For that reason, I thought it would be nice to share some color recognition games with you that take few materials, require a short time to set up, can be played both indoors and outdoors, and can be used with one or more children.

BONUS: These games can also be used if you are teaching your children color vocabulary in a foreign language. Simply say the color in the foreign language, like “rojo” or “azul,” or have your child do so.

Now here are three games you can use to teach your children color recognition.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Clicking on them helps support our family and homeschool. Thank you!

Hop To It

This game not only teaches color recognition, but it also reinforces gross motor and listening skills.

Materials:

• Squares of felt or other fabric that are roughly 9 to 12 inches square in these colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, white, brown, pink, and gray. You’ll need one set of each color for every 1-2 children playing.
• A spacious area either indoors or outdoors. Should not be on a slippery floor.

Instructions:

Spread out the squares of fabric so that they are in a large circle.

Tell your child(ren) to stand in the middle of the circle.

Give your child(ren) directions such as those listed below to get to different colored squares:

• Hop to the blue square.
• Jump to the green square.
• Skip to the black square.
• Walk to the red square.
• Run to the yellow square.
• Crawl to the white square.
• Walk backwards to the pink square.
• Do the crab walk to the gray square.

You can use any kind of physical activity you like to get the child(ren) from one square to another.

You can make this activity more random by writing the color names on one set of craft sticks and actions on another set of craft sticks. Then you simply pick one stick from each group.

A good way to spruce up this activity is to play some energetic classical music while your children play.

I Spy

This is a good game to play when you need to keep your children occupied in a restaurant or some other place while you are out.

Materials: None

Instructions:

Look around you and pick out an object that is a certain color.

Tell your children, “I spy with my little eye something that is _______(color).”

Now your kids take turns trying to guess what the object is.

Whoever gets it right gets to be the next leader and pick out an object for the others to guess.

Color Scavenger Hunt

Years ago, my mother bought my daughters the Bucket Blast game. They loved it and still do, even as teenagers. It includes instructions for multiple games suitable for a variety of age groups. Here is my own game which uses some of the equipment from the Bucket Blast Game.

Materials:

• Bucket Blast colored buckets and bean bags
• Space (Indoors or outdoors but not outer unless you have space suits)

The Bucket Blast Game
is available on Amazon

Instructions:

Hide the colored bean bags around a designated area. You don’t have to use all of them. You can use 2-3 of each color if you like.

Put the colored buckets in a central location.

Tell your child(ren) to go on a hunt to find the bean bags and bring them back to the buckets. When they find one, they should tell you the color and put it in the bucket of the same color.

To make this more exciting, you can set a time limit.

You can also create a story behind it like “Bring the lost gnomes back to their homes” or “Bring the drops of color back to the rainbow” to make it more interesting.

I hope your kids enjoy these games. Feel free to share them with others.

Many blessings,

She has 17 items that are up for possible wins. Wow!

Her generosity knows no bounds.

These products, ranging from toys to a planner to curriculum treats, are a huge blessing to any homeschool family. They encompass such areas as Reading, Math, History, and more! It’s an incredible selection to choose from!

Or, instead of choosing, you can just sign up to win everything.

Here’s a rundown of the goodies you have a chance to win:

1. Star Wars LEGO^® set
2. Christmas Around the U.S.A Curriculum
3. Members Only PowerPoints by 1 + 1 + 1 = 1
4. Reading in 1st Curriculum
5. Storybook Artist Unit Studies Curriculum
6. Christian Preschool Curriculum
7. History Rocks! Part 1 Curriculum
8. Arithmetic Village storybook set
9. How to Succeed As An Educational Printables Business ebook by Jill
10. Boyschooling: The Fine Art of Homeschooling Boys by Jamerrill Stewart
11. Dolch Site Word Wall Packs
12. All-In-One Personal Planner by Where He Leads, We Follow
13. 12 Week Summer Learning Program by Sun Scholars
14. E-book bundle of Essay Tune Up, Designing Your Language Arts Curriculum, and Notebooking Success by Jimmie Lanley
15. Itsy Bitsy Spider Pack by 3 Dinosaurs
16. Bears & Butterflies: 41+ Hibernation Activities
17. $15 Gift Card to Currclick

==>Click here to go to Jill’s site and sign up to win these neat treats!

Many blessings,

Hi. Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo.

In honor of this important day in Mexican history, I thought I would put together a printables pack for you to share with your children.

But before I share the little ‘paquete’ with you, let me explain a little bit about Cinco de Mayo.

About Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo is NOT the Mexican Independence Day. That is actually “El Dieciséis de Septiembre” or “The Sixteenth of September.” Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in remembrance of the Battle of Puebla which took place during the French occupation of Mexico.

In the mid 1800′s, Mexico owed France a great deal of money which it couldn’t afford to pay back. So Napoleon III sent an army, 8000 strong, to invade Mexico. The Mexican army, under President Benito Juárez, consisted only of about 4500 men and was poorly equipped. Because of that, they lost many battles against the French.

However, on May 5th, 1862 in Puebla, the Mexican army under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza succeeded in defeating the French. It wasn’t a major strategic battle in military terms, but it did succeed in boosting the morale of the Mexican people tremendously. With that little success under their belts, the Mexicans fought with renewed vigor and were able to oust the French from their country within 6 years.

Cinco de Mayo Printables Pack

Now that we’re done with that history lesson, let’s move on to the freebie.

Here is what is included in the Cinco de Mayo Printables Pack:

• Spanish pronunciation key
• Spanish vocabulary including colors and numbers
• Spanish games and activities using the vocabulary
• A full color flag of Mexico
• Coloring pages including a Cinco de Mayo poster and a Mexican flag
• A full color poster for Cinco de Mayo

Click here to get your FREE Cinco de Mayo Printables Pack.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Many blessings,

It’s a good time to cuddle up with your little honey bunnies and share some classic nursery rhymes by that talented lady.

Actually, that lady’s name should be “Anonymous” because the Mother Goose rhymes were written by a collection of unknown men and women over a period of many years. These simple verses were passed down from one generation to the next and came to be known by tradition as “Mother Goose Rhymes.”

In the Mother Goose books which we find today, we come to know characters like “Little Boy Blue” and “Little Bo Peep.” But I had to ask myself, “Are there other characters and rhymes that aren’t so commonly known?” I decided to go on a hunt to find out and was pleasantly surprised to find that there are quite a large number of rhymes that go back a century or more. I thought that some of these gems would be the perfect present to share with you today on Mother Goose Day. So here they are. Enjoy!

Mother Goose Rhymes

A, B, C, tumble down D,
The cat’s in the cupboard, and can’t see me.

* * * * * * * * * *

Tommy Trot, a man of law,
Sold his bed and lay upon straw:
Sold the straw and slept on grass,
To buy his wife a looking-glass.

* * * * * * * * * *

    Come dance a jig
    To my Granny’s pig,
With a raudy, rowdy, dowdy;
  Come dance a jig
  To my Granny’s pig,
And pussy-cat shall crowdy.

* * * * * * * * * *

One’s none;
Two’s some;
Three’s a many;
Four’s a penny;
Five is a little hundred.

* * * * * * * * * *

    Hark, hark,
    The dogs do bark,
Beggars are coming to town;
    Some in jags,
    Some in rags,
And some in velvet gowns.

* * * * * * * * * *

Hop away, skip away, my baby wants to play,
My baby wants to play every day.

* * * * * * * * * *

There was a man and he had naught,
    And robbers came to rob him;
He crept up to the chimney top,
    And then they thought they had him;
But he got down on t’other side,
    And then they could not find him:
He ran fourteen miles in fifteen days,
    And never looked behind him.

* * * * * * * * * *

Come, let’s to bed,
Says Sleepy-head;
    Tarry awhile, says Slow:
Put on the pot,
Says Greedy-gut,
    Let’s sup before we go.

* * * * * * * * * *

Three wise men of Gotham
Went to sea in a bowl:
And if the bowl had been stronger,
My song would have been longer.

* * * * * * * * * *

‘Twas the twenty-ninth of May, ’twas a holiday,
Four and twenty tailors set out to hunt a snail;
The snail put forth his horns, and roared like a bull,
Away ran the tailors, and catch the snail who wull.

* * * * * * * * * *

Jog on, jog on, the footpath way,
    And merrily jump the style, boys,
A merry heart goes all the day,
    Your sad one tires in a mile, boys.

* * * * * * * * * *

Hogs in the garden, catch ‘em, Towser,
Cows in the corn-field, run boys, run.
Cats in the cream-pot, run girls, run girls,
Fire on the mountains, run boys, run.

* * * * * * * * * *

If I’d as much money as I could spend,
I never would cry, old chairs to mend;
Old chairs to mend, old chairs to mend;
I never would cry, old chairs to mend.

If I’d as much money as I could tell,
I never would cry, old clothes to sell;
Old clothes to sell, old clothes to sell;
I never would cry, old clothes to sell.

