Mother Goose Time - December Fun

During this month, we have been studying the Sights and Sounds of Winter.

Here the girls are making graham cracker houses!

We did a lot this month with Mother Goose Time, but this is one of our family traditions.

 

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke

 

 

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke

Here's a pic of all the ingredients we needed to make the graham cracker houses. We got a lot of these sweets in a Christmas gift basket from Grandpa. So, we just decided to create graham cracker houses out of it. We added the graham crackers, frosting, teddy grahams and jolly ranchers.

In order to make the graham cracker house stick together we used frosting. We put the frosting in a zip lock bag and cut the corner. The girls had fun decorating their graham cracker houses.

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke
Fill a zip lock back full of frosting. Then, cut the corner.
Now, use the frosting to hold the sides of the graham cracker together as you build a little house.

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke
Put any characters you like inside the house before you make the roof.

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke
3-year-old's house

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke
Graham Cracker House
Created by 3-year-old daughter

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke
Graham Cracker House
Created by 8-year-old daughter
 

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke
Graham Cracker House
Santa is a chocolate teddy graham with a frosting beard.
His sleigh is made from two jolly ranchers (green and red), as well as peppermint bark.
Created by 8-year-old daughter

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke
Graham Cracker House
Created by 8-year-old daughter

During December, we had the following Mother Goose Time Sights and Sounds of Winter topics each week:

• Orchestra
• Sights and Sounds Found Outdoors
• Sights and Sounds Found Indoors
• Light and Dark

Mother Goose Time provides monthly newsletters, which show our theme as a web with each week and days' details. (See first image below.)

Each month, the Mother Goose Time newsletter shares helpful, age-appropriate information for parents. These newsletters are helpful for preschool teachers to give to each parent. Because I am homeschooling, I post the newsletter up in our kitchen, so my husband can see what we are up to for the month. He seems to appreciate looking it over, and I've even seen him use some of the information, which is nice. He likes to bring the girls to the library, so sometimes he checks out the "Recommended Reads" for the month. This is a nice thing to have dad and the kids do, so I can clean up, organize and plan for homeschooling. It also keeps him involved in what they are learning.

This month, I found the Improving Transitions information helpful. I have always enjoyed using music to help children transition. Christmastime can be exhausting for children. Many times their schedules change and it can get unpredictable. Things like breaks from classes and fun events, such as performing for choir or attending celebrations can be fun, but it can also throw off their regular schedule.

Mother Goose Time suggests the following to ease transitions.

• Explaining what is going to happen beforehand
• Using Music to Ease Transitions
• Introduce Movement Sticks

(See photo above for details.)

My favorite song for cleaning up with the kids is:

Clean Up Song

Clean Up, Clean Up
Everybody, Everywhere
Clean Up Clean Up
Everybody, Do Your Share

We are about to take the Christmas tree down. Last year, both of my daughters cried when we did this. So, this year I will let them know ahead of time. Maybe we can turn on some New Years music and dance while we pack up the ornaments. I will talk with my husband to try to make it fun... Not traumatizing.

Fun Christmastime Memory Pictures

Here are some pics of our Christmastime events this year! I can hardly believe it's almost New Years! We traveled to go see the girls Great-Grandparents (pictures below). We also went snow sledding at Saddleback Church and out to eat at the American Girl Restaurant in Los Angeles.






With Grandma on Christmas 2015
Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke

Dinner at the American Girl Store in Los Angeles

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke

On New Years Eve, American Girl will release their new American Girl of the Year 2016!

 

I have a feeling the new American Girl of the year takes a trip to Brazil and learns to face her fears and scuba dive. We will see! The new doll will be revealed on Good Morning America tomorrow morning from 7-9 a.m.! I wonder what she will look like? I already know, but it will be fun to watch anyway. We'll have to watch it online because I disconnected the Direct TV/cable (whatever) and Netflix. We are usually too busy to sit around and watch television and most of the time we don't like what's on anyway. Because I have two daughters, I know a lot about these dolls. I love the stories and books that accompany the dolls. As a former K-2nd grade teacher I had read the books before I became a mom. One of our favorite stories is Felicity. It's a great movie and the books are worth reading just for facts about history. The American Girl books are perfect for our 8-year-old daughter. We have seen all of the movies and we have read many of the books. We just bought the Grace movie yesterday. It's a really nice story and a great movie for families to watch together.

 

Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke



Photo Copyright Caroline Brooke
Dessert at American Girl Restaurant in Los Angeles, CA.



We are back to our regular homeschooling routine on Monday, so you'll see more free Mother Goose Time activities soon.

 

In the meantime, here are some free and fun Mother Goose Time lesson plan samples.