100 Books Before Kindergarten #3 and #4

We read two books from our list today. First, we read Barnyard Banter and then we read Does a Cow Say Boo?. I decided we'd read both books and do the same activities for both, since these were both farm related books.

The first activity we did was "Mystery Bags". I put a bandana blindfold on Arin for this activity, but she didn't like that at all. She decided that it should be a hat instead. So I just had her close her eyes for the game. I gave her four paper bags and had her put her hand in and try to guess what was in the bag (a strawberry, a carrot, a banana & an apple). She didn't do so well at first. She had to look at everything and then she told me what it was. The second time we played, I didn't let her peek at all (since she knew what was in them this time). She did much better the second time and she got all the answers right.

For our next activity, I printed out clipart pictures of a cow, a horse, a pig, a sheep, a rooster and a duck. I cut each picture in half. Then, I gave Arin the two piles of animals and had her put them together correctly. This was very easy for her, but still easy. It was easy enough that after the first time, she was able to keep herself busy playing it by herself.

Next, I printed 20 of the same clipart cow. I numbered ten of the cows, 1-10 (one number per cow). On the other ten cows, I drew spots. Then, I laid all of the cows with the spots in front of Arin. I gave her the pile of numbered cows. Arin counted the spots and picked the correctly numbered cow. She laid the numbered cow on top of the spotted cow. The second time we played this, I had her count the spots in Spanish. She would count it and then I would help her with the number. For example, she would say cinco and I would tell her that cinco is five. This way she knew which numbered card she was looking for. It also helps her to make the visual connection of the numbers she knows verbally in Spanish.