It's bean fun!

(Pardon my idiotic sense of humor. But if you'd been watching the Youtube videos WE have on bean sprouting....well!)

Check this out!!!!!



We must have watched the one above at least five times. The first time all three of us (Bookworms 1 & 2, plus myself) watched in fear and wonderment. The second time around I couldn't quit laughing, Bookworm1 was laughing and trying to mimic the words he THOUGHT they were saying, and Bookworm2 engaged in nervous laughter. The third time we watched it, we all laughed and then went to go and soak some beans.

For the record, our only plan is to plant some beans in some jars and see how they grow. Here is our container of freshly planted beans (which, for the record, have not made an appearance top of soil as of yet and we've been waiting for close to three weeks.)

Of course, all of this ties into a book. I was actually not the one to make the connection because our activity and this particular story. Bookworm1 said we were growing beans, "Just like Mickey and the Beanstalk!" And so we are. Only I would like to keep my feet planted firmly on the ground, thanks, and watch our beans grow without the threat of giants.

Of course, once Bookworm1 made the connection for Mommy, we started talking about beans and seeds and other stories which can foster the concept.

(For the record, we haven't watched the movie version of this particular story about Mickey just yet. Unfortunately the book mentions that the giant "growls" and that has put Bookworm1 off for the time being. At the moment, we merely read the story.)


On that note, we were also able to try out a game to accompany the book! The game was provided to us by Winning Moves (which I personally think is an awesome name for a game company!)



The basic idea for the Jack And the Beanstalk Game is this:

1. Up to four players can work their way up the beanstalk and back down again, in a quest to collect three treasures: golden coins, the goose that laid the golden egg, and the singing harp. You go up, you come down.

2. There is a giant (of course!) who can also travel down from his castle at the top of the beanstalk to give chase to Jack and recollect treasures. If he lands on your space, then you have to give up one of your priceless possessions.

3. The first player who makes it back down the beanstalk with all three treasures wins the game! You can lose treasures along the way via the giant, as mentioned previously, or by another player being given the opportunity to trade treasures with you, thereby eliminating your ability to form your collection of three treasures too quickly.

I thought the game would be simply and easily won, but it ended up that a second trip up the beanstalk was a perfectly valid threat in order to claim the requisite singing harp. Bookworm1 had successfully gathered both the golden coins and goose but was lacking the harp before making it back to the starting position.

The game is designed for children ages 5 and up, but Bookworm1, being 3 1/2, understood the concepts and we had no troubles in playing it together. He definitely still needs some adult supervision when playing, but we were able to play against one another without too much confusion (on the part of either one of us!) and so I considered our venture with the Jack And the Beanstalk Game to be a success! Except (!) he is still young enough to play the game literally and expressed some serious concerns about the giant landing on his space. ("What will he DO to me!?") Heh . . . I love literal toddlers in a strange and amusing way!

We liked this game and appreciate Winning Moves providing us with the opportunity to play it! (They apparently also make a Princess and the Pea game which, if we had a girl, I'd be curious to play at some point! I'm liking this whole 'storybook theme' game idea!)

It's also true that we like the sun and water and are hoping against hope to see some sprouts appear in our little "pot" in the very near future. How long should we be expecting this to take anyway? Not that we're impatient or anything...

Any bean and sprout books/games/video recommendation for us? Let us know!