‘What Do You Do All Day?’ Archives
Playing with Color Tiles & Cubes
We’ve enjoyed lots of games and activities with one inch wooden color tiles and cubes. Here are a few of the highlights. Scoop and Sort: Scoop a handful of tiles and sort them into various piles, columns, or groupings of colors. How many of each color do you have? [Read More]
Simple Conversations
Simple conversations are the heart of family life. Here’s one I overheard recently: Don came in from the woodshop to talk to Ben while Ben was relaxing in the living room. Don asked, “Do you have any rosewood?” It struck me as a funny question for a dad to ask a [Read More]
What do you see?
When you’re walking around in your everyday life, do you see the mathematics all around you? Do you notice shapes, sizes, angles, and patterns? Do you see the potential for counting and sorting and comparing items? Not as lessons, but just as cool things to [Read More]
Choosing Activities
The topic of classes, camps, programs, and workshops for young or new unschoolers came up on a discussion list this week. It got me thinking about the variety of adventures we’ve enjoyed over the years, and how we went about choosing those we participated in. It [Read More]
One Thing Leads to Another
Yesterday, while Ben was reading a book called Born to Run, he read something about molasses, about a runner who liked using molasses instead of other sweeteners. We talked about it briefly, about various sweeteners, how people’s tastes have changed over time, and [Read More]
A Collection of Fairy Tales
Over the years, we enjoyed a wonderful collection of children’s fairy tales. We read traditional tales, newer versions from favorite authors, and variants from different countries. The more we read, the more we were able to find various retellings, often with plot [Read More]
Playing with Pattern Blocks
Wooden pattern blocks are wonderful in so many ways. You can create designs with them, build with them, and play games with them. You can talk about their colors, shapes, angles, and how they relate to each other. You can lay them out in repetitive patterns or beautiful [Read More]
Predictable Books for Emergent Readers
Predictable books are delightful for reading aloud together, and they’re great for emergent readers as they’re learning to read. Here are some of our favorites: Over in the Meadow by Ezra Jack Keats Benny’s Pennies by Pat Brisson Rosie’s Walk by [Read More]
Konexi: The gravity-defying word game
We recently found a great new game called konexi. It’s a 3D word-building game somewhat like Scrabble or Bananagrams plus Jenga. It’s an interactive group game with players trying to build words within the group’s connected tower of letters. Each [Read More]
Lewis and Clark
When Ben was about nine, we went with friends to an IMAX film about Lewis and Clark at the local science center. It was a great film, and we wanted to know more. We became fascinated with learning everything we could about the lives of Meriwether Lewis and William [Read More]
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