* * * * * * * * * *

The cat sat asleep by the side of the fire,
    The mistress snored loud as a pig:
Jack took up his fiddle, by Jenny’s desire,
    And struck up a bit of a jig.

* * * * * * * * * *

    I would, if I could;
    If I couldn’t, how could I?
I couldn’t without I could, could I?
Could you without you could, could ye?
    Could ye, could ye?
You couldn’t without you could, could ye?

* * * * * * * * * *

I love that last rhyme, “I Would, If I Could.” I think it is a good way to remind children that with an “I could” or “I can” attitude, they can do many more things than with an “I couldn’t” or “I can’t” attitude.

Which one of these vintage Mother Goose rhymes is YOUR family’s favorite? I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.

Have a great Mother Goose Day!

Many blessings,

I think it is a great opportunity to do a fun storytelling activity with your family and/or friends.

Oral storytelling is both a good learning experience and a fun activity. It encourages creativity, use of the imagination, and quick thinking.

While telling an entire story alone can be a daunting task, relating a small part of a story can be a little less intimidating. The storytelling activity that I’m about to share with you requires the participants to do just that, take turns telling bits of a continuous story.

You may want to explain these guidelines before starting this activity:

• There is no right or wrong way to tell the story. You can add one sentence or a dozen sentences in the time you are given.
• Comments from other participants should be kept to a minimum and be positive.
• Content should be appropriate for all members of the group.

These suggestions will help make it a more positive experience. I hope your family enjoys this activity on National Tell A Story Day.

Cooperative Storytelling Activity

Materials: A 30 second timer

Instructions:

1. Begin by having everyone sit in a circle.
2. Decide on the type of story you want to tell as a group. Will it be fantasy? Realistic fiction? Historical fiction? A tall tale or folk tale? A humorous story?
3. Determine by choice or by chance who will start the story.
4. Select a setting and main character for the story. This can be decided by the first player or as a group.
5. Pick someone to be a time keeper. He will be in charge of the timer. The timer should be set for 30 seconds.
6. On the count of three, the time keeper should start the timer and the first person should begin telling the story using the genre, main character and setting that was decided on.
7. When the timer beeps, the storyteller should stop, even if he is in the middle of a sentence.
8. The time keeper starts the timer again and the next person continues the story as he likes.
9. These steps repeat for a designated number of rounds or a certain time period.

Helpful Tips:

If you find that 30 seconds is too long or too short, or if you just want to make the activity a little more interesting, you can change the timer to 15, 45, or 60 seconds.

If the group has a hard time deciding on a genre, you might want to write some ideas on little pieces of paper and put them in a container. Someone can pick one out at the beginning of the activity. This can also be done with ideas for the main character and the setting. This can add a little fun randomness to the activity.

Feel free to modify the rules as you like to make this activity easier, more challenging, or even more interesting.

Do you have any ideas for other activities on National Tell A Story Day? I’d love to hear about them in the comment section below.

Many blessings,

I don’t know about you, but I like to combine things whenever it is convenient as a time saver. Sometimes it can work out quite well to do two or more different subjects together with one lesson. With Earth Day and Poetry Month, you can easily kill two birds with one stone by sharing some poems about the Earth with your children.

How convenient.

Thankfully, there are some wonderful poems about the Earth and other aspects of God’s creation which are perfect for both Earth Day and Poetry Month.

Here are three classics that I found that you might enjoy using in your homeschool today. I’ve thrown in some discussion questions for you as a bonus.

The Wonderful World

The Wonderful World
By William Brighty Rands

Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world,
With the wonderful water round you curled,
And the wonderful grass upon your breast,
World, you are beautifully dressed!

The wonderful air is over me,
And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree;
It walks on the water, and whirls the mills,
And talks to itself on the tops of the hills.

You friendly earth! how far do you go
With the wheat fields that nod, and the rivers that flow?
With cities and gardens, and cliffs, and isles,
And people upon you for thousands of miles?

Ah, you are so great, and I am so small,
I tremble to think of you, World, at all;
And yet, when I said my prayers today,
My mother kissed me, and said, quite gay,

“If the wonderful World is great to you,
And great to Father and Mother too,
You are more than the Earth, though you are such a dot;
You can love and think, and the Earth can not!”

Discussion Questions:
1. What are the beautiful clothes that dress the world?
2. What things does the wind do?
3. Why does the poet say that the Earth is “friendly”?
4. Why are you more wonderful than the world?

