R is for Robot!

In an effort to finish our alphabet before we begin homeschool preschool, Sweet E and I are speeding up our letter themes. Here is letter R! Keep scrolling to see what we did today, or click one of the links below to take a look back at similar themes from the past!

R is for Robot - 2015

Letter R - 2014

Robots - 2013

Books

The library had all of our favorite robot books today! "Boy + Bot" has been a longtime favorite, but we also really loved "And the Robot Went" for its cumulative type of storytelling. Perfect picture books for Sweet E's current age.

Introducing the Letter R

We did our usual introduction page this morning. I was going to switch it up a little bit, but Sweet E says she really likes these. So I'll keep making them! Here she is tracing, stamping, poking and forming the R with playdoh!

Fine Motor + Color Matching

This free printable came from Preschool Mom, though I did edit it a bit to suit our pom pom colors!

Kitty was very interested in what Sweet E was doing!

Sorting Magnetic vs. Non-Magnetic

I gathered some various materials, and provided Sweet E with a magnetic wand.

She used the magnetic wand to help her determine what was magnetic, and what wasn't.

Sometimes it picked up multiple items at once!

Sometimes she tried an item, and it didn't stick, so I encouraged her to try all sides!

We found quite a few magnetic things, and some surprised her!

She loved this so much, she did it a second time.

We added a few more items this time too!

Matching

I found these robot stickers at the Dollar Tree, and decided to make a matching game for Sweet E. This was her first time drawing lines like this, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

She quickly caught on!

She draws her line across the page, and then looks at where she's going...hence the sharp turn lol.

She loved this activity so much that we actually did it again the next morning. I peeled the stickers off the paper (Dollar Tree stickers come up easily I've noticed) and put them right on the table, so we didn't waste any more paper.

Though Sweet E doesn't wear diapers anymore, we still keep wipes in the house. I like to keep a container near the activity table. They are SO HANDY, and this table cleans so easily.

And she loves to help clean up! We did this activity three times in a row.

Craft + Alphabet Review

We did a simple paper bag craft today!

Sweet E loved using the glue.

Then she added all of the robots "buttons" by matching all the letters we've learned so far.

Isn't he cute! And great for pretend play. 😊

Q is for Queen Elsa

Q is a tough letter to build a single theme around, but we thought of a super fun one--Queen Elsa! One of Sweet E's current favorite ways to make believe, is to ask, "Do you wanna build a snowman?" Then she, as Elsa, makes it snow and we pretend to build a snowman together. So this was the perfect theme for her! Keep scrolling to see what we did this week, or click on one of the links below to revisit similar themes from the past!

Q is for Quack - 2015

The Letter Q - 2014

Introduction to the Letter Q

We began with a simple page to introduce the shape of the letter Q.

Sweet E traced the letter, stamped it, and poked it with a giant pushpin.

Then she built it with playdoh. She's getting really good at forming letters all by herself!

Craft - Elsa's Crown

I found a cute template for Elsa's crown on the internet, and invited Sweet E to color it, then glue on some royal gems!

She's actually very careful with glue!

Cute!

Prewriting - "Snow" Tray

I placed a piece of blue cardstock at the bottom of a small tray, and filled it with coarse salt (and some glitter). Then I printed out some snowflakes with different prewriting strokes on each.

She had to flip through the snowflakes, and draw the shape in the "snow."

Some of these were challenging!

But she's mastered the circle!

After going through each snowflake, she just played with the salt for a bit. She loved this new texture!

Pattern Blocks + Counting

For this activity I printed out this free page from Fun Learning for Kids. I colored it in to make it a little easier, then I attached a little clip and brad to it to create a spinner.

She flicked the spinner to determine which shape to place on the snowflake!

Together we finished the whole thing!

Then I asked her to count up how many we had of each shape, and wrote it down.

Sensory + Problem Solving - Ice Rescue

For this activity I froze some colored water the night before, into a sand bucket and our snowflake ice cube trays. I did the castle in three layers, and stuck an Anna toy in the last one! Then I set the ice out with the salt from our previous activity, warm water, a squirt bottle, a dropper, and some assorted tools.

Sweet E (and Little M&M) were eager to get to work saving Anna! Sweet E started off spooning on lots of salt!

They stacked the snowflakes, which later fused together into nice ice sculptures!

Sweet E tried the squirt bottle next, while Little M&M used the dropper!

Soon there was a hole through the middle of the castle roof, and some of the gems started to become loose! So they grabbed the tools!

We could even see Anna in there!

This activity inspired a lot of pretend play too, as Sweet E made Elsa talk to Anna!

"We're coming, Anna! We're going to get you out!"

The entire excavation only took about 20 minutes on this hot summer day. 

Gross Motor + Alphabet Review - Throwing Snowballs

For this activity, Sweet E donned her Elsa dress (a hand-me-down from big sister Honey Pot). She had to throw snowballs at the letters, and tell me which one she hit!

She had so much fun!!

Especially when I asked her to "do the magic, do the magic" like in the movie. Remember how I said this is one of her favorite games? To be Elsa and make it snow? Look how happy she is!

Sensory + Fine Motor - Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?

Well, obviously, we had to build a snowman! First we made a brand new batch of homemade playdoh, and left it white for our snow. Then I provided Sweet E with some snowman pieces that came with a slime kit from a couple years ago.

We built so many different snowmen!

Even a melted one, lol.

Rolling the dough into balls is so great for strengthening those hand muscles!

She wanted to do it again and again.

And in between each snowman, she'd play with her extruders and knife and assorted tools.

Is this a snowman too? 😂

Color-Matching  + Fine Motor - QTip Painting

I found a great set of free printables from Fun Early Learning that had every letter of the alphabet for QTip painting! So I took the Q page and added some Elsa clipart to keep it in theme. Then I colored in all the little circles, and invited her to paint with QTips by matching the color!

She had to stay very focused for this activity--those circles are so tiny!

Plus, scanning the entire image for just one color at a time, was a great new skill to try.

We couldn't do a Q week without some QTip painting!