This week's surprise box

This week's surprise box has been really fun, but takes a long time. My daughter is the type of kid that won't skip any part, either. She tends to want to do things in the same order, too. Despite the length, she sits through the whole thing -- I just haven't done it every day. I was able to get pictures this week, too.

I also want to add that it is important when doing activities like this that there is something for them to play with. Especially if the child is under 4 years old they like to be involved with the activity. Even putting a stick on a piece of paper or a stuffed animal that is related to the theme can be enough for them to hold during the

story. As children get older you can make the activity more interactive, such as having them hold up a number when they hear it in the story.

I also reserve (ha, ha -- do we ever have reserve time?) time for my daughter to "play" with the items of the surprise box after we conclude everything. It's a way for her to explore and enhance her language (and even works on comprehension). I love listening to her read the story we just read.

Theme: Bears (big and little)

Books:

• Golden Book: The Three Bears
• Blueberries for Sal, written by Robert McCloskey
• The Bear Went over the Mountain and other bear songs

Hands-on:

• Laminated bears -- just enlarge or reduce on copier
• File Folder game I made this larger and made two copies. One black and white that I taped to a file folder. Then I made the color version and laminated the cards. I was shocked my 2-year-old could do this!!
• 3 stuffed bears -- Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Baby Bear

Song: Three Bears (used as a transition)

To see other surprise box ideas go here!