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.
Comments closed! Random Number Generator says the winner is….
Bianca – August 15, 2011 at 3:54 pm
this book looks wonderful!! would love to have it in my home.
Congrats!
{ 110 comments }
← Previous Comments
Next Comments →
Wonderful giveaway — looks like a fantastic resource!
This book is on our list to buy for our upcoming home-school year. Thank you for your insight and the opportunity to win a copy!
This book looks like it has fantastic ideas. I would love to win it!
Thanks for this opportunity-it looks like a wonderful book of great ideas!
I would love to win a copy of this book! Mariah’s store is located one town from me – she’s so lovely & talented & has such wonderful ideas!
What a great book! can’t wait to check it out
I think my kids would love this book!
This looks like a very fun book! I am trying out some light homeschooling with my 4-year-old, as we considering going that route. This looks like a great resource, thanks. And thanks for the giveaway and chance to win!
What fun ideas! I would love to implement these in our homeschool! Thanks for the chance.
Thanks for the giveaway! I love Playful Learning!
Thank you for sharing your experience using the book. It seemed like a neat concept, but I was waiting to see some first-hand user reviews.
Yes I would love to have this book in my library and enjoy it with my kids. Thanks for the opportunity to win one.
this book looks wonderful!! would love to have it in my home.
Thanks for highlighting this book – would love to peek inside!
This book looks so lovely!
love the latitude & longitude project! I’d love to check it out with the kiddos!
I am intrigued by this book and really want a copy to use with our grandkids. The activity you did with your girls would be right up our alley! Thanks for sharing!
Sounds great. . .maybe an opportunity for a book circle? Thanks!
I would love to have a copy of this book! It sounds wonderful!
looks like a great and fun learning tool!
It looks like a great book. Thanks for the give away.
Sounds like a lot of fun! I often wind up stumped when my son asks questions and the best I usually manage is a youtube video. This would be VERY helpful!
This book looks great — would love to win a copy!
its interesting and I myself would want to play along
This looks like a fantastic book filled with creative ideas!
It looks like so much fun!!! I would love to win!!!
I would love to win this!
Looks lovely!
Thanks so much for posting your review — I’ve wanted to hear what others have thought of the activities. Love the idea of a hunt for secret locations
What a fun book – can’t wait to discover it!
just what I’ve been looking for! can’t wait ti check it out!
How fantastic! What an awesome resource!!
wonderful resource, would love to add this to our library…
What a great book for kids and adults! Would love to add this to my book collection!
Ohmygosh, I’ve never heard of this book! What a fantastic idea (longitude and latitude) – I am definitely going to try this
And I’m going to see if the library has a copy of this book… If I don’t win of course (however I am not State-side so that may well put me out of the running anyway). Thank you for sharing!
This book looks wonderful! I’m starting my first year of homeschooling in a few weeks and this book looks like it would be a wonderful resource!
THanks for sharing!! The book seems to have great ideas that would be a great resource!!
this looks so fun! sounds like a great book!
I’ve added it to my amazon wish list so even if we don’t win it here we are still gonna get this book. looks like a lot of fun.
Love Playful Learning and my girls would enjoy this book!
What a wonderful giveaway! Can’t wait to try some of the ideas with my kids!
What a great resource! We are moving the family from the US to Malawi and the longitude/latitude adventures would be a great way to connect my kids to friends and loved ones around the world. I’d love to win a copy to enjoy the other ideas as well! Thanks for sharing.
This books looks like a great resource. Thanks for the chance to win.
Great post, my son loves maps and this sounds like a very fun activity. I just found your blog and can’t wait to try the paint bag writing activity. Thanks for the chance to win!
This looks like a wonderful resource. Thanks for the chance!
I never win anything but this is hard to bypass. I would love to read this.
It looks like something I will need to try!
I have got to get my hands on a copy! I think my girls and I could have a lot of fun learning with this book!
omg, this is such a great looking book! and website, glad I was directed here from the blog tour!
em
Miss 3 and I would LOVE a copy of the book! We are constantly looking and researching for inspiration for fun and educational play activities. P.S. I found your blog with Childhood 101!
← Previous Comments
Next Comments →
{ 2 trackbacks }