Lily got to get up close and personal with some clowns.
Practicing on the not-so-high wire!
After the circus, we decided to set up our own circus in the house! We hit the Dollar Tree for some fun items, and got to work.
We set up our circus tent.
A game-knock down the cups!
Circus animals!
Bean bag toss!
Jumping through the "flaming" hoop!
For art, we decided to paint with balloons.
A circus snack-circus peanuts candy, and popcorn! Lily approved!
The book talked about the circus train-how the animals and circus performers would travel from town to town by train. Lily made her own circus train.
In the book, Andy stopped to look at a circus poster. He imagined what it would be like to be in the circus-he loved the posters. I found some circus poster printables at http://www.instantdisplay.co.uk/circustheme.htm and Lily painted them. We posted them all over the house.
I found a circus themed printable pack at http://www.homeschoolcreations.net/2011/09/circus-preschool-pack-free-preschool/. We loved the read, build and write mats. Lily used her Unifix word cubes to build the words. I laminated the mat, and Lily used a dry erase marker for the writing.
Lily is VERY hands-on. She hates most worksheets, so we try to use them as little as possible. We are using RightStart Mathematics Level B this year for her math. She is loving it!
We did some more of the activities from the circus printable pack. Lily was to separate the word families in this activity.
In the book, Andy has a breakfast of corn bread and fried ham. Lily and I fixed this for dinner one night.
Here is Lily's dinner! What will she think?
Lily approved!
Andy and the Circus is a much longer book than we are used to reading, so I let Lily play with Kinetic Sand while I read it, to keep the wiggles down. This activity ended up lasting ALL day!
There is a lot of talk about people saving money for things in the book, so Lily put some change in her piggy bank, and thought of things she could save her money for. A horse and a car are what we are saving for, apparently.
We did a few activities that used balancing. Poor Andy had to ride his bike and balance many items on his head and in his hands while doing it. This game was super fun. It is called Kilter. It's great to lean about weight distribution and to help with fine motor skills. http://www.simplyfun.com/publicstore/stores/TFredo/AM/product/Kilter,891,1.aspx
Balancing games are fun!
We also used our pan balance to weigh and balance different things.
In the book, Andy's grandpa had some horehound candy as a treat. I found some on Amazon. I wasn't sure if Lily would like it-it isn't too sweet, but she tried it and said it was good!
The book talked about tadpoles and frogs. Andy's friend was entering a bull frog in a jumping contest. We discussed the life cycle of a frog, and even ordered a tadpole kit so we can watch it change into a frog!
We also talked about how things are more modern now. In the book, Andy had to bring his mom a block of ice every day for the ice box. His mom was saving for a refrigerator. Andy brought his dad a point for a plow. His dad was using a mule to do the plowing. He was saving for a tractor. Grandpa used an old push mower, but he had no use for "newfangled gadgets." We talked a little about sacrifice and being a good friend. This was a fun row, and it had lots of good lessons in it. Lily really enjoyed this week. Next week, we are going to start talking about change. Just a few more weeks, and Lily will be done with her kindergarten year! Time flies! It will be time to plan our first grade year soon! Where are you in your school year? Getting ready to take a break, or just starting? What grade?
