There Was an Old Pirate Who Swallowed a Fish

There was an old pirate who swallowed a fish

The exciting summer pirate theme - there is a lot to learn and explore for the first time for our 32 months old: pirates, travelling by sea, ships and parts of a ship, using maps, a treasure chest, and more. Our book of the months is "There was an old pirate who swallowed a fish" by Jennifer Ward and Steve Gray.

We found several great pirate books suitable for 2-3 year olds. "There was an old pirate who swallowed a fish" is the best one to introduce the new vocabulary for the pirate theme in the easy and fun way. Funny clear illustrations are very engaging! The pirate's belly keeps growing while he is keeping ingesting stuff. What is around him? Fish, bird, gold, chest, gold, sails, plunk, ship... "Why did he swallow it? I don't know."

Pirate Ship - Children's Museum, Charleston, SC

We are lucky to find great pirate related things and places to explore hands-on. The best ever of them all is the pirate ship at the Children's Museum in Charleston, SC. Camilla was able to run around a giant pirate ship dressed up like a pirate.

The details of the ship are very impressive. Camilla spent so much time at the ship that she didn't see much of the rest of the museum.

The treasure chest is full of giant foam Lego blocks, the plunk is held by a spring at one side, you can catch fish and see a map through the looking glass, make a knot and operate the lever.

 There is a lot to explore!

We found Peppa Pig Treasure Hunt episode the best introduction to maps and a treasure hunt. After watching it several times, we made up our own treasure hunts outside and on the table with our pirate themed small world using simple maps. The video can be found here: Peppa Pig Treasure Hunt

This post is a part of Poppins Book Nook - a book club that goes live on the last Monday of each months. The exciting theme for this month is "Ye Old Pirates!" You can find our previous books and activities here:
The Runaway Bunny
Little Blue Truck
The Little Speckled Hen
Sensory Play with Quiet Bunny

Ye Old Pirates!

I hope you enjoy following a group of these wonderful bloggers - hosts of Poppins Book  Nook!

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God's Grace ~ Chestnut Grove Academy ~ Learning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy's Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~ Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ Laugh and Learn ~ A Mommy's Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for Learning ~ Ever After in the Woods ~ Golden Grasses ~ Our Simple Kinda Life ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Simplicity Breeds Happiness ~ Raventhreads ~ Learning Fundamentals ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~ Where Imagination Grows ~ Lextin Academy ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ Mom's Heart ~ A Moment in our World ~ Every Bed of Roses ~ Finchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ Suncoast Momma ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A "Peace" of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am ~ eLeMeNo-P Kids ~ Simple Living Mama

 Poppins Book Nook Pirate Plunder Giveaway!

Every month the Poppins Book Nook group will be offering readers

a chance to win a brand new storybook

that ties in with our theme for the month.

This month we are partnering with Jennifer Altman an Usborne consultant to bring one lucky entrant a chance to win a copy of either the Pirate's Handbook (recommended for 8 years old and up) or Pirate Stories for Little Children (recommended for ages under 8 years old)books. One of these books is sure to add to your pirate fun!

 

 The winner will be randomly picked by Rafflecopter and will be notified by Enchanted Homeschooling Mom via email and posted here. Entrants must be 18 years or older and reside within the United States. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook,Twitter, Pinterest or any other entity unless otherwise specified. Prizes will be issued by Jennifer Altman who is an Usborne consultant. By entering this giveaway you are also acknowledging that you have read and agree to all of the Rafflecopter terms & conditions as well as Enchanted Homeschooling Mom's disclosures found here {http://enchantedhomeschoolingmom.org/disclosures/}.  Just enter the Rafflecopter below to win: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway





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Clip art by: Melon Headz

Party Time! A Mud Bowl - Fruit Punch.

Germany against Argentina, World Cup 2014, the final game!

It was exciting several weeks as we explored the wonderful German culture hands-on - toddler style! Every time Germany played a game, we offered activities related to some aspect of German culture. And here is the BIG DAY - the final post for the final game. GO, GERMANY!

Of course, we are partying today and getting ready for the game full of surprises tomorrow: this World Cup was full of surprises and unexpected results!

The best player of the World Cup!

Miroslav Klose is a forward for the national German team. He is 36, got married in 2004 and have 2 kids: Noah and Luan. He is currently Germany's all time top scorer with 71 goals. According to google, his salary was 2.1 million EUR in 2012.

