During our summer vacation, we got the tiny opportunity to learn a bit about our body. Pinky has been asking to do activities about this topic for quite a time now. However, it seems that something always got in our way.

 

Not wanting to keep it longer, here are a few things we did.

 

First, we put this skeleton puzzle together. I am not sure where’s from because I bought it at Goodwill a couple of years ago.

The next activity was to write the bones names on index cards and match to the correct bone.

Meet your bones!

 

So cute together!

These are other puzzles we got to use. The brain is from Staples, and I think the others are from a dollar store. I know for sure they were $1 each!!!

 

Then, I made some organs using felt. I used an Anatomy book as a reference and draw the organs by sight.

I used cheap felt (busted!) so I had to fold it in half and glue the sides together with a hot glue gun. As a result, the felted organs are stronger which I think is good if small and busy hands are the ones using them.

The stomach. As you can see, the felt sheet is folded in half.

 

Here they are!!!

(Brain, lungs, heart, liver, gallbladder, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, spleen, kidneys, urinary bladder, small and long intestines)

 

Another activity was to use doctor’s related stickers from Michaels to create art.

Isn’t that so cute?

 

We also watched a few videos from YouTube and the Magic school bus on Netflix (The Human body).

 

Finally, we read lots of books!

These books are ours. I mostly got them for 0.39 cents up to $1 at a Thrifty store nearby.

So far she just looked at the pictures and we read anything that called her attention at the moment.

We read the magic school bus (Spanish) and then watched the movie on Netflix.

 

Finally, no unit can’t be completed without some dramatic play time or field trip.

Actually, we have 3 physicians at home!

 

 

Visit our Pinterest board: Anatomy for more amazing ideas!

 

 

I believe it wasn’t a short unit after all!

Here is our second continent box: Antarctica plus the Arctic, just in time to wish you a Happy World Penguin Day. I have decided to include activities about the Arctic and tundra in general in this box because of lack of space available at home. However, this creates a great opportunity to talk with Pinky about the North and South pole and their differences/similarities between them.

Photo: Our continent Box plus a green bin where I keep the books available. After we finish the Continent unit, everything goes inside the big bin. The lower photo is another sensory box with white felt, packing peanuts, white flower petals, scrap paper and aquarium marbles and rocks (for the penguins to build their nests). The photo on the right is our version of the Scrimshaw (ivory soap carvings).

 

For this box, we took advantage of the snowy Winter days and the snow just to re-create a mini-world. If you doesn’t have the snow factor advantage, you could recreate a sensory box with ice…or shaving cream….or white/blue play-doh….There are many available options all over the Internet!

Let’s see what did we learn with the Antarctica continent box:

Books

We explored books about: Atlas, The world, Arctic (Balto, Inuits, canada, alaska, iceland, etc), penguins. We LOVE books in this house!!! In the last photo, Pinky is playing after we read the Magic tree house chapter book: Polar bears past bedtime.

Sensory Box with Ice and Snow

Pinky played with different sensory box set-ups using water, snow, ice, scrap paper, packing peanuts, etc.

3 part cards

Parts of a Polar bear.

Parts of a penguin

Arctic animals….cards-objects matching activity….on the back of the card we have some information about the animals.

Clothing

Antarctica scientist clothing and Frosty the snowman clothing…..both need lots of clothes!!! lol

Inuits- Balto story and movie time

We don’t usually watch t.v.; however, comparing a book and it’s movie was such an interesting activity. She amazed me!!

Penguins!!!

Puzzle from Dollar tree store!

