Gobblet Gobblers: A Strategy Game from Timberdoodle

 Gobblet Gobblers is an adorable, strategy game from the company Blue Orange. The game is designed for ages 5+. It takes tic-tac-toe to a whole new level! My son giggled at the funny faces the game pieces made, and was quick to figure out how to gobble up his opponents.  My husband also enjoyed this game. He teaches UIL chess (he is a middle school teacher), and he loves strategy games.

Little Man was excited to set up the colorful game pieces, and picked his favorite color for his team-blue. He wasn't as observant the first couple of times he played, but he quickly learned to watch what moves his daddy was making too!

The maneuvers of the game can take a few tries to perfect, but even my 5 year old learned how to set a big piece out, so he could gobble others' pieces (honestly, his favorite part!). He also learned how to move the pieces on the board. I really love how this game teaches kids to think ahead, and observe their opponent.

The one con: My husband stated that the game pieces were a bit tricky to get exactly back in the box. He felt a better alternative would be a little drawstring bag or something similar. That is the only downside, and I highly recommend this product!

On a different day, my son asked me if I would sit down and play with him. To me, that's the true test of a great game. One that gets asked to be played with over and over again are always the best ones! Momma isn't quite as strategic as Daddy, so maybe that's why he asked for me! ha!

To find out more information on this game, click this link. While I received this free in exchange for my review, my opinion is 100% mine. This is a perfect game to complete a thinking skills curriculum, or to just have around the house. I love games that feel challenging and fun for both little ones and parents alike!


I have also added in my Amazon Affiliated list, other games we love that can be played with the whole family!

Let's Play Animal Bingo: A Game from Timberdoodle

Let's Play Animal Bingo, is a game from Banana Panda, geared towards toddlers. As your child goes from toddler to preschool age, you can transition to playing the game different ways, as suggested on the back of the box. My little girl is 16 months, and needed the simplest set up to be able to figure it out. She was able to put the pieces on the boards, and more often than not, correctly!  I was given this product in exchange for my review, but I am sharing my honest opinion.

 There are 6 large cards with 4 animals printed on each (and 4 tokens to go with each card). Each card has bright colors and large enough pieces for little hands. Because Baby Girl is so young, I set the 4 pieces that went with each card nearby, so that it would be easier for her to figure out. Once your child has mastered that, you can move on to ideas like, laying out all the tokens and having your child find the correct card, or even as advanced as a memory match game!

 I love the endless ideas you can have with this. It can help teach animal names, sounds, etc. You can comment on what the animals are wearing (several have party attire on their token), habitat, and the colors of the animals. This is such an amazing vocabulary building activity, as well as a motor skill builder!

The tokens and cards are made out of thick cardboard. They seem durable, but my Baby Girl will be the true test! She has a way of figuring out just how durable a thing really is.

I do highly recommend this product for toddlers! We will begin a very simple 'tot school' and I see this fitting in very well!

To check out more about this adorable game, click the link here!

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My Thoughts on The Playful Pioneers

As we near the end of our homeschool year, I thought I share with you what has worked, what hasn't, and what I plan to use for Little Man's 1st grade. During this series, I am even sharing what I plan to do with Baby Girl, as we delve into a bit of 'tot school'. Today I am sharing how I liked our main curriculum, The Playful Pioneers by The Peaceful Press.

The playful pioneers explores the writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder and you go through most of the Little House Books, including Farmer Boy. The curriculum follows a more Charlotte Mason approach, which is something I enjoy. I love reading living books that the whole family can enjoy. With everything that's going on right now, my husband is at home and he is also enjoying our read aloud time in the morning.

 Things I like about the curriculum:
Little Man has learned so much! There is a lot of science and history covered in The Playful Pioneers. We have made earthworm habitats, studied bees, done science experiments and more! We've read books about some of our founding fathers, as well as other cultures and places. Little Man is only 5, which means he hasn't grasped it all, but that brings me to the next amazing thing about this curriculum.

He will enjoy going through it again in a few years. When Baby Girl and the other little one on the way get old enough for this curriculum, Little Man can go through it again. I can add things to make it more in depth for him, but he can still enjoy the Little House books and activities we have gotten to do.  This means that this curriculum is pretty economical!