But here is the main point: he is the best! With his last perfect goal against Brazil, he has overtaken Ronaldo! Miroslav Klose is the World Cup all time top scorer with 17 goals!

Does he look like

the mighty German pirate, Klaus Stortebeker?

Source: http://www.portaldenoticias.com/articulo/klose-anoto-su-gol-14-en-los-mundiales-y-esta-a-uno-de-ronaldo

“It’s a hugely emotional thing for me but people who know me will realize that my focus is already completely on Argentina, 100%,” said Klose in his interview to The Guardian.

Schlammbowle: A Mud Bowl

We are celebrating the final game with a fun Mud Bowl! This delicious punch brings lots of fun to any party. I thought it's an exact match for this occasion: it is made in no time, looks bright and brings people together, and best when all your creativity is used in process.

Choose your favorite fruits (fresh or canned). I froze berries covered with water in a Bundt cake pan. The ring of berries is a decoration all by itself. When the ring starts to melt in a drink, it slowly adds flavor to a drink changing the taste over time.

Make a mix of your favorite juices, add it to a punch bowl with the ring just before serving. Cover with ice-cream or sherbet.

Add mineral water or lemon-lime soda. Serve the bubbling solution with a ladle. Everybody's attention and smiles - guaranteed!

Explore Germany

If you live in this country or planning a trip there, you are very lucky to visit and experience the great places and things around. If travelling to Germany is not on the agenda, here are several exciting places to visit now!

Visit a city of Munich, the capital of Bavaria and the third largest city in Germany. You can find beautiful and inspiring pictures of Munich here: World Culture for Kids: Munich, Germany.  Featured: Marienplatz is the heart of Munich. Centuries ago, this place was only a crossing of roads. A group of monks decided to start their tiny village here with the name of "apud Munichen" (with the monks).

Or maybe you'd like to stroll through the countryside instead? How about a tour through the town of Heidelberg? Please, visit Around Heidelberg via Mama. Papa. Bubba. They had a great family vacation and shared their lovely pictures with us.

Learn about German traditions and how they influenced the world's culture! Kid World Citizen made a lovely review of Christmas in Germany. Did you know that the Christmas tree was born in Germany? And what with these cute boots in front of the fireplace?

Make cookies with your family and friends! These Spritzgebaeck Cookies by Glittering Muffins can bring back your best childhood memories and some smiles and warm hugs with them. Don't forget to deep them in chocolate for added fun!

This post is part of World Cup for Kids project. You can read more about it here: World Cup for Kids
Monday, June 16 Germany - Portugal
The post can be found here: Invitation to explore and build: the Brandenburg Gate
Saturday, June 21 Germany - Ghana
The post can be found here: Bremen Town Musicians
Thursday, June 26 Germany - USA
The post can be found here: German Engineering. Playmobil.
Monday, June 30 Germany - Algeria
The post can be found here: Playing with Bubbles
Friday, July 4 Germany - France
The post can be found here: Dance, Sing, and Create with Gummy Bears
Tuesday, July 8 Germany - Brazil
The post can be found here: Pirates' hats. Stortebeker - a mighty German pirate.
Sunday, July 13 Germany - Argentina
The post can be found here: Party Time! Mud Bowl - Fruit Punch.
It is always exciting to explore the world and cultures. Here is one of the places to visit: Planet Called Home: In our classroom, explore the world and culture, save your planet.

Pirates' hats. Stortebeker - a Mighty German Pirate.

Pirates' hats. Stortebeker - a Mighty German Pirate.

We are having a month of fun with pirates in July! This week, we had an introduction to pirates and pirates' symbols, read a book, started watching "Jake and the Neverland Pirates", and tried to make pirates' hats to dress up Camilla's dolls. More pirate - themed posts are coming!

Klaus Stortebeker

Klaus Stortebeker is the most famous German pirate.  Many myths and legends surround this real historical figure. The name Stortebeker can be translated as "empty the mug in one gulp" which he could perform really well! Of course, it's like a 2 gallon mug we are talking about. The masts of the ship contained a core of gold. When the pirate was finally caught, he made a deal with the mayor of Hamburg. The mayor promised to realease as many of Stortebeker's companions as he could walk past after being beheaded. Stortebeker's body arose and walked past 11 pirates! Stortebeker memorial in Hamburg (source: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_St%C3%B6rtebeker).

