V is for Vet!

We are finishing up our alphabet this week, so we can start fresh themes for preschool. Keep scrolling to take a look what we did today for the letter V, or click on one of the links below to revisit similar themes from the past!

V is for Volcano - 2015

The Letter V - 2014

Book

Here is a cute book we found at the library for today's theme. One bird at the vet chomps down on something near his cage, and all the animals in the waiting room cause a rumpus around them, one by one!

Letter V Pages

I made this page for Sweet E to be introduced to the letter V. Though honestly, it's taking us so long to get through the alphabet, she already knows all of her uppercase letters lol.

We also did this fun and FREE printable that comes from Teachers Pay Teachers.

Feed the Puppy - Alphabet Review

To review all of the letters we've done so far, we did this simple activity. Sweet E had to pick up a letter, identify it, erase the matching one on the board, and then feed it to the puppy. Since recognizing the letter is no longer challenging, we identify the sound that the letter makes too!

She loves pretend play, so we made the puppy talk a lot. She gave him lots of hugs, and at the end of the game even asked to have her picture taken with him!

Kitten Resist Painting

I taped down a cutout of a kitten's face, and invited Sweet E to paint over it in two colors of her choosing.

She chose to trace the paper cutout actually, and then we just used her second color to go all around it. Then we lifted up the paper, drew on a face, and voila!

Measuring Pets

We used blocks to measure some stuffed animals and compare sizes. First we measured each one by lining up our blocks in front of each pet, then counting how many there were.

We compared some of their sizes. "Is the puppy bigger or smaller than the bird?"

I wrote right on the table in front of them how long they were. Then I asked her, "Which pet is the longest?" and "Which is the shortest?" etc.

Veterinarian Pretend Play

I had seen lots of vet checklists and forms on Pinterest, but none of them looked right for our purposes. So I made my own for Sweet E! I slipped it into a dry erase pocket, provided doctor tools and treatment options, and we started playing!

The stuffed animals were all lined up on the couch (waiting room) in front of us. We brought them over one at a time, did an exam, and treated them accordingly! The choices were medicine, a bandaid, a shot, tweezers to have something removed, or a cast for a broken bone. First we'd circle what kind of pet the patient is, then we'd mark how we treated it.

Sweet E wore one of her Daddy's work shirts as a doctor's coat. She loved this!

This bird had hurt her wing!

Kitty just needed her teeth cleaned.

This pup fell in a prickly bush, and Doctor E needed to remove all the thorns with tweezers!

We saw each of the five pets several times!

In addition to using tweezers, she also really loved pouring out medicine from the bottle.

Such a fun day!

V is for Volcano!

Books

We borrowed two volcano books for our letter V day. I could tell that both kids were absolutely engrossed in each of these! An Island Grows was a wonderful book with simple text for preschoolers to comprehend. I had my doubts about whether or not the true story of Pompeii would be appropriate for them. But in the end I decided they could handle it. We discussed ahead of time that this is history, a true story that happened a long, long time ago. Honey Pot asked many questions throughout the book and at the end actually said, "That's amazing...but horrible." So I knew she understood. And I put her fears to rest by reiterating how far science and technology have come since then, in detecting active volcanoes. So glad we read both of these books!

Letter Recognition Activity - Scissor Skills

I've been trying to give them a different letter recognition activity each day. Today I drew straight and curved lines on the letter V for some scissor practice. Both kids did a great job.

Science - Creating a Volcano

We did the classic baking soda + vinegar experiment today! We had done it during Honey Pot's letter V unit as well, and it is always such a hit with the kids. We took the playdough we recently made for our duck pond small world, and turned it brown. Then the kids wrapped it around a mason jar. We filled the mason jar with warm water, 2 TBSP of baking powder and a couple drops of dish soap. We also added some orange food coloring for the lava that was about to pour out of it!

This was a great exercise in turn-taking for the kids. Little M&M poured the vinegar and we saw the first explosion!

Then Honey Pot had a turn. Note they had already grabbed a couple of dinosaur toys to play with.

They made the volcano erupt again...and again...and again...

I loved watching how much they enjoyed this!

When we had run out either vinegar or baking soda (I can't remember which) they decided to make a sensory bin out of it. They started by reaching their hands into the volcano...

then pouring out its contents and squishing the wet playdough around.

The play when on still for quite a while, but I put my camera away when things got messy!

The Letter V

This is our first week following our new preschool homeschool curriculum, and it was a huge success! It definitely provided us with a more varied group of activities and skills. We started off with the letter V, but once the alphabet has been completed will we continue other, more flexible themes.

Honey Pot is 4 years old.