 Some things I've tweaked or would change:

There are A LOT of activities in this book. Some involve expensive supplies, or things that are simply above his understanding. We have had to skip a few things, but I don't feel like it's lessened the impact of what was learned.

There are also A LOT of recommended books. I have found Youtube to be a great resource in finding the books read aloud, but there are some that I simply can't find. While I love collecting books, it would cost quite a bit for me to purchase each one. If you can't find the book on Youtube, or the library, then you can tweak it like I have. For example, this past week we studied Alexander Graham Bell. I didn't have the book, and I couldn't find it read aloud. What I did find was an old animated cartoon about him. I have used Magic School Bus episodes, and other resources to cover things that I didn't have the book for.


Other notes on the Curriculum:
So much watercolor! I made a school supply list at the beginning of the year, and we have used up most of the art supplies! My son loves all things painting and coloring, so this is perfect for him.

We also enjoyed the printables. Some were a bit above his level of writing and reading, but he enjoyed coloring a picture that went along with what we were reading.


Overall we have enjoyed this year. We ARE changing things, but it isn't because we haven't loved what we've done this year (I will address this in a week or two). Do you have any questions about The Playful Pioneers? Be sure and comment or if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you can ask me there!

Detailed Weekly Plan for a Spring Themed Unit Study

If you missed it, I gave ideas for a Spring Themed Unit Study, as well as a Butterfly Unit Study. With being stuck at home, and my husband being on 'spring break' now instead of in April (he is a public school teacher), I decided to take a spring break, but not completely get rid of learning activities (we need things to do in the morning besides watching Disney +!). Today I want to share my schedule for the week, and exactly what we will be doing. If you want to know how our week went, be sure to follow both my Facebook and Instagram accounts to find out! Yes, we are technically doing 'school' during our spring break, but making sure everything is so much fun!

Monday: Ladybugs and Telling Time

Book: The Grouchy Ladybug
Math: Kumon Telling Time Book
Phonics: Find the Sight words! (using a ladybug counter or other bug counter, find the sight word I read and place it on the corresponding index card.)
Art: Pop-up paper ladybug
Science: Look at the bug section in the Nature and Farmer Anatomy books

Tuesday: Bugs

Book: Bugs for Lunch
Math: Bug counter activities (patterns, addition, subtraction)
Phonics:
Art: Invitation to play making bugs
Science: Pick an animal from back of the Bugs for Lunch book and study it. Look at an Insect book during quiet time.

Wednesday: Butterfly Life Cycle

Book: A Very Hungry Caterpillar
Math: Measuring Caterpillars+ Days of the Week (these activities can be found in the literature unit by Simply Learning)
Phonics: Wednesdays are normally for handwriting, and he loves to do it! He will do 1 page in A Reason For Handwriting book.
Art: Salt paint a butterfly (draw butterfly outline in glue, and let kids pour salt and shake it off. using watercolors, let your kids paint the design and let it dry.
Science: Do a life cycle craft
Bonus: pancake caterpillars for breakfast!

Thursday: Weather

Book: Magic Schoolbus Inside a Hurricane
Math+ Art: Addition clouds
Phonics: Watercolor 'magic' sight words (use blues to make it look like a sky!)- use a white crayon to write words we are learning. Let your child paint over it and reveal the hidden words!
Science: 2 activities from the Mason Jar Science book. We are making a mason jar barometer, and a tornado. If Little Man is interested in more, you can make a fun water cycle activity using a storage bag.

Friday: Gardening
Book: Seeds
Math: If weather permits, use things in my flower garden, or in the yard to make different patterns and shapes. You can also use seeds for counting and adding.
Phonics: Since we will hopefully be outside, use sidewalk chalk to spell words we have been working on. Draw flowers, fruits, and veggies around it, to make it more fun!
Art: Use the things you collected in the yard to make an art collage!
Science: Plant a Sunflower
Bonus: Learn about farming. We have books and puzzles that he can look at and do during quiet time. We may do some research on baby chicks and raising chickens since this is an interest of his right now.

