Playful Learning Blog Tour: Adventures in Longitude and Latitude (and a give away!)

I was thrilled to hear that Mariah Bruehl of Playful Learning was writing a book. I have read her blog regularly for quite some time. I admire her gentle, encouraging voice and the lovely assortment of playful, accessible learning experiences she shares on her blog.

I’m so happy to share this book with you as part of the Playful Learning blog tour! When my girls and I finally got our hands on Playful Learning: Develop Your Child’s Sense of Joy and Wonder, we were definitely not disappointed. From the back cover:

“Playful learning is the magic that takes place when we meld a child’s sense of joy and wonder with thoughtfully planned learning experiences.”

Our copy of Playful Learning is already marked with many projects for the to-do list. The book contains developmental information and engaging experiences in writing, reading, math, science, art, global awareness, and social-emotional skills, geared toward ages 4 to 8.

My favorite aspect of the book is the experience philosophy. Rather than just a collection of activities, the experiences in this book truly provide opportunities for conversation, connection, and discovery. It is a wonderful book to enjoy side-by-side with your kids, following their interests and having fun learning together.

We couldn’t wait to dive in and try something!

Who Lives Here? Adventures in Longitude and Latitude

My girls’ current love of maps, paired with a recent obsession with secret codes, made the Who Lives There? experience a perfect fit. One of the learning experiences in the Growing Globally chapter, this activity introduces longitude and latitude coordinates. After a quick vocabulary discussion (using Mariah’s age-appropriate definitions), the girls were ready to find some secret locations using coordinates.

Mariah recommends using Google Earth to get coordinates for the places where friends and family live. Since our friends and family all live pretty close, I picked 10 cities around the world that the girls are familiar with and filled in the activity sheet. I love that Mariah provides so many kid-friendly printables in the back of the book – such a time-saver!

The girls took turns reading the coordinates and working at the map. Every time they correctly identified a city, they were so excited! By the end of their list, they were reading degrees, using the word coordinates, and basically having a lot of fun finding the secret locations.

They have already asked to do it again, which we will soon. We are also planning to check our library for the titles from the Books to Inspire list. From prep hints that help you be a “one-step ahead” parent to ways to extend the learning, the experiences in Playful Learning are inspiring and do-able.

The girls are already planning which activity they will try next – wire leaves, Jackson Pollock painting, or flower dissection? Moon journals are a must!

For more Playful Learning fun, I hope you will check out the rest of the stops on the blog tour in the upcoming weeks:

8/16 Two Straight Lines
8/17 Sew Liberated
8/18 The Artful Parent
8/19 Ohdeedoh
8/22 Let the Children Play
8/23 Simple Kids
8/24 Spell Outloud
8/25 Not Just Cute
8/26 Make and Takes
8/29 ABC 123
8/30 Modern Parents Messy Kids
8/31 A Bit of This and a Bit of That
9/1 Adventures in Mommydom
9/2 Inspiration Surrounds, Creativity Abounds
9/5 Happy Healthy Hip Parenting
9/6 Tinker Lab
9/7 Helping Little Hands

Playful Learning Book Give Away!

Wouldn’t Playful Learning be a great addition to your home library? Mariah has generously offered a copy of her new book to one lucky reader – ~~leave a comment on this post to be entered in a random drawing for your very own copy of Playful Learning: Develop Your Child’s Sense of Joy and Wonder.~~ Please be sure to link or leave an e-mail so I can contact you! (One comment per person, please…)

~~Comments will close Wednesday, 8/17 at 9:00 pm PST.~~

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