Remembering Blueberries

I had been meaning to write a review of the Before Five in a Row book that we used last year...

This delightful resource is so helpful if you have little ones in the 2-4 year old age range and want to enrich their learning in a developmentally appropriate way.  It gives ideas on how to develop observation skills and lays a foundation for later critical thinking skills, phonemic awareness, math, art and literature appreciation, etc.

The first half of the book lists several books (including beloved classics like Goodnight Moon, Runaway Bunny and Corduroy) with corresponding activities to make your explorations of the book more rewarding and exciting.  It walks you through everything, gives sample questions to use when dialoging with your toddler/preschooler and shows you what skill the given activity is laying the groundwork for.  I started using this right after I had Treyton.  It was so nice to just grab the book and not have to come up with any ideas on my own. 

The second half of the book lists resources and ideas on making your home an rich learning environment.  It is truly a wealth of information all wrapped up in one tiny book.  There is a section on activities for reading readiness, activities for developing both large motor and small motor skills that are essential in making neural connection and learning how the body works!  If you have ever been at a loss on HOW to play with your child, this section of the book will have you set for hours of fun interaction with your child.

For our book club last week, each child needed to pick out a book that started with the letter 'B'.  I pulled Blueberries for Sal out along with several other books.  Keegan immediately chose this book and started to tell me about reading this last year.

He was only 2.5 years old and I was surprised with how much he remembered.  It was a perfect book for both kids.  At 2.5 years old, Keegan fixated on dropping blueberries into our little buckets with the corresponding sound effects: kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk. 

And of course sampling them, just as Little Sal had...

Xander on the other hand at 4.5 years old, enjoyed lining the berries up and we played around with addition and subtraction as we added more blueberries to his lineup and ate them up!

Oh what fun memories.  I look forward to making some memories with Treyton and some or our favorite books!