The theatrical performance at the Stortebeker festival in Raiswiek was a huge success. Source: obs/Stortebeker Festspiele GmbH & Co. KG

Pirate Pete

We scored an excellent book as an intro to pirates: "Pirate Pete" by Kim Kennedy. The repetitive pattern and lots of humor and surprises - our family is in love with this book (Yes, Daddy found it more fun to read then Camilla).

All the main pirate's attributes are in the book with the excellent engaging illustrations. Pirate Pete and his parrot stole a treasure map from the Queen and set off to see. They visited Candy Island, Clover Island, Sleepy Island, Dragon Island, and Mermaid Island, and were finally caught by the Queen and her men.

Pirate's Hat

We made 3 different types of pirate's hats for play. All 3 are quick and easy - nothing fancy. For the first hat, I used the leftovers from our 4th of July party. Everybody called it "patriotic hat". Oh well, we'll do better next time. This one is definitely nice, easy to make, and sturdy.

I used a plastic bowl in the center, cut two plates in half, and stapled 3 of the halves to the bowl and  to each other at the ends. For the safety, I put clear packaging tape over the sharp edges of the staples.

Here is the second hat. It can be used as it is, or you can shape the top more.

I bent the top to make nice folding lines. Then, I pushed the triangle inside the hat following the lines.

 

The third hat. I drew the shape free hand on construction paper and cut it out. Then I traced it on the second sheet to make the second part. Camilla decorated the parts and I stapled them together.

It can be done with the black paper. I offered Camilla white to give her more options to choose the color. And she did, LOL: one side of the hat is black and red, the other side is pink and blue. She's got herself a unique, one of a kind pirate hat.

This post is a part of cultural hands-on activities for the  World Cup for Kids project.
You can read more about it here: World Cup for Kids
Monday, June 16 Germany - Portugal
The post can be found here: Invitation to explore and build: the Brandenburg Gate
Saturday, June 21 Germany - Ghana
The post can be found here: Bremen Town Musicians
Thursday, June 26 Germany - USA
The post can be found here: German Engineering. Playmobil.
Monday, June 30 Germany - Algeria
The post can be found here: Playing with Bubbles
Friday, July 4 Germany - France
The post can be found here: Dance, Sing, and Create with Gummy Bears
Tuesday, July 8 Germany - Brazil
The post can be found here: Pirates' hats. Stortebeker - a mighty German pirate.
Sunday, July 13 Germany - Argentina
The post can be found here: Party Time! Mud Bowl - Fruit Punch.
You can follow us here:
Multicultural Kid Blogs - World Cup for Kids
Pinterest: World Cup for Kids 

Gummy Bear Preschool Activities

Gummy Bears are fun looking and excellent for counting and manipulating. Did you know that Gummy Bears are German?

The most impressive king of European forests, a bear was a very popular actor at the markets and festivals circus performances. Hans Riegel, a confectioner from Bonn, was inspired by the circus bears. He created his "Dancing Bear" that was bigger then the gummy bears we know.

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.

Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.

Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy.

Was he?

Hans Riegel's gummy bears (gummibar in German) entertained many generations of kids around the world even when they couldn't dance. Or they couldn't until the last several years. Have you seen the Gummibar - a dancing and singing green gummy bear?

I Am Your Gummy Bear

"Oh, I am a gummy bear.

Yes, I am a gummy bear.

Oh, I am a yummy tummy funny lucky gummy bear."

These lyrics are now famous around the world and translated to 25 languages. The song was written by German composer Christian Schneider, hit YouTube, and quickly spread out as a universal, understood by "young and young at hearts", cheering and hugging cutie.

La La La I Love You
Gummibar is green with blue eyes and one ear missing a piece. He wears orange underpants and white snickers with orange stripes. Moovin' Groovin' Jammin' was discovered and immediately loved by Camilla. Of course,  with fun colors, catchy songs with repetitive lyrics, and engaging videos, it is not a surprise. There are songs for every special occasion and everyday activities.

It's a Great Summer
This is our favorite song today. I made Camilla a play-doh gummy bear as an invitation to play. It worked like a charm! She made her own awesome purple bear.

Then we took our bears to the beach. Bears (and Camilla) had a fun day at the beach which gave me much needed uninterrupted time to get ready for our 4th of July celebration. Awesome!

