Popcorn Magic with Lesson Ideas

(4 Years)

Me- Do you want to see magic?
Little Miss- I do, I do!
Me- What do you think these are?  (I poured out a handful of popcorn kernels)

Little Miss - Beans, tiny rocks, seeds. (I had her feel a kernel and describe it).  It's tiny, hard and yellow.
She poured 1/2 cup of kernels into a brown lunch bag.

Her brother finally emerged from his room and asked to help.  Then she folded the lunch bag over twice.

 

 
We put it in the microwave.  I pressed the secret POPCORN button.  They said, "hocus pocus!"  I asked what they thought was going to happen.  Little Miss - It's going to get hot.

Then they heard the all too familiar pop pop sound.  Wild One - Popcorn!  Mommy it's popcorn!  Are we making popcorn?  They watched as the bag started inflating and they began to pop up and down like little kernels.

We usually buy Orville Redenbacher's Natural Simply Salted Microwaveable Popcorn.  Yummm!  I've wanted to try popping it in the brown lunch bag for months.  I kept thinking, it can't be as easy as pouring kernels into a brown lunch bag and pop the bag into the microwave.  If it was that easy someone would have told me by now!  Well, it's just that easy.  I like a little butter and salt on my popcorn.  So we melted a tablespoon of butter and mixed in a little salt, then poured that over the popcorn and shook the bag.  So yummy!  How did I not know about this?

LESSON IDEAS
So... the teacher in me feels compelled to tell you that you can easily turn this into a math lesson- compare the volume of the kernels to the popped corn, or compare the weight.  If the kids are ready, you can also discuss the reaction (science) that took place.  A writing lesson can be to describe what happened with illustrations.  You can create a popcorn necklace or even paint with the popcorn (art).  There are even fun popcorn books that you can use for read alouds - Tomie DePaola's The Popcorn Book, Half Popped and Popcorn to name just a few that you can borrow or buy.  Today, we decided to observe and describe a kernel and compare that to the popped corn, ok and have a healthy snack.

Learning with food is so much more fun, isn't it?

Following Directions - Using Legos

(4 Years)

I love Legos!  Grandma and Grandpa bought this Cinderella set for Little Miss and Wild One almost a year ago, and they play with it so much that it has never been rotated off of our shelves.

The kiddies have helped me put this together a few times, not many- they usually start strong and then their attention fizzles by the end of Step Two and somehow mommy winds up finishing it.  Today, Wild One asked me to help him build the castle.  Hmmmmm, we'll see about that.

Legos aren't just for imaginative play, when you are putting a set together then you're following directions and you're counting spaces (to make sure everything is placed as per the instructions).  The part that I really like about the Lego sets is that it uses pictures to tell the child what to do.  Between steps, the child looks at the two pictures to determine what's different (look more math- comparing), locates the correct pieces (classifying and sorting/science and math) and figures out how to place those pieces so that they match the picture (more math and sequencing).

Throughout his construction of the castle, he kept saying, "I'm a builder!"  All I needed to do was to remind him every now and then to compare his castle to the one in the book, and there were a couple of times when I needed to point out a slightly misplaced block.  Other than that, the boy did it!

I love seeing that look of concentration on his face.  I remember reading in several Montessori books to let them work, meaning not to interrupt with questions or comments (including compliments).  It's hard staying quiet, so now when they are working I will change the music to something I want to sing along to (instead of listening to The Nutcracker or Kari Boral).  It helps keep me from interrupting if I'm singing Billy Joel or Linkin Park.

When Little Miss woke up from her nap, Wild One was so happy to show her what he created - are you ready? - for her!  I love that kid!  

Little Miss ran to the castle, sat down and the two of them began playing and laughing.

Wild One didn't know he was learning.  He didn't know he was practicing math, science and pre-reading.  He didn't know he was learning how to follow multi-step instructions.  He didn't know that he was strengthening his fine motor muscles to prepare him for writing and cutting with scissors.  He was playing and learning through play, and for us that is always the best way.

Repurposing Cut Straws

(4 Years)

We love playing with play dough, specifically the homemade stuff.  It's softer, more pliable and retains it's squishy texture for months longer than the stuff in the yellow cans.  If you haven't ever made play dough, it's fast and easy.  See here for a quick 15 minute (start to finish) recipe- you can't even get to and from the store in that time.

We like cutting straws, they make a great popping sound as they fly off the base of the straw.  What should we do with all of those straw cuttings?  Save them!  As a teacher, I used manipulatives (hands-on objects that you can use as visuals) in almost all of my math lessons.  They make learning fun.  Tell a fifth grader, we're going to be working on algebra.  You can actually hear him/her deflate.  BUT, give that same student a bag of game pawns, coin blanks, cubes, teddy bear counters… and all of a sudden it's a game!

Here are some examples of what we do with our straw cuttings:
Patterning - Math: We began with a simple ABA (green, pink, green, pink) pattern, then we moved onto an AABAA (blue, blue, orange, blue, blue, orange) pattern.

Number Sense - Math:  They chose which color straw cuttings they wanted to use, then counted as they placed them in their respective numbers.

Sorting/Classifying by Size (both increasing and decreasing size order) - Math and Science (yes, I know sorting and classifying mean the same thing, however in math the term sorting is usually used for elementary school-aged children and in science it's classifying- please excuse my inner teacher from sneaking out)

Sorting/Classifying by Color - Math and Science

Play Dough Letters - Art and Pre-Writing:  I made the M, although I should have had them make the letters.  We haven't done this since, well here.  They then added the straws to the play dough letters.

Play Dough Add-ins - Art and Pre-Writing:  Have you read The Greatest Snowman in the World?  It's hilarious, especially when you add in the implied inflections.  Wild One decided he was going to make the Greatest Monster in the World with a lot of antennas, arms and legs.  Meanwhile Little Miss  decided to make a path and then poke the tips into the path.

I love the look of concentration on his face!

I'm so proud of my Little Miss.  It took her a long time to roll out that snake.  

I think it's the longest one she's ever made.

As you can see (or almost see), all of the play dough toys made their way onto the table.

Wild One discovered that if he squeezes the straw cuttings the play dough will ooze out!  Look SCIENCE- he made a discovery!

I love how his tongue pops out when he's concentrating, just like his Dad and his Grandpa Fredo.

Making Jewelry or Threading Practice - Art
My little ones actually did this almost a year ago.  Wow, look how little he was?  They are growing too fast!  Here's the post, not that you need any instructions for this.

Have fun playing, learning, learning through play.  C'mon it's easy.  It really is the best way.  It's now time to go outside and play!