Fun with Fish

We studied seahorses and x-ray fish as we introduced the letter X and reviewed counting to eight. I vaguely remember learning that male seahorses were the ones to technically "give birth" to the baby seahorses but this lesson reminded me of that as we played two fun game number games.  For the first one, I numbered 8 "seahorse eggs" (folded pieces of paper) and hid them around the living room.  The girls took turns finding one, identifying the number and putting them in order.  The second one was focused more on counting.  They drew a number and that was how many baby seahorses they had to count and put in the daddy's pouch.  I really liked that this was a game I could send home with our friends to use with their parents later on.

We also talked about how seahorses aren't the best swimmers and use the ocean currents like wind, to drift along until they find a place to grab onto.  We danced to "Hey Mr. Seahorse" and drifted around the living room until I said "Grab" and then the girls would grab onto whatever furniture (or person) was nearest to them.  Miss M seemed to enjoy using a doll as her stand-in, which was fine with me. As long as she seems to be understanding the concept, I don't push her to participate exactly the way the lesson is written.

X-ray fish were the other ocean critter we learned about and had fun feeling the hard bones in our arms, legs and faces.  The art project was a blast.  I let them choose what color they wanted for their fish (Miss M has been very into orange lately, which is new for her) and we painted their hands, then they practiced squeezing the glue onto their papers in lines for the "bones".

Both the littles were a bit on the wild side so we only got through three of the planned activities (and circle time).  They seemed to need more movement, so we danced a lot.  Throughout this foray into homeschool preschool, I am trying to keep the fact that she is only two and this is supposed to be fun in the forefront of my mind.  The last thing I want is for her to start disliking our time.  I know she is picking up concepts, even if we only spend a few minutes instead of a full hour on "academics".  It's not always easy for me because the teacher inside is saying we need to finish everything but the mom in me is winning out most times as I remember the bigger picture.