Bunny Peek A Boo, a Child's First Logic/Learning Game

A little while ago a friend asked for suggestions of ways to occupy her preschooler while she schooled her older children. I ended up with an incredible list of suggestions, because let's face it I have been doing "homeschool preschool" for awhile. So, one of the things I want to include in my blog is what worked, what we loved, and what I skipped with the next preschooler (No more dry bean sensory bins, I am still finding beans under the furniture). 

Today , I am reviewing one of my first logic/learning game finds: "Bunny Peek A Boo". The game is published by Smart Games and the suggested age range is 2yrs and up. And this game truly can be played by a two year old. 

So, what's inside this award winning game? The game comes with four colorful, sturdy solid wood pieces in the shapes of a bunny,  an open sided cube, arch, and a square

with a round hole in it. The pieces are very sturdy, despite some very rambunctious play the boys have failed to dent the wood or chip the paint. It also includes 30 double-sided cards, thus 60 challenges, which are color coded for difficult level.  There is also a solution sheet if you get stumped (I will admit to getting stumped once..then the five year old came over and solved it.) The game also has a wonderful insert that holds all the pieces, and helped the boys with clean up and taking care of the game.

How do you play Bunny Peek A Boo? The game is very simple. You give the child the blocks and a challenge card. The child has to

look at the picture and recreate the image using the blocks. The challenges start off very easy but as you can see eventually train the child to think outside the box and uses the blocks in different ways. Once you recreate the image you, can move on to the next challenge or level.

Why do I love Bunny Peek-a-Boo? Well, first because my boys loved it, and it was easy enough to start with that it captured them. My middle son, E, is a very busy little fella, and getting him to sit still and focus, well it is not his super power. And yet the ability to focus and problem solve are vital for learning.  (I have found sitting still is kind of optional if one can focus to the task at hand). Over the course of playing the game, E developed the ability to analyze the image, break it part into components, come up with a solution, and then recreate the image. He was driven to figure the challenge out, and would

easily pass 30 minutes playing. The long-term result: He now notices subtle differences in an image,  which has translated over to letter recognition. He has also developed problem solving skills that has greatly increased his understanding of numbers and basic math. And most importantly,  he developed the ability to focus on a task, problem solve and see it through.(Yes!!!) All while I taught his older brother phonics! (Mommy win!)

And the dismount: Bunny Peek A Boo is an awesome introduction to logic/learning games. I would say the age range  is 2-5yrs. Five years old is the max, in my opinion,  and you might find you are not getting your money's worth if you buy it for a 5 year old. There are just some better options out there for an older preschooler/kindergartner. It can seem a little pricey, but I have seen it on sale and honestly because it is sturdy, it resells very well. All this to say, for younger kids, I have never seen another toddler/ young preschool game like this. Totally age appropriate, incredibly sturdy, and Bunny Peek A Boo develops vital problem-solving skills while your little one is having fun...because admit it...Bunny is really cute!

And if you are wondering what I love for a 5 year old logic game..stay tuned :)

You can find Bunny Peek A Boo here:

How to Handle a Play

I don't know about you, but occasionally I find something in my son's curriculum that I am not quite sure how to handle because we are a homeschool with one student. I use BJU (Bob Jones University) for reading, which I LOVE, but it is written for a Christian school setting. Today, we came upon a play. The teacher's manual suggested choosing several kids to read the characters. I have one reader...[crickets chirping]

Now, I could try to arrange for having other readers come over but I have found "reading dates" not to be overly practical. Finding six other kids with the same reader, same block of time, and same location...is pretty much a homeschool impossibility. 

I could just read it with N like a regular story, and just reading it aloud seemed like a waste.

Also, last week I read this awesome blog about not growing weary during the back half of the school year...thus, I was feeling inspired! (This is the inspiring blog post)

As I contemplated this problem over my first sip of coffee, I came up with an awesome idea! We will make puppets and enlist my non-readers into the story. My boys love making up puppet shows, it was a win/win for me. The story in N's reader was The Bremen Town Musicians, a particularly fun story and conducive to puppets. I sent N off to do his math and gave E and J the mission to gather the needed craft supplies. I attempted to drink more coffee.

Supplies Used: 
Construction Paper
Paper Plate (We used Chinet, I like the stronger plates for puppets)
Goggly Eyes (A must for my preschoolers)
Craft Feathers
Glue Sticks
Markers
Coffee (first cup got cold)

J needs the preschool version of coffee.

Robber 1

I pre-made the paper shapes and arranged the animals, so the construction could be fairly self-directed. Crazy, zaniness ensued, but fairly quickly we had our puppets. We made a donkey, dog, cat, robin, rooster, innkeeper, robber 1, and robber 2. Glue, feathers, and paper flew through the air as I got my first sip of my second cup of coffee. 
 
 We then gathered and read/performed The Bremen Town Musicians. N directed/casted (which he took very seriously)/and did all the reading. The boys had a blasted, especially N.   It was a great comprehension and listening exercise for E and J, and well it was plain, old fun. My second cup of coffee was now cold, again.

