Playing House

Introduce These Words:

Meg and Ben pulled some dress up clothes out of the big box. Ben put on Daddy’s old pants and shirt while Meg put on one of Mother’s dresses. Meg found an old blanket and threw it over a table. Now they had their very own house. Ben and Meg got some of their toys and put them under the table. They got under the table and pulled the blanket down around them. They felt very safe under there. It was cozy. All of a sudden, who do you think they saw? You are right if you said Chip. He poked his head into their play house. Meg said, “Why don’t we let him come in and maybe he will be good.”

Ben said, “Meg, you know he won’t!” Mother said she would put Chip outside to run around.

Pretty soon, Daddy came home for lunch. He called, “Meg, Ben, where are you?”

“Come find us,” said Meg. Daddy looked everywhere, but he could not find them.

Finally Ben jumped out and said, “Boo!” Daddy was very surprised.

They all helped to make lunch. Meg set the table while Ben helped Mother cook.

“What have you done today, Meg and Ben?” Daddy asked.

Ben told him about the house they had made and Meg told him how cozy it felt. Daddy told them how he used to play house when he was a boy. Mother smiled.

After lunch, Meg and Ben played a little longer in their house, but they knew it would soon be time to do some more fun work.

At 2:00, Mother called, “Ben, Meg, let us read now.”

Meg had her very own picture book and Ben had a printed reader. Mother sat down on the floor with Meg on one side and Ben on the other. Ben began to read to Mother. At first Mother had to help him sound out the words, but pretty soon, he could do it by himself. Today he read one page and was tired. Mother said that was very good. “Stop now and we will read some more tomorrow.”

Meg showed Ben and Mother her book. “It’s beautiful,” Mother said. “Now let’s go outside to find some acorns.”

“Why?” asked Ben.

“I want to show you how the squirrels gather acorns for the winter,” said Mother.

Meg and Chip ran out the door and found the first acorn. There were two big oak trees in their backyard. Acorns grow into big oak trees. Soon Ben had found some. Mother had a bag and Ben and Meg gathered many acorns. They ran back and forth with Chip chasing them, giving Mother the acorns. Soon the bag was full.

“Let’s sit down here and play a game,” said Mother.

“What kind of a game?” asked Meg.

Mother gave Meg a handful of acorns and asked her to put them in two piles. “Now,” said Mother, “I want you to count the acorns in this pile, Ben.”

Ben counted, 1, 2, 3, 4. Mother said, “Now count the acorns in this pile.”

Ben counted 1, 2. Mother asked, “How many acorns are in both piles?”

Ben counted 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. “Good,” said Mother. “If you add 4 acorns and 2 acorns, you have 6 acorns. When we get home, I will write this on paper for you.” Ben was very excited. They played for a long time, with Meg making piles of acorns and Ben counting.

Soon it was time to go inside. Mother brought out Ben’s main lesson book and colored pencils and wrote five addition problems in his book. Now it was his turn to write the answers. Mother gave him the bag of acorns so he could use them if he needed to. It was fun. “Well done, Ben,” said Mother.

Back: The Swing Family

Table of Contents

Next: Bedtime