I’m always amazed at how quickly it gets hot here in East Tennessee. The kids and I are always looking for a good excuse to cool down. Sometimes this means getting outside and engaging in water play. Other times when no shade is available and the heat from the sun insufferable we head indoors. Mother Goose Time is suited beautifully for both.
Car Wash Lesson Plans
“Car Wash” was one of our favorite indoor days this week. We created “make and play” car washes, practiced sorting sizes, and added in a little math review (number recognition and counting to 5)!
Car Wash
Mother Goose Time is a fabulous program and gives our kids an amazing early education. This would be true even if we only did half of the activities and did them only as scripted. However, Mother Goose Time is also great at helping Moms like me get comfortable teaching.
Before long we find ourselves so inspired by the curriculum that we start creating games of our own using materials and ideas supplied by Mother Goose Time! This simple early math game featuring a car wash was created in part by myself, but also by my three kids who loved having a chance to create a game as much as they liked playing it. They too are inspired by Mother Goose Time.
Make and Play Car Wash
The Car Wash “make and play” activity is perfect for enhancing scissor cutting skills. The building starts out flat. To create the car wash, fold the edges on the indicated line and fringe-cut on the dotted lines. My little guy is thrilled with this activity because he “made a building all by himself!”
Car Wash Sorting
Sorting the cars into groups gives kids a chance to practice size recognition. In this case small, medium, and large sizes are identified. Mine also love to create with the manipulatives we collect from Mother Goose Time. So we recommend using blocks and connecting tiles to create mini garages and run ways for the car wash.
Add In Some Math
One of the best parts of Mother Goose Time is how simple it is to adjust the program to fit our family’s needs. Using the materials they sent us and incorporating several ideas into one, the kids and I created our very own car wash math game.
Car Wash Math
Step 1: Build Your Car Wash
Step 2: Sort Cars By Size
We parked small cars, medium cars, and large cars. We used manpulatives provided by early themes from Mother Goose Time to build both the parking areas and the runways/roads to the Car Wash.
Step 3: Assign Price Tags
- Pick a price between $1-6 for each size card.
- Write the prices onto the parking signs.
- Use stickers to label the cars with their price.
Step 4: Roll the Dice
Step 5: Pay the Car Wash
If the dice lands on the price of a car it can go through the car wash. For example, our prices were $1 for small cars, $3 for medium cars, and $5 for large cars. If the dice landed on 1, a small car went through the car wash after counting out the appropriate number of $1 cards and paying the car wash.
If you roll a number that wasn’t chosen for a price (in our case 2, 4, or 6), just roll again. If you roll a number that has no more cars left to go through the car wash, you simply roll again.
Step 6: Drive Through the Car Wash
The game is complete once all cars have paid and gone through the car wash. The Car Wash set up is wonderful for free play as well.
Enjoying Our Car Wash Game
The game was resurrected when Grandma came to visit. They were so proud of the game they helped create that they told her all the rules. She was more than happy to play with them and delighted by their growing math skills! Thumbs up from Grandma!
Join Us
If you are interested in reading more about our experience with Mother Goose Time, check out our curriculum page!
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Happy Learning!
As a blog ambassador for Mother Goose Time, I am happy to share preschool curriculum ideas, activities, and crafts with my readers. Mother Goose Time provides our family the opportunity to use their curriculum free of charge in exchange for honest and authentic stories based on our personal experience.
