Disneyland-Inspired Mouse Books Unit

With a Disneyland getaway coming next year, we are exploring Disneyland-inspired books and activities to get us excited, reading, and learning!

I've done similar units with Aidyn when he was 3, again when he was around 7. Now, with Jack and Natalie in tow, we're diving in to an enchanted, magical, and fun learning adventure.

Here's what we did this week. Since it all started with a mouse, we began with mouse books, tailored for preschool age and middle school age. Take a look at what we read!

*Note* The following unit is very light and gentle because 1) I believe in gentle learning at the preschool age, 2) It's officially summer time so Aidyn isn't required to do any in-depth schooling, and 3) I am in my third trimester and simply don't have the energy/mobility to do all the things I'd like to.

Preschool Books:

Jack and Natalie loved these mouse-centric books, especially Mouse Mess and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. 

Middle School Book:

Aidyn read through Redwall independently. After each chapter, he wrote a 1-2 sentence summary of the story. We discussed it together throughout and when he finished we critiqued it. Out of a scale of 1-10, he rated Redwall a 100!  


Inspired Activities:

Frederick by Leo Lionni led to a fun collage activity. Lionni is known for his collage-style illustrations, so I cute out some simple images of mice, rocks, sticks, and plant life for the littles to play with.
 

 
 They constructed trees and nature scenery, but soon Jack discovered that some of the leaves looked more like alligators, so he pretended his alligators were eating all the other shapes!

~

Matthew's Dream by Leo Lionni immediately inspired Jack to paint. Unfortunately, Natalie had already gone to bed, so Jack had a solo paint session.

~

Mouse Mess inspired some fun discussion about Jack and Natalie's penchant for mess-making, especially with food! This became a book we read over and over (I think because they identified so much with the messy mouse!)

Music:

This week we filled the house with classic Disney songs, just to get into the mood. Jack and Natalie especially love The Three Little Pigs song and reenacting the whole story of the wolf attempting to blow down the pigs' homes.

  

In Other Happenings:

Jack and Natalie both love reading books, with or without me! They're both super active, playful, and curious. Best buds, they often take off together to jump in the trampoline, play with their water table, cook in their pretend kitchen, share their love for dinosaurs, and cuddle together.


Aidyn has grown into a sophisticated learner. He reads well and comprehends more difficult books, but his first love is gaming and creating YouTube videos. I am excited to see what is around the corner for him in junior high and high school.

 

Hands-On Skeleton Unit Study and Skeleton Party {Party School!}

Hands-on Skeleton Unit Study

and Skeleton Party

{Party School!}

 

Every Halloween season, I ask Aidyn to pick a topic related to the holiday. This year he chose skeletons and decided to throw a party around our topic!

You'd think having a party is the antithesis to learning, but Aidyn mastered all sorts of skills through planning for his skeleton shin-dig!

What is Party School?

Party School is inspired by Julie Bogart from Brave Writer, and it is just what it sounds like: a party centered around a school topic. The opportunities for learning are endless, real-life based, and FUN! Aidyn happily wrote, studied the skeletal system, and participated in creating an awesome party for his cousin and friends.

Step One: Create invitations!

Aidyn worked on writing (I dictated his invitation message on the board), copywork, handwriting, designing, and drawing just by creating invitations to his party.

Aidyn played a couple anatomy games over at Shepperd Software.  

Step Two: Learn all about skeletons!

You can't have a skeleton party without knowing a thing or two about them, right? ::insert sneaky homeschool mom grin::

We learned:

• the names of major bones in the body
• location of bones in our body
• how to care for our bones and make them strong

 Labeling the bones.

Playing Pin-the-Bow-Tie-on-the-Skeleton game

This one is Pin-the-Apple-above-the-Mandible

 Watching Disney's classic "Skeleton Dance"

Step Three: Prepare for the Party!

Aidyn helped me purchase supplies (like skeleton decals, plastic bones, and bone candy). On the day of the party, he decorated the house and trampoline, blew up inflatable skeletons, and tested the Bone Toss game.

 Bones for the game and goodies for the prizes!

 Aidyn practiced division by dividing the candy and the bones into equal groups.

 He even crafted the Bone Toss sign.

 His cousin, Danielle, helped hang decorations.

This gentlemen kept the drinks cold.

Label-the-Little-Skeleton game

Step Four: Party!
        

 

Reenacting the Skeleton Dance as it played

 

Some of the kids playing the Bone Toss game.

 

Jumping on the trampoline (to keep our bones strong!).

 Even Jack got involved by tossing bones.

 Bone sorting.

 Our party somehow led to a screening of Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

We ate hot dogs and "marshmallow bone treats" (forgot to take a picture because we were having so much fun!), and the kids all had a blast and talked about bones the whole day. Win, win!