Performing the play

Did this add a little zaniness to my morning? Yep. Was it totally necessary or even in my lesson plan? Nope. Am I glad I did it? Definitely!

An important part, or at least an important part of my philosophy, of homeschooling is capturing our child's heart. We want our children to love to learn, and to see school as an amazing part of their journey. But even more, we want them to love what we love, to love the Lord. And while making cat and donkey puppets might not seem important, helping my son love school and love what he learns in his home is paramount. It is the reason for my calling, my prime directive.

The cast and crew

Do not undervalue the little things, 

they are what the big things are made of.

The Best Laid Plans of Gerbils and Moms Often Go Astray...

I want you to know that my current situation was not one of my random, spur of the moment escapades. In fact, I thought and prayed for a couple weeks and had mentioned my thoughts to Anthony multiple times. Yet, despite all of this, my wonderful idea/plan for a classroom pet has gone horribly and laughably wrong.

It all started about a month ago. I had been working on giving N more chores and responsibilities. We started with folding towels and making his bed but, I was searching for something that he could trully be responsible for. I wanted to start developing the ideas of husbandry and caring for God's creation in the boys. And while we do have a dog, at 110lbs, Chase is a "little" daunting. He is more like our school's burly security guard than a classroom pet.

I started doing some research and in my mind I was thinking a little 5 gallon fish tank, or maybe growing a little garden in a pot, and at the outer limits a caring for a small bird. Notice a rodent is NO where on the list. I  have had traumatic experiences with rodents in the past. There was Speedy, the hamster I had as a child. He did not get that name because he loved to run in his wheel. Houdini would have been a better name for him or maybe Fang. And then there were the mice that I was in charge of  in college as a Biology TA... I can still hear in the panic in my suitemate's voice when she told me the mice had escaped not only their cages but the lab. Elementary Ed majors do not do well with random white mice inviting themselves to lecture. Needless to say, I just do not trust rodents.

Tunip and Callie

But, instead of presenting the idea of a fish or a plant to Anthony, I asked for his help deciding. FYI, you should really think about the consequences before delegating certain decisions. Delegating the research to Anthony was my downfall, the moment where I lost the battle/war/all sanity. Anthony found after much researching that gerbils were the best fit for our boys ages and abilities. (Well, actually rats were first on the list, but given my past rodent experience, he skipped them.) And... I got lost in the rational points presented to me. I even thought, how bad can gerbils be? They are the "nice" rodents. I have never heard anyone complain about gerbils. Also, gerbils prefer to have a
friend, so I would not have to interact with them, they provide their own entertainment.  The cage was super cute and the bedding was scentfree and 99.5% dust free.  What was there not to like?

Now, I did remember that rodents are conniving and our track record was at best bumpy. I even did my due diligence, and I asked the pet store three times if there was ANY way Tunip and Callie could be pregnant. She promised me no...she promised (insert eye-twitch)...

I will admit that Anthony's research was correct. N can totally care for Tunip and Callie. We have to assist him a little with cleaning the cage, but otherwise the gerbils have been great classroom pets. And they met my goals...for two weeks...

And then, Tunip betrayed me. Like I said, rodents and I do not get along well. And for some reason I seem to always be on the losing end.

Say hello to Kwazii, Peso, Barnacles, and Tweak.

A joyful heart is good medicine...

Proverbs 17:22a (ESV)

100th Day of School

A month ago, my Facebook and Instagram were full of pictures of kids and teachers dressed-up for the 100th day of school. They were all so adorable! It looked like so much fun that I wanted to celebrate our 100th day of school but I did not feel like powdering my hair. Not to mention dressing like you are 100 years old when there is just you is not real exciting. Sooooo, I decided we conduct a a normal day of school from 100 years ago, in other words, like it was 1917.

Now I will be completely honest, I was nowhere near 100% authentic. I think I was wearing a knit dress and leggings, and I was not giving up my bathroom. However, we came up with enough ideas to be not only super fun but also give the boys the experience of how things used to be done.

Here is what we did:

The day started with getting dressed for school in cotton shirts and denim jeans. I explained that shirts were made out of flour sacks in 1917 and the coolness factor went way up. Also, no socks or shoes. It wasn't Sunday and it wasn't snowing, so no shoes.

The sink and fridge were off limits for drinks (no traditional indoor plumbing in schools). The boys had to ladle their water into cups out of a "bucket". It was actually a great eye-hand coordination exercise.


N favorite part was conducting school without utilizing paper. Everything was copied onto his slate from the board (math and phonics) or was a verbal quiz (reading). Copying and writing on a slate was a great exercise and I really should do this again to help strengthen his penmanship.

E's favorite was recess! We learned a "schoolyard" game. It was cold outside so I taped a square on the carpet and taught the boys how to play marbles. It took them awhile to figure out how to flick a marble (J never quite got it) but it was a lot of fun.

