I teach them in these moments to ask how they can make it better or I offer ideas of how to do so. I do not force an apology when emotions are escalated because in the heat of the moment, children, too, may not feel ready to say (or hear) those words. In my earlier days of teaching, I became increasingly skeptical of the common tendency to enforce an apology the more frequently I saw children use the words as they simultaneously knocked over a block tower or begrudgingly utter them as a means to move on from an unpleasant interaction. Sure, we have taught them that "sorry" makes it "OK," and when it is a heartfelt apology, it often does help both parties to heal and move forward. But sorry does not always make it OK. Hurts still hurt and what we truly hope to teach our children (and learn ourselves) is the deeper skill of feeling empathy and being able to recognize and respond to our own strong emotions and the strong emotions of those around us. Initially, I cut out the "now say that you're sorry" part of my conflict support as an experiment to see how children might respond differently. Rather than telling them what to do to solve their problem, I asked them what they thought they should do. Many independently came up with "say 'I'm sorry,'" to which I always respond that if it's something they feel inside, it's a wonderful thing to say. Many also inherently came up with ideas to repair their relationships, which coming from their hearts were more meaningful and sustainable than any tool an outsider (myself) could give. My students taught me a great deal about relationship repair and what it truly means to make amends!
Yom Kippur is a wonderful time "outside of the moment" when we can teach our children, even very young ones, about the power of an apology as well as how to name and manage strong emotions. So in addition to telling the story of Jonah and the Whale and the many cute crafts and activities that can accompany that, I also incorporate some activities and literature about feelings. Here's a little peek at what we've been doing so far:

Tashlich, or the ritual casting away of last year's not-so-good-moments into a body of water with fish is typically done on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, but can be done until Yom Kippur. Here's a fun paper plate craft showing a pond full of fishies! Cut the center out of a white paper plate and cover from the back with clear contact paper or packing tape. Blue tissue paper "water" and construction paper fish can be stuck in the center by even very little hands for a fun holiday decoration.

To add another dimension to our learning about Tashlich, we also took a field trip to our local pet shop and brought home a couple of new additions to our tank!

This is a one of many books I love on teaching about anger. We are definitely in the terrific twos here at home where emotions of all sorts run on only one setting: HIGH. Many times those moments are not the ones that are most teachable, so we look for the quieter and calmer times to reinforce and expand on the language and problem-solving skills of dealing with anger and frustration.

Rosh Hashanah: The Buzz on Bees

Apples and honey seem to get all the attention this time of year, but where would we be without the help and hard work of bees? This is a great season to teach about the life-cycle of bees and how they are helpful to us in our environment. At home, my very favorite way to do that is through play and hands-on exploration. Here's a peek at what we're doing this week in between errands and cooking to prepare for the holiday that's less than a week away!

Our local library is always a great resource for books and materials about a particular learning topic. To supplement that, I often search the internet for free printable cards and activities I can use at home. I found some beautiful honey bee life cycle cards here and printed/laminated a set for my son to be able to see individual steps of the life cycle as well as to teach some of the vocabulary around it.

I use a metal ring for easy storage and transport

Just as easily, we can slip them off the ring and work on sequencing

He liked this activity so much he wanted to do it again and again!

My busy little bee has officially picked up on our homeschool morning routine. After breakfast he goes right over to the hook where his school bag is hanging asks to "go school!" That means he wants me to sing our little school song, help him unzip the bag and let him see what I slipped inside the night before! On Monday morning he was very excited to find a book about bees and this bumblebee finger puppet. I don't tend to read all of our non-fiction books word for word with him, but I do show photos and highlight certain words and ideas. Using markers, crayons, do-a-dots and colored pencils in black and yellow, he decorated a piece of poster board that I then cut/stapled into a hat and attached some pipecleaner antennae. It was time for him to become a bee! For some music and movement fun, I put on Rimsky-Korsokov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" in the background, handed him a large pair of tons (found at the Dollar Tree) and let him take off to capture and collect pieces of pollen (large pom poms). The tongs, although still somewhat challenging for my toddler, add an element of fine motor practice to the activity. He equally enjoyed just dancing around like a bee!

I have had quite a few conversations with other teachers lately about how we teach children about shapes. There are many great ways to give over formal lessons about structure, number of sides and corners, etc., and one of my very favorite ways is simply through exposure as related to other themes we are exploring. Here's how we are learning about hexagons with a hands-on activity related to bee hives!

I love using these dry erase folders I found at Target this summer for worksheets and other printed activities I wish to use more than once. I use them along with dry erase markers sometimes, but also with playdough and here, with popsicle sticks. It cuts down a lot on "waste" and allows us to revisit an activity multiple times and in multiple ways.

This website had some cute bee crafts. I have some old bubble-wrap lying around that we will be painting and making prints with for a variation on this one.

