Disneyland Fitness & Nutrition Worksheet

     Now that I am getting back into regular life after having a baby, we are able to make more trips to Disneyland again!  YAY!  Seriously, it is my home.  I always feel happy at Disneyland and could stay all day long.  Since we do stay most of the day, we end up eating there a lot.  I am a huge fan of Disneyland food.  It is SO good.  A little pricey, but very delicious and filling.  A few of my favorites are not very expensive like the Corn Dog (best corn dog ever!!) and the Clam Chowder Bread Bowl.  I usually just share one with my kids and it is plenty for half the day.  My husband would joke about all the hidden calories in something like a corn dog or churro, so I decided to do some research.  I was pretty certain that with all the walking we do at Disneyland, that the calories are gone by the time we leave the park.  I put together a worksheet with some of the staple foods at Disneyland for those interested in finding out the results.

Here is my
DISNEYLAND FITNESS & NUTRITION WORKSHEET.
Have fun!

Wilderness Explorer Trail at Disneyland

     Did you know that there is an entire wilderness experience at Disney's California Adventure?  I am so excited to have discovered this portion of CA Adventure! Seriously though...what a great idea!

     It is located right across from the Grizzly River Run ride and it is called "Redwood Creek Challenge Trail." An activity map is provided to all participants.  The activity map guides you through the trail indicating six tasks that should be completed to earn your Wilderness Explorer badges.  Once all the badges are earned, the kids are directed to the camp circle where they are sworn in as Senior Wilderness Explorers. The kids get to meet Russell from Disney's movie UP and possibly catch a glimpse of the very rare bird named Kevin. It is all unbelievably adorable!!

     The trail is appropriate for the whole family but the activities and badges are targeted toward children under the age of 12.  We took our girls through the trail and they had the time of their lives.  Even Dylan, my toddler, had so much fun crawling through caves and climbing rope bridges.  Marley, my 4 year old, is not quite 42 inches tall yet, so she was not able to do some of the activities like rock climbing or zip lining. But there are so many other activity options that earned her those badges.  She was so excited to complete all the tasks and earn all 6 badges on her activity map:

1) Tracking

2) Bravery

3) Rock Climbing

4) Wolf Howl

5) Animal Spirit

6) Puzzle Solving

     Marley's favorite part was entering the "spirit cave".  My girls were able to spot cave drawings and place their hands on an enchanted part of the cave where it indicates which animal spirit you are.  Dylan was an eagle, and Marley was a fish.

     I found the whole experience very enriching.  The surroundings were not authentic in terms of actual wilderness, but it was a beautiful and kid friendly substitute.  We all got some great exercise doing all the activities and obstacles.  And Marley was able to learn about completing tasks to earn badges.  I highly recommend doing this, and it can easily be part of your homeschooling curriculum. Our whole family loved it!  Well done Disney!

A Disneyland Counting Book - FREE printable template

     In honor of the annual "Not Back To School Day" at Disneyland.  I would like to share a fun preschool or kindergarten activity that we did at the Magic Kingdom today.  This activity was an adventure for the whole family. It also gave Marley the opportunity to apply counting, math, search skills, drawing, tracing and the experience of creating her own book.

     I told Marley she would be creating her own counting book from things that we see at Disneyland.

  1) While exploring and enjoying rides, we found objects around us that corresponded with the numbers 1 through 10.  I helped her with this process.  By the end of the day (even after we completed the assignment) she was pointing out everything she could count.

3 MINNIE EARS

  2) I took pictures of the objects, so that we could refer back to those pictures at home.

1 TEACUP

2 CHURROS

4 SINGING PIRATES

5 COTTON CANDIES

7 CARROTS

6 HONEY POTS

8 MICKEYS 

9 ELSA CROWNS

10 MISTING FANS

 3) When we got back home, I prepared a traceable template for her to use as a base for her book.

 4) I wrote in the missing words and titled it "My Disneyland Counting Book." I had Marley trace the title and numbers.

 5) I asked Marley to illustrate her own version of each object we found.  This is when referring back to the pictures helped. (I decided to insert the pictures into the document so that she could refer to them easily and it added an official look to the book)

 6) Once it was completed, I stapled the left side in 3 separate spots to create a quick binding.

     It was a drawn out process, but very enriching in many ways for both of us.  I was very impressed with how much the assignment engaged Marley. She was very focused and said, "This is a fun project."  Marley enjoyed the tracing and drawing portion very much, and she now has a cute little memento from Not Back To School Day 2014.

     Marley made her counting book about Disneyland, but counting books can be themed for anything or anywhere: the grocery store, a playground, around the house, etc.

Here is my free printable for your child to create their own My Counting Book.

     I hope some of your children can have fun with this assignment!

Disney School: Beginning our educational journey at the Magic Kingdom.

     DID YOU KNOW that the Matterhorn bobsled ride is based on the Matterhorn peak in the Pennine Alps between Switzerland and Italy?      

     DID YOU KNOW that Walt Disney was fascinated with Abraham Lincoln, which is why he decided to open "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" where audio-animatronics allows you to view Mr. Lincoln telling the tale of generations past and sharing his inspiring view of the future?

Matterhorn in Pennine Alps on left

     DID YOU KNOW that throughout Tomorrowland there are various edible plants like: lettuce, kale, artichokes, grapes, corn, beans, etc? The reason for this is Walt Disney envisioned a future where space and resources would be limited, therefore making most areas for growing our own produce.