Trees

Trees
By Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Discussion Questions:
1. Personification is when an author gives human qualities to something that is not human. Find two examples of personification in this poem.
2. According to the poet, why is a tree more lovely than a poem?
3. How does Kilmer bring glory to God with this poem?

What Do We Plant

What Do We Plant?
By Henry Abbey

What do we plant when we plant the tree?
We plant the ship, which will cross the sea.
We plant the mast to carry the sails;
We plant the planks to withstand the gales —
The keel, the keelson, and beam and knee;
We plant the ship when we plant the tree.

What do we plant when we plant the tree?
We plant the houses for you and me.
We plant the rafters, the shingles, the floors,
We plant the studding, the lath, the doors,
The beams and siding, all parts that be;
We plant the house when we plant the tree.

What do we plant when we plant the tree?
A thousand things that we daily see;
We plant the spire that out-towers the crag,
We plant the staff for our country’s flag,
We plant the shade, from the hot sun free;
We plant all these when we plant the tree.

Discussion Questions:
1. Poetry can sometimes have repeated words or phrases. Which words are repeated in this poem? Why do you think these words are important?
2. Why does the poet believe it is important to plant a tree?
3. What is the rhyme scheme of this poem?

What did you think of these poems and discussion questions? Were they useful for your homeschool? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you.

Many blessings,

I was not happy.

I decided it was time to enlighten them on the importance of thinking before speaking, a valuable asset in the adult world.

I remembered seeing posters and images on the internet which said, “Before you speak: THINK.” THINK is an acronym for “Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind?” That was just what I needed so I got to work to make my own poster for our homeschool room.

I opened up InDesign. I chose a cat font since my daughters love cats. I used it for the word, “THINK” and selected a different font for the rest of the poster. I laid out all of the text in various text boxes. When I finished, I printed it off and hung it up in plain view.

My daughters got the point.

The unpleasant word usage has been reduced. If it starts to rear its ugly head again, I just point to the poster.

Thank you, internet.

I thought that you might also like to have a THINK poster, so I created some free printables using a variety of fonts. (I love fonts!) Here they are.

Before You Speak: THINK – Free Printables

Cats Poster
Here is the cat poster we have hanging up in our school room.

Click here to get the Cats Poster free printable

Hearts Poster

Click here to get the Hearts Poster free printable

Flowers Poster

Click here to get the Flowers Poster free printable

Sunrise Poster

Click here to get the Sunrise Poster free printable

Country Button Poster

Click here to get the Country Button Poster free printable

Block Poster

Click here to get the Block Poster free printable

Block Letters Poster

Click here to get the Block Letters Poster

Patchwork Angels Poster

Click here to get the Patchwork Angels Poster free printable

I hope these posters help your kids to think a little before they speak.

By the way, I’d love to hear which poster you use. Please fill me in on it in the comment section below. Have a great year!

Many blessings,

That’s what the hobbits from J.R.R. Tolkien’s books do. They give presents to other people on their birthdays.

So like Bilbo Baggins, I am giving away a present, a digital present. It’s my Kindle ebook, 365 Days of Riddles: A Collection of Classic Rhyming Riddles to Sharpen Your Wits.

It will be FREE for today only. Here’s more about it.

I was inspired to create this book after my daughters and I saw the movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, when it came out in the theaters a few months ago. We loved that movie! (More about it in a minute.) The exchange of riddles between Gollum and Bilbo got me thinking that I would love to put together a book of classic riddles. So that’s what I did. I found old riddles. I modified some so that they would be easier for today’s readers to understand. I assigned one for each day of the year and published it to Kindle.

As you probably already know, riddles are good for the mind. They require the use of inductive reasoning and imagination. Practicing them daily helps develop these cognitive abilities. That’s why I organized my book so that the reader could guess one riddle per day for an entire year.

Now, because today is my birthday, that book is FREE on Amazon, my gift to you.

Buy The Hobbit

If you haven’t already seen the movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, I highly recommend it. It is the first in a trilogy which portrays the well-known book, The Hobbit, written by J.R.R. Tolkien. Peter Jackson, the director/producer, does a wonderful job of retelling this epic tale on the big screen. The movie is both exciting and humorous. There are some funny lines that I would love to repeat here, but I don’t want to give away any spoilers. You’ll find that some of the characters’ lines will cause you to ponder and the riddles will have you guessing. Overall, this film was very well done.

Now as I promised, here is the link to my Kindle book, 365 Days of Riddles, which is FREE for today only. Happy riddling!

