The last week of the month is always dedicated to reviewing all the previous skills of the month. I have a few more hands-on and messy activities for this week as well. If you have skipped/missed a few activities, this is the time to play catch up! (Believe me, I have a lot of catching up to do!)
The September Calendar is here! All other printable files at the end of this post.
*Please note that in some of these activities I have shown small objects that may pose a choking hazard to children under 3. You can always accommodate the needs of your child by using bigger objects. Supervise all young children with smaller objects, including rice, etc*
Review:
Letters: A, B, C
Shape: Circle
Color: Red
Theme: apples, plants
Number: 3
Plans:
Circle Chalk Hop:
Directions: Use chalk to draw varying colors and sizes of circles all over the sidewalk/patio. Ask the child to hop to the red circle! (continue with other colors). You can also ask older children to hop to the large/small circles. Another variation on the game would be to ask the child to throw a small rock/beanbag onto specific circles.
Apple Pie Sensory Bin:
Directions: Fill a large bowl or rubbermaid tub about 1/3 way full of dry oats. Add in some pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon sticks (or plain cinnamon, etc) to really get the senses going. Use some measuring cups/spoons/kitchen items to foster creative cooking play with the kids! Scooping and dumping is way fun! You can make pretend apple pies using your red pom poms! Have fun with it and play along!
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*Note: Tomorrow's activity is red sensory rice. It takes about 1/2 a day to dry, so I would make it tonight in order to play with it tomorrow!*
Directions to dye rice: dump plain, uncooked rice into a large gallon zipper bag (I bought a 5lb bag of rice but didn't use it all). Add in a tablespoon or two of rubbing alcohol. (I've also heard that hand sanitizer works if you're in a bind, but I haven't tested that theory!) Add in a few squirts of food coloring, zip up the bag, and shake! I would definitely have this be an adult only activity since red food coloring is not very forgiving. Continue shaking and add more food coloring/alcohol as needed. Once it is at the desired color, lay a paper towel on a cookie sheet and spread out the rice to dry. It dries much faster outside if you are able to do so. Enjoy!
Red Rice Sensory Bin:
Directions: Dye rice red. (directions above) Fill a large bowl/tub with rice and other red household items! Use duplos, legos, buttons, cars, pom-poms, or anything else red you can find! Allow your child to explore the red items and scoop/dump them. Hide items and have them dig them out. Kids love this stuff!!!
My kids love using spoons, measuring cups, dixie cups, medicine cups, etc with sensory bins.
ABC Sorting mat:*
Directions: Print file. Cut letters apart on page 2. Mix up the letters and invite the child to sort the little letter pieces onto the big letters on page 1. (Warning: This skill will be much more difficult than other sorting mats, especially for children under age 2!)
Plant Hunt Outside:
Directions: This month we have been learning about different plant parts (specifically on trees and apples). Explore outside (go on a walk, to the park, or simply walk around the backyard!) to find different parts of a plant! Pull up a weed and describe the roots. Ask them to identify stems and leaves. They will love this. For some reason, my kids think roots are super cool. It's like a hidden surprise in the dirt or something. It is also lots of fun to go to Walmart/Home Depot/Lowe's and explore the plant section there! Describe the textures of the plants and tree trunks (rough, smooth, prickly, hard, delicate, etc) Have fun!
Muffin Tin Color Sorting:
Directions: Print file. Cut out the colored circles and place them in the bottom of a muffin tin. Invite your child to sort colorful objects (buttons, pom-poms, beads, legos, etc) into the different cups. If you have a disposable foil muffin tin, you can glue/tape down the colored circles and have this be a permanent activity you can keep handy. I love pulling this activity out while I'm trying to cook dinner. For older kiddos, they can use tongs/tweezers to grab the objects (it slows them down a little too if you're trying to kill time, ha!)
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I used pony beads, but any colorful objects will work!
Apple Coloring Page:*
Directions: Print file. It's just a simple coloring page. You can paint, color, with crayons, use markers, glue down torn paper, etc.
That's it for this month! Love you guys! I'm getting excited for next month because I'm IN LOVE WITH PUMPKIN EVERYTHING. Did you know that pumpkins float? Be prepared for fun and pumpkin guts...
Printables here:
ABC Sorting Mat
Muffin Tin Color Sorting
Apple Coloring Page
Hi Liz, I hope you moderate your comments and that this doesn't pop directly onto your page, as it is slightly unrelated, but i don't know how else to communicate with you ;)
ReplyDeleteFirst off - I am so sooooo very blessed by your 'free printables', it is not often that one gets that ;) most charge for what they have available, which i understand, as for many it is a form of income :) but for some people outside of the borders of the USA, paying in Dollars becomes an expensive effort ;)
Anyhow - reason for my trying to connect with you, not even sure if you'd be able to help me - I've got three kids, hoping to home school them (oldest one only turned 5 now, so will probably only really start next year); i want to 'make' my own printables to use for my kids, and one day make available to some of my friends, or via my blog (which is only registered now, and not happening just yet), in our home language, Afrikaans. I was wondering whether you would be willing to say which software you use to create yours - from creating the letters for writing skills, to all the other cute things one can do like making pictures for chore charts, or whatever else. I have Corel Draw, but its difficult to use (i'm a novice user, i'm sure an old hand would be able to 'design' things in a jiffy), and i have 'craft artist' - but that doesn't really help much for anything except cute reminder cards for scriptures or whatever. At the moment i'm buying books by the loads for my oldest, which is too expensive, would have been easier if i could create my own, and use pictures that work in our language with the letters. Plus i would love to create stuff to make the whole homeschooling experience fun for my kids, but i don't want to use everybody else's stuff (which in any event is english, and it is a while before mine will be ready for tutoring in English), and because afrikaans resources are so limited online i'd love to make whatever i can design myself available to other South african moms ;)
anyhow - any chance that you'd be willing to tell me?
Hope you have a lovely week - and yay for number three!! Mine is also the highlight of our home - He is such a sweet heart - his oldest sister is forever trying to pick him up and love on him; middle brother just can't wait for him to grow up quick enough so that they can play together... i think he is the glue in the threescore kids at our house ;)
Hope to hear from you? if you'd prefer, you could mail me on nellitavonmoltke@gmail.com
Really love your blog :D
I hope when mine grows up, it will be like yours ;) [the blog that is]
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Deletehello again!! I'm assuming your little ones are keeping you busy! Three are no longer one or two and (well, mine at least) can be a hand full!
DeleteI came across some sites where the bloggers shared some on their own ways of doing printables! yay - didn't even think to just google a simple question ;) anyhow - found some info on the web, and seems like people are using Wordart, picnic, picmonkey and gimp. i've never tried any of these but hope to be getting into it. Anyhow! if you ever do get round to, and want to reply to my initial question - i would love to hear your input! be blessed! :) Nellita