Exlore the Shore - Nick Jr. July Lesson Plan

We have started up again with Nick Jr's Lesson Plans. We had a break due to Alex being born and getting him situated with a routine that is more in sync with Andy's. Now that everyone is on the same "clock" around here, we can get back to doing some "homework." Luckily, he hasn't forgotten anything that he has learned from before! He knows half of the alphabet, just not in any order. He knows their sounds for most of those. So, yay! And he has become such a fan of Super Why! on PBS, too. So that has really been a big help with learning letters and their sounds when I wasn't able to get on that with him like I wanted to do.

But anyhoo! This month we are "Exploring the Shore" with the fabulous Moose and Zee! Andy has been learning all about animals that live in or near the water. We have been coloring page after page of sea creatures, matching the puzzle pieces to the pictures in books, and learning the animal names. So far, he likes the whale. LOL! He grabs the whale and say, "Wwwhhhhhaaaaalllleeee!" I got him the Melissa and Doug puzzles for this month - the Fish Colors and the Chunky Sea Creatures. He loves them!! I really love the Fish Colors one. The pieces are all the same size and shape so you can make the fish all different colors or match them up. Plus, underneath each piece is the word to go with the color. He was surprised with that. He saw some of the letters he knew and said, "Mama! O! E!"

I hope to make us some sea creature sugar cookies this weekend to go with our theme for this month. I am sure to have some little hands helping me out, too. :) We might even have a fish fry! That would be kinda odd though, huh? Learn about these cute fish and then eat it. But it is SOOOO good!!

We are also learning about the beach. I'm still deciding on whether or not I want to get him a sand box... Maybe if the summer stuff is on sale, then it will be an end of the month thing. I don't know. But, I am thinking that this weekend we will head out to Oak Mountain to play at the "beach" since we cant get down to Florida any time soon. Gosh, I miss living there. I WAS 20 minutes from the beach...now, sadly, I am 4 1/2 hours. UGH! LAME!! One day we will get back. I know it! Luckily, I do have some seashells. I think we will do some little crafty thing. Hmmm.... We will see.

If you are interested in the Nick Jr. Lesson Plans, click here for this month's activities! In the meantime, check out our fun we have had with puzzles and books!

My little guy cheesin' it up!

Pointing out the different sea creatures. 

He mixed up all the fish. Then said, "Uh-oh, Mama." LOL

Matching them together again :)

Our book we are reading this week (among a lot more - he loves books!).

Matching up the pieces to pictures in the book. "Whhhhhaaaalllle!!!!"

Turkeys

We are on Week 3 of Nick Jr's "We Are Thankful" Lesson Plan, and it is all about Turkeys! It has been raining all day. I don't think it has stopped even for a second. So, this morning after breakfast we made a Gobbling Turkey Hat. I cut out the pieces and he "helped" me stick everything on. He was actually excited about this hat. He is NOT a hat person. But, this one he enjoyed :)

Wanna make one, too? Here are the directions for this project (it says use foam, but we used construction paper). Have fun! Gobble, gobble!

Giving Thanks

I love this month! Great food! Family! Friends! Great food! I said that already, but so? It is true :)

We are definitely ready for this month's festivities. Halloween decorations are all taken down and put away. Thanksgiving decorations are up. This year, is our first year doing Thanksgiving-ish decorations. I had a bit of a hard time with it, too. But, luckily, we have Dora the Explorer. Yep. Dora.

Those of you that watch Nick Jr. with your kids always hear about Moose talking about monthly lesson plans and activities. We've been doing a few here and there, but this month looks like a lot of fun for all and can actually get the whole family, even friends, involved.

Click here to see this week's lesson plan!

Picture courtesy of NickJr.com

This week is all about giving thanks. For older kids, they have thank you cards. For the whole family, there is a charity bank. Yes, Andrew is too small to really understand most of this, but we are going to teach him "thank you." He's been "talking" to us is his own little language and he says about 6 or so words (mama, dada, mmhmm, yes, ok, and go). But, with these activities there are different skills that the kids learn.

Now, where does Dora fit into Mommy's Thanksgiving decorations? This week, Dora has a Thanksgiving Thankful Tree. You print out the stuff she gives you and you make your tree. On each leaf, your child writes down what they are thankful for. How awesome is that?! So, I made a tree and now we just need to add the leaves. That's where family and friends fit in to the decor. Write what you are thankful for and add it to our tree. I think that this is our new tradition. HA! I think that this is our first tradition, too, as a family.

No, it isn't a tree tree, but it works for the season :) Just wait and see what happens to the tree at once it starts "growing" its leaves.

Happy November!!