The One With May Plans, Week 4

Hi guys! I'm sending out a few last ideas on reviewing overall pre-k skills for the month!

May Calendar Printable Here

I'm getting ready to make a big trip out of town, so I'll just send you out to links of ideas vs. making my own demos! I've got some packing to do! :)

Alphabet Review: Alphabet Beach Ball

Directions: Write the letters of the alphabet with permanent marker onto an inflatable beach ball. Play a toss game with their child. Ask them to identify the name of the letter that their them is closest to as the catch the ball. (This is fun in the bathtub with a smaller beach ball as well!)

http://www.playdoughtoplato.com/alphabet-ball/

Shapes Review: Water Balloon Smash:

Directions: Using chalk, draw varying shapes all around the sidewalk. Call out the names of a shape and encourage your kiddo to splash the shape with a water balloon! Water balloons are super exciting for preschoolers! This blogger took it a step further and wrote letters onto the water balloons for extra practice. Have fun! http://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/water-ballon-letters-shapes-play/

Colors Review: Sort and Stick Colors 

Directions: On a large piece of paper (easel, butcher, etc) draw long columns in order to create separate sections on the paper. Label each section a color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, etc). Encourage your child to glue down corresponding colored items in each column. These items could be as simple as squares of colored paper (as seen in link) or fun pictures that they found in magazines! Be creative! Once their giant paper is compete, it will be something that they will be really proud of! :) 

http://www.rockabyebutterfly.com/2011/05/colour-practicing.html

Numbers Review: 

Directions: Number the left side of a paper 1-10. Draw a caterpillar head to the right of each number. Then, invite your child to add the corresponding number of body segments next to the caterpillar head! They can add stickers for body segments, draw circles, or do dot stamps!  I added a link here with an example picture. 

https://kenandkaren.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/c-0011.jpg

Alphabet Review: Fly Swatting Letters

Directions: print file. Cut apart the flies and label them with letters. (Or shapes, colors, sight words, or anything else you'd like to review!) Lay the flies out on the floor (or tape them around the house!) and ask them to swat certain things! This game cracks my kids up!!! 

Print fly file here. 

Thats it!!! A school year's worth of lesson plans!!!! 

For the rest of the summer, keep checking in and following my facebook page. I will be having giveaways and fun posts about fun summer activities. Love you guys! 

The One With May Plans, Week 3

Hey there! The year of lesson plans is over! I can't believe I go through this weekly extravaganza of the entire alphabet! The next 2 weeks on here are just reviewing overall pre-k skills. I have some links/ideas on here for you!

Print the May calendar here!

Rectangle Fine Motor Outlining
Directions: Draw a rectangle a piece of paper. Describe the attributes of it (4 sides, 4 corners, 2 sides are long).  Encourage your child to place small items (beans, beads, cheerios, etc) around the perimeter of the rectangle. This will give them the opportunity to really observe the shape while utilizing fine motor skills.

Shape Dancing and Matching Game
Directions: Draw all of the shapes on the sidewalk with chalk. Turn on some music and dance around! When the music stops, call out the name of a shape for them. The child will have to identify the shape quickly and run to it. This activity is fun and a simple way to review (and get their energy out!)

Life Cycle of a Butterfly Snack
Directions: Read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle again. Remind your child of the 4 phases of the the butterfly life cycle. Present them with 4 snacks that resemble the 4 phases. I chose raisins as eggs, gummy worms as caterpillars, gummy fruit slices as the chrysalis, and butterfly crackers! Ask them questions such as, "Which one of these snacks looks like a tiny egg?" and so on. Have fun snacking!

Colors Review: Muffin Tin Sorting
Directions: Print file. Cut apart the circles and place them into the bottom of a muffin tin. Use this to review and sort colored items. (Beads, pom poms or other items!) For added hand-eye coordination, you can use tongs to transfer items to the muffin tins.

Numbers Review: Number Dot Book Printable
Directions: I found a cute printable online to review numbers! Click to this link below to get working! :)
http://www.messforless.net/2013/04/free-math-printables-number-book.html


Printable:
Muffin Tin Color Sorting 

The One with May Plans, Week 2

Hi!!!

This is our last week of specific themes until we have fun reviewing games for the end of the year! I'm so excited we made it to Z week! Here's whats going on this month and week:

Print the monthly calendar here.

Z Dot Art
Directions: print file. print file. Introduce the letter of the week: Z!  Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase z. (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 Z and which one is little z. Discuss that z makes the "zzzzz" sound, like in zebra and zipper!

Rectangle Shaving Cream Tracing
Directions: On a smooth, wipeable surface (like a tray, cookie sheet, or kid-safe table) spray out some shaving cream. Smooth it out into a thin layer and practice making rectangles with their fingers. This is a great and simple sensory activity for young kiddos! Even if they get off task, it's still fun manipulate the cool shaving cream in their fingers. One of my twins doesn't really like to get messy, but she will gladly play like this if I give her a paintbrush to work with.

