The One with February Plans, Week 4

It's the final week in February! Time to review the skills of the month and catch up on anything you missed or didn't have time for! I also have an extra activity per day so that you have something fun to do! 

February Printable Calendar Here!


Pink Valentine's Day Slime
Directions: Here are the directions for how to make it! I found the recipe here, and made mine pink! Pink dye works great, or a little bit of red will look kind of pink as well.  
Flubber with Borax
3/4 cup cold water
1 cup white craft glue
liquid food coloring
1/2 cup hot water
1 teaspoon borax (found in the laundry aisle)
Directions:
In bowl 1, mix together the cold water, glue, and food coloring. Set aside.
In bowl 2, mix together the hot water and borax, until the borax is completely dissolved.
Slowly add the glue mixture to the borax mixture. Mix well and it will resemble watery scrambled eggs. Let it sit and it will meld into a smooth slime.

Confession: We did this, and it was a Pinterest fail. I definitely measured the glue wrong.  My results turned out nothing like what the girl had pictured. But my kids still liked it, so oh well! They played with it for a long time, (even my kiddo who doesn't like to get messy!)

Painting With Marbles
Directions: Use a shallow box/box lid for this activity. Place a piece of paper inside and squirt a few blobs of colorful paint on the paper. Then place some marbles in the box and allow the toddler to roll the marbles back and forth by rocking the box left and right. This is really fun! Just make sure that you reinforce that they don't shake the box, but rock it back and forth! My kids kind of slid it back and forth on the table like a panhandler! They will love watching the marbles roll as they make paint markings all over the paper! :) I used white paint on one side of the paper, and red on the other. By the end of the activity, the colors had blended into pink! Another fun color mixing activity! 

Sorting Pennies and Quarters
Directions: Hopefully by now, our kids are able to differentiate between these two coins! This is just a good review on sorting, and my kids are having tons of fun gluing as well! Teach your kids "A little glue will do!" or "A little dot will do!" Their kindergarten teacher will thank you immensely if your child doesn't use 1 gallon of glue per piece. There are 7 of each coin, so make sure to count the coins together to reinforce the number of the month! 

Pink Play Dough Games
Directions: This is just a simple encouragement to play with some play dough together with some heart shaped cookie cutters. If you don't have those, feel free to help cut out some heart shapes with a butter knife for the kiddos in the play dough. Play dough is a staple around here, but it's fun to add a seasonal twist. My girls love pretending like they are making Valentines cookies with their play dough! See if they can put hearts in size order, or make heart monsters with googly eyes and silly arms and legs! Have fun. Be sure to discuss the color of the month, pink. 

PQR Letter Sort
Directions: print file. Cut apart the letters on page 2. Invite the child to sort the letters from page 2 onto the first page as a sorting mat. My girls are learning to love using glue! Younger toddlers can simply sort without gluing. Older preschoolers can trace the letters as well! 

That's all, folks! 
Here are the printables:
Penny/Quarter Sort
PQR Letter Sort

The One with February Plans, Week Three

Let's do this! Week 3!

_____________________________________
Objectives:
Letters: P, Q, R
Color: Pink
Shape: Heart
Number: 7
Themes: Valentine's Day, quarters, pennies
____________________________________

Random Supplies you will need this week: (besides the typical paint, paper, glue, etc)
-disposable container with plastic lid (such as tupperware or a food container with lid) 
-froot loops
-felt 
-puff paint (at craft stores, dries 3-D looking. It was cool in the 80's.)
_____________________________________

Rr Dot Art*
Directions: Print file.  Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase R. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) You can read Dr Suess's ABC book and demonstrate which letter is big R and which one is little r.  
Emphasize that /r/ says "rrrrr", not "ruh". Hang paper on fridge for the week to reference.

                                            (I tried my hardest to stay in the lines!)

Heart Hunt
Directions: cut out lots of paper hearts. Hang/tape/hide them all around the house. Give your child a basket/bucket and allow them to run around and search for all the hearts! (For older kiddos, you can try to trick them by hiding other shapes and asking them to ONLY find the hearts!) This is super fun for kids to do! 

Heart Symmetry Craft
Directions: Fold a large paper in half and cut out a half-heart shape in order to make a heart. (See pic below. Is there a name for this half-heart shape? If there is, I'm clueless.)
Anyways, open up the half heart shape and voila, a heart! (This is surprisingly impressive to a 3 year old.) Invite your child to decorate ONE SIDE ONLY of the heart using paint. While the paint is still wet, fold the heart back in half to and the paint will transfer to the other side of the heart. This will demonstrate the symmetry of hearts. 

