Whimsical Ways

Monday, February 2, 2015

Math Games Monday - Love Birds

Happy Monday!

I decided to do a series of Math Games Mondays for preschoolers. I was talking to a former classmate who is in the international banking field. She said, "I think I like preschool math the best - you get to "subtract" M&Ms. Sounds yummy to me!"

Preschool math is sooo important and easy to come up with ideas. I saw these bird cutouts at my local Dollar Tree dollar store along with the acrylic hearts and an idea sparked!

I simply added a large number to each one and the number word under it. Add a cup to contain the hearts and wa-la! you have the Love Birds math game.

Easy peasy, right? You could do duplicate this game a million zillion times using any kind of cutouts that you find. I had a set for each letter (monkey cutouts for M day, frog cutouts for F day, etc) when I taught preschool. They got beat up some by all the little hands using them, but these games are cheap to make.

So the child takes a Love Bird. He can read the number or you can read it to him. Then, he takes one heart at a time and places it on the bird cutout until he reaches the right number. It is important for the child to count each heart that he places on there and physically slides or places the heart on the bird. This is one-to-correspondence - an important preschool skill.

The child may need help and that's okay - it's bonding time. He may want to add too many or not enough. Just say, "Let's count together." You can model counting each heart individually. Children learning by watching us. :)

Play as long (or short) as he wants. The idea is to keep it fun and light. It'll be so fun that they won't even know they are learning. That is how children learn - by playing.

This game teaches number recognition, number word recognition, one-to-one correspondence, the value of each number, and counting.

Happy Monday & Happy Playing!
Mel

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Valentines

Can I get a drumroll please?
Ddddddd...
Ta-Da!
My Valentine's are done!

After spending several hours photographing these Incredible Creatures from Safari Ltd toys, I fell in love with the end result. I printed the photos as 4x6s at my local CVS with a white border to give it more of a postcard feel.

I think the recipients of these Valentine postcards are going to smile. I mean, who couldn't smile when you see this Baby Chameleon holding a heart?

I know the 'whooo loves you' is kinda punny, but I couldn't resist.

I love the expression on the white mouse - it's almost like he is covering up a smile.

This little hedgehog is oh-so cute - the perfect Valentine.

The flying squirrel just makes me smile every time I see it, like he is ready to leap and fly with his outstretched arms.

The hermit crab just lends himself to being a Valentine, right?

Okay, the guinea pig is my absolute favorite, because I used to have guinea pigs in my preschool classroom and at home. Look at this sweet little face.

Valentine's Day is less than 2 weeks away. I cannot wait to mail out my special Valentines.

Mel

Say Cheese

I spent most of the morning Saturday photographing some small friends. They were very good models - sat nicely, used their manners, etc :) but like most models, they didn't eat much.

I took TONS of pics, because I had one of my cccrraazzyy ideas.

So, if you would ask somebody about me, they would say...Mel loves kids. Mel is creative. Mel loves being Auntie Mel. And Mel sends a lot a lot a lot of cards. That pretty much sums it up. My Grandma Helen always had a card for every occasion. People say that she kept Hallmark in business. Maybe that's where I get it.

I decided to take pics of my etsy items (coming soon!) and make my own Valentines. Yep, that's what I said. I am going to make my own Valentine postcards.

I'll send them out to my nieces and nephews, friends, family. Who doesn't love getting mail??? Especially when it's not bills or junk mail, right?

This little bear might be my favorite. I'm a sucker for bears (yep, I went there!)

I will do a whole post - maybe two - with the completed Valentines. I am still editing and tweaking the pics. I just discovered Picasa - sooo easy to use.

Hello, little guinea pig!

Baby Chameleon is eating healthy. I thought I needed to capture that. Funny, right? This baby chameleon is from Safari Ltd as are the fruits. Perfect playthings for any child.

Oh, people also might say that I am a bit of a shutterbug! I took about 200 photographs in a couple hours. It was so fun.

I think this is a Super way to spend this Sunday. While everyone else is watching the game, I'll be here.

Have a great rest of your weekend.
Mel

Saturday, January 31, 2015

BIG CHANGES

BIG CHANGES by melanieshanks on Polyvore

Big Changes are coming to Whimsical Ways!

You might have already seen a few changes. I needed a fresh, new, clean, modern look for 2015. The header is new and oh-so fancy. There's a new Subscribe area to the right > so you can sign up with email and never miss a post! Also, I have added my Etsy store (www.etsy.com/shop/mybigworld2015) to the right > as well. New things will be there soon! I am so excited for these changes!