Theme: The Letter H
Honey Pot is 2 years and 1 month old
Play-Dough H
Honey Pot brought me her playdough (a homemade Kool-Aid
version we made) today, so I thought it would be a good day to resume learning
the alphabet. I brought her my cookie cutter and asked her what letter it is.
“H” she replied. (Huh? When did you learn that??) I helped her roll out the
dough and she pushed the cookie cutter down.
“I made a H!” she exclaimed.
H is for House: Do-A-Dot Art
I printed this from Making Learning Fun, and brought out
Honey Pot’s dot markers. I unscrewed all of them and let her have at it. She
identified the letter and we talked about the image.
Then it became a color-matching activity, as well as fine
motor skill practice, as she twisted the caps back on where they belonged.
I stretched the theme a wee bit to allow some scissor
practice too. I drew an H on a piece of scrap paper, and asked her to cut along
the lines. She did okay, but mostly just tore it up into tiny pieces by hand.
But she brought every last one to her garbage can without me
asking her to do so. That’s my girl!
Leap Frog Fridge Phonics
I collected a few letters in one place, and asked Honey Pot
which was the H. Instead of pointing, as she used to, she started removing one
at a time until just the H remained. Then we listened to the little ditty that
good ol’ Scout sings, about what H sounds like.
Words That Begin With H
During lunch I just talked to Honey Pot about various words
that begin with H, emphasizing the H sound. “H-h-honey. H-h-heart. H-h-hair.”
Then as I was running out of things that begin with H, I excitedly called out,
“Hey! One of your bath toys begins with H! Can you think of which one?” I
didn’t know what to expect. But after a short pause, she proudly said, “Hippo
starts with a H!” Mommy’s jaw dropped here.
Daddy continued the game when he returned home from work, to
see if it was a fluke. He gathered a few of her barn animal toys. “Which animal
begins with H?” he asked. She picks up the horse. He then gathers up some
puzzle pieces depicting images of different vehicles. “Which of these begins
with H?” She picks up the helicopter and says, “Helicopper!”
I think our Tot School has just been raised to a whole new
level. And now that I see how smart she is, I feel these activities are more
important than ever.
H is for Hunt
I had other plans for this hunt, where I would hide various
images around the yard that begin with H. But it rained today, and really, I
hadn’t yet printed any pictures by the time we were ready to start this. So
when Honey Pot picked up my rechargeable candles, I improvised. I hid a few
bath toys around the bathroom and turned the lights off. She turned on her
little light and used it to hunt for objects. Sorry for the poor picture
quality!
H is for House: Popsicle Stick Craft
This is another great printable and idea from Making Learning Fun. First we counted the Popsicle sticks.
Then Honey Pot put some glue down. I told her where to put
it, but she also decided some other places required glue too.
Yes, we’re learning about the letter H today, but we’re
building a house, not the letter!
And with just a little guidance, it started to resemble a
house.
Leap Frog Fridge Phonics, revisited!
We happened to be having ham for dinner, so I thought I
would show her what the word looks like. Honey Pot identified each of the
letters, and we reviewed what each sounds like. Then I put the different sounds
together to create the word “ham.” Levels beyond where we’re at, but I thought
it’d be fun to pop some spelling into today’s theme.
All in all, a successful day indeed.
