Monthly Archives

October 2019

Creating a Cozy World that Welcomes Readers

My dream has always been to introduce our kiddos into the wonderful world of reading and create an atmosphere in our home that encourages everyone to pick up a book, discover new worlds, learn something new, and maybe while we are at it…sometimes even think critically. When my first baby was born, I spent hours at a local bookstore with my husband and even then read to her. I loved watching her little eyes look at the pictures on the book and listen to my voice.

Every one of my children is different but one way I keep their little eyes interested in reading is by setting up baskets around the house called “interest baskets”. For the months of September-November I have an interest basket that includes books on apples, apple picking, fall, Thanksgiving, Indigenous People’s Day, and even camping. If you are reading this and live in a cold state during the fall, the camping doesn’t make much sense but we live in a state with HOT weather so the fall is a great time to go camping when it’s actually cooler. Here is a picture of one of the interest baskets we’ve been reading from. I include books in English and Spanish. If you’re kiddos are learning a new language, this is a great way to incorporate that language into your home.

You can build interest bins around any special field trips, special interest the kids have, and special holidays. The local library is my best resource but I also love special printables from online resources as well. Here’s a look at our little one when he was younger making a book choice for his bedtime story. You can get them involved as soon as you think they are ready.

As the fall weathers comes in, warm blankets, and hot cocoa are perfect add-ons to our cozy reading corners. Cuddles included! What kinds of things do you like to include in your reading nooks? How do you encourage your little ones to read? I’d love to hear from you in our comments below or as always, I love hearing from you at bernice@diapursity.com. I love getting emails from you. Your ideas are wonderful!

Happy Fall & Happy Reading!

Bernice

October 18, 2019 2 comments

Crafts Homeschool Education Parenting

Fall Fun: Pumpkin Patch Fall Sensory Bin No. 2

written by Bernice Crespo

I don’t know who enjoys these more! I know I’m having a blast making them. Most of all, seeing my little one’s face when he knows that it’s time to explore and have fun. This week in light of my extreme love of all things fall, I created another Fall themed sensory bin for learning fun! The best part to this one was having fun layers of learning and/or creativity built right in. For our Pumpkin Patch sensory bin here is what you’ll need:

Materials
These are the materials I used. You can make your own using whatever fall stickers/materials you may have.

small lock lid bin of your choice
dried green peas
dried yellow lentils
sticker/decal alphabet letters
small brush
varied felt autumn leaves
varied foil autumn leaves
felt turkey stickers
wood pumpkin stickers
miniture foam pumpkins
wood turkey shapes for coloring or painting

I start with placing the stickers at the bottom of the bin and then covering them with the dried green peas and yellow lentils. This makes a fun sensory mix with great colors for the pumpkin patch.

I added felt and foil fall leaves in various colors creating a beautiful autumn landscape. Next, I used beautiful wood pumpkin stickers along the edges. The pumpkins came in orange, orange glitter and natural wood color. Unbelievably I found these at a local dollar store. I loved them the minute I saw them. Next, I added miniature glitter pumpkins. I also found these at the local dollar store. They were on sticks, I used scissors to cut the sticks. If you do this, don’t pull the stick out, it is what creates the stem. This mix created a beautiful pumpkin patch.

Finally I added a felt turkey sticker to the scene and also added three wooden turkeys propped up in the corner for the kiddos to color or paint. They loved it and went straight to work to complete the scene.

ACTIVITY 1 – LEVEL A

This is just a fun coloring or painting activity. Have each child who’s interested use various methods to decorate their turkey and add it to the pumpkin patch. I found a pack of about 6-8 of these at my local dollar store.

Where do the alphabet letters come in?

ACTIVITY 2 – LEVEL A with variations.

If your kiddo is working on learning his/her letters, he/she uses the brush to look for the letters. This letter hunt is always fun! As he/she finds letters they can yell out the letter name for letter recognition.

Variation #1

Kids search for letters and call out the letter name AND sound.

Variation #2

Kids search for letters and calls out the letter name AND sound. Next, they use a clipboard with lined paper to practice writing the uppercase letters.

Variation #3

Kids search for letters and calls out the letter name AND sound. Next, they use a clipboard with lined paper to practice writing the uppercase AND lowercase letters.

ACTIVITY 3 – LEVEL B with variations.

Kids search for letters. Once letters are found, they can write the letter on a sheet of paper and list 2-5 words that start with that letter. This was one of my little ones’ favorite parts. Thinking up words was hard at times but he asked for help from his siblings and even looked around at our room labels for clues. Even better, it’s an activity that can be done more than once with other variations of the activity while we are using it.

Variation #1

Have students answer different question:

Can you think of a color that starts with that letter?
Can you name an animal that starts with that letter? etc.

Variation #2

Have students search for words that start with that letter in your fall themed books for added fun. I will talk a bit about our interest book bin in my next post.

Variation #3

Once letters are found and a list of words are made. Children can write a 1-2 sentences using some of the words they wrote.

Most of all let kiddos have fun and come up with their own ways to play with the sensory bins.

As always, I’d love to hear from you at bernice@diapursity.com or comment below to hear about how this activity worked out for you or to hear your ideas.

Happy Adventuring and Happy Fall!
Bernice

October 17, 2019 0 comment

Crafts Parenting

Fall Fun: Apple Orchard Fall Sensory Bin No. 1

written by Bernice Crespo

With fall finally here! I looooove to add fun to our school room. I’m inspired my the colors, smells, and even sounds of fall (yes the sounds of my kiddos enjoying the cooler weather outdoors!). Since living in the South means that our weather only cools so much and actually still allows for beach days (poor me!), I like to bring the fall to us through our decorations, activities, and outings. This week we are bringing the fall home through an easy peasy fall sensory bin made for our five year old but enjoyed by all.

If you’d like to try one, here are the simply materials you’ll need. Most can be found at your local grocery store. Add what you have at home and enjoy the fun!

Materials:

dried green peas
dried yellow lentils
dried black beans
craft sticks (tree trunks)
red, yellow, and green puffs (to mimic apples)
glue stick (or glue of your choice)
cinnamon sticks
all-spice (optional for scented play)
Thieves essential oil (optional for scented play)
various little containers (use what you have)
small lock lid bin (or your preferred bin)
green construction paper (for tree tops)
scissors (choose one safe for your child’s age and ability or cut yourself)

I used foam board cut outs to divide this small bin with lock lid (about $4) into sections for our different colors. As you’ll see in future ones, letting the kiddos mix colors is just fine and will naturally happen. For this activity, we wanted the different colors for creative play. The tiny bins have puff balls in green, yellow, and red as well as craft sticks. Our little one went straight to work making trees for our apple orchard. Digging in his hands is so much sensory fun.

Dried Green Peas & Cinnamon Sticks

He even created a secret treasure using the little picnic basket, hid it, and made a treasure map for us to find it! You just never know where their minds will go with creative play. My older girls even joined in for some fun for a little while and helped him along. We added sprinkles of all-spice for a fun scent and a little bit of Thieves essential oil. What fun! The scents had us craving for some apple pie….so you guessed it! Today we are making apple pie!

As always, I love to hear from you! Email me at bernice@diapursity.com with your ideas, questions, and pics! Maybe your idea will get featured next! We love to try them out…so let your creative juices flow and join in on the fun!

Happy Fall!
Bernice

October 16, 2019 0 comment