Butterfly Coffee Filter Craft
Directions: Use markers to decorate and color coffee filters. Next, drip water onto the coffee filters to watch the colors run and flow together. It will have a tie-dye like look. (We used eye droppers, but medicine droppers, turkey basters, or small teaspoon scoops will help them dispense small amounts of water). Lay the coffee filters out to dry (or zap them in the microwave for a few seconds!). Now you can bunch the coffee filter in the middle to create wings.  Clip on a clothespin as the body of the butterfly. Bam. Cute and very toddler friendly!

 

Z Snack: Zebra Pretzel Rods
Directions: Make some fun Zebra pretzel rods! This is a simple cooking activity that toddlers can easily participate in. Purchase some pretzel rods and some of these microwavable chocolate dips. I got white chocolate and milk chocolate. (You simply microwave the chocolate in the provided plastic tubs and stir it!) My kids love to stir, so this is no problem for them! Once the white chocolate has melted, dip your pretzel rods in. Next, melt the milk chocolate and drizzle that across the white chocolate in order to look like zebra stripes. It's a tasty delicious snack for all ages!

Z is for Zebra Craft
Directions: Draw a large letter z onto a piece of blank paper. Add a fun little face so that it's recognizable as a zebra. Invite your child to glue on some little black strips of construction paper along the Z in order to make a zebra. Remind them that z is for zebra!

Yellow Suns-Stringing on the Rays
Directions: Decorate a paper plate yellow (color of the month) like a sun (theme of the month) using markers, crayons, paint, etc. Punch 8 holes around the plate and attach strings/pipe cleaners around the radius of the plate to look like sun rays. Count out the 8 (number of the month) sun rays together. Now your kiddo can lace cheerios, beads, etc on the the rays! I love keeping my kids busy with this lacing while I'm cooking dinner. I just throw a bunch of cheerios on the table and they go after it! 

Z Letter Recognition
Directions: print file. Discuss that this is the letter Z. "There are some little z's hiding on that big z! Can you find them all?" Encourage them to identify the letter z's by marking them with a dot marker, sticker, or simply circling them. They should hopefully be able to find all the Z's by the end of the week!

Figure 8 Car Racing
Directions: Fill a large zipper bag with hair gel. You know, the old school LA Looks that reminds you of the 90's? It's super cheap. Seal the bag very well! Trace the shape of a figure 8 (number of the month) into the gel through the bag. Encourage your kiddo to trace along with the finger as well. Next, give them a little matchbox car to race around the figure 8! This is a great tactile way for them explore the number 8.

(pic coming soon!)

Free Printables:
Z Dot Art
Z letter recognition

The One with May Plans, Week 1

Hey guys! It's May!
This is the end of the alphabet, so we will do 2 letters this month plus 2 weeks of reviewing skills! It should be a super fun month! I'm really excited that I completed this school-year long challenge of lesson plans!

Here is the link to the calendar of monthly activities! Click, print, stick on the fridge, and do an activity of the week! 

Y Dot Art
Directions: print file. print file. Introduce the letter of the week: Y!  Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase y. (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 Y and which one is little y. Discuss that y makes the /y/ sound, like in yellow and yak and yesterday!

Rectangle Coloring Page
Directions: print file. Introduce the shape of the month: rectangle! Count the sides and the corners. Describe that a rectangle looks kind of like a square, but longer! Older kids can trace the letters in the word "rectangle". Encourage the children to decorate the rectangle as desired.

Butterfly Life Cycle Pasta Activity
Directions: Read your children "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. Discuss the 4 different phases of the butterfly life cycle: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis (cocoon in book), butterfly. Divide a paper plate into fourths and label each quadrant with the 4 phases. For this activity, you need a bean (or something else tiny like a grain of rice, quinoa, etc), a long noodle, a shell noodle, and a bow-tie pasta noodle. Go through the story again and show the child the 4 little pieces. Ask "Which one of these little pieces of food reminds you of an egg? Right! Let's put the bean in the egg part of the plate! Which one of these pasta pieces reminds of you of a long caterpillar?..." and so on! Talk through the 4 phases and glue down each piece into the corresponding part of the plate! This is a super cute visual, and the bow-tie pasta as a butterfly is so cute!

Y Snack-Yogurt Parfait
Directions: Discuss that yogurt starts with the letter y! Have fun making a parfait together. We used blueberries, granola, and vanilla yogurt. My kiddos made theirs all by themselves!!! (Ok, I was right there giving directions, but still!) This is a delicious and healthy snack that they have already asked to have again!

