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Learn Through Play with the Busby's
- Gabrielle Fischer Posted On Aug 22, 2017 | STEM
1. Set the Stage
Instead of trying to make our older daughter Blayke work on math problems alone, we get out her toy cash register, which she loves. We help her set up a pretend grocery story, and guide the younger girls to play the role of customers. Blayke happily counts the play money and makes change. This is just one example of setting the stage for learning through fun!
2. Busby Queen Bee
We get Blayke excited about learning by reversing roles and letting her play teacher. When doing homework with her, I pretend I don’t know the answers, and ask if she can show me how it’s done. This gets her so motivated! And, with five younger sisters, we take this to a whole new level by setting up a play classroom and letting Blayke teach her sisters everything she’s been learning.3. Busby Spelling Bee
With five two-year-olds running around, sitting down over a workbook isn’t in the cards! So we introduce the ABCs in a way the girls can touch and feel. I hold up a paper with an ‘A’ on it and then pass around an apple. Then, I’ll blow up a balloon and write a ‘B’ on it with marker. We also like playthings that feature the alphabet, like magnetic letters, blocks, puzzles, and other fun toys that take the ABCs off the page and put them into our girls’ hands.
4. STEMtastic Activities
We try to go beyond ABCs and 123s and keep up with the times by introducing the girls to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Local science museums are a great place to pass a day with all of our busy bodies. It also helps to stock the playroom with toys designed to promote STEM and coding, such as Learning Resources’ Code and Go Mouse, which already has Blayke thinking like a real programmer!5. Music to Their Ears
Sometimes the best way to get the girls to listen to what we have to say is to sing it! When we do crafts or play games, we always have upbeat music on in the background. Learning Resources has a great Spotify playlist full of kid-friendly tunes that inspire a whole lot of learning.
6. Tasty Ways to Learn
We spend a lot of time trying to get six kids to eat healthy, so we figure we may as well bring learning to the table too! The girls practice counting out the plates, cups, and silverware as we set the table. Plus they love learning about healthy food choices through imaginative activities with Learning Resources’ play food. They have a ton of great options that are fun and durable - perfect for twelve little hands!7. Gear Up for Learning
We love seeing our kids’ mental gears turn as they have ‘aha’ moments learning new things. One of our favorite toys for sparking interest in STEM is the Learning Resources’ Gears! Gears! Gears! Sets! Blayke loves the Castle Gears in particular. The sets are perfect for mixing, matching, and designing!
8. The Busby Zoo
We love teaching the quints about the world around them. We use jumbo animal sets as a fun way to teach them the names of the animals and their sounds. We give each girl an animal and they get to make its sound, then we switch them around and they have to change the sounds they’re making. It really does sound like a zoo at our house!9. Busby See, Busby Do
We love to teach by example and encourage the girls to imitate what they see Mom and Dad doing around the house. Cooking, tidying up, and household repairs are all simple tasks that offer real life lessons that add up. Learning Resources New Sprouts Bake It! set, Clean It! set, and Fix It! set offer fun props that give our girls’ imaginative role plays an extra boost.
Let's LEAP into February 29!
The 2020 calendar gives us an extra day to par-tay! On February 29, we all will be celebrating Leap Day, an extra day at the end of month that only happens every four years.
How will you spend your extra day? With an assist from the Learning Resources’ Magnetic Learning Calendar and Froggy Feeding Fun™ Fine Motor Skills Game, we plan to LEAP into what makes this day on the calendar so unique!
What day is Leap Day?
In 2020, Leap Day falls on Saturday, February 29. Soak up that extra 24 hours…it won’t happen again until 2024. And Leap Day only occurs in the month of February.
Why do we have Leap Day/Year?
Every four years, an extra day is added on to our calendar. Our modern calendar consists of 365 days, but the actual time it takes for the Earth to get around the sun (orbit), is just a bit longer. To make up for that time, an extra 24 hours are built into the calendar every fourth year. 
But why do we call it “leap” year?
The typical year is 365 days, referred to as common years. There are fixed dates for every holiday. For instance, New Year’s Day in 2020 was on a Wednesday. After February 29, 2020, has come and gone, an extra day will be added, making New Year’s Day “jump” one day ahead to a Friday. What a leap! 
Let’s celebrate first by looking at our calendar. The Learning Resources’ Magnetic Learning Calendar gives us a great visual. This year, February starts on a Saturday. 
This calendar serves as a helpful tool for learning about days and months, and is an easy way to include kids on the schedule for the family. Chances are good they have a classroom calendar, so with their own chart at home, they can be the “calendar helper” every day. It is magnetic, has a wipe-down surface, and even features a way to discuss the daily weather!
Next, discuss things that can leap. Kids can leap, and we just learned that days can leap. What about frogs? Yes, frog can leap! In fact, we can’t think of a creature that doesn’t love to LEAP more than frogs! 
But before they do all that leaping, a frog has got to eat. The Froggy Feeding Fun™ Activity Set is an award-winning game that has lots of options to play. It comes with two adorable frog and lots of spongy flies. 
From a sensory standpoint, this activity has lots. The feel of the flies with their soft yet formed shapes make them easy to grasp. They create lots of color in a play space. The first skill to try is opening the frog’s mouth by squeezing the corners.
Once your child gets it down, they might not stop feeding the frog! How many can it fit in its mouth? 
This game focuses on strengthen fine motor skills, but also reinforces math skills. A roll of the two soft dice reveals the color and number that the frog can pick up. Number recognition, color recognition, and counting skills are challenged!
With the frog firmly in hand, you can also work on sorting the flies. Set up a pattern for kids to match. 
Rainbow order is always popular. What color comes after yellow? 
Because there are two frogs, lots can play this game. Let’s try picking up more flies!
Squeezing the frog’s mouth open again and again will improve muscle grip for handwriting down the road. These frogs sure ate a lot. Time to leap back to the pond for a nap. 
What great fun you are, Leap Day! See you again in four years! 
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