Mother in the Mountains

adventures in SLC, homeschooling, reading, traveling

Archives for July 2019

Children’s Books about Math

     motherinthemountains      2 Comments

Teaching kids to love reading is super important but it’s not the only thing kids should love to learn about. Math is usually the least favorite subject of most students which is super unfortunate. This dislike is often formed when a child enters school but a positive relationship can be created earlier with good books and a better attitude.

Numbers are often feared and ignored because we don’t understand how they work. Instead of introducing complicated rules quickly and aggressively, numbers should be integrated as something that is necessary and helpful. Today I’m recommending a few books that will help your child create a good relationship with numbers – before they realize math is “supposed” to be hard.

A Second is a Hiccup by Hazel Hutchins

four girls reading book together on swing

This book is the perfect introduction about time and how it passes. The story progresses from how a second is a hiccup to 60 hiccups in an hour all the way to 12 months in a year. It ends with, “you will be loved – as surely as a second is a hiccup.” So it’s not only educational but adorable. This book can be introduced as early as you’d like. It’s easy to understand and introduces the concept of time in a fun way.

The Grapes of Math by Greg Tang

three girls reading book on swing

This book is full of fun math riddles. It can easily be read without tackling the abstract concepts before kids are ready to really discuss numbers. Even though the concepts are a little advanced it can be read to younger children as a great introduction to numbers. With an older child (5-7) the concepts can be learned independently or an adult can help with understanding the riddles. All the answers are in the back of the book which is very helpful.

Lift the Flap Times-Tables

child reading Times Tables book while lying down

This Usborne book is a little more advanced than the others I’ve recommended. It’s a good book for kindergartners to have access to but most kids won’t really begin to explore and understand until 1st or 2nd grade. This is a fun book for kids to play with and helps them independently explore numbers.

Introducing number and math books early and often can build a good foundation for kids to build on. Creating a good relationship with math is important for every kid. It’s a shame that most people don’t understand that math can be fun, entertaining, and creative. Instead most people think math is something to learn and forget as quickly as possible. Hopefully these books help you create a good relationship between your child and math.

We’re so glad you’re following along our Read With Friends train. Don’t forget to check out the next post by Nell Curran all about potty training!

xo

Faith

Disney Play Date at SugarSpace Play Cafe

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We recently received a fun box of goodies from Disney with all the things necessary to plan a play date for some of our preschool friends. Since we went to the soft launch of the Sugar Space Play Café I knew that would be the perfect location and I was so glad they agreed to host us. As soon as we got our date planned I got to work.

Decorations

I wanted it to be as simple as possible. The decorations were easy, a tablecloth with matching paperware plus crowns for the guests. The pinata added just enough extra fanciness.

table decorated with elenor of avalor decorations and pinata with a mason jar drink dispenser with lemonade and a popcorn cake

Food

close up of popcorn cake and elenor of avalor crowns

Disney sent this fun Popped Passion popcorn cake for the guests. A parent mentioned it reminded them of holiday caramel popcorn. It was my girls’ favorite snack. I also provided lemonade because playing makes kids thirsty and I wanted something more fun than water.

close up of michael angelo freezer meal

We also got to try this Angelo’s freezer meal as an after-playdate meal. It was the perfect way to make this day even easier. My girls were hungry after a couple hours running around playing and I was so relieved I didn’t have to cook something up.

Activities

Pinata

group of six children lined up next to elenor of avalor pinata

I didn’t realize the pinata was a pull string pinata until one of the lovely owners of the cafe noticed it. She explained it to me and I’m so glad she knew. A pull string pinata was perfect for the young age range of our group. They all got at least one turn before one of the older girls pulled the bottom open. There was enough candy that it didn’t get all get picked up so my Ever sat down and claimed the rest for herself.

2 year old blonde girl next to pile of candy

Stick the Crown on the Princess

3 year old blonde girl putting a crown sticker on a princess poster

The next game we played was stick the crown on the princess. We put the mask on each child and let them stick the crown where they thought it went. Most of them did really good! They all made it somewhere around her head.

