• Home
    • Praise and Press
    • About
  • TLB Classes
    • Class Descriptions
    • Online Parent Education Classes
  • Blog
    • Homeschooling
    • Charlotte Mason
    • Booklist
    • Reading and Storytelling
    • Cultivating Love of Learning
    • Parenting Thoughts
      • Memory-Making
    • Five in a Row
      • Before Five in a Row
  • Shop
    • Request/Pre-Order Books Here
    • TLB Gift Card
    • My Account
    • View Cart
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Lost password
  • Book lists
    • Living Books Planning Tool
    • Filipino Living Books Book List
    • Philippine History: A Booklist
    • Catholic Homeschooling Booklist
  • Search the TLB Book Shop
    • Picture Books By Age
      • Board Books
      • Ages 0-2
      • Ages 2-4
      • Ages 4-6
      • Ages 6-8
    • Chapter Books
      • Ages 8-10
      • Ages 10 up
    • Homeschooling
      • CM Homeschooling/Living Books
      • Five in a Row
      • Before Five in a Row
      • Math Books
      • Catholic Books
    • Philippine Published Books
      • Free Downloads
      • Ages 0 to 2
      • Ages 2 to 4
      • Ages 4 to 6
      • Ages 6 to 8
      • Ages 8 to 10
      • Ages 10 and up
      • Chapter Books
      • Board Books
    • Classics
    • Award-Winning Books
    • Recommended Reads for Parents
    • Educational Toys and Materials

The Learning Basket

You Are Your Child's First and Best Teacher

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Zigzags, Strawberries and Pine Trees

June 18, 2011 by The Learning Basket 3 Comments

  • Total90
  • 8
  • 0
  • 82

baguio with kids

I admit I had some reservations when Little T’s grandparents invited us up to Baguio City. I wasn’t ready to go on a six to seven-hour car trip with three month-old Baby Boy!As soon as I was won over, however, I got excited planning a little study unit about our trip. It’s fair to say that I was more thrilled about the learning opportunity than the promise of escape from Manila’s heat. I’m happy that Little T totally enjoyed and internalized our “lessons”.

Map

What’s a better way to start a trip than with a map?

From Google Maps, I printed a map of Luzon and pointed Quezon City and Baguio City to Little T. We then traced the path with our pointer finger, pretending that it’s our car, practicing eye-hand coordination at the same time.

baguio with kids

A tale of two maps

To demonstrate how maps teach us how to reach our destinations, Little T and I made one of our own. She directed me on what to write as we walked from the kitchen to her play area upstairs: left, right, straight, up etc. She then went on a navigation adventure with the finished product until it was all wrinkled.

 

Zigzag

Kennon Road, also known as Zigzag Road, provided the inspiration for our zigzag activities.

First, I had Little T cut two zigzag patterns for practicing her fine motor skills. Then, I made a zigzag on the floor with masking tape and encouraged her to move with exaggeration to let her feel the pattern. The stroke of genius, I think, was the giant zigzag on the street drawn with sidewalk chalk. There we let her drive her motorized  tricycle for spatial awareness and for pretending to be going from Quezon City to Baguio City.

She then tirelessly ran around and around the path that we made, practicing her gross motor skills. I can’t even believe how much she’s gotten from it! She couldn’t wait to get on Kennon Road and  for the car to zig and zag. A few nights after we got home, she excitedly declared that the music we were listening to sounded like a zigzag! And it did, being staccato (short, sharp notes)!

baguio with kids

Vroom!

 

Time

To prepare Little T for the long travel time, we made a graph of the places she usually goes to plus Baguio. I asked her to paste one strip of paper for one hour, two strips for two hours, and so on. I then asked her to identify the shortest and longest trips. We also tinkered with a toy clock which she set to our planned departure and arrival time.

baguio with kids

This graph shows which trip takes the shortest and longest time

Clothes to wear

Living in hot and humid Manila, we only get to wear thin breezy clothes most of the time. Little T has been asking when winter would be since we have been reading about it.

