Guess What I am Game

Yesterday as we were just being rather lazy after getting our school work done, Selena escaped into her bedroom. Pretty soon she came out and told me to guess what she was. This is how she appeared.

Of course my first guess was something along the line of waiting to become a mommy. She quickly informed me “NO, I am a human stuffy!” Then proceeded to show me everything she had stuffed in her clothes.

Later in the evening she appeared looking like this, asking the same question, “Guess who what I am?”

I was laughing so hard just over her appearance I could hardly take the pictures. The second one she is showing me how upset she is because I was laughing. Truly I had no clues as to what she was trying to be, so she informed me, “I am a princess, karate, crab!” That made me laugh even harder. Just so you know those are hair pins that she put on her upper lip, no piercings took place.

There are just some days that she can be so creative in her own little way. She really knows not only how to keep herself entertained but us too.

Card Games

One of Selena’s favorite past times these days is to play cards. We can spend hours playing Go Fish and War. For her it doesn’t matter if she is winning or not, as she told me, “What matters is we are having fun and playing the game!” I love that attitude!

The other day we went to Burger King and in Selena’s Kid’s Meal was a deck of Uno cards. After we ate of course we had to open the cards and I taught Selena how to play Uno. I checked at Amazon, and while they do not have this same deck of cards, they have many variations of beginners Uno cards.

As you can see it looks very much like a regular deck of Uno cards, but there are fewer so the games are quicker. There are numerous variations that you can play, you can play by color, picture, or number. I really feel this is one game that a child from age 4 on up would greatly enjoy. Think about all the different things that can be taught from this one deck of card, matching pictures, colors, numbers, the skill of critical thinking, and strategy.

I am so happy that Selena loves cards. I am an avid card player and while Papa is not, I have missed playing cards. I look forward to teaching Selena some real fun card games here very soon.

Just on a side note: I have often heard that public school teachers will often come to us homeschoolers for ideas that can be used in their classroom. Today a good friend of mine who is a 3rd grade teacher was so overwhelmed and impressed with the idea of the lap book. The link she had showing this idea came from a blog of a homeschooler. Now who can say we homeschoolers do not know what we are doing?

Knock Knock Jokes

Selena and I have loved to share knock knock jokes for sometime now. Normally her jokes really don’t make sense but I laugh along with her. Tonight however, she asked me to play knock knock with her:

• Selena: Knock Knock
• Me: Who’s There?
• Selena: Cargo
• Me: Cargo Who?
• Selena: Cargo drives fast!

I couldn’t help but crack up laughing, all the while being amazed that she finally put a knock knock joke together on her own. I had never told her this one before, I don’t know if she had heard it from somewhere, or what but it definitely was a winner in my book.

Introduction to Yahtzee

We were feeling a wee bit bored with the cloudy weather, so I pulled the Yahtzee game out today. Using the basic principles of Yahtzee, I had Selena role the dice and try to build a Straight from 1 to 5 or from 2 to 6. I was very proud of her for recognizing the numbers on the dice by using the dots. Then we added a little competition to this game, by giving each of us 5 chances or rolls to build our Straight. Well, Selena won me 4 out of 5 tries, and we tied on two.


Selena found it a bit difficult to role the dice with her hand but quickly learned to use both hands. We didn’t use the cup as she had the dice going all over but in the box I was using to contain the dice in.
I might have someone to play Yahtzee with in no time! I plan on using this as an extension to our math, and think I will add more of the Yahtzee concepts as we go along. I would love to have someone to play Yahtzee with again!

Pay It Forward

I discovered this delightful game on Mouse Grows, Mouse learns I knew immediately it was something that I would enjoy being apart of.

It is a simple game, all you have to do is make a post about it on your blog, and promise to pay it forward to the first three commenter's on your post. I am excited that I am one of the first three on Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns and look forward to see what my little gift is.

So comment, get over and send me your address via email (my email is found in my profile) and I will send you some little gift as well.

Have Fun!

I Spy

One of our favorite games especially when we are on a walk around our town is "I Spy". Many times during this game Selena will discover things she has not seen before or doesn't know what it is. She will say "I Spy....with a pause then try to guess what she thinks it is" I take this opportunity to share with her what it is and we stop and if it is within reach, touch it, and really take time to explore.

Some of our "I Spies" are signs or numbers and letters that she reads easily, but she takes much enjoyment out of reinforcing her skills. I know for myself that sometimes when we take walks with our tots we often take in the most obvious things but forget to take in the whole picture. I feel "I Spy" is a perfect way of really opening up ourselves and engaging our tots into the world around them. Don't take everything for granted that they are seeing everything we see or in the same way we see it. Take time to let them tell you what they see, how they see it. It is such a fun way to enjoy a walk.