Squirrel: Eats a Pumpkin Pie
This week we're learning about squirrels! Inspired by our many friends in the yard who started to dig into our leftover carved Halloween...
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Glass Half Something
Life with Littles
Weekly Animal
One day, my oldest asked if we could pick a new animal each week to learn about; it's how this blog started, actually! What a great idea! Each day, we spend time learning fun facts, how our animal moves, what they eat, where they live.
For us, the main point of interest to the kids is animals, but I'm able to take that POI and launch it into just about any activity. Using their starting point does a great job of capturing their interest when the activity is associated with an animal of their choosing. For example, say I want to carve pumpkins for Halloween and the kids chose "squirrel" for the week. Hey! Squirrels eat our pumpkins! Now we're carving pumpkins, learning about plant life cycles, decomposition, whatever we need! But the kids are still pumped because it's squirrel week.
The general outline is below. Check out any of the Weekly Animals for a week of learning and fun!
All activities at Glass Half Something require parent supervision! Safety first, friends!
Books! Books! Books!
Fact Finding
On Monday, we head to our local library. This is always a fan favorite. It's a great way to get out and get excited about our weekly animal. We return all the books from the week prior and grab a handful of new ones. Usually about five of our books will be tied to the week's animal.
Create!
Arts & Craft
On Tuesday, we explore our animal through the arts. Turn on some tunes and get crafty! Make a mask of the weekly animal, paint, draw, color, construct, build: the options are endless. Often we'll make a craft that we can use the next day while bringing our animal to life through movement.
Get Moving!
Act like an Animal
On Wednesday, we get moving! This day can take very little planning but can be so fun! We'll have learning from some of our books collected Monday, just how the animal moves. Did you know elephants walk on their tip-toes! Ask Alexa to throw on sounds from an African Safari and walk around like elephants on your tip-toes! Have foot races outside running fast like a cheetah! Bonus points if Tuesday's craft can be included in your animal actions.
Animal Eats
Fun versions of what our animals eat
By Thursday, we've learned what our animal eats. We'll choose some foods to replicate for ourselves. Sometimes, that's the literal food but other times, a fun pseudo-related version.
Summary Days
Report Up!
On Fridays, the kids take time to report what they learned to Dad. Since he's working during the learning adventures, we report out our findings of the week. It's a great way to work on presentation, public speaking and summarization skills. It also helps reinforce what we learned throughout the week.
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