Though Baguio is far from being wintry, it’s cold enough to warrant some warmer clothes. For our trip, we simply talked about what we should wear when it’s cold – sweaters, jackets, shawls (Little T’s favorite), long pants,  socks – and started packing. This also became an opportunity to play our game inspired by Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?: Little T, Little T, what will you wear?

Things to see

Preparing a child increases the chances of having a successful, fun trip. It makes the child look forward to what he can see and do, taking away the fear that may come from the change in routine.

baguio with kids

Things to see: zigzag road, pine trees, and Igorots. I read that Baguio is on top of a plateau, so we compared a plateau and a mountain. Little T concluded that a plateau is a “squashed mountain.”

For this trip, we printed pictures of and had some light discussions about what we would see in Baguio: pine trees, Igorots, zigzag road, strawberries, and mountains. I discovered that there were some things that I was not able to tell Little T about like riding a boat in Burnham Park, but it only added to her joy of exploration.

Strawberries

Strawberry picking was one of the activities that I was determined to do in Baguio. I put the wordless Caldecott Honor book The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher by Molly Bang in our Learning Basket and we took turns pretending to be the The Grey Lady walking along the street while a Strawberry Snatcher chased her to get her basket of strawberries.

Little T gingerly walked between the rows of strawberry bushes and tried to pick some on her own in the field that we went to. We then looked at the jars of strawberry jams being sold and bought ourselves strawberry taho, a nice way to show Little T that the food we eat come from plants.

baguio with kids

Putting strawberries in a basket similar to The Grey Lady’s. Strawberry taho. Strawberry flower.


THE LEARNING BASKET

WEEK OF MARCH 21, 2011

baguio with kids

The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher by Molly Bang Kindermusik’s Away We Go! music and activities about trips Map, Baguio pictures Toy clock Toy car

tlb heart

Related Posts

  • Starting Your Preschool Homeschool (August 17, 2019 / 8:30 TO 11:00 A.M.)Starting Your Preschool Homeschool (August 17, 2019 / 8:30 TO 11:00 A.M.)
  • Yarn Painting Activity for ToddlersYarn Painting Activity for Toddlers
  • Sensory Bins for Kids of All Ages (It’s not as hard as you think!)Sensory Bins for Kids of All Ages (It’s not as hard as you think!)
  • Nuts About The NutcrackerNuts About The Nutcracker
  • Studying Science: Weather ActivitiesStudying Science: Weather Activities
  • Rain Activities for PreschoolersRain Activities for Preschoolers
  • Extended Family Fun GameExtended Family Fun Game
  • A Simple Action Word GameA Simple Action Word Game
  • Total90
  • 8
  • 0
  • 82
«
»

About The Learning Basket

TLB is composed of two moms who love to read and are homeschoolers.

Welcome


Hi there!

Whether you are a busy working mom, a work-at-home mom, or a stay-at-home mom, you are sure to find parenting and learning inspiration on our pages and parent education workshops to empower you to be your child’s first and best teacher.

Make magic with your child!

Search for Blog Posts

Search Learning Ideas

  • Before Five in a Row
  • Booklist
  • Charlotte Mason
  • Cultivating Love of Learning
  • Educational Materials
  • Five in a Row
  • Fun Friday Ideas
  • Homeschooling
  • Memory-Making
  • Parent Education
  • Parenting Thoughts
  • Past Parent Education Classes
  • Reading and Storytelling
  • Uncategorized

Upcoming Events

preschool homeschool

NOW OPEN — Everything you need to start homeschooling your preschooler is right here (Feb 11 to March 4 2023)

In these uncertain times, we can still enjoy our children while helping them to love learning. Learn everything you need to know to start homeschooling your preschooler in this comprehensive online parent education program.

Subscribe

Get updates on learning ideas, parenting events & shop offers!

Copyright © 2023 · Web Design by Fancy Girl Design Studio · Shop Set Up by Marge Aberásturi

Copyright © 2023 · Learning Basket Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in