Yarn Yak Craft
Directions: print file. Cut up lots of pieces of yellow yarn (or any color!) invite your kiddo to decorate their yak with yellow yarn. My kids love using glue and these yaks are so ugly that it's hysterical!

Yellow Coloring Page
Directions: print file. Discuss that the color of the month is yellow. It starts with the letter y! Just like our yak with yarn! Encourage your child to color the yellow crayon (marker, paint, crayon, etc). Discuss the letter in the word yellow. "Y-e-l-l-o-w! Can you trace the letters in the word yellow?" Search for yellow things around the house today!

Y Letter Recognition
Directions: print file. Discuss that this is the letter Y. "There are some little y's hiding on that big Y! Can you find them all?" Encourage them to identify the letter Y's by marking them with a dot marker, sticker, or simply circling them. They should hopefully be able to find all the Y's by the end of the week!

#8 Playdough Mat
Directions: print file. Introduce the number 8 as the number of the month. Count the dots together. Show them the word "eight" and spell out the letters. Use play dough to fill in the dots. Roll out a big long snake in the play dough in order to make the number 8 at the top! This is a fun page for kids to explore the number in a very tactile way.

Here are the free printables:
Yy Dot Art
Rectangle Coloring Page
Yarn Yak Craft
Yellow Coloring Page
Y Letter Recognition
8 Counting Mat

Hi guys! This is the last week of the month, so we get to review! You can work on any activities that you missed this month, plus I have a few new activities for this week!

Diamond/Shape Symmetry Puzzles
Directions: This is a simple and fun way to reinforce shapes, their names, and symmetry. Put two popsicle sticks side by side and draw a shape on them. (see pics below). I used a permanent marker so that it would bleed less. I made an oval, square, diamond, heart, rectangle, and circle. Show your toddler the puzzles and invite them to match up the shapes and name them.

Purple Sensory Bin
Directions: Dye some sensory materials purple* (rice, noodles, beans, etc.) Add lots of purple items from around the house and watch your kiddos explore! Ask them what all of the items have in common! Add in a yellow or other contrasting item and see if they notice that it is out of place! My girls always love when I give them spoons and tupperware/muffin tins so that they can pretend to cook with the sensory materials. We definitely made some purple pies with these beans! :)

*To dye items with food coloring, simply put them in a big gallon zipper bag, add a splash of rubbing alcohol (maybe 1-2 tbs?) and some food coloring. Shake the bag until all the items are covered in color, then lay them out flat to dry! I use a cookie sheet/tray lined with a paper towel and it dries pretty quickly!

Fly A Kite
No directions needed! Find some kites and have a grand time! They are in lots of stores this time of year. We have some fun Elsa/Anna kites from WalMart and I believe they were less than $2! Talk about how the wind keeps the kite up in the air! Discuss that kites are diamond-shaped! So many fun conversations are to be had! I haven't taken any pics of us flying our kites yet, but my girls loved it! It wasn't very windy the day we tried, but they still loved dragging their kite around like a leash! It was pretty hysterical how pathetic it was, and they still had a BLAST! Enjoy them!

Flower Pot Color Matching
Directions: I found this cute printable online at this website. Click for the free printable!  Next, I cut the pots and flowers apart. These flowers printed off huge, so I used a big easel/poster sized paper for the activity. (p.s. Kids just love using big pieces of paper! It's a fun little novelty of being a child!) We discussed the flower pot colors and the girls got to "plant" the flowers in to corresponding-colored pot! You can glue the flowers down, or just allow them to decorate again and again!

The end! Have fun this week! I'm excited for May coming up! 

The One with April Plans, Week 3

Let's get going on week 3!

Here is the April calendar of activities!

Xx Dot Art:
Directions: print file. Introduce the letter of the week: X!  Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase x. (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 X and which one is little x. I have included a video of my kids doing this along with me pronouncing the /x/ sound correctly. Phonetically, the /x/ sound is in words like fox, box, and six, (and not like xylophone!)  This is more difficult for children to identify because it is most commonly found as a medial or final sound (rather than the typical initial sound.) 

(I'm not sure what a tarx is...? Ha!)

Diamond Sponge Stamping
Directions: Cut a plain sponge into the shape of a diamond. Use the sponge as a fun stamp! We made our diamonds purple because it's the color of the month. This is simple and easy for young toddlers to do! Encourage them to count the sides and corners of the diamonds. 

Flower Play Dough Digging
Directions: Pretend to plant flowers in some play dough! I used small Dixie cups as pots, brown play dough as dirt, and some fake flowers to plant. My girls LOVED this activity. I gave them some small play shovels and empty watering cans to really encourage creative play. We discussed that plants need dirt, water, and sunshine to grow. The girls dug, planted their fake flowers, and pretended to water them over and over. 

X Snack: Pretzel Stick X's
Directions: So simple! Give your kiddo some pretzel sticks and ask them to make you some x's. "How many pretzel sticks do you need to make an X? ...2? Right! Now show me how to make an x! Can you make a big X and a little x?"