I am putting together a spring themed basket with even more books and activities than I mentioned today. Be sure you are following me on Instagram to learn more! Also, if you follow me on Pinterest, I am adding pins to my Spring time unit that includes even more ideas that you can do. If you decide to create your own unit, I would loved to be tagged and see it! I am also doing a little basket and having spring ideas for Baby Girl. You will also find this on Facebook and Instagram.

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Spring Cleaning: Links to Printables, Easy Recipes, and more!

Spring cleaning was on my list this past week, even before I knew all the craziness that would be going on. I am still planning on making an IGTV video, sharing with you my favorite cleaning products, but just be aware you may not be able to get them for a couple of weeks. Today, I am letting you peak into what I've done this week to get my house freshened and cleaned. Get a free Spring Cleaning Checklist from Bits of Bri (you must subscribe to her email list to get all the printables). Check out more on her blog and Youtube channel for cleaning motivation. I'm not sponsored to say that, I just enjoy her content!

I am also sharing how I used just a few ingredients to make 30 min or less meals. This made it easy to serve healthy meals at the end of a tiring day!

Monday: I started with my front room, since that's the room that everyone sees. This was not a room on the checklist, but my goals for each room was dusting from ceiling to baseboards (ceiling fan/light fixtures, walls, pictures, baseboards), dust bookshelves, tidy the room, and finish with a really detailed sweep and mop of the floors). I changed heavy coats to one light jacket for each family member, and set out our outdoor blanket now that the weather is getting warmer.  For supper we ate salad with all the fixings. Spring greens, grape tomatoes, boiled eggs, croutons, bacon and cheese; yum!! Supper hack: Prepare the ingredients as you prepare your kid's lunch, so you are only having to clean up once. That evening just pull everything out and you have an easy peasy supper!

Tuesday: I quickly did the bathroom, since it was a small room in the house. It was a warm sunny day, and our homeschool group had Park Day on the calendar. Heavy cleaning would have to wait! Sunshine and warm walks were done instead. Still, I was able to do a good cleaning of the bathroom, and dust the cabinets and walls.
I also want to add that I decided not to do any minimizing  or organizing inside of drawers and cabinets. That will come later. To get the most momentum and ability to finish the rooms in a couple of hours (or on this day, much less) I needed to only focus on the cleaning aspects. 
For supper, we had tacos, using more of the tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese. For an easy taco seasoning mix: garlic salt, salt, pepper, cumin, and cajun seasoning. I also like to add cilantro to my taco and fajita dishes, but my hubby isn't as much of a fan. Meal planning at the beginning of the week, really helped not waste ingredients that can work over a number of days!

Wednesday: I tackled the Living room. I thought this would be a fairly easy task, but it was a much bigger mess than I realized. It was truly embarrassing the amount of junk we found under the couch cushions!
The living room, as well as Little Man's room, are two areas of the house I really like to enlist the help of Little Man. Because there aren't many breakables and plenty of things he uses as well, I get him to help with distributing things that didn't belong, to their proper rooms. I also got him to help with wiping things down.
That evening we had Skillet Chicken and Broccoli with Annie's Organic Mac and Cheese (our Favorite kind!). I only had a few pieces of chicken, and to make it stretch further, I cut it into thirds, seasoned it well, and cooked it until just done before throwing in broccoli. I added Parmesan on top and it was so yummy! Good seasonings for this dish are: garlic salt, basil, thyme, salt and pepper. I add a little butter and toss the broccoli and chicken to make it extra tasty. 

Thursday I was unable to do any spring cleaning, as I had errands to run for my family. We ate out that night with another couple, so I also didn't do any cooking!

Friday: I decided to tackle my room. IT WAS BAD! Too often it's the catch all for the rest of the house, and while I get ready in the mornings, my daughter loves to find things to pull out and play with. It took the entire day, but I got it looking so much better. That day the weather was nice, and I opened a window to let fresh air in.
My tip for an overwhelming room, is to take one section and complete it at a time. It allows momentum to build as you see the tasks get completed and the room clear.

Since we did takeout that evening (we normally don't eat out that often, I promise! haha!) I want to share a less-than-30-minute berry cobbler with you!