Fortune Tellers

Disney also sent some Fortune Tellers to put together. Since our playmates were having so much fun playing together we ended up putting them inside of their take home goodie bags.

Dress Up

2 toddlers putting on princess dresses

Since I’m a mom of girls our collection of princess dresses seems to just keep growing. We brought them along with us and all our friends loved playing dress up. The play cafe has their own collection of dresses as well so everyone got to try on multiple princess dresses. Sonnet picked the Ariel dress Disney sent and wore it the entire time.

Summary

This party was one of the easiest parties I’ve put together. We showed up about thirty minutes early, set up our decorations and games and got ready to go. When our friends arrived we let them play for an hour before doing all of our activities. After the princess game we let them go back to playing.

Parties that are strictly scheduled with a lot of activities can get stressful. I had all of the activities set up ahead of time but I had no specific order or time to do anything. Since we weren’t rushing the kids from one activity to the next it felt very relaxed and we eased from playing into activities and then back to playing.

The Sugar Space Play Café was the perfect place to host our playdate since there was a lot of area for the kids to free play. This place would be perfect for an easy kids birthday. You could almost have no activities planned and the kids could still have a great time. In fact, it would be even easier than this party because the Play Cafe will actually provide decorations if you book a party with them. No need to tote in a box full of stuff! Just show up and have fun.

xo

Faith

Faith: Twenty-Five Facts/Stories About Me

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To celebrate my birthday today I got together with my five sisters and my mom to come up with 25 fun stories about myself. I also asked a couple friends to contribute. So here’s 25 things about me that aren’t boring like my favorite color:

  1. She was always very secretive. – Mom
  2. She has a knee slapper sense of humor. – Sister
  3. She, 4′ 11″ slight framed, once was suspected by a cop of kidnapping two full grown males and her little sister. – Sister (long story short)
  4. Faith would literally drive four hours and pee her pants before using a public bathroom. – Husband
  5. She collects tea pots and fossil boxes.
  6. She grows her nails out really, really long. – Sister
  7. She can type like 700 hundred words per minute. – Sister (exaggeration)
  8. She likes to visit cemeteries when she travels. – Husband
  9. She does not like feet. – Mom
  10. Faith would rather let chocolate sit forever and go hard rather than share it. She hoards chocolate. – Everyone (I’m not this bad anymore!)
  11. She wears the cutest clothes that look so comfy. – Sister
  12. She’s a party planner, she started our family tradition of an annual party. – Sister and mom
  13. She’s like my therapist. – Sister
  14. Her numbers and letters have colors. Certain numbers are bad numbers because of their colors. – Husband
  15. When she went skinny dipping someone was watching her so I told her “put your clothes on!” but she ignored me. – Sister
  16. She was always really bossy to her little brothers and sisters since she was so responsible. She was clean and always had everything organized and made everyone keep things clean. She would make lunch without being asked and have everyone do their jobs. – Mom
  17. She used to go with her little brother to the lake and have lunch and they’d be gone a long time just exploring. – Mom
  18. We went through the drive through at Taco Bell and they gave us free drinks. It didn’t dawn on either of us that he was flirting until we told her husband. – Sister
  19. So I don’t know if you’ll remember this, but when we were younger and you’d come out to the farm I remember you calling me “the little girl with the bump on her hand”. I had a bible bump thing on my wrist and that’s how you’d remember me, probably because my name is so different and hard to remember. – Lovina
  20. If she’s talking to someone else and you try to talk to her then she will ignore you. She will not talk to you until she is finished talking to the first person. – Sister
  21. She graduated high school early. – Mom
  22. She came up with making beet raspberry jam and putting gelatin in it and it was the best jam we’ve ever made – Mom
  23. One time we went to go to Jimmie Johns and she goes to pull in and she pulls onto the grass. The people across the street busted out laughing so I yelled at her to get off the grass. She had to pull out and go around the building to park. – Sister
  24. After she got her wisdom tooth out she bawled the whole thirty minute drive home because she wanted a stupid milkshake – Mom
  25. We would stay up late drinking pomegranate 7up and eating peanut m&ms and getting super hyper. – Friend

xo

Faith

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