Unique Ways of Teaching Shapes to Toddlers

This month our Mother Goose Time curriculum had a lot of activities featuring shapes. Not just the typical lessons you can find on Pinterest, but truly unique exercises to have your children recognize and learn new shapes while building, creating, problem solving and having fun. What I like about Mother Goose Time is that this isn't limited to one month. Each month has new and exciting ways of teaching and learning.

Each monthly box comes with a new manipulative for the children to play with and use throughout the month. This month's was a bag of Multi-Style Tangrams in a mix of colors and sizes. These were wonderful tools to use with the lessons included in the box. Here are a few of the lessons this month that featured using these Tangrams (although you can create many more activities as well).

The first lesson was using cube cards that came in this month's box with your pocket cube that is included in your Welcome Kit. Each child took turns rolling the cube and built the image on the card.

There were fun images that the girls had to problem solve and figure out. They had to use various shapes until they decided which shapes would be best. They also enjoyed figuring out what the image was and discussing different options together.

A unique game was the Feeling Shapes Game. Along with Shapes, this month we also learned Emotions. I would have never figured out how to connect these topics on my own, but I don't have to! I love the way they connect teaching multiple topics in one activity.

With this game each child would pick a shape out of the bag, decide what the emotion was, act it out with their facial expressions and then find the shape in the Tangrams. After the found the shape, they would trace around the outside of each shape on their own piece of paper.

This exercise even sparked a good 30 minutes of tracing other things around the house like toys and supplies.

Another great activity was this pattern sheet. For this, the girls had to recognize the next shape in the pattern and even create their own!

This was a great activity to work on together especially when they got to create their own pattern. They had me solve their patterns and were very excited to "help" me figure it out.

This Feeling Puzzle Game was another great game to tie together learning shapes, patterns, puzzles and emotions.

While this was a little more difficult, Bella took her time to try and find the same shape and same color as the image and place them in the same way. This one took a lot of her concentration and helped her slow down and take her time.

When they finished their faces, they acted out the emotion they just created. Any guesses on this one?

These fun Design Mats were a great way for the kids to transition into a new subject. I would give them a mat as I gathered the next project. They enjoyed finishing each picture and saying what they were.

Last but not least was their favorite activity of the month, the "I am" Spinner Game.

They had to spin the spinner, find the shape that it landed on and place it on the game board trying to fill the board up before the spinner landed on the dog.

The girls really enjoyed celebrating when they didn't land on the dog! It was fun to see them learning to take turns, help each other and celebrate each other's victories since they were one the same team.


I will save and use all of these activities for future use. The girls and I enjoyed them and they are a great way for them to have fun and learn together!

After months of being a paying customer, I was given this month's box for free in return for my honest experiences and opinions!

Unboxing Mother Goose Time's October 2018 Box

It's that time of the month! If you are thinking about starting a homeschooling curriculum with your little ones, now is the time to order for October! I received my October box from Mother Goose Time and opened it live with you! Check out my video down below where I show you everything that comes inside the October box.

After months of being a paying customer, I received this box for free in return for my honest feedback and experiences!

Preschool - The Lessons Within the Lessons

While our Mother Goose Time program teaches the children extraordinary topics daily, I've began to notice the life lessons that the girls are taking away from their homeschooling more lately.

While they are having fun (and not even realizing they are learning) they don't realize the way they are suddenly working together unlike other times at home. When the time comes for a group project, I begin to see them naturally come together to figure out something new. They look to each other for support, comfort and help. While of course I am there as well, they seem to bond over exploring a new topic together each day.

There are a few times during homeschooling that these moments really stand out with them.

During Circle Time

At the beginning of the day, we start with Circle Time which is a time of song, dance and talking about what is ahead for the day. They naturally come together in excitement for finding the date for the day, gluing the day on the calendar, picking the weather and pinning up the new day cloud. Together they excitedly discuss the numbers, the weather and come together to problem solve who should glue, where it should go etc.. These little steps are huge milestones as a mother watching her children bond.

During Play Time with Manipulatives
During this time, I bring out a big box of past months (and current) manipulatives which include shapes, cups, animals, critters and lots of fun little toys. The girls really enjoy this time (while I collect things for the day) to build, share and play together. During this time they are encouraged to help each other create a story line and imagine. The best part is hearing the stories they create with each little figure together.