R snack-Froot Loop Rainbow*
Directions: print file. Use this paper as a snack mat. Give your child a bowl of dry Froot Loops. Sorry that this is not an organic fancy snack. In fact, it's pretty sad that I just had to type "Froot" instead of "fruit".  Encourage them to sort their colors like a rainbow and remind them that r is for rainbow. 

Pink Color Sort*
Directions: print file. Cut apart the small hearts on page 2. Encourage your child to sort the hearts by color and glue them down underneath the corresponding heart on page 1. 

Play Piggy Bank*
Directions. print file. 
Omigosh I can't tell you how much my kids liked this game! I cut apart the coins on the printable and immediately the girls said, "I want the pennies!" and the other said, "I want the quarters!" I was so proud they immediately were able to identify the coins! They sorted the coins amongst themselves and wanted a piggy bank! I found an old bread crumb container and cut a slot on the lid with a box cutter. (You could also use some disposable tupperware, or even a baby wipes container, too!) I told them to play piggy bank and they did for AT LEAST 30 MINUTES. All by themselves. They started pretending to do chores, "I'll sweep the kitchen and earn a quarter!" and, "I made my bed! I earned a penny!" It was pretty adorable. Just putting the paper coins in the slot is exciting for little ones, but it was cute to see them take it a step further. They played again and again and it was exciting for me to see that this potentially lame game actually was a hit! 

R letter recognition*
Directions: print file.  Ask your child to find the letter Rr on the paper. (use bingo stampers, crayons, stickers, etc to mark the letters.) Discuss that Rr is for rainbow!

Puffy Paint Heart Puzzles
Directions: cut hearts out of felt. On one side of the heart, paint a number, and on the other side of the heart, paint the corresponding amount of dots. Use 3-D puffy paint (99 cents at craft stores!) See pictures for examples. Once the paint has dried, it will be raised and encourage a tactile experience while the kiddos count and feel the pieces. Cut the heart apart to make a puzzle. Work together with your child trying to match the correct heart pieces together! These are fun puzzles that will last a long time and encourage tactile learners to count. 

That's all folks!  Printables are always free here!*
Rr Dot Art
Froot Loop Rainbow
Pink Color Sort
Play Piggy Bank Coins
R letter recognition

The One With February Plans, Week Two

Hey there! Here is week 2 of February!
___________________________________________
Objectives:
Letters: P, Q, R
Color: Pink
Shape: Heart
Number: 7
Themes: Valentine's Day, quarters, pennies
____________________________________

The monthly lesson plans for February are loaded here. Click and print, then add to your fridge for easy reference! 

Qq Dot Art*
Directions: Print file.  Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase Q. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) You can read Dr Suess's ABC book and demonstrate which letter is big Q and which one is little q.  Hang paper on fridge for the week to reference.

Heart Hop Game
Directions: Cut out paper hearts and tape them onto the floor. Write things on each heart that you want to practice with your kids. For example, I drew shapes and wrote letters on my hearts. I asked them to hop on a particular heart and they were so excited! I wrote their name on some hearts to reinforce recognizing their written name as well.
Younger toddlers: Make hearts out of different colored paper and ask them to hop on the blue heart, etc.
Older preschoolers: Write words/letters on each heart for the child to recognize and hop to.  It's fun to have games that encourage movement and gross motor skills. If the weather is nice where you live, you can also play this outside with chalk. 

Valentine's Day Sensory Bin
Directions: Gather lots of red/pink Valentines day trinkets. You know, the junk you get in goody bags? They are all over right now, especially in the dollar store/party favor sections of stores. I found these cute heart trays at my Walgreens for 50 cents! I filled them with navy beans and then lots of random Valentines/heart stuff! I had cookie cutters, heart buttons, heart confetti, glitter/felt hearts, and fake rose petals. I provided some scoopers and cups and trays and my kiddos loved scooping. One girl said she was making "A Valentine Pie" and another was making a "Valentine's surprise"...whatever that means! I even made a baby-friendly sensory bin with some rose petals and cookie cutters. Have fun!

Q Snack: Q is for Quilt
Directions: Describe a quilt for your kiddos. Surprisingly, a quilt is a foreign concept for most toddlers. (It's funny that I assume they know about certain things!) We talked about how a quilt is a blanket made of lots of little pieces. I gave my kiddos a piece of toast and invited them to make a quilt snack out of it. I provided some squares of cheese and turkey, but you can choose whatever you'd like! You can use some spreadable cheese or other condiment to hold it together! Yum! (This was actually a tasty kid-lunch!)

