Here’s my latest homeschooling mountain I must tackle: What in the world do I do with my semi-interested-in-homeschooling 2-year-old while my 4-year-old works on his lesson?
I want Mark (the little one) to be a part of mine and Rudy’s school time as much as possible, but I also need for him to be occupied! I have been considering day care and preschool for Mark, but I haven’t decided yet. I’m testing the waters to see if I can handle homeschooling both of them. Parents who can’t handle homeschooling may consider enrolling their children in a child learning center.
But recently, I’ve been coming up with little activities and games for him to play…nothing complicated, but stimulating enough.
This particular activity, The Preposition Tunnel, has been such a hit that I thought I would share. And by the way, it has nothing to do with Mark learning anything about what prepositions are in a grammatical sense. 🙂
He does, however, learn the meaning of the most common prepositions: around, under, over, through, beside, etc. And all this by playing a fun game which may be similar to 벳엔드!
So here is how you make The Preposition Tunnel
1. Find a plastic container that you’re willing to part with. I used an empty Stonyfield yogurt container.
2. Cut the bottom of the container out, as well as the rim around the top of the container. You should be left with a “tunnel”.
3. Cover the tunnel in black construction paper or poster board. I happened to have some scrap poster board on hand, and it worked really well.
4. Using a white paint pen, write the words “The Preposition Tunnel” on the side. Starting to look good! 🙂
5. Cut a toilet paper roll in half, making sure that you cut it smooth enough so that it can sit flat on a table.
6. Throw one of the halves away. On the other half, cover it in orange construction paper.
7. Cut out circles to glue onto each end of the roll. I used a white index card so that they would be a little sturdier than paper.
8. Glue the tunnel onto one end of the orange roll, making sure that it is well-balanced and centered.
9. Ruin one of your husband’s legal pads. 🙂 For the base of your tunnel, you will need some type of sturdy “cardboard”. Since I didn’t have any cardboard on hand, I cut out a rectangle from that cardboard-y material on the back of a legal pad.
10. Cover the cardboard rectangle in green construction paper. I want to apologize in advance for the travesty of a picture you are about to see. I didn’t realize until later that I had focused on the scissors instead of on the paper-covered cardboard…sorry! 🙂
11. Glue the tunnel and roll onto your green base, and then add the finishing touches. I trimmed the roll on both ends with black pipe cleaners, and I added some “streets” to the green base. Cute! 🙂
Now it’s time to play!
While Rudy was completing one of his worksheets, I set the Preposition Tunnel in front of Mark and handed him a toy car. Then I gave him different “preposition commands”.
“Make your car go through the tunnel. Now go over the tunnel. Go around the tunnel.” He loved it!
Hello there hot glue strings. 🙂
This is a great activity that you can play with your preschooler at any time. What a fun way for them to learn the difference between easily confused words!
I love seeing my precious children learn…what a blessing it is to be right next to them, watching them.
PS Ok everyone, only 2 days left to get your work in to me for Guest Post Month! I would love for you to be featured…so send in your best stuff! 🙂
