Letter: B

Theme of the Day: The Letter B

Age: 20 months

Magnetic Pom Poms

As with last week, I printed the Do-A-Dot pages from this site, and created my own for the actual upper and lowercase B. Perhaps I need to bring this activity out less often, because she didn't take much interest in it this time, having seen it for the letter and number days last week. She did point out the bear and butterfly, so I continued with a verbal list of "B" words. She repeated them, but it'll be a long time before she contributes her own I'm sure!

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics and Which is B?

I had brought out Honey Pot's fridge magnet B, so she could hear its sounds. She ended up bringing more letters over afterward, so I made a "Which is B" game out of it. She was very good at spotting the "B" among groups of three letters. We also reviewed the letter "A" from last week. Eventually, Honey Pot started pointing out some of the other letters she knew too, such as "O" and "M."

B is for Bike, B is for Blue

I have no pictures, but the unseasonably warm weather prompted us to get outside and moving. Under the guise of "Guess what else starts with B?" I brought Honey Pot out for a ride on her bike. Once she was "all done" we dropped the bike off in the driveway and went for a long walk. She just loves being outside! I spotted an opportunity and said, "I spy with my little eye something blue. Do you see something blue?" She quickly caught on, pointed out a blue sign, and asked for another one. So we continued this game as long as we could.

B is for Buttons Craft

Honey Pot loves to use glue! And she is always quick to point out the buttons on our shirts too. So when I saw this craft, I had to let her try it today. She really seemed to enjoy squeezing the glue out and placing the buttons on, however haphazardly. :)

"Mess!"

Play-dough B

We revisited this activity from last week, using a letter B cookie cutter. She loves to play with her Kool-Aid play-dough, and had just as much fun with it.

B is for Bus Craft

I found this idea on Pinterest - you can see the original link here. Honey Pot loves to point out school buses while we are driving, so I thought it would make a nice craft for today. She seemed to have lots of fun with it too. I squeezed the glue out for the wheels, but let her take full reign after that. We read "The Wheels on the Bus" afterward!

Color: Blue

Theme of the Day: The Color Blue

Age: 20 months

Picture Puzzles

Just as last week, I made two picture puzzles using images that Honey Pot recognizes from two of her books: "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear." The idea came from here.

Which is Blue?

This activity was so successful last week, that I had to do it again. I would ask her, "Which is blue?" and she correctly answered every time.

Color Walk

Unlike last week, I didn't prepare this activity in advance. Honey Pot was so excited to point out the blue pictures in the previous activity, that she wanted more. "Another one, another one?" she asked. So we walked around the house and I asked questions like, "Which of these is blue?" and "What on Woody is blue?" Sometimes I even asked, "And which one is red?" as a brief review of last week's color. She earned an absolute 100% on this activity, and I feel so sure she knows her blues!

Pom Pom Excavation

I found this idea here and it looked like so much fun! The rice came from the Dollar Tree, as did the pom poms, which I already had in supply. At first Honey Pot used the measuring cup correctly to scoop out the rice and pom poms, but eventually she just used her hands. The object of the game was to excavate the pom poms, and place all of the blue ones into a separate bowl. After a long while of just playing with it, she eventually helped me sort the pom poms. I am glad to have done this activity on the hardwood floor instead of in her carpeted room -- super easy to sweep up the mess! She had a lot of fun with this, and we'll have to do it again sometime.

Masking Tape Painting

I had first seen this idea here. We had done the snowflake design, and it was a huge success! So I wanted to try something new that would go with our blue theme. I decided to have Honey Pot paint a blue fish in blue water. She didn't paint the whole page this time, but it still came out pretty good!

Blue Bath

To complete our blue theme, we added a blue fizzy tablet to Honey Pot's bath. We just love these!

Emotions

Theme of the Day: Emotions

Age: 20 months

Cartoon Faces

I found these images on the Internet to help teach children about the different basic emotions. I did edit a couple of the mouths in Photoshop Elements to my liking. I used these cartoons to introduce each of the emotions to Honey Pot. After a little while of course, we played with them, and they started having conversations. I used it to my advantage, and had my characters say things like, "I'm feeling sleepy." It was a good start to today's theme.

Real Faces

I thought it would be helpful for Honey Pot to see real children with these emotions, instead of just cartoons. So I found these images from the Internet. I asked her, "Which face is ___" and she answered quite successfully. I don't know why she kept pointing to the angry face and saying "Mommy" though...hmm. LOL.