Q is for Quarter* 
Directions: Print file. Show your child that this is the letter Q. Invite them to trace the letter with their finger. Show them the quarters on the side of the page and count them together. (Spoiler alert: there's 7, the number of the month!) If you feel comfortable (choking-wise), invite your child to lay real quarters on top of the paper quarters. Try to see if they can compare them to pennies we learned about last week. (Smooth edges vs ridged edges, copper vs silver, etc). Discuss how a quarter is worth 25 cents. 

Sorting Conversation Hearts*
Directions: Print file. Give your child a box of conversation hearts! Invite them to sort their hearts onto the paper. Simple and fun! 

Q Letter Recognition*
Directions: print file. Ask your child to find the letter Q on the paper. (use bingo stampers, crayons, stickers, etc to mark the letters.) Discuss that Q is for Quail. (P.S. Have you seen the Leapfrog Phonics Farm video? My kiddos love it, and it's on Netflix! It teaches an animal per letter, and Q is for quiet quail! It's my girls' favorite!)

Counting Conversation Hearts*
Directions: Print file. Give your child a box of conversation hearts. Together, make a vertical bar graph out of the hearts. You will be color sorting and counting at the same time! I needed to help my 3 year olds with this because the vertical sorting was a foreign concept. They also were quite upset if they had 0 of a certain color, so we shared! Count and talk about the hearts together! 

All printables are free here:
Qq Dot Art
Q is for Quarter
Conversation Heart Sorting
Q Letter Recognition
Counting Conversation Hearts

The One with February Plans-Week One

Hey there! Here's the start of February Plans!
_____________________________________________________
Objectives:
Letters: P, Q, R
Color: Pink
Shape: Heart
Number: 7
Themes: Valentine's Day, quarters, pennies
____________________________________

The monthly lesson plans for February are loaded here. Click and print, then add to your fridge for easy reference! 

Pp Dot Art*
Directions: Print file.  Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase P. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) You can read Dr Suess's ABC book and demonstrate which letter is big P and which one is little p.  Hang paper on fridge for the week to reference.

Heart Coloring Page*
Directions: print file. Ask your child to identify the shape. If they can't, name the shape (heart) for them and describe the characteristics (2 round bumps on top, point on bottom, etc). Invite them to decorate the heart however they wish! (Crayons, stickers, markers, gluing down pieces of paper, etc). Older preschoolers can trace the letters in the word "heart". With younger kiddos, read each letter the the child. Have fun!

Toilet Paper Tube Heart Stamping
Directions: use a toiler paper (or paper towel) roll to make a heart shape. Secure the heart with some tape. (see picture) Invite the child to dip the end of the heart-shaped roll in paint and use it as a stamp. Make heart prints all over paper (maybe make some Valentine's along the way?)

P Snack-Valentine's Pretzels
Ingredients: square pretzels, hershey's hugs, Valentines M&M's.
Directions: Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Lay out the pretzels, then place a Hershey's hug on top. Bake for 3-5 minutes, or until hug is soft but still has a shape. Remove them from the oven and press the M&M on top. Allow them to cool/firm up in the fridge. Voila!

Color Mixing-Paint a Pig
Directions: Mix white and red paint together to make pink paint! It actually turned a cool coral color for us! Then use your pink paint in order to paint a pig! We used a paper plate to make a pig face!

Pink Coloring Page*
Directions: print file. Discuss that the color of the month is pink! Invite the toddler to color their crayon pink. Feel free to use paint, crayons, markers, watercolors, etc. Discuss the letters in the word "pink" and invite older children to trace the letters in the word.

 P is for Penny*
Directions: print file. Invite your children to use real pennies to trace the form of the letter P with real pennies. If you aren't comfortable with your little ones using real pennies, feel free to cut out the pennies on the bottom of the paper to use. Describe pennies to your child. Describe the smooth edges and the color, along that is worth 1 cent.

P Letter Recognition*
Directions: print file. Ask your child to find the letter P on the paper. (use bingo stampers, crayons, stickers, etc to mark the letters. Remind them that P is for pig!

Counting 7 Pennies*
Directions: print file. This month we are discussing the number seven. Show the child the paper and describe the form of the number 7 and letters in the word "seven". Count to seven together. Cut the 7 pennies out on the bottom of the page and invite your child to glue them down into the squares. Count the pennies together!

Free Printables here:
Pp Dot Art
Heart Coloring Page
Pink Coloring Page
P is for Penny
P Letter Recognition
Counting 7 Pennies