1. Draw shapes outside with sidewalk chalk. Give your child shape challenges, like “march around the square,” “jump in and out of the circle,” or “count the sides on the triangle.”

2. Go on a shape hunt. Give your child a clipboard and paper with two or more shapes to find. Hunt inside and outside.

3. Create shape collages with paper, felt, or fabric shapes.

4. Make shapes with pipe cleaners, yarn, play dough snakes, or Wikki Stix.

5. Glue popsicle sticks into triangles, rectangles, and squares. Decorate and use them for picture frames.

6. Make designs and pictures with pattern blocks. PreKinders has printable picture mats for pattern blocks, too.

7. Play a shape guessing game. Take turns giving clues such as “My shape has 3 sides” or “My shape has no corners.”

8. Make pictures with shape stamps and washable stamp pads. (We love these solid and outline shape stampers.)

9. Have a shape day – my girls loved this when they were younger!

• Circle day: hula hoops, Frisbees, Ring Around the Rosy, round crackers, pancakes, and bracelet-making.
• Triangle day: triangle-cut cheese & bread for sandwiches, playing a musical triangle, creating trees, roofs, sailboats, or tents.
• Rectangle day: graham crackers, printing with sponges & paint, blocks & bricks, doors, and flags

10. Read books about shapes. Here are a few of our favorites:

• Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes by Stuart J. Murphy (3-D shapes)
• Museum Shapes – The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Round is a Mooncake by Roseanne Thong
• The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns
• When a Line Bends…A Shape Begins by Rhonda Gowler Greene

How do you and your kids play with shapes?

Here’s a quick and easy balance you can rig up with your kids. Gather a few supplies, and you, too, can answer the burning question – which Chipmunk is the heaviest?

Materials:

• clothes hanger
• yarn or string
• paper or plastic cups (strawberry baskets work well, too)
• hole punch
• tape (optional)

I think you can see the simple assembly in the photo. Punch two holes in each cup, string with yarn, and tie to the hanger. My girls ended up taping the yarn to each end of the hanger, since heavy objects made the cups slide around.

Take turns holding the balance, or use a cabinet handle or door knob as a helper.

We had a fun time comparing the weights of remotes, crayons, coins, plastic animals, and of course, Chipmunks. (In case you are wondering, Simon was the heaviest. Maybe it’s his glasses?)

Happy playing!

We have a couple of important birthdays to celebrate this month! I have collected some fun resources for learning more about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln this Presidents’ Day:

George Washington

For a good starter biography, I like David Adler’s A Picture Book of George Washington. It has enough information to be interesting, without being overwhelming, and the illustrations are nice, too.

My girls really enjoyed George Washington and the General’s Dog – we learned some neat things about Washington’s love of animals! Both of these books make great read-alouds.

Activities:

• Color a picture of George Washington :: Crayola
• Explore Washington’s World for Kids :: mountvernon.org
• Make a 3 Corner Hat :: A to Z Teacher Stuff
• Make a paper plate George Washington craft :: First Grade Parade
• Draw a George Washington mixed media portrait :: Pink and Green Mama
• Check out Washington’s face on quarters and dollars

Abraham Lincoln

There are lots of books about our 16th president! Kids can identify with Lincoln’s love of books in Abe Lincoln: The Boy Who Loved Books, they will giggle through the silly anecdotes in Abe Lincoln’s Hat, and d’Aulaire’s classic Abraham Lincoln is a lovely read (check your library for this one).

We’re also going to read a new-to-us book this year, Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers. The story is about an 11-year-old girl and a letter she wrote to Lincoln while he was campaigning to become president.  The Smithsonian National Museum of American History has a variety of activities to go along with this story, including viewing the original letter and Abe’s response. Neat!

Activities:

• Lincoln coloring and writing pages :: Activity Village
• Log cabin craft with popsicle sticks :: Enchanted Learning
• View panoramic photos of the Lincoln Memorial :: Lincoln Memorial Interactive
• Clean your pennies! :: Exploratorium

And, here’s one more fun activity to do with your kiddos – make your own presidential portrait on a coin.

Download our President Coin Printable.

Our February Book List has more presidential books you and your children might enjoy reading together. Also, if your child is interested in learning more about our past presidents, you might want to check out the presidential profiles at the Smithsonian.

If you have a favorite book or activity about the presidents, please share!