Many blessings,

St. Patrick was an inspirational man. He loved Christ dearly. He had a strong faith in God and trusted in his protection when his life was threatened. He wrote a beautiful hymn that I think children will enjoy.

That’s why I’m offering my “St. Patrick’s Breastplate: Copywork Grades 3-6″ for FREE right now on Currclick.

Here’s a little bit of background information about this well-known piece that you might be interested in.

St. Patrick wrote this hymn more than 1500 years ago. At that time, he was traveling through Ireland as a missionary. He sought to convert pagans to the Christian faith. Some of the pagans were angry with him and his monks for what they were doing. This put Patrick and his followers in danger. Patrick’s solution was to write a hymn to God for protection. He sang it whenever he felt they were under threat of ambush. It successfully kept them safe from the people who wanted to harm them.

“St. Patrick’s Breastplate” is a hymn of protection for the body and soul. It is believed that any person who recites or sings it daily while meditating on God will be protected from demons, poisons, envy, and sudden death. Celtic Monks pray it every day in the morning.

You can find multiple versions of “St. Patrick’s Breastplate.” The copywork pages I created have both the traditional abridged version as well as the full version. There is also a classic, full page, black and white drawing of St. Patrick included.

I hope these pages bless your family this St. Patrick’s Day.

Click here to get the “St. Patrick’s Breastplate” copywork pages FREE on Currclick.

Many blessings,

You might want to consider sharing a brief history of pi with your children. Pi has a long history which dates back to over a millennium before Christ. Persons from all over the globe have worked at calculating this irrational number. While it has taken modern computers to push the limits on determining the greatest number of digits in pi, the works of ancient mathematicians like Archimedes pictured here provided the foundation.

If you’d like to know more about what Archimedes did as well as the ten trillionth digit of pi, keep reading.

A History of Pi

The first time that we see pi in recorded history is with the Babylonians. They estimated pi to be 25/8 or 3.125 as was discovered on a clay tablet which dates back to around 1900-1680 BC.

The ancient Egyptians were less than 1% off in their calculation of pi. The scribe Ahmes wrote in the Rhind Papyrus, “Cut off 1/9 of a diameter and construct a square upon the remainder; this has the same area as the circle.” Using his estimation, pi would be about 3.1605.

The ratio of pi is mentioned in the Bible in 1 Kings 7:23. It says, “Now he made the sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits, and thirty cubits in circumference.” This is referring to a pool that was made for the Temple which Solomon built.

The first calculation of pi was done in ancient Greece by the famous mathematician Archimedes. He found the area of a polygon that was inscribed within a circle. Then he found the area of a polygon within which the same circle was circumscribed. This provided him with the upper and lower bounds for the area of the circle. With 96-sided polygons, he calculated pi to be 3.1485.

Two mathematicians in ancient China are credited with finding more precise values of pi. Around 265 AD, Liu Hui used a 3,072-sided polygon to determine a value of 3.1416. Later, Zu Chongzhi used Liu Hui’s algorithm with a 12,288-sided polygon to obtain a value of 355/113 which is 3.141592920353982.

An astronomer-mathematician from India by the name of Aryabhata figured pi around the year 499 AD. He wrote, “Add four to 100, multiply by eight, and then add 62,000. By this rule the circumference of a circle with a diameter of 20,000 can be approached.” This turns out to be 3.1416.

The well-known, Italian mathematician of the Middle Ages, Fibonacci, used a polygon method to arrive at a number of 3.1418 for pi around the year 1200 AD.

The Greek letter ∏ was first associated with this ratio in the year 1706. William Jones, a math teacher from Wales, used the symbol in his book Synopsis Palmariorum Matheseos. Prior to that time, pi was referred to as “quantitas in quam cum multiflicetur diameter, proveniet circumferencia” which is Latin for “the quantity which, when the diameter is multiplied by it, yields the circumference.” The symbol ∏, incidentally, is the first letter in the Greek word for “perimeter.”

The Swiss mathematician,Leonard Euler made the use of the symbol ∏ popular in 1737.

In modern times, computers have made it easier to determine pi. In the year 2011, Shigeru Kondo, using Alexander Yee’s software and a home computer with multiple hard drives, calculated pi to ten trillion digits. It took 371 days due to multiple failures. The ten trillionth digit, by the way, is 5.

Others have contemplated pi over the ages. This is just a brief account of major contributors to the history of pi.

I hope you and your children have a great day celebrating pi. I would love to hear about the activities you do in the comment section below.

Many blessings,