The Curious Journal of a 3 - 7 year old Astronomer: Planetary Exploration Across Various Artforms & Media

 Different ways of learning and exploring the solar system by California, from the ages of three to seven (2008 - 2012).                                               

                                              Books


                                              iTouch



                                      Chalk



                                  Watercolor



                                 Model



                                Scented Markers



                               Crayons (on placemat at restaurant)



                              
                                MagnaDoodle



                                  Clay



                                           Puzzles



                                        Marbles



                            
    Nectarines (used to represent the Sun)

 

Fruits and Vegetables

The beach (with balls of sand as planets).

The beach (with beach rocks as planets).

With beach towels and candles (the milky way galaxy)

Ocean Habitat

California counted out 26 seashells and placed them on a blue tie dyed silkie. A notecard with the word "fish" was placed near the area of the ocean habitat where California had put some sharks. We used a small house fern for seaweed.

We discussed the fact that there were 26 sea shells in our ocean and 26 letters in the alphabet. California used his fish notecard to spell the word "fish" on the fridge with magnets.

We also learned a new vocabulary word: fragile. California knows that the shells in our ocean are fragile and that means they are easily broken and he needs to be careful when he handles them.

This will be an ever expanding project as we learn more and more about ocean habitats.

Playdough Math

Painting with Apples

Apples are a wonderful fall fruit...
When they are cut in half horizontally, the seeds and core are in the shape of a star as shown below.



These apples can be painted and used as stampers in art projects. We thought the apple stamper resembled star shaped Fall leaves.




We looked at some art by Matisse and noticed that he used mosaic methods in his art, so we decided to make mosaic leaves by tearing them out of consruction paper and gluing them to our Fall art.

Writing Music

California loves music! One of his favorite programs on television is called "Little Einsteins". He loves how they show the sheet music for classical compositions and is very attentive to these details. Click HERE to see how Little Einsteins uses music, art and interaction to facilitate learning and critical thinking.

He understands the musical concepts of tone, pitch, low/high notes and tempo and yes...he just turned three a month ago.

California has been drawing musical notes on his doodle board as shown below. After he is finished writing the notes in the order that he wishes, he sings or hums a tune that coincides with his composition. See an example below:



This evening he drew a treble clef then added five lines. After that he added his musical notes...then hummed the tune that he just created:) He enjoys doing this while listening to Mozart after his bedtime story.

Our Preschool Curriculum

Oak Meadow Preschool Curriculum



and we also use ALL of this! L.A. Mama pulled all of this together for supplemental material in addition to Oak Meadow. California loves to read so we started with Bob Books. He read "Mat" today.

First Day of Fall Activity

Today was the first day of Fall. California had been learning all about himself last week, so we pulled that theme over to this week and added another concept. "I am a part of Nature and Nature is a part of me". To illustrate this concept, we outlined California's body as shown below (this made him giggle a lot).



Then we filled his outlined body with the colors of Fall...orange, red and yellow.



We talked about how we are all a part of Nature and it is a part of us as he blended these colors happily singing "Mary had a Little Lamb".



Then we added the shapes of Fall leaves within the painting and traced them with Fall colors. California labeled his work of art at the bottom and commented that it looked like leaves blowing in the wind.




Here are links to books that would go great with this activity:

All I See is Part of Me

Mouse's First Fall

Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf

Leaf Man

Autumn is for Apples

Making Music

We thought it would be fun to make our own home-made guitar/harp. We just took some rubber bands and wrapped them around an empty containter. You could also use cardboard for this.



We got out our toy piano.



...and California played the harmonica.



We all jammed together for about 10 minutes. It was a fun musical beginning to a great day!

The Wheels on the Bus

We used the lid of an egg carton to make a "City Bus". California painted it red. He wanted animals to be riding in his bus, so we taped a light blue strip of construction paper on the inside with animals stickers placed so that the animals could be seen through the holes. Then California glued two black construction paper circles on for wheels. After the paint dried, I wrote "City Bus" with a black magic marker.





Check back soon to see how we used the bottom of the egg carton for a boat!

Name Collage

California made a collage from the letters in his name and decorated it with purple glitter spirals. He loves spirals!