 

This post is a part of cultural hands-on activities for the  World Cup for Kids project.
You can read more about it here: World Cup for Kids
Monday, June 16 Germany - Portugal
The post can be found here: Invitation to explore and build: the Brandenburg Gate
Saturday, June 21 Germany - Ghana
The post can be found here: Bremen Town Musicians
Thursday, June 26 Germany - USA
The post can be found here: German Engineering. Playmobil.
Monday, June 30 Germany - Algeria
The post can be found here: Playing with Bubbles
Friday, July 4 Germany - France
The post can be found here: Dance, Sing, and Create with Gummy Bears
Tuesday, July 8 Germany - Brazil
The post can be found here: Pirates' hats. Stortebeker - a mighty German pirate.
Sunday, July 13 Germany - Argentina
The post can be found here: Party Time! Mud Bowl - Fruit Punch.
You can follow us here:
Multicultural Kid Blogs - World Cup for Kids
Pinterest: World Cup for Kids 

Playing with Bubbles? Playing with Bubbles!!!

We are playing with bubbles this week. Big and small, colorful and strong, and not so much - there is something magical in a process of finding the perfect bubble solution, and a great introduction to chemistry for kids! The basic solution is easy: dish detergent and water. Of course, you can add anything else you can imagine to it; and experiment which ingredient works the best.

While having our chemistry experiments, I thought how true it is to our real world problems: crushing economies.

Here is a funny part: What crushing economies and inflations have to do with the bubble solution?

Economic Bubble in Simple Terms

Remember the basic solution? Dish detergent - assets, and liquid - money, are all it takes to create a bubble. The more money (liquidity) is invested in particular asset, the bigger the prices, the bigger is the inflated bubble. Until there is too much liquid in the solution and the bubble burst easily.

Many bubbles that burst too easily too fast are no longer enjoyable by anybody, even if they are attractive and colorful. The prices that normally were regulated by supply and demand of a healthy market are no longer under any control and chaotic.

The crisis occurs!!! Should we discard the solution and start from scratch? Or  "quantitative easing" is still possible? In the picture below, Camilla is scared of the giant bubbles.

Germany warns about global risk of asset bubbles

We continue our exploration of the German culture. Hence, the post about one of the biggest problems in the modern world. Hence, the warning from Wolfgang Schaeuble, German finance minister. Germany warns about global risk of asset bubbles

"Global central banks' efforts to inject more liquidity into the financial system are feeding asset bubbles — which could eventually burst."

"We have too much liquidity in financial markets and should not resort to large scale bond purchases."

"The low interest rates in developed economies are pushing investors into riskier markets including real estate." Risky investments artificially inflate prices and create bubbles.

These warning are not new! Historically, "Germany has long been aggressive on combating inflation and cautious about big stimulus programs."

What not to love in this logic?

Chemistry for toddlers: Honey bubbles.

Making your own bubble solution is not only fun, it teaches kids the basic chemistry! I was unsure if I should "waist time" on making my own solution and so happy I did!

Our Honey Bubble recipe:

1 1/4 cup water
1/3 cup dish detergent
2 tbsp. honey
I found Dawn dish detergent that was NOT Ultra Dawn. We made the solution at night and let it sit over night.

This solution brings lots of fun! The bubbles are different sizes and shapes. About half of them stayed inflated when on the floor.

Giant bubbles floated through the air very slowly. Camilla was scared of them at first, but then had a blast making and exploring them! Blowing into the wand is a great speech therapy exercise.

We also made our own wands from chenille stems. Exploring different shapes of wands in action and customizing them to your needs doubled the kids' fun!

This post is a part of cultural hands-on activities for the  World Cup for Kids project.
You can read more about it here: World Cup for Kids
Monday, June 16 Germany - Portugal
The post can be found here: Invitation to explore and build: the Brandenburg Gate
Saturday, June 21 Germany - Ghana
The post can be found here: Bremen Town Musicians
Thursday, June 26 Germany - USA
The post can be found here: German Engineering. Playmobil.
Monday, June 30 Germany - Algeria
The post can be found here: Playing with Bubbles
Friday, July 4 Germany - France
The post can be found here: Dance, Sing, and Create with Gummy Bears
Tuesday, July 8 Germany - Brazil
The post can be found here: Pirates' hats. Stortebeker - a mighty German pirate.
Sunday, July 13 Germany - Argentina
The post can be found here: Party Time! Mud Bowl - Fruit Punch.
You can follow us here:
Multicultural Kid Blogs - World Cup for Kids
Pinterest: World Cup for Kids