Fall Learning Fun!

We are staying dry and warm inside! School was cancelled because of Hurricane Sandy. This is definitely the first time school has ever been cancelled here for a hurricane HAHA! 

I've been meaning to post these pictures of a fun learning activity I did with the girls (mostly Zoya). 

I made my own lightbox with inspiration from THIS BLOG. The girls love it and there are so many different activities you can do with a light box!

This time, we used transparent pumpkins and leaves that I found in the dollar section of Target. First I just let Zoya play and explore (always a must with new materials....if I don't give her this time to play and explore new materials, the lesson is usually a bust!) Mila loved watching Zoya! Unfortunately these pieces were too small for Mila to play with (choking hazard). After Zoya played a bit, we read a couple of stories....one about Leaves and one about Pumpkins. 

 Zoya was practicing counting. She picked a number card and then placed that number of items under the card. She needed more help at the beginning but eventually caught on to this idea. 

 I did it!

 She decided to read through the leaf book on her own. I love watching Zoya read a book after I've read it to her. Typically she uses the pictures to retell the story and usually hits some main ideas with her retell. 

 She thought that page was funny I guess! 

 We worked on sorting by color. Zoya has this skill down, but it was a good review and also good practice to increase her time on task (which is one of her IEP goals at school too). 

 We've just started working on basic patterns. This concept (even alternating between two colors) is tough for Zoya. I think next time I will cut out color squares and make a paper pattern and have her put the correct color on the correct square. We need to back that concept up a bit! 

 The next morning we went outside and collected leaves and read our Leaves story again! 

I love making learning fun for my girls!