The week before, N and I did a unit on Alexander Graham Bell and discussed  different means of communication used before the advent of the internet and cell phones. So, for science/history on this 100th day of school, we learned about Morse Code and telegraphs. We made our names utilizing Morse Code by using: ponybeads for the dots, pieces of drinking straws for the dashes, and threading them on pipe cleaners. It was a simple craft (you can find samples of the Morse Code alphabet on Pinterest) but very successful. N has struggled with the idea of codes before but he grasped this concept fairly quickly.


But life in 1917 would not be complete without after school chores, 1917 style. So, N had the job of making butter for dinner. I placed some marbles in a large glass mason jar with heavy whipping cream and let he shake away. It definitely took some perseverance but after a little help from my electric mixer (teacher put to much cream in the jar, newbie mistake), we made butter! He got to do the semi-gross job of  rinsing the butter and squeezing the buttermilk out. All in all, we were shocked that it really worked and making butter was fairly easy. Who knew...

Our version of school in 1917 actually required very little extra work or planning from me, most of the items I had around the house. The boys had a blast.  And honestly, for a fun day we actually got a lot accomplished.

Items Used: cotton clothing, a large pot and ladel, a small chalk board, some chalk, masking tape, marbles, pony beads, drinking straws, pipe cleaners, a large mason jar, and some heavy whipping cream.

Concepts Covered: Besides the obvious historical information, we also worked on fine and gross motor skills, penmanship, eye-hand coordination, and logic.

What Would I Change/Add: Next year I will slow bake potatoes in the oven for lunch, along with an apple and cheese.

Mommy Guilt

I have noticed that the combination of decreased sleep and post-baby hormones has made me a rather unusual thinker. Some may argue that I have always had a peculiar point of view, but right now it is a little odder than normal. Perhaps, a better way to phrase it, is I have found myself having a harder time identifying and shaking erroneous ideas. For example: earlier this week I noticed that Noah had some bug bites that had whelped up along his pants waistband. They looked so itchy and I felt bad for the little tyke. Anthony asked me what I was upset about and I said that I was upset with myself for not preventing Noah's mosquito bites. What!? Yes, for some reason I thought I should be able to keep those little black pests away from my toddler.  Give that girl a failing grade in "Bug Prevention 101"!

While the idea that I should have prevented Noah's bug bites seems ludicrous now, it is evidence of a bigger parent struggle, namely "Mommy Guilt". Mommy Guilt is that dangerous path we go down when something bad or particularly hard happens to the little treasures in our care.  It is an overwhelming, all-consuming feeling that we could have prevented a trial our child is experiencing if we had just done "_________" differently.

Mommy Guilt is built off of a lie, a belief that we as parents can control the uncontrollable. People around us try and point out the weakness in our warped logic, but sometimes that is more easily said than done. Or worse people and/or the media feed our guilt, like we needed any help! I remember a mother when I worked in diabetes education who was overwhelmed by Mommy Guilt. Her 8 year old son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and she was sure she could have prevented it. She kept saying that maybe if she had breastfeed him till he was 5 instead weaning at 3, he would not have gotten diabetes. It took quite a bit of talking and prayer for her to be able to overcome and defeat the guilt over an autoimmune disorder that she had no control over.

So, here are a few of my ruminations about Mommy Guilt. (I have been mentally chewing this cud all week!)

First, God is in control and has a plan for our son or daughter.While we know this intellectually, seeing God mold and shape our child can be confusing and painful through our finite vision. So, while having a new baby brother is hard on Noah, God choose this for this time in Noah's life.  I wish I could take credit for this insight, because I found it the most freeing, but they are the words of wisdom from my Mom.

Following onto this idea is the realization that God loves my child more than I do, even though that seems impossible. (How incredibly deep His love must be!) God then took this person He loved and made/choose me to be his parent! If God choose me, why do I doubt His calling?

Next, we live in a fallen world. No matter how hard we try to protect our kids, the fact remains that the world is broken, and has been since the time of Adam and Eve. Our bodies, while a perfect creation, have been damaged by sin.  And the last time I checked, I can't stop the effects of a fallen world.

Lastly, I have to let go and realize that I cannot know everything. I am sure there where many devastated mothers when people found out that typhoid and cholera could be largely prevented by boiling drinking water. Inevitably, a scientific discovery will be made showing us a better way of doing things, or how to prevent some disease. We can only work with what we know. So if Noah has trouble understanding what the hypotenuse of a triangle is ten years from now, it is not because I sprayed the backyard for mosquitoes when he was almost two. (I had this idea float through my head as I debated how to prevent future mosquito bites.) He maybe having trouble because the teacher silently agrees with the sentiment of who really cares what the hypotenuse is, and the blue car will get to point B when ever it gets there! But I digress...

Ultimately, when it comes to Mommy Guilt, I have to let go of the future of my two little boys and trust my loving, Heavenly Father. Anything else is a lie and unhealthy for me and my family.