Surprise Box -- Penguins

Here's a simple surprise box.


Books

• March of the Penguins, Luc Jacquet
• Penguins 123, Kevin Schafer
• Penguin Pete and Little Tim, Marcus Pfister 

Activity

I took foam penguins and put numbers on each one.  Then I made a corresponding "snowball" to make this a matching game. We focused mainly on number recognition 1 to 20.

Surprise Box -- Snowmen

In this surprise box the theme is snowmen with a focus on colors.

Books:  The Biggest, Best Snowman, by Margery Cuyler. Frosty the Snowman , by Steve Nelson (we sing it).  Baby Donald makes a snowfriend.

Activities:  I used this pattern for the snowman, hat and scarf.  I cut out 10 snowmen and laminated them.  I put velcro on top of the head and on the neck.  I copied hats and scarves on 10 different colored pieces of paper.  You could color them with crayons or markers, too.  I put velcro on each hat and scarf.  To play game, have child match the hat and scarf color on each snowman.

Toys: Stuffed snowmen

Focus

• To listen to stories
• To sing along
• To match colors
• Enjoyment
• Follow directions
• Talk about winter and snow
• Pretend to make a snowball

Surprise Box -- The Mitten

If you aren't familiar with the author Jan Brett, you really should check out some of her books from the library.  They are so interesting and the pictures are very well done.  This week's surprise box theme is "The Mitten."

Surprise Box Contents

Books: The Mitten, Jan Brett. Footprints in the Snow, Cynthia Benjamin. Bear Snores On, (I picked this on because it has similar animals as "The Mitten" and the bears sneezes in both stories).

Activity: Felt MItten with laminated animals to go with the story "The Mitten."  Follow the patterns here and here.  I traced the mitten on two pieces of white felt and hot glued the pieces together.  I colored the animals and laminated them.  If you don't have a laminator they can be paper, just be ready for them to get a little worn down.

For the first day we reviewed with the story to put the animals in the mitten in order just as the story.  As you do this throughout the week you can challenge your child to do it from memory.

Skills worked on

• Recognizing similar animals in different stories
• Sequencing in a story
• Animal recognition
• Following directions
• Enjoyment 
• Listening to Stories

For more surprise box ideas, go here!

Surprise Box -- Gingerbread Boy

Here's a really easy and fun surprise box.  I just love all the different choices I get when it's this time of year for making games and reading stories.  There is just so much to choose from.  And you can get really creative.

Here are contents of this week's surprise box:

• Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett
• Gingerbread Boy by  (any version works -- I don't mind this one even though the fox eats the cookie at the end because it ends with that's what we do with cookies -- Eat them)
• Stuffed gingerbread boy toy
• Gingerbread Boy matching game -- I made 11 gingerbread boys and decorated them differently.  I made some have two matches and some have three matches and one has no match.  Then I laminated them.

Of course, we had to make dairy-free gingerbread boy cookies (and we didn't peek).

Surprise Box -- Sesame Street

Sesame Street was the theme for the last surprise box that we did.  Inside we had two stuffed animals, two matching games (directions for one here) and two books.  This was a super easy box to create -- we have tons of Sesame Street items.  Remember learning should be fun, so why not do activites that peak their interest.

Skills we worked on were listening, ABCs song, following directions,reading comprehension, memory recall, matching, enjoyment, working together.

To see more surprise box ideas, go here!

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!

This week's surprise box

Here's what is in this week's surprise box.

Theme: Number recognition zero to five

Books: Making Numbers; 5 Little Ladybugs; Dreaming Numbers

Hands On: Small Foam Numbers 0 to 5; Magnets 0 to 5 with a pie tin.

Here's a couple of ideas to go along with this week's theme. I noticed a week ago that my daughter didn't seem to recognize her numbers, even though I'm pretty sure she know them. I decided to just focus on 0 to 5. When I read 5 Little Ladybugs, I asked her to pick up the corresponding foam number that went with the page. It's good for following directions and for recognizing the numbers. With the other stories I just reinforced the numbers and asked her to say the numbers with me. Finally with the magnets, I placed the numbers in front of us and asked her to give me each one (out of order). We also did do some counting with the stories but the main focus was recognition.

I'll try to post each week to help with ideas.

Surprise Box

Each week I've been putting together a theme box for my daughter. It's a great way to rotate toys, books and games. It also give me a good way to assess her knowledge.

I call it a "surprise box" because each week there is something new. We have a special blanket that we sit on and we go through the box. I try to include a couple stories, a hands-on activity and a toy or puppet. The purpose is to focus on sitting still while we do an activity together. I usually pick a time of day where we need something to fill some time. I also try to include something new that she's never seen before. Don't over think it, just pull a few things together that connect together.

With young children don't expect to have them sit for too long. Keep it really simple. For older children you can include an independent reading or writing activity along with the surprise box.

Here are a couple examples of surprise boxes I've done with my 2-year-old:

Theme: Zoo

Hands-on: Animal Matching game

Zebra puppet (I made in school)

Homemade zoo book about one of our visits to the zoo

Theme: ABCs

Hands-on: Foam ABCs

Book: Alphabet Mystery by Audrey Wood

My daughter's name in foam letters on a laminated piece of paper

Theme: Colors

Hands-on: Color Book with rectangles

Books: Colors; Brown Leaf, Brown Leaf; Blue Hat, Green Hat Sandra Boyton

Zebra puppet (focus on an animal with two colors -- black and white)