Samuel is currently 32 months old.
A couple of weeks ago we rowed My Blue Boat by Chris Demarest. A simple story about a little girl who imagines all the places her boat can go. It’s beautifully illustrated and Samuel loved it!
We only managed three days of activities since I was technically in labor with our second baby boy (more on that later), but we read My Blue Boat for two more days just for fun. As I said in our Mr. Bear B4FIAR recap, simply reading the story every day is enough!
Day 1 with My Blue Boat
After reading My Blue Boat, we used our water colors to paint a … wait for it … boat blue! This was actually a thrilling activity for him. He’s never really enjoyed water coloring, but making the connection with the book really brought this activity alive for him.
While we had the water colors out, I painted a few shapes in various colors. Then I asked him to water color each shape while trying to stay inside the lines. I demonstrated with the red circle, and he took it from there. He did a great job and really got close to staying inside the lines!
After painting he wanted “more activities,” so I pulled out our transportation stamp collection. After reading the book, Raising Confident Readers, which I randomly picked up at the library, I realized that I don’t do a great job of demonstrating how to draw pictures and tell stories through drawing. So I pulled out two sheets of paper (one for me and one for him), and as I made drawings on my paper, I told him what I was doing.
It sounded something like this:
Sam, Mommy is drawing a road so she can put stamps of a school bus and motorcycle on it! Isn’t that cool? Oh, maybe I should add a stop sign so the cars will know when to stop.
I’m going to draw three clouds in the sky and add an airplane. I bet the people in the airplane are headed to Hawaii.
And on and on I went. This does not come naturally to me, and I felt a little silly. However, Sam really responded and started narrating his drawing a little too, which encouraged me! But he soon lost interest and built a tower out of the stamps! It was quite impressive if I don’t say so myself. He added at least one more after this picture, but he stopped before he was finished and insisted I get a picture of his tower.
Day 2 with My Blue Boat
On the second day of rowing My Blue Boat, I concentrated on a star theme and the Letter S. We did a little star size sorting, and then did a simple Letter S craft.
I wanted him to use the star stickers, but he insisted on the smiley faces. I suppose smiley faces start with the letter S too. 😉
Afterward he requested “more stories.” I happily obliged. I checked out several go along books from the library this week. This boy loves books, cuddle blankets, and stories on the couch.
Day 3 with My Blue Boat
We started our day at the library. It was totally impromptu, but we had books to return and other books on hold. Sam asked to go look at the fish. We had grocery shopping to do, but I agreed anyway. We ended up observing the fish while using the library’s aquarium identification cards to talk about everything we saw in the tank.
It thrilled me that he was so interested in learning the names of the fish and all the different corral. This was a WONDERFUL time together, and we stayed for well over twenty minutes just talking about everything we saw in the tank. Later when we read My Blue Boat, I was able to tell him that what we saw in the library’s tank is also what lives under the sea! He found that exciting!
After our reading of My Blue Boat, I used it as a segue way to talk about another boat from the Bible. We read the story of Noah’s Ark together and made these rainbows.
Then we pulled out our hand crafted Noah’s Ark set and acted out the story. I sang the song “Who Built the Ark” from Wee Sing Bible Songs Album and talked about what it means to walk two-by-two. We made animal noises and just enjoyed being together.
Printables We Used:
- My Blue Boat Lapbook and Printables from Homeschool Share
Don’t forget to check out our other Before Five in a Row posts here.
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Preparing for a Home Birth {My Home Birth Kit}
What fun ways to learn new things every day! Thank you for sharing ideas. It’s refreshing to see how simple, yet exciting teaching can be. I like the fact that you’re free to use your surroundings as a part of your lessons; its like they’re opportunities to build on your lessons. Teaching flows better and is more fun if you use your own style, your child’s interests and your everyday surroundings!
Totally agree!