     Disneyland is packed with interesting facts and educational directives. Our family adores Disneyland, so I think it's a perfect place to enjoy family fun and to stimulate learning and educational projects.  I am beginning to put together my Disneyland Curriculum for this Fall and I am getting super excited about it. My mind races with ideas and I get overwhelmed with all the projects and assignments we can do at Disneyland.

     Since my daughter is of preschool age, we have been focusing on letters and phonics.  So I want to start with posting my Disneyland Alphabet. By using the following alphabet, I plan to review at least a few letters and sounds each time we visit Disneyland.  I also created this simple chart that could be used as an alphabet checklist. I figured we could use it as a scavenger hunt list, or make goals to cover certain letters for the day.

     I also plan to focus on mastering her counting skills.  Counting is easy to apply anywhere you go, but remembering to do it isn't always easy.  Getting in the habit is the hard part. ;)
...And please comment if you can think of more words or things that can be spotted at Disneyland for the letters that seem to have stumped me (O, Q, V, X, Y, and Z). Thanks!

DISNEYLAND ALPHABET

A – Alice, “All aboard!”, Ariel, Autopia, Aladdin, Astro Blasters

B – Belle, Balloons, Brer Patch, Bug’s Land, Blue Bayou, Big Thunder

C – Cars Land, Castle, Chesire Cat, Columbia ship, Canoes, Chip

D – Dumbo, Dinosaurs, Davy Jones, Donald Duck, Dapper Dans, Dale

E – Elephant, Eeyore, Exit signs (updated: Captain EO, Evil Queen, Enchanted, Elsa, Ears[Mickey or Dumbo, etc])

F – Fantasyland, Frozen, Fantasy Faire, Fireworks, Fastpass, Flick

G – Genie, Golden Horseshoe, Goofy, Grizzly River Run

H - Haunted Mansion, Horses, Hollywood Tower of Terror

I – Ice Cream, Information desk, Ice Crystals, Incredibles, Innoventions

J – Jungle Cruise, Jazz music, Jessie, Jasmine, Jafar, Jack Skellington

K – King Triton, King Arthur’s Carousel, Kodak picture spot

L -  Leaves, Lion, Lilo, Lamppost, Lightning McQueen

M - Magic Shop, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Main St., Monsters Inc, Matterhorn Bobsleds

N – Natives, Neverland (updated: Nemo, New Orleans Square, Nightmare Before Christmas, 

O – Owl, Old Flybait, Ocean, Olaf, Oranges

P – Pirates, Peter Pan, Potato Head, Photopass card, Pumbaa, Prince/Princess

Q – Queen of Hearts, Lightning McQueen (updated: French Quarter, Quasimodo)

R – Rivers of America, Roo, Rex, Roger Rabbit, Roller Coaster

S – Steamboat, Snake, Storybook Land, Snow White, Small World, Space Mountain

T – Train, Tinkerbell, Tarzan’s Treehouse, Three Caballeros, Tiki Room, Tigger

U – Ursula, Under the Sea, Underground (updated: Umbrellas, Up, Monsters University

V – Villain, AdVentureland (updated: Flo's V8 Cafe)

W – Walt Disney, World of Color, Woody, Winnie the Pooh, Wendy, Waterfall

X – PiXar, eXhausted, PiXie Hollow

Y – Yetti, DisneY

Z – Zip A Dee Doo Dah, Zurg, Zero (updated: Golden Zephyr, Zazu)

Happy Birthday Mr. Mozart!

     This past week we did a unit on music in honor of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His birthday is TODAY! January 27th, 1756. This theme was inspired by Robyn's entry in the Creative Curriculum Challenge. Thank you Robyn!
I am a fan of classical music and an advocate of all arts. Even though my preschooler probably won't comprehend the historical significance of Mozart, I knew we would have fun talking about him and doing projects associated with music.

STRAW PAN PIPE CRAFT.
This link to instructions for this super easy craft was fun to do with Marley.  She was happy to help and have an instrument to hold and play. The sound was not what I'd hoped but the project was simple, fast, and enough to capture Marley's attention.

TRASHIN' THE CAMP was SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!
I took the girls to DISNEYLAND this past week for Homeschool Day and while we were there, I decided to use the Disneyland resources to enhance our music unit.  We went through Tarzan's Treehouse and both my girls had fun playing the musical instruments at the end of the attraction.  I pointed out the instruments and had Marley help me name them. We also stopped to listen to The Pearly Band in Fantasyland.  We love hearing their covers of all our favorite disney tunes.  I like to ask Marley to name that tune.  She listens carefully and usually guesses them pretty quickly. Listening to music and identification is a fun way to get kids exercising that part of the brain that aids audio recognition.

MUSIC APPRECIATION.
I asked Marley what instrument she would like to play if she could play any instrument. She said the violin. I pulled up this video of Hilary Hahn (a very talented violinist), and showed it to Marley. It was a beautiful piece! Marley watched the whole video attentively and when it was over, she said "She did really good!" I adore watching her love for the arts grow.  So special.

WRITING PRACTICE.
I like to write a word out on our chalkboard easel each week and Marley will trace the word as best she can to help her fine motor skills and letter memory. We also review each letter and sound a few times per week.


WRITE YOUR OWN MUSIC.  This is a cute one that young children enjoy.  I took a few feet of butcher paper and drew 5 equally spaced out (about 4 inches apart) lines across, to create the look of blank sheet music.  I then printed several copies of music notes and cut them out.  Then I squeezed white glue all over the butcher paper and let Marley "write her own music." After she was finished, I tried to play her song out on the piano. It sounds silly, but it is fun and made my daughter giggle to hear her unique song played out.