We are fortunate to be members at our local science museum that has an amazing exhibit on bees including an active hive and some great kid-friendly hands on materials. This provided a great field trip for us and a fabulous way to extend the theme. Even if we didn't have such a perfect opportunity nearby, I've been amazed this late in the season to still see bees busy at work when we're at the park or botanical gardens. This is a great time of year to spark a conversation when you're out and about. My son is really into discussing his fears lately and has frequently said "bees scary" when we are learning or when we see them in nature. I think it is so important to validate those feelings (rather than saying "no they're not!") and to share the ways in which they also can help us and how we can do our best to stay safe and help them, too. For that reason, when we are singing the ever popular song "I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee," I alter the words a bit to eliminate parts that are scary to humans or bees for that matter. 

Here are a couple of other songs and finger-plays we like about bees:

You can add to the fun of these by making your own (or printing out) bumblebee finger-puppets, stick puppets or props to use or even recycling a winter glove and attaching a picture of a bee to each finger with glue or velcro. Hope you all keep busy as bees as you play, learn and prepare for Rosh Hashanah! 

Rosh Hashanah: [Almost] From Farm to Table Applesauce

Holidays are a great time to get your kids in the kitchen. Granted, holiday cooking can be time consuming in and of itself without extra sets of hands involved and little feet pitter-pattering around the kitchen, but sometimes I find that added quality time in the kitchen together eliminates some of the time spent dealing with mischief outside of the kitchen while you're trying to get things done and simultaneously pouring cumin into your cinnamon coffee cake by accident. There are a lot of wonderful classic dishes to be enjoyed for Rosh Hashanah, from honey cake to round raisin challahs, tzimmes and more. Here's a look at how we took our lessons on apples [almost] from the farm to the table with

Homemade Applesauce:

Ingredients:

• 6 apples, peeled, cored, diced
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

One of my favorite childhood memories is of apple-picking with my family before Rosh Hashanah. We took a trip to a local produce shop on a very rainy morning to pick out some different types of apples for taste-testing and cooking!

We came home with six types of apple to try!

1. Once you've peeled, cored and diced your apples, place them in a saucepan. Add water, sugar (you could do with less, especially if you are using sweeter apples), and cinnamon. 
2. Turn heat on to low, cover pot and simmer about 20 minutes until apples are tender.
3. Mash by hand using a fork or potato masher or use an immersion blender if you wish. You could also puree in a blender or food processor if you prefer a smoother texture.

Journals are a great way to document science and math activities. Here we used a simple sticker chart of our taste test. 

After our taste test (cameo appearance on the paper plate in the background!) I peeled the remainder of each apple and cut some large chunks my son could practice cutting with my help. We are really in the "me do it" phase, so when I can I try to oblige. After he'd had an opportunity to work with this, I quickly diced the remaining chunks and got out his next favorite kitchen gadget--the step-stool! 

Before turning the heat on the stove, I invited my sous chef to help pour our ingredients into the pot. 

Once everything was in, it was time to climb down and turn on the heat. We busied ourselves with other activities while we waited for the apples to cook. It smelled AMAZING!

I used an immersion blender once the apples were cooled a bit. My toddler did try the applesauce but at the end requested his usually container of cinnamon applesauce from the pantry! You can't win 'em all... My husband and I loved it and we will offer additional opportunities for our little one to try it again!.

Want to do more? My son is loving this book we borrowed from our local library, told from the perspective of another little boy helping his grandmother and mother make applesauce from scratch. It's another market-to-table adventure!

Rosh Hashanah Theme: Preschool Journal Prompts

Here's a glimpse into how we've used our preschool journal to incorporate the Rosh Hashanah theme. My son is enjoying using his journal more independently and leading many entries with his own ideas and expression. Sometimes, I sit with him and we use it together. It continues to be a great tool to practice fine-motor skills, pre-writing, building language and vocabulary and even developing mathematical skills through charting and counting (as you will see below).

Happy writing and recording!

We've talked and explored through books and actual fruit how apples come in a variety of colors. Here I would provide crayons, markers or colored pencils in yellow, red, and green. An older child may be able to match the color to the associated apple. Younger journal writers may have fun exploring the writing medium and coloring with shades of all three colors.

Journals are a great place to store cute songs, poems and action rhymes related to themes we explore. Along with stickers I might also provide crayons or something to color with. As an extension, you can count how many apples are "up in the tree" or "below on the ground" or "all together." This is a great way to incorporate mathematical concepts into journaling together.

As a theme-related field trip, we visited a local produce shop to pick out a variety of different apples to taste and compare. This is a great activity to talk about the senses of sight and taste (among others, of course!) and we will use color coded stickers to make a very basic chart of which ones we each try. At the end we will pick a favorite. Older children could chart based upon their favorites, or which ones taste sweet, sour, are crunchy or soft, etc. We will definitely end up with more apples than mouths to eat them all at once. The remainder, along with some baking apples bought especially for the purpose will be used to make homemade applesauce together. If you do not plan to cook or immediately use leftovers, you may want to invite some additional tasters for this activity or reduce the number of varieties tried!