Easy Berry Cobbler
1 cup berries of your choice 
1 cup sugar (plus a little more to cook with the berries)
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup milk
1 stick of butter
Add berries and a few tablespoons of sugar to a saucepan and cook until sugar is disolved and fruit begins making it's own juices
While that cooks preheat oven to 350F. Add butter to glass 8x8 pan and let it melt while the oven is preheating. Mix flour, sugar and milk in a small bowl or large measuring cup. When butter is melted, pour flour and milk mixture in the dish and then 'plop' spoonfuls of the berry mixture in to make the 'cobbled' look. I actually am not sure how long it takes to cook. I would assume about 20 minutes. Our oven needs to be replaced, so I have to adjust the temperature and time to accommodate our oven. 



Obviously my house isn't done yet, but I will be continuing to clean (and sanitize!) throughout next week. Check back on my Instagram for more stock-up easy meals and cleaning motivation. I will be sharing my favorite cleaners on there as well!

Edited to add that I have teamed up with the Timberdoodle blog team and we are all sharing our spring cleaning tips!
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Butterfly Unit Study

Nothing says spring like watching butterflies float from flower to flower in warming air, or watching fat caterpillars crawl on new leaves. A couple of years ago we did a butterfly unit study and it was one of my favorites! Next month, I am speaking at my local 4-H club about butterflies and butterfly gardens, and I wanted to share all of that information with you, and help you create a fun filled unit study that can be done with several age ranges.



Pre-k-Kindergarten
A Very Hungry Caterpillar Unit Study
For being a young children's book, A Very Hungry Caterpillar is packed with information about the life cycle of a butterfly. The hungry caterpillar starts as an egg, then as a caterpillar eats his way through so many delicious foods before becoming a chrysalis and transforming into a beautiful butterfly.

This is the unit study from Simply Learning we did a couple of years ago. It has counting, measuring, pasta life cycles, caterpillar pancakes, and so many adorable, educational things. This unit study caused my son to really get interested in bugs and worms, and he hasn't stopped being interested!

I will give a disclaimer here: we didn't do everything in the unit study! While her units are beautiful and fun, it can be quite a lot to do, or a lot of ink that needs to be used. I picked my favorite things, and did those. Sometimes I supplemented with other things I found on Pinterest.

For younger kids I suggest the letter pages, color patterns, pancakes, and the pasta life cycle. I added in watercolor butterflies, as well as a coloring book Little Man's aunt gave him that went with the book. We did extra research on different kinds of caterpillars, and took nature walks to look for some.

For Kindergarteners, I would suggest activities like measuring, patterns, days of the week, as well as the life cycle. Picking out a specific butterfly to paint and noticing the correct colors is also a great idea for this age range. Nature walks and identifying the different caterpillars and butterflies is a great idea for all age groups!

A craft idea we enjoyed during this unit, was taking a coffee filter and coloring it with washable markers. Spritzing it with water causes the colors to blend. Add a clothespin and glue on antenna  pipe cleaners, and you have an adorable butterfly craft!

Another extra craft idea for little ones, is pom pom caterpillars. You can learn about colors, color patterns, counting, and the motor skills it takes to glue the pom poms to the paper. For Kindergarteners, you can take an extra step by making a few caterpillars with patterns you requested, and certain lengths ('make a 6" caterpillar with a black, yellow and white pattern' for example).

Older kids
What you need: Books on Butterflies (some suggestions: Lift the flap Usborne book, Kids National Geographic books, Monarch Magic) I also love the Nature Anatomy for all age groups, for identification and basic information. It is also a great resource for watercolor paintings.

This age group is a bit more 'boring', but they can get much more involved in the process of growing a butterfly garden and raising monarch butterflies. My suggestion is nature journaling. While this doesn't take the place of their core subjects (in my opinion, I know some use these themes as jumping off points for all subjects!), it includes more than just science!

For this age group more detailed life cycles (like this one!)  with descriptions of each stage can be made. Journaling the process of growing a butterfly garden, hatching and growing caterpillars to butterflies, etc. can be fun for this age group. The older the child, the more detailed the journaling can be. For the younger elementary, you can get them to draw a picture and label it with a simple sentence, and as they get older they can have lengthier entries. This covers language arts and creative writing as well as science. They can create art, write poems, stories, etc about the the things they've learned.

