Before Five in a Row: Play with Me

We rowed Play with Me by Marie Hall Ets recently. We really enjoyed this book! The pictures are interesting to look at, and I love how the story teaches children how to behave in nature – that is if they want the animals to not run away from them them. It was fun to talk about being quiet and gentle with my rambunctious little boy.

We did not do a lot of activities with our story. I’m still figuring out how to be a mom of a toddler and baby! This is why I chose the Before Five in a Row curriculum. There is plenty of grace for tired moms. I make it my priority to read the story every day, and as I am able, I do enrichment activities! Simply reading the book is enough.

I decided to focus our enrichment activities around pond life and frogs.

We practiced our cutting skills.

Helped the frog get home to his lily pad. This was Samuel’s first attempt at tracing lines in maze format. I was shocked by how well he did!

We circled which picture is different. We love our Crayola Dry Erase Activity Center. We found ours online at Walmart.com. We use it every single day!

We reviewed the letter C from the previous week, and because Sam requested it.

This pond life sensory sink was a huge hit! I got this idea from Frogs, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails. Check hers out for instructions on how to make your own pond life sensory sink (hers is way cooler than mine!).

Even though we may not have stuck to theme-based learning around our book for the entire week, I keep learning toys available. We still play often!

I got some Tanagrams from Zulily a few weeks ago. I love Zulilly for scoring cheap learning toys!

This is how Sam spends his time while I nurse his baby brother. I love how much time he spends “reading” each day.

This was a fun activity. He requested his do-a-dot paint. So I quickly came up with this little activity to make it more learning based. We’re really working on one-to-one correspondence, number recognition, and I’ve begun introducing the idea of addition to him. He loved this! I was surprised (pleasantly, of course!).

We wrapped up the week with a nature walk and practiced being quiet like the little girl from our book. We went snow shoeing as a family. Great ending to a fun week!

Additional Resources (& Where I Got My Printables):

• Play With Me Lapbook & Printables from Homeschool Share
• Frogs in the Pond Preschool Pack from Teachers Notebook
• Frog Life Cycle Sensory Bin @ Coffee Cups and Crayons
• Frog Pond Sensory Sink @ Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Don’t forget to follow my FIAR Pinterest Board. This is where I collect all of my potential ideas!

You can see all our rowing adventures here.

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