Rosh Hashanah Theme: Arts & Crafts

I often cover our work space with an old tablecloth or shower curtain. For some added process art and exploration today, I covered the area with a strip of white craft paper. This will be reserved and re-used for some additional Rosh Hashanah art work and collages.

There are so many great art and craft projects for children and their families to make for Rosh Hashanah. Between decorations, honey jars, greeting cards, shofars, placemats, activities to keep little ones busy in shul and more, the opportunities to get creative are endless! I try to include a bit of process art in along with the more "cookie-cutter" style projects. I also try to stretch each project to the fullest of its potential to limit excess and waste. Here's a peek at the cute, decorative greeting we made today using a recycled paper shopping bag and apple stamping:

We started the activity with one of my favorite science explorations--looking at the inside of an apple from two viewpoints--horizontally cut (across width of the apple--which reveals a star shape) and vertically cut (from stem down, which reveals traditional view of the core and seeds). We talked about the parts of the apple and how both views compared and contrasted. You could, of course, enjoy a snack from here, but we reserved these apples for some artwork instead...

Prior to our apple printing, I prepped our signs with "baskets" constructed from a recycled brown paper shopping bag. The basket is cut from the center of the bag and the handles made from the actual paper bag handles. Both were glued on with school glue and left to dry.

We had fun experimenting with apple stamping done in red, yellow and green paint. It was exciting to see how the prints differed from both cuts of apple. When you look very carefully, you can even see the star shape in the print of the apple cut in half width-wise!

Additional uses for recycled process art: last year we did some apple "marble" painting and cut out several apple shapes from the results. We used some to create a collage Rosh Hashanah greeting and laminated some others for activities like this one--a Ten Apples Up On Top story extension!

Rosh Hashanah Theme: Sensory Play

We've recently done our first homeschool theme transition here! Anytime I switch a theme, I do a little bit of playroom revamping as well. I very rarely completely move stuff around or swap out all the toys and materials for a variety of reasons. One reason is that my son, at two, is growing more and more independent and not knowing where things are or where they go can lead to frustration or anxiety. Another is that he also knows what he likes, and likes what he knows (don't we all?) so having all of the toys and books he was enjoying suddenly moved to another room or space would be disorienting. On the other side of the coin, doing toy and book rotations on a regular basis keeps us from having to have everything out at once in our small space and also adds an element of novelty to something that we already have but may not have played with in a while.
With Rosh Hashanah coming in just weeks, this felt like a good time to transition into that theme--and one of my favorite components of teaching/learning about Rosh Hashanah is exploring apples. For the sake of this theme, rather than posting our learning activities day by day, I hope to put together some posts on different areas of play and learning. This one will focus on sensory play with a couple of homemade ideas you can incorporate into some of your own apple or autumn or Rosh Hashanah themed fun.
Happy homemade and hands-on playing!

Autumn Apples Sensory Bin

I've seen several variations of this floating across the internet this year and done a similar sensory bin for a preschool classroom that I called "Parts of an Apple I Spy." That one used dried lentils as the main filler and then toy apples, pipe cleaner "stems," black bean "seeds," and artificial leaves. I included magnifying glasses for the sensory play detectives to use and it was a huge hit. Here, I used dried oats as our main filler and added some small scoops, dishes and cinnamon sticks to the mix along with the toy apples and artificial leaves. I love that the cinnamon sticks give it such a delightful smell, adding more senses into the play experience! Most items here were purchased at some point at the dollar store, and like all of my sensory play items, I try to only purchase things I can use in more than one venue. Some prefer not to use food items for sensory play as it can be wasteful in a sense. I know there are some moms/teachers who will give these oats a second life as a cookie or breakfast, ensuring that their little sensory explorers carefully wash their hands prior to playing. I will likely set these aside for repeated sensory play use as I do with all of my dry ingredients, storing them between uses in a sealed ziplock bag. One obvious benefit to using items that are edible in sensory play is that your material is also taste-safe for those who may be inclined to explore them orally. As an alternative to oats or other food items, you could also shred recycled paper as a filler.

"Apple Pie" Playdough

Apple Pie Playdough in its "natural" state

I revisited my favorite standard playdough recipe here as a base, opting out of adding any color at this point. I added a decent sized teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, though you could use cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and any other components of that traditional apple pie aroma that you have on hand. I love to introduce homemade playdough in its most minimal state at first and allow the opportunity for little hands to dictate what type of play happens with it. My son will naturally gravitate toward adding tools and small toys.

He is really into this playdough press right now! 

We added red food coloring to this portion of the dough, mixing it inside a ziplock bag to prevent staining our hands. He told me he is making "Shabbos cake!"

Invitation to Play: Parts of An Apple Playdough Provocation