U is for Unicorn!

Today we did a few "U is for Unicorn" activities! We're wrapping up the end of our alphabet one day at a time, instead of weekly, so we can start fresh themes for preschool. Keep scrolling to see what Sweet E and I did today, or click on one of the links below to revisit similar themes from the past!

 

Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Party - 2019

U is for USA - 2015

The Letter U - 2014

Books

We found these cute books at the library! "Uni the Unicorn" is such a sweet story about a unicorn believing in mythical little girls even though none of her friends do. And "Twinkle, Twinkle, Unicorn" might be a very simple board book, but Sweet E loves singing and music, so it was a hit! We sang it over and over and over!

Introducing the Letter U

Instead of our usual letter page, I created this for Sweet E to learn the letter U. She needed to dot all the clouds with U's in them!

She had no trouble at all, and it was nice to mix things up a little bit!

Scissor Practice

I found this fun idea at Hello, Wonderful but used my own stickers that I had on hand. Sweet E had to lead the unicorn to the rainbows, by cutting along the lines.

She's getting so much better with scissors; I love to see her learning!

Alphabet Review - Unicorn Game

I found a game board from Playdough to Plato, a free printable! And I added in the letters we've learned so far. Then Sweet E and I each took turns rolling the die, and moving our pom pom across the board.

We had to identify the letter we landed on each time, which was great review! And she likes to have our pom poms talk to each other lol.

I grabbed a die with just the numbers 1-3 on them, so we were sure to hit as many letters as possible. And we even played a second time!

Building a Rainbow

I decided to include this fine motor activity, because rainbows and unicorns just go together so well! I stuck some pipe cleaners into a piece of Styrofoam I had on hand, and gave Sweet E a container of matching beads.

She immediately got to work color-matching!

And of course the pipe cleaners had to talk to one another, because everything we do includes a bit of pretend play lol. How very much like her sister she is!

Unicorn Hopscotch

We donned our unicorn headbands, leftover from the Rainbow Unicorn party we had last year, and headed outside for some hopscotch! I thought this would be a great way to go over the numbers 11-20 again!

First we took turns hopping across and saying each number in order.

Then I called specific numbers for her to jump to.

She had a blast!

U is for USA!

Books

We borrowed three USA books from the library for our letter U day! Little M&M was a little young to appreciate these, but I really think Honey Pot enjoyed learning about our country. America Is... in particular is a beautiful book, and really illustrates the different landscapes and ways of life that exist right in our own country. Honey Pot began to get a gist of how big the USA really is.

Letter Recognition Activity - U Flag

I created a flag template in Photoshop Elements for today's activity. I encouraged the kids to color blue around the stars, and to color every other stripe in red. This was a great exercise in following directions, as well as practice staying in the lines!

And of course Honey Pot must always add hearts to every picture!

USA Landmark - Memory Game

I created this in Photoshop Elements for today as well. I chose eight landmarks in the USA, printed the page twice, and created a 4x4 memory game for the kids. It was a nice introduction to some important places in our country, and it was good for them to become familiar with their names.

The kids were pretty good!

Little M&M even wanted to play again after we had finished the first time.

As an extension, I took out a map of the USA for them to see. First we talked about our home state, and where that is. Then we made note of where some of our friends and family live. Honey Pot was able to find a few states on the map by recognizing the letters. For example, she found where Pennsylvania is by finding the word that started with P. Texas was also an easy one to find by sounding the word out. We grabbed a few of our pictures from the memory game, and also briefly discussed the directional terms North, South, East and West. 

Would you like to print the U flag or USA landmark memory game? Grab them below!

    

The Letter U

Honey Pot is 3.5 years old.

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics

We introduced the letter of the week as usual by listening to Scout's song.

Pattern Block U Puzzle

We printed out the letter U from Confessions of a Homeschooler's amazing set of alphabet puzzles.

Tracing The Letter U

I found this set of alphabet tracing pages from The Measured Mom and I love them! I wish I had discovered them sooner. So much easier for little hands to trace than dotted lines.

Salt Tray U

We pulled out the salt tray that we created during our S unit and practiced making U's as well as some other doodles.

U is for Unicorn - Footprint Craft

It has been so long since we've done a hand or footprint craft. We always enjoy these. I found this idea from the Handprint and Footprint Art blog. Honey Pot loves playing with her ponies and one of them is a unicorn. So I knew she'd just love making one for her U unit. First I painted her foot white, and she pressed it down onto paper. Next I let her choose three colors for the horn and mane. She finger-painted stripes onto the horn first.

Then she dipped three fingers into the colors at once to make the unicorn's mane.

It came out beautiful!

Once everything had dried, she glued on the horn.

And I drew on the face. Cute!

U is for Underwater - Sticker and Glue Craft

I found this idea from House of Baby Piranha. Honey Pot had seen Little M&M's sticker craft during his circle unit this week, and wanted to do a sticker craft too. So I cut out water from blue paper and a U from white paper, and she got to work.

She really took her time adding the stickers, and explained all along the way what each sea creature was doing. "He's swimming up." "He's getting the bubble." "He's following him."

Afterward, I added dots for her to trace so she could write the word UNDERWATER.

Perfect!

U is for Umbrella - Pushpin Poking

We have done a similar activity in the past with giant pushpins. To extend the activity, I had her use the bottom of a cocktail umbrella instead. She enjoyed doing this, and worked very quietly and carefully down on the carpet.

When she was finished, she flipped it over and traced the shape with her finger. Great activity!

Umbrella Playdoh Fun

Honey Pot loves her playdoh activities. We brought a few of those cocktail umbrellas up to her craft table and played with them in all sorts of ways. First she made a simple beach scene.

Then she added a person to stand under it.

We cut out U's with our playdoh cookie cutters and added more umbrellas.

Then she got really creative and started constructing things with her playdoh and umbrellas!

This one was her favorite construction. I asked her what it was, and she said a microphone!

And then she started singing a song into it. LOL!

Then of course the cupcake liners came out of our playdoh container, and she had to make some pretend cupcakes.

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