Read-aloud time activities

Last year was our first year for an extended read-aloud time each day.  An hour and a half is a long time for my kids to sit still and I don't tolerate fidgeting very well.  So, after reading that Kimberly at Raising Olives allows her kids to do hand-work during read-aloud time I decided to test it out.  The only problem was my kids don't do any hand-work!  After some experimenting I learned that tracing and drawing something appropriate to our lesson did not interfere with the listening comprehension of my 10 and 8 year olds.  In fact, this really allowed us to kill two birds with one stone since I decided half-way through the school year that each child would make a portfolio.  So while I was reading Master Cornhill, my kids might be drawing the life-cycle of the plague virus (from The Story of the World Activity Book) or tracing and coloring a picture of the Old London Bridge (found on the internet).  This helped my kids to sit quietly and still during read-aloud time and it gave them material for their portfolios.  This year we're studying American History and so far I've just purchased one drawing book.  I'm on the lookout for additional activity books though if you know of any good ones.

Remember the Alamo?

And since Twinkle Toes and Measle are learning to knit this summer, they will also be able to do hand-work during read-aloud this year.  With a little brother coming in October they should be quite busy with baby knitting projects until then.

Last year Louie (21 months) was napping during read-aloud time, but this year she'll only nap in the afternoons.  So I've been brainstorming about how to keep Louie and AB (4) quietly while we read.  Louie is blanket-trained, but I've never tried keeping her in one place for an hour and a half!  Last year AB was allowed to quietly work puzzles or play learning games.  This year I'm wondering if I need to set up stations as other multi-level homeschooling moms have done.  I'm not sure yet how formal these "stations" will be, but I wanted to show you some of the games.  Tara at Too Many Kids in the Bathtub made these games and my little kids love them!

Louie needs to work on her counting skills.  She kept going along behind AB and adding feathers.

I'm sure there are many ways you can play this game.  I just put all the pictures in a pile and

let the kids choose pictures to cover up the shapes on their shape cards. 

Another shape game.  The pictures go from easy to difficult and show how rearranging shapes makes different designs.

This is supposed to be a color sorting game, but Louie wasn't quite following it. 

You could also sort the buttons by shape.

This is a variation of the picnic game.  What is it about play food that kids love?

Pattern making is fun with rainbow road.

Who needs 9?  At least they'll know their numbers through 8 with these nifty number puzzles.

Here's the picnic game as it was meant to be played.  Match the foods

to their corresponding picnic blankets.

And here they are- all the little kid games, puzzles, and activities tucked away in the cabinet under our read-aloud shelf.  When Louie has blanket time she gets to have a game or puzzle on her blanket with her.  Maybe we'll have to break every 30 minutes or so to change out the activity.