During Crafts

While my girls are completely different in every way, they are constantly inspired by each other. When making a new or unique craft, they are naturally interested in what the other chooses to create and inspire each other. We recently did a lesson on Picasso. While Bella chose to use the shapes given, Trinity decided to cut the shapes into something she wanted. Bella had forgotten hair, so she asked Trinity what that part was and was quickly inspired to add hair to her art. I truly enjoy these little moments where they speak to each other and explain what they are doing on their own.

During New Games

Mother Goose Time constantly adds new creative games in each month's box. The girls really enjoy doing these together and have a lot of fun. While Trinity doesn't always fully understand what is happening, Bella learns to be patient and understanding with her younger sister.

They really have a fun time together and bond over winning and accomplishing something together.

Every Day

In general, each day this homeschooling offers a new exciting topic to distract the girls from daily toys/playing that helps them bond and encourage each other in new ways. If you have multiple children, I think this is an amazing way to give them an opportunity to share new ideas and create in unique ways together. I highly encourage you to try something like this and see what it can teach your children!

After months of being a paying customer, I received this month's box for free in return for my honest and personal experiences!

Homeschooling in Small Spaces

Do you live in an apartment, with family or just don’t want your homeschooling supplies out for the world to see? Whatever your home situation is like, if you want to know how to homeschool with a few supplies that can easily be put away, this post is for you!

Backstory: we are building a home that was supposed to be done in July but now we’re looking at mid-October (yay). For the time being we had to move into my parent’s guest house which is perfect, but 1: I don’t want to put anything up in their house and 2: it’s a lot less space than we are used to. For this reason, I really condensed our learning space to move and be put away easily. With this setup I can literally take school anywhere and set up anywhere with little effort. I love it so much that I’m going to keep this setup even in our new home!

We homeschool with Mother Goose Time which is ESSENTIAL for this method. Each month you are delivered a flawless and customizable curriculum with lesson plans, books, puzzles, learning tools and supplies straight to your door. They pre-bag each lesson  so you can literally open the bag and start the lesson if you choose to (like me). This makes my crazy schedules, small space and general preschool homeschooling so much easier to work with.

Here is the way I set up my teaching space:

Step 1: Keep your essentials organized on a folding science board.

These babies fold up to practically nothing and can slide between almost any space. I keep ours in the crack of my couch and the wall where it is completely hidden. I use this size board.

Mother Goose Time supplies you with the labels and decorations on your first order and you can reuse your board for multiple years. Each day comes with a new topic while each month comes with new letters and numbers.

The days of the week and weather is interchangeable for each day, along with the days on the calendar. To make it super easy, I keep them attached in a sheet protector on the back where me and the kids can easily reach them each day. I also keep a glue stick in the bag so I don't have to search for one each time we glue on the new date.

To make it easy to get to, I attached the sheet protector with Velcro Dots for seamless removal. I keep monthly theme posters and interchangeable items on the board with blue putty that hangs items without damaging them.

Step 2: Find a large 3 Ring Binder

This sucker can hold a lot! I’m not even sure why I bought this folder or how old it is, but I had it and wanted to see if a month of bags could fit inside. It sure does! And it is perfect! Here is a folder that is a similar size. 

I kept all the pre-bagged lessons (Daily Discovery Bags) closed and simply put them in order by day. The bags are easy to push the rings through, and it holds the bags sturdy. I use a sleeve to hold each week's Teacher Guide and put them at the beginning of each new week. 

The left pocket I use to hold various items like “My Little Journal”, that week's Teacher Guide, CDs, Letter Cards, etc.. But to make life even easier, MGT came out with a digital album that you can get from any device with internet access.

I simply use my phone or my Ipad to access music wherever we are since I don't always have a CD player available. This is awesome to have and the girls always enjoy their music!

Step 3. Get a Small Storage Box

I bought this slim box at the local dollar store. I keep all of our math tools, magnets and various play items that are included in each month's box. This is a great thing to break out and have your kids play with on their own while you set up. You can use these items for almost everything including math, color organization, categories, building and so much more!

Step 4: Open and GO!

Break out your board, your notebook, your storage box and your phone and you are ready to go! 

Open your Teaching Guide for that day and see what extra supplies you may need (like scissors, glue or paint) and get yourself ready for homeschooling made easy!

Everything you need for the day will be included in your Daily Discovery Bag! Hang your Daily Topic Photo, the letter you will be learning that day and prepare for an awesome time with your kiddos! For more information on the Mother Goose Time Curriculum, or to see how amazingly affordable it is, visit https://www.mothergoosetime.com/

After months of being a paying customer, I received this month's box for free in return for my honest and personal experiences!