Monday - Literacy

V is for Vine - Scissor Skills

I created cutting lines for her in the shape of vines.

V Tracing Page

I printed this page from Kid's Learning Station.

Additionally, Honey Pot practiced letter-writing today in the form of birthday thank-you cards. But that isn't part of our V theme, so it isn't shown here. :)

Tuesday - Math and Cognitive Skills + Craft

V is for Vegetables - Measuring

We practiced measuring vegetables with a ruler, in inches.

V is for Van and Village - Maze

This printable comes from Preschool Printable Activities.

V Dot-to-Dot Page

This comes from the Education website.

V is for Vegetables - Size Sorting

This was a quick activity in which both Honey Pot and Little M&M could participate! The printable comes from Busy Little Bugs.

V is for Vase - Craft

This week's craft is in the form of glue and stickers. I hope to do paint next week!

More ruler practice, as Honey Pot drew her stems! This was her first time using a ruler to make straight lines and she did great!

Here is the final product. She counted her flowers and wrote the number seven all by herself!

Wednesday - Social Studies and Social Skills

V is for Veterinarians - Learning about Community Helpers + Pretend Play

We borrowed a book from the library to help introduce the word veterinarian, and describe what they do. Honey Pot was able to grasp the concept easily, and we love the fun rhyme and rhythm of this story. 

After reading the story, we set up our own veterinarian clinic. First we cut up straws and placed them in an empty spice container to use as medicine.

Then we came out to the "waiting room" to call out the first patient!

Honey Pot wore her Daddy's white dress shirt as a coat and used her doctor's kit. Singing Doc McStuffin's "Time for your Check-Up" song is optional, but highly recommended!

Then she filled out the puppy's chart. The sweet printable comes from ikatbag! She was able to circle the type of animal, pretend to write the animals name, and circle whether the patient was sick, injured, having a baby or in need of shots.

The puppy needed a shot.

Kitty was sick and needed medicine.

Poor parrot hurt her wing, and needed a bandage. We used a slap bracelet, as the band-aid that came with Honey Pot's doctor kit is missing!

Here are the completed forms. She asked me to be the veterinarian by the time we came to Thumper, the last patient of the day.

Then Little M&M wanted a turn!

V is for Vacuum - Chore Skills

Next I cut up a piece of paper into small pieces and wrote small V's on each.

I spread them throughout the carpet and asked Honey Pot to vacuum up the V's!

Thursday - Sensory + Music

V Salt Tray - Sensory

We pulled out Honey Pot's salt tray to practice writing the letter V. At first they kept looking like U's, so she worked on making the point at the bottom!

V is for Violin - Music

One of Honey Pot's favorite shows, Little Einsteins, has already introduced her to the violin. As a matter of fact, an episode she saw this week provided a fun game where she had to listen to a few notes of music from three different instruments, and choose which of the three was a violin. Great activity! After watching this, I also showed her a youtube video of woman playing Frozen's "Let it Go" on the violin. She was entranced by it! Here is the link to the performance we saw by the very talented Taylor Davis.

Friday - Science

V is for View + Making V's in Nature

We took a walk at our local park to see the view today. Along the way, Honey Pot gathered various items with which we might make V's.

We tried it out with sticks first, then brought the other supplies home to glue them into her nature journal.

Here are the kids enjoying the view.

While we were there, we noticed carvings on the bench. Honey Pot pointed out the V there.

Then later, at home, she glued in various pieces of grass, twigs, etc. to make some V's.

It is hard to see, but she also wrote some V's in pink on this page.

V is for Volcano - Science Experiment

I followed the instructions for this popular experiment from The Measured Mom. First, we formed a volcano shape around a mason jar, using old, homemade brown and pink playdough that was ready to be discarded.

We filled it with warm water, 2 TBSP of baking soda, a few drops of dish soap and a drop or two of orange food coloring. Then I asked Honey Pot to pour in the vinegar!

We had so much success with this experiment. The kids loved watching it erupt!

It had been a long time since I have done this experiment, so I didn't realize just how much vinegar we could pour in, to get the desired effect. I kept refilling Honey Pot's jar of vinegar, and we did it again and again. Eventually we got the really big, orange eruption for which we had been waiting!

She loved it!

We added more vinegar for as long as it would keep erupting. Then I ran out!

Honey Pot had the idea to scoop up the vinegar from the bottom of the pan (smart cookie). This worked a little bit, as it caused a little more bubbling. I added more baking soda to the jar as well but, after another eruption, I quickly ran out of that too. Time to restock these supplies so we can continue this experiment in other ways! What a hit!

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