B is for Birds!

Here is our B for birds unit. But before you scroll, feel free to take a peek at similar themes we've done in the past:

Honey Pot's Letter B Unit
Birds Unit (2013)
There is a Bird on your Head! Unit

Books

These are the four bird books we borrowed from the library. Our favorite was Birds but we are huge Dr. Seuss fans, so Gertrude McFuzz was also read quite frequently.

Cheerios Bird Feeders

I've seen this activity all over Pinterest. The kids were asking for an activity and I hadn't prepared anything by this time, so I pulled out the chenille stems and let them have at it! They both worked so hard on their bird feeders, and even requested making a second and third each.

They even tried to hang them up themselves. It's a shame the birds didn't enjoy these at all. But if you're interested in making something that they would enjoy, check out our Night Tree activity from Christmastime.

Making Observations + Nature Journals

We pulled out our nature journals for this next activity. I had printed each of the kids a template with five birds on them, and they were to color each one differently based on the birds they saw. We have an awesome bird feeder at our new house that attracts so many. I knew it wouldn't be difficult to fill the template. For example:

They first sat on the back deck, listening to the different bird calls. This was so peaceful. Once they saw a bird, they sat down and colored it with their colored pencils.

Here is Honey Pot looking toward the trees for more.

Then we took a walk toward the front of the house...

And found our last one.

Here is Honey Pot's page!

And Little M&M's. Though he didn't color them quite as they appeared, he was very into the scavenger hunt portion of this activity. This was a huge success, and I know they enjoyed themselves. I sure did.

Paint the Sky with Feathers

This idea comes right from one of our library books, Birds by Kevin Henkes. He wondered what the sky would look like "if birds made marks with their tail feathers when they flew." What an imaginative idea! We love Kevin Henkes, and another favorite is Kitten's First Full Moon. Take a look at what we did with that book as well!

I gave each child a blue sheet of paper, assorted paint colors and a few feathers.

They painted however they liked. Honey Pot began with a few simple strokes...

Then she really got into it!

Little M&M had a much calmer bird, as you can see!

Such fun!

Color by Number

I'm trying to include activities for both Honey Pot and Little M&M. This next one was just for Honey Pot. I printed this color by number from a website actually called Color by Numbers. I just love the different levels they offer.

Dot Marker B

Little M&M worked hard on other pages simultaneously. First up, the dot marker page from Shannon's Tot School. We like this a lot!

Connect the Dots Bird

Honey Pot also tried a connect-the-dots page from this website.

Sticker Activity

We did this for Little M&M's A is for Apple unit too, and it was a big success. He loves stickers, and this really helps with letter recognition. We used Tweety Bird stickers, because that's what I had on hand!

Feathers + Colander Fine Motor

We did something similar with chenille stems in the past, and I must admit, the activity lost his interest quickly. But feathers! So much fun, and he did this again and again.

Baby Bird Nest Game

I placed a bird puppet in a nest of brown shredded paper, and scattered a few pieces of chenille stems around the room in two colors. The kids were to pick them up with clothespin "beaks" and bring these "worms" to their baby bird. The idea originally comes from PreKinders, and we did something similar during our previous bird unit.

There were orange and purple "worms" and a matching clothespin for each, and the kids were each assigned one color.

They "flew" around the room, searching for worms to pick up with their "beaks."

And in they had found lots of worms!

We counted them up, for some practice counting with one-to-one correspondence.

And leave it to Honey Pot to find a sensory bin in any activity she can!

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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