For all ages: Butterfly Gardening

Milkweed is the plant we think of for Monarchs, and can be added to your butterfly garden. I am on the lookout for plants that will work for my area, as this will be a first time for me planting them!

This site has a long list of great plants for butterflies, along with what kind of butterfly each plant attracts. It includes some of my favorite herbs and flowers like lavender, rosemary, lantanas, sunflowers, and snapdragons, that I'll be sure and include in my butterfly garden this year.

Have your children help you in planning the garden, drawing out where certain plants will go (you can also get a general 'butterfly garden' seed packet from the store), and setting out the plants themselves. Get older students to research what kind of soil, sun, and watering each plant needs and make a plan for its care.

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This post is a team up with other Timberdoodle bloggers, helping those who find themselves temporarily homeschooling. Click this link to find out more!

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Spring Time Learning for Littles!

Whether you are trying to get a spring themed unit study together for your younger student, or just want a couple of things added to your homeschool day to incorporate spring, hopefully this post inspires you! I am a big believer in hands on learning, and including practical skills, so there aren't a lot of printables or workbooks included here. 

Next week I'll share with you a butterfly unit study you can share with your children. I am coordinating the butterfly and butterfly gardening unit with our local 4-H club, so I thought I would share some of the research and crafts that I found with you as well! This blog post will be about bugs, flowers, weather, and other non-butterfly spring things. 

Great Spring Themes!

Flowers and Gardening: Even if you don't have a large yard, you can get your children involved in watching tiny seeds turn into beautiful flowers or produce. I normally have a pretty low key veggie garden, as well as potted herbs and flowers. If you've never planted anything before, never fear! You can start out with easy to grow herbs (like basil) or flowers (like petunias) in a small container to get started.  

A great way to start your learning journey, is by reading a book on the parts of a flower, or how a seed grows. After that, you can do a craft or art activity displaying what they have learned. This blog post shows a craft on labeling the parts of a flower. We've used seeds, things we've gathered on a nature walk, etc. to create a similar craft. Next let your child pick a quick growing seed and start their own container plant or even garden! My son did sunflowers one year and was mesmerized by how tall and beautiful the little seed became. Workbooks are great, but the memories of growing their own plants will stick with them!
You can also include them in maintaining a garden as well. Let them pick weeds, and water your plants. My son things watering a garden is the best part of gardening-everything gets wet!

Bugs: For us, learning about bugs, worms, and caterpillars is a constant thing. Even a few weeks ago, we dug up itty bitty earthworms and made a habitat for them in a mason jar.
Starting with the Nature Anatomy, it's fun to learn about the different bugs, then research what they eat (My son loves to ask Google what certain insects eat, or if they poop! If you are wanting to add math to the equation, these counters are perfect for numbers, color sorting, bug recognition, sensory bins and more! We  also love getting a cheap dollar store bug catcher and starting an adventure of discovering bugs.

If you have toddlers to young preschoolers, they can learn how to spell their names using bug crafts. For older 'youngsters' breaking out the watercolors and learning the proper colors for certain well know bugs can be great (my son loves to paint/color all things blue. We have been working on observing things and using their proper colors to color them!). If you missed out on my Timberdoodle Dot a Dot review, you can check it out here. In their activity book you can find butterflies, flowers, and bees that make perfect motor skill building and art projects for a bug themed unit study!

Weather: My son's favorite book for weather, is the Magic Schoolbus one. Even when he was too young to pay attention to the whole story, he loved looking at the pictures and asking questions. I will admit, that we haven't personally done much weather themed schooling, but I found some really fun ideas on Simply Learning's Pinterest board. I've used her themes in the past and they've always been a lot of fun. I love the idea of cotton ball counting, and the fun science activity I found on her spring board.

An extra 'theme' is to get your kids to help you with spring cleaning! Dusting, wiping baseboards, and cleaning out their room can double as both motor skills and practical skills. Perfection might not be the result, but it is so good to get them to help with maintaining the home early.

Do you have more spring themed crafts and activities? Let me know in the comments!
I am teaming up with other bloggers at Timberdoodle to help those who find themselves temporarily homeschooling. click this link to find more posts on this subject!

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