Happy Thanksgiving!

I was inspired by an article in a member's mailing from the Huntington Library called, "An Artwork Blooms in the Garden."  Using materials from nature, they used the lawns at the library as their canvas to create their artwork.  Hannah is always collecting leaves, rocks, sticks, etc.  She is also very creative and I thought this would be a wonderful outlet for her.  I must admit, she wasn't that interested in this activity when I first suggested it.  She squabbled with me as I tried to talk her through some basic elements of layout and design.  When she finally ran off to play, I busied myself with the vision of what I could see coming out of the materials we gathered.  After noticing me taking the time to make a picture, Hannah came over and became inspired.  She loved my turkey and suggested to make the other twigs we found trees.  Alyssa then wanted to help, so I directed her to put pine needles down for grass.   

I am curious to see how Hannah uses this experience...

Counting Pepitas

Daddy helped the girls clean out the insides of this pumpkin so that we could roast the seeds.  Hannah and Gramma counted pumpkins a few weeks ago, so I thought it would be fun to extend that learning activity.  

Gramma and Hannah counted 393 seeds.

We counted 567 (three more were found later, but were not used in our math exercise).  Hannah began by counting one at a time, but putting odd numbers in one bowl and even in another.  VERY confusing way of counting , at least for mommy!  Then when we recounted after she reached 100, we found that she had 44 in one bowl and 46 in the other.

I introduced the symbols of < and > as we compared which count was greater.