Velcro-a-Face Game

I enlarged two faces and erased their mouths, then cut out each of the mouths individually. Then I attached Velcro to the backs of each mouth, as well as to the empty faces. I asked Honey Pot, "Can you make this a ___ face?" And she was able to correctly assemble the face half of the time, I'd say. It was a pretty fun game!

Faces in the Mirror Game

Using the pictures from the Internet, we made faces in the mirror! I'd place one on top of the mirror and say, "Make a ___ face!" She had so much fun doing this! It was a little difficult to get a photo of her doing this, because she kept putting her face right up against the mirror! But here are a few I caught:

Number: 1

Theme of the Day: Number One

Age: 20 months

Magnetic Pom Poms

I made this worksheet myself in Photoshop Elements, and again Honey Pot took to it very well. She enjoys playing with the magnets and is quite good at placing them in the white circles. Will revisit this activity for future number units too!

Which is One? - Pictures

This was a very successful game when we did the color red earlier this week, and it was just as successful this time! The first time through, Honey Pot correctly and happily identified the pictures that contained just one dinosaur, umbrella and fish. But for some reason, she kept pointing to the picture of two turtles. We returned to these throughout the day, and by the third time through, she had mastered them all!

Lauri Puzzle

I found a set of puzzles by Lauri on Amazon for a great price, and will introduce them one at a time as we cover each number. Honey Pot loved playing with this puzzle. She poked out the 1 and the apple, pushed them back in again, walked around the house with it... all in all a great purchase, and a wonderful learning tool.

"Make It So, Number One" Sesame Street Video

Honey Pot's Daddy and I are big Star Trek fans, and Honey Pot is a big Sesame Street fan. So when I came across this video on You Tube, I had to include it in today's unit! (All video credits go to Sesame Street - I do not own this video!) Honey Pot really enjoyed watching it!

Which is One? - Numeral

I was so impressed with how flawlessly Honey Pot was able to identify the written number 1 each time. Afterward, I also asked her to show me 1 on her fingers (which she's known how to do since before her first birthday). We'll continue both activities for each number unit!

Shape: Heart

Theme of the Day: Heart

Age: 20 months

Here is a picture of our chalkboard (another Dollar Tree item), where each morning I write down what the theme of the day is. She loves "Pooh Bah!"

Scratch Art

Last minute I remembered that I had this among my craft supplies, and decided to include it in Honey Pot's heart activities. Unfortunately though, you really have to push down hard with the stylus, and she was unable to do it by herself.

Biggest to Smallest

I simply cut these three hearts out of printer paper, and asked Honey Pot which was the biggest and smallest. After going over it a few times, she seemed to grasp the concept of big and small. Definitely something to revisit in other units!

Lacing

I cut a heart out of foam and punched holes around its edges. Honey Pot enjoyed threading the shoelace through a hole or two, then quickly lost interest. I think it is worth trying again though, as her fine motor skills develop more.

Bracelets

The Dollar Tree was swarming with Valentine's Day gizmos, and I just couldn't resist this pack of heart bracelets. There wasn't much we could do with them - we counted them and we played with them. But that was about it.

Sun-catcher

I found this idea here and was so excited to have another use for that huge roll of con-tact paper that I have! This was my first time introducing scissors to Honey Pot, so she couldn't quite help me cut the tissue paper quite yet. Also, we didn't allow enough time for this activity, because we had to close up the sticky side and drive home from her Grams and Pops house. But all things considered, the final product came out pretty good. And Honey Pot loves to point it out on the window.

Cookie-Cutter Sandwich

There was a little surprise on Honey Pot's lunch plate today - a heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She was so happy to see it! Of course, this wasn't enough of the sandwich and she asked for more afterward. The scraps were just as tasty though!

Sponge Painting

I found a pack of sponge shapes at the Dollar Tree, and decided that it would make a great activity. With her Daddy's help, she learned how to push the sponge down (instead of dragging it across the page like a paintbrush). And by the end of the craft, she had made yet another beautiful creation! (Okay, so I'm biased.)

Pizza

Honey Pot loves pizza! After seeing a pin on Pinterest about doing this for Valentine's Day, I decided it would be a perfect end to our heart unit. Using a cookie cutter, we cut hearts out of pieces of pepperoni. Honey Pot was able to correctly identify the shape, and she devoured her dinner!