Introducing Landforms

I’ve been wanting to introduce this topic for the longest time but I couldn’t find the right timing. You see I don’t follow any curriculum.  I based my lessons and activities on Mavi’s interest and he hasn’t shown any interest in landforms ever since.  (We previously had Island and Lake in our lesson but that was it)

Now when we went to the mountain fun park last weekend, the view during our hour-long drive was breathtaking! We saw beautiful hills, lakes, meadows, rivers and waterfalls! Since then Mavi has been asking me a lot of questions about certain things like what’s the difference between rivers and streams? What is a bay? How does volcano loon like?

So after the trip I decided to create materials to discuss his concerns while his memories and excitement are still fresh.

Now first thing, the landform cards.  You can get these for free from here.  Aside from these, Mavi and I made another version using a blue cardstock and a brown paper bag.  He enjoyed shaping the lands by tearing the brown paper instead of using scissors.   In effect, the tearing was more appealing than having a straight cut. This is an enjoyable activity you can do with your little ones.  They would love tearing the papers and at the same time talking about the landforms they’re making!

Can you see my little baby’s hand?  He’s trying to reach out as I take a photo! Someone other than Mavi is interested in landforms as well!

The picture above is Mavi working on the cards.  He’s matching them while memorizing the names of the landforms.  Now this time, it’s not Vito’s hand appearing in the picture. It’s his foot! Now this baby is truly present in every activity of his big brother LOL.

Next, I have to show Mavi what does these landforms really looks like in the map.  And the best material for this is the Philippine map wherein our home country is made of thousands of islands and rich in different landforms.

So as you can see below, we’re looking at the cards and search the actual landform in the map.  We were able to identify a number of bays, islands, lakes… we spot an archipelago, isthmus, gulf and peninsula.

And the last activity we did was to create our very own landscape with landforms.  What I did here was create a map using craft papers (blue and green), then laminate it.  From there, we covered the green area with green playdough and identify the landforms present.  I let Mavi add some details like his animal figures and Lego.

The laminated the craft paper so the dough won’t stick.   wish we had a much bigger laminate so we can have a bigger landscape.

 

Can you name the landforms in the landscape?

We’re supposed to look photos of land and water features but we decided to go out of the house again.

For more Geography activities: Follow Pinay Homeschooler's board Geography on Pinterest.

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child
Home + School = Afterschool!

Number Bonds Activity Sheets (with FREE version)

Sharing with you the activity sheets I created for our lesson, Teaching Number Bonds.  Click the image below for the free version.

Toddler Toys (Vito is 8 Months)

 

Sharing with you toys that Vito has been using for the past months for sensorial play and fine motor skills.

[1] Classic Pop Up Toy.  Mavi enjoys this toy as much as Vito.  For now I am teaching him how to push those faces to introduce cause and effect.

[2] Manhattan Skwish.  He loves to use this as a lollipop.  But eventually discovered that he can create sounds by shaking it.  I love this toy for he’s able to practice his grasp and how he can easily transfer the object from one hand to another. 

[3]  Jumbo Puzzle from Melissa and Doug.  Vito used this occasionally. He can already lift up puzzles using his left and right hands and would shake it in the air. 

[4] Homemade shakers/rattles.  These are old plastic toobs (travel kits).  I added mung beans, beads and pasta inside.  Another version of these shakers I saw on Pinterest are the sensory bottles.  Similar to these shakers but with water or any liquid inside.  I might try that one of these days.

[5]  Sensory balls.  Oh he loves these! He loves to roll them around, mouth them, emptying the basket (he doesn’t fill them yet) and make sounds by rattling them.  I have yet to find cheaper textured balls in Amazon.  I guess that would be a lovely addition to our sensory ball family :)

[6] Mini Piano.  We have this since he was 3 months old but he only showed interest on them now.

[7] Stacking Rings.  Ok so this one, he only gets to play with the rings.  I don’t give the entire toy. 

[8] Wooden Blocks. These are Mavi’s old toys.

[9] Kitchen utensils.  Surprisingly these are his favourites! He loves the whisk and look at his face below.  It’s his first time to encounter a brush.  He was so terrified when I brushed it his hands and feet :)

   

Oh and another thing that he loves the most are his big brother’s toys.  I didn’t include those on the list as they are not suitable for babies but I guess can be safe to play with with adult supervision.  Take for example this plastic crane.  I considered this one as safe for it doesn’t come with small parts and doesn’t have sharp edges.

    

I wonder what toys does your little ones have.

 

How to Teach Addition to Preschoolers Using Number Bonds

We’ve been practicing and learning addition using "Number Bonds" for the past days.  We are taking a break from our Golden Beads Addition and exploring another approach to spice up our math lessons.  It’s a surprise that after these activities, Mavi was able to memorize most of the "number combinations", the concept introduced through "Number Bonds", thus the ease of performing addition for him.  We’ve done a couple of math activities before and I was surprised that these activities accelerated his math skills.