X-Ray Cotton Swab Craft
Directions: Using a white crayon or chalk, draw simple human body outline onto a black piece of paper. Cut apart many different sized cotton swabs and ask your kiddo to make the bones out of cotton swabs! Now you have an adorable little x-ray! X is for x-ray! :)

Potato Stamping Tulips
Directions: Cut a potato in half. Then cut a tulip shape into the potato piece. (see picture). Dip the potato into purple paint in order to make fun flower shapes. Draw stems and leaves as you discuss the parts of a flower. 

X Letter Recognition
Directions: Print file. Discuss that this is an ox, and that it makes the /x/ sound at the end of the word. "Can you see any letter X's hiding on this ox?" Ask the kiddos to mark the letter X's using dot art markers, stickers, or simply just circling the letter. 

(My printer ran out of ink mid-ox!) 

Number 9 Play Dough Mat
Directions: Print file. This month our number is 9, so here is a play dough mat all about 9! (Laminating it will make it more durable for future use!) Encourage your preschooler to roll out some play dough like a long snake in order to make a 9. Older kiddos can trace the letters in the word "nine". Count out nine pieces of play dough to place onto the circles. This all is just a great way to explore the number nine in a tactile way! 

Here are all the printables:

Xx dot art

Xx letter recognition

Number 9 Play Dough Mat

The One With April Plans, Week Two

Hey guys! This week is W week! We will be learning about watermelons, and continuing work on the themes of diamonds, purple, #9, flowers, and kites. 

Here is the printable calendar for April for you to follow along! :)

W Dot Art*
Directions: print file. Introduce the letter of the week: W!  Allow child to decorate the W. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) I wasn't able to fit both upper and lowercase on one page, so I went ahead and just did one letter. You can read Dr Suess's ABC book and demonstrate which letter is big W and which one is little w. Show them that a uppercase W looks just like a lowercase w, just bigger!

Diamond Popsicle Stick Building
Directions: I have seen all over Pinterest how people put sticky Velcro dots onto popsicle sticks to build. I finally decided to do this! The velcro was $5 at Walmart. For this activity you need to use the jumbo/wide popsicle sticks, not the narrow ones. Work together to make a diamond. "How many sides does a diamond have?" "How can we make a diamond with our popsicle sticks?" If you don't have the Velcro dots, you can always simply glue the sticks together to make a diamond (or even glue them flat on a paper for younger toddlers!) 

Kite Diamond*
Directions: print file. Use page one as a kite template. Cut apart the colorful triangles on the other pages as puzzle pieces. Present the puzzle pieces to your toddler and invite them to decorate their kite! They can make a kite all one color or various colors! This seems simple, but it is difficult for them to be able to place the correct sized triangle in the corresponding place. This will help with problem solving skills. You can even have fun challenges in order to promote color recognition. "Can you make a purple kite? How about a purple and yellow kite?" Have fun decorating your kite over and over in different ways! 

W Snack: Making "Watermelon Cookies"
Directions: Cut watermelon into large, thin, circular slices, (about 1-2cm thick.) Lay the slices on a cookie sheet/cutting board (or something to contain all the juices!) Invite your toddler to use cookie cutters to create fun shaped watermelon "cookies". This is sooo fun for kiddos! Note: keep the watermelon seeds for an activity on Friday! 

Red + Blue = Purple Color  Mixing
Directions: Add some blue paint and red paint to a container and encourage your kiddo to mix the colors together! Ask them to predict what color it will make. I have done this with a gallon-sized zipper bag or simply stirring the colors in a cup. (Spoiler alert: it makes purple.) Now, use this paint for our next activity: purple flower painting! 

     (It looked like a pretty dark purple!)

Purple Flower Painting
Directions: Use the purple paint from our previous activity to paint flowers. I like to use a paper plate/bowl as a place to hold my paint. Get the bottom of a small 20oz drink bottle and use it as a stamp! It makes adorable little flowers, and it is nice and chunky for a toddler to hold! 

W letter recognition
Directions: print file. Hopefully our kiddos will be able to recognize the letter W by Friday! Test this out by printing off this page. Show them the W on the top right corner of the page. "This is a watermelon that starts with the letter w!  Can you see any w's hiding on the watermelon?" Invite them to mark the w's with dot art markers, stickers, or even just circling them. See if the M tricks them! 

Watermelon Seed Counting
I wanted to make a worksheet for this, but I found an adorable already made one online! Click here to see the adorable free printable! I accidentally got a seedless watermelon, so I ended up using raisins as my seeds! It was a simple swap and I didn't have to worry about choking hazards. Win-win! 

That's all, folks! Free printables here!
W Dot Art
Kite Diamond
W Letter Recognition