 

Hold your egg like a Penguin! Too funny and hard!!! lol Excellent for the snow storm lockdown…

 

7 Penguins of Antarctica craft. Idea from Montessori Tidbits (link below)

 

Check out these great sites for more activities to include in your Antarctica or Arctic unit study:

1. Living Montessori Now: Montessori-Inspired Arctic and Antarctic Unit
2. Joy of Kindergarten: Getting My Penguins In a Row
3. Parent, teach, play: Penguins – Play & Learning!
4. Trillium Montessori: Antarctica: Overview, Antarctica: Penguins (free Penguins and Their Chicks printable), and Antarctica: Whales (How Long is a Whale? free printable cards)
5. Jojoebi: Penguins 3 part cards free
6. Kingdom of the three princesses: Our Continent Boxes – Antarctica (lots of resources/links about transportation, food chain, clothing, etc.)
7. Mondorfment: Mondorfment Continent Swap Hop and Giveaway (free life cycle of the Emperor Penguin)
8. Montessori Tidbits: Penguins of Antarctica craft (from here comes the 7 penguins of Antarctica craft idea)
9. Scholastic: Lesson 2: The Extreme Antarctic 
10. Counting Coconuts: Our Continent Bags - Antarctica
11. Discovery days and Montessori Moments: Antarctica Box!
12. Montessori MOMents: Antarctica Cultural Exchange Package
13. What did we do all day?: Continent Boxes: Antarctica
14. The Pinay Homeschooler: Continent: Antarctica Unit, Arctic Animals Control Cards (FREE PRINTABLE)
15. Little things: Very Last First Time (Arctic unit)
16. New bee homeschooler: Serie of great post about the Arctic.
17. Learn, create, love: { Arctic Animal Crafts }

 

Visit our Pinterest Board: Continent Box: Antarctica, Arctic, for more amazing ideas!

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Pinky has never been so interested about blocks or Legos. I bought these very happy and excited a long time ago dreaming about all the things we were gonna build together. However, the blocks have been sitting on a corner and just played 2-3 times a YEAR!!

Trying to get into consideration her interests, I found a great use for them: we built community buildings (CVS, Macys, Toys R’us, Target, Stop & Shop). Ok, OK!!!! I know this is nothing new…..blocks are for that……but in our case they are permanently stuck together, with tape. Otherwise, she would re-storage them as soon as they had fallen apart. We need to work into Patience!

After we built our new stores (much cheaper than the beautiful and perfect ones from Lakeshore Learning Store, which we would love to have), we settle up a small community with all her miniature dollies, houses and other stuffs over our IKEA rug. It was totally worth it and, finally, she is using her blocks! Maybe, someday, we would decide to glue the blocks together and paint the whole building for something more real…..or maybe she would decide to really use her blocks in other ways?

 

 

My little princess world!

Here is another activity we came up with along time ago, Pinky was almost 3 years old, for her to use her Legos. I didn’t realize it will turn out so popular! lol

Aaaahhhh!!!! She looks so chubby! Time really flies!

This is going to be just an ALL picture post (mostly).

Why????

Because I am going to share how silly, innocence, cheerful, joyful, lovely and imaginative a child mind can be.

Here is a post about my beloved Pinky’s hobby: she LOVES to dress-up……she loves to pretend she is someone else…..she loves to have fun wearing glittery dresses or tie and pants……she is just a wonderful 4 years old! 

Lalaloopsy

Super Mario Bros.

Cowgirl

Princess

President of the United States

Gold miner/explorer

Super fashion model

Egyptian mummy

I am not sure…..Snow White??

Snowflakes ballerina

Where’s the fire?

Luau dancer

Chef

Pinky: What are we gonna be next????

Cousin: Well, I am not sure……

Pinky: For now…we rock these shoes!!!

Cousin: Yes!, we look GREAT!

 

Oh yes, everyone has to join the fun when visiting our home!!!!

She has lots of customs, thanks to the Halloween after sales….and EVERY day, maybe 2-4 times a day, she is pretending to be someone else!

 

So, do you get dressed or do you dress-up?????

 

Check these very interesting articles about Dress-up play:

Playtime in peril by Lea Winerman from the American Psychological Association (APA).

Play Therapy: How it Helps Children Feel Better and Improve Behavior by Kathy Eugster, MA, RCC, RPT

Don't Get Dressed - Dress Up: 5 Benefits of Dress Up Play by Sara McTigue from It All Started with a Meatball.