Consonant Blends and Star Wars Board Game

We had tons of fun learning consonant blends this week. We focused on the ending blends.

Uh, but are you wondering about the connection between blends and Star Wars? Patience Padawan.
All in good time.

First, we used the object box for our blends. I set it up with the ending blends, the basket of miniatures, and some index cards. Batman is not a complete beginner at the blends, and I wanted to increase the level of complexity for him. The index cards are for him to spell the words, and create his own labels.

Batman is hard at work, placing things under the right group.

Here are the blends ending with k. Batman has labeled the bank.
For -lk, we have yolk in the bowl, ahead of milk. Shark and stork for -rk. Desk, whisk and mask for -sk. And bank, sink, tank, and skunk for -nk.

Batman hard at work, writing....
And we have few more labels for the group ending in t...

For nt, we had plant, tent, and ant. For st, there was nest, vest, chest, and mast (of the pirate ship), for ft, gift (which could also work as present), and for lt, we had belt.



Batman was wearing a storm trooper cupcake ring while doing all this. Which inspired us to come up with a Star Wars themed board game to reinforce ending consonant blends (mostly), although I sneaked in a few digraphs (-ng and -sh). As you can see, the blends are the ones we worked with, except for one or two different ones.


<Click on the image to see the pdf file>

Download the board game

 

Rules are simple.
If the square has an ending sound, and a skip, then you have to say/spell the word with that ending sound (mask for example for –sk), and if done correctly, as a reward you can skip and go to the next square.
If you land on a square that says Skip, or Go back 2, or Ride 4 hops, well then, skip that and go to the next square etc etc. There are two short cuts with blue light sabers.
Because this is such a short game, we made our own modified dice/die with some stickers/labels with just 1, 2, and 3. I drew the dots on the stick on labels.

We had a blast playing with our modified dice, and Lego star wars counters.  We even managed to sneak in a light saber fight (well, it said so on the game, not our fault)!

< Last but not least, Spiderman also worked with miniatures, but we did rhyming, and now, I have a request from Spiderman to make a board game for him as well. Watch out for that post!>

May the force be with you... 

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Linking up to:
It's Playtime, Mom's Library, Artsy Play Wednesday, After School Link Up, Montessori Monday, Kids Get Crafty and Link & Learn

Montessori Inspired Tea Party - High Time for High Tea

I am all about gender equality! My super-heroes have the Green Toys Dish set with blue tea cups, and they are always having pretend tea parties with teddies, super-heroes, a few villains, and of course, mom and dad.

And Batman came across some pictures of mom having a High Tea on girls night out, or rather, evening out! So he wanted one as well. Why should they be left out, right?

This a great way to motivate the little ones to do all the pouring and transferring activities. The tea party could be their graduation ceremony, lol! Pouring the tea into the cups, while making sure the lid does not fall off takes concentration and co-ordination. Then there is the matter of holding the cup with thumb and forefinger, placing the cup gently on the platter without making noise, slicing the pastry, transferring it to your plate, picking up the cookies, and strawberries with tiny tongs, scoping the nuts and blueberries with spoons, you get the picture.

Not to mention the feast it can be for your other senses.

Venue for the high tea: the kitchen counter.

I had these black cappuccino cups - just the right size for tiny hands.  
Batman thought we should call it a cappuccino tea party!

The super-heroes practiced pouring water from tea pots into cups before the party, so they were all ready! You can find them practicing here.
Don't worry, the sake cups and the tiny pot in the picture only has water in it. 
Spiderman chose a light weight pretty white teapot (the bigger one in the picture) to contrast with the black cups.

Next were the plates- beautiful pear shaped plates, and flower plates, to hold all the yummies.

Candles for setting the mood. Fresh flowers for the ambiance, picked and arranged by the super-heroes. Hint hint - Montessori Practical Life... 
And a tiny vase with one white rose as a place setting, one for each guest.

And of course, shiny spoons and forks, serving spoons and tongs, and co-coordinating napkins!!
 
Let's start with the tea - chamomile with honey (chosen with forethought, as chamomile helps with digestion, lol). 
Now on to the snacks...
We had slices of yummy cakes, heart shaped petite palmier cookies, madelines, gold fish crackers, chips, and some nuts, and plateful of strawberries and blueberries...

Of course, although the tea was technically for the kiddos, mom and dad also helped, especially with the snacks!!

They drank 3 cups or more of the chamomile tea per super-hero, (which is great, I am sure it helped them digest all their appetizers), and loved pouring their tea from the pot, and drinking water from their sake cups! No spills :)

Batman loved the High Tea - his comment at the conclusion of his High Tea - I am not sure I would like to go to too many of them, I ate too much! Sensible boy :)

  

 

Linking it to: Link & Learn, Tot School Gathering Place, Get Schooled Saturday, Show and Share Saturday, The Sunday Showcase, Montessori Monday, The After School Link-Up, Mom's Library