Letter: C

Theme of the Day: The Letter C

Age: 21 months

"C" Roads

I founds this idea on this blog and thought Honey Pot would really enjoy driving her cars across the letters. I was prepared to make my own, but then found these free printables and decided to give them a try! "C" was meant to be for "car", but Honey Pot had her own idea and had her toys walk along the roads instead. These were left on her tray all day, and she kept returning to them with her little people. A huge success, and so I'll have to do this activity for other letters too!

Caterpillar Hop

"C" is also for caterpillar! The inspiration for this idea came from the same blog as above. Since I was using the game for a younger child than the blogger, I altered it slightly. I thought it would be a great way to review what Honey Pot has learned so far, and added the letters ABC and the numbers 123. (Okay, we're doing 3 on Thursday, so that one threw her for a loop...but she caught on.) The game was a huge success, and closely resembled the Circle Hop we did last week. It quickly progressed from "Jump on the B!" to "Spin in circles on the 3!" We'll leave it taped to the floor for a couple days, so we can return to it when we actually do the number 3!

Play-dough C

We played with Honey Pot's play-dough again for this week's letter. I pulled out the cookie cutter and asked her what letter it was. She answered correctly after thinking for only a second! So we cut out a couple of "C" shapes, squished it around, chopped it up...in every color play-dough that she has. :)

Baking Cookies and "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie"

One of Honey Pot's current favorite books is about the sequence of events that happen when you give a mouse a cookie. Since "cookie" begins with "C" I decided to incorporate it into today's unit. We baked some chocolate chip cookies, and read the book while they were in the oven! Mmm!

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics and Which is C?

We also reviewed the letter C with Honey Pot's fridge magnets. We listened to what it sounds like, then played a few rounds of "Which is C?" with the other letters. She was only confused one time, when there was an "O" beside it.

Color: Yellow

Theme of the Day: The Color Yellow

Age: 21 months

Which is Yellow?

I created another set of images in Photoshop Elements, and had Honey Pot show me which in each group was yellow. She answered each perfectly, and asked for more. She always loves this game! So we immediately moved onto the next activity for her to show off her knowledge to me.

Color Walk

We went on a color walk around Honey Pot's room, where she masterfully picked up all of these yellow items and identified them as such before placing them in her bucket.

Sorting Pom Poms

I set out a bowl of pom poms in the three colors that we have covered so far, as well as three smaller bowls and a couple of kitchen utensils. I showed Honey Pot how to pick up the pom poms, and sort them into the bowls. For a long while, she scooped them up with the ice cream scoop and placed them randomly into the bowls. And she explored further: picking them back up and putting them all in one bowl, dumping the bowl, etc. We kept the activity out on her tray all day, and I am happy to report that when she returned to it later, she sorted all of them successfully! She even managed to use the tongs properly once or twice. I'll buy her one of those small plastic sets from the dollar store soon!

Hand-print Art

I just love all of the hand-print art that I have seen online, and had to try one today! I came across this fun craft and knew it would be perfect for our yellow unit. First I painted Honey Pot's hand yellow with the paintbrush, and pushed it down on paper. Then I let her explore the paint on her own. She painted her hands more, patted them down on paper, squished masking tape into the paint and even finger-painted. Once the original hand-print was dry, I added the beak and feet with orange paint, and drew on the eye and wing. I love the result!

Yellow Bath

We had a lot of fun with the fizzy bath tablets today. Honey Pot watched it dissolve and from there on out kept pointing out the yellow water. She also showed me which button on her bubble blower was yellow, and played with the yellow submarine! A great finish to our yellow day.

Right and Left

Theme of the Day: Right and Left

Age: 21 months

Tracing Hands

We identified which hand was right and left, then I traced my hand as an example. She actually kept her hand still long enough for me to trace them. So I outlined them in marker, and let her color the page with pencil afterward. It was a nice introduction to today's theme, and tiny hand art always makes a nice keepsake. :)

Bracelets

I cut a toilet paper roll in half and let her decorate it with markers. Then I put a flower from my scrapbooking stash on top. The idea was to place it on her right wrist as a way to help her identify her right hand throughout the day. But of course, being the girl who doesn't let you keep a hair tie in her hair for more than a second, she pulled this off quickly too.

Hokey Pokey

No right and left unit would be complete without singing this song! I slipped Honey Pot's bracelet back on her right hand for a little bit, and we went through the motions of the song. Not surprisingly, she liked the "turn yourself around" verse the best. We'll have to work on this again.

Which is Right/Left?

It was a lazy day for us, so we basically kept it simple for the remainder of the day. This was an ongoing game where we just asked her to identify her right from her left. "Where is your right hand?" "Which is your left foot?" "Which cup is on the left?" etc. I know it is a 50/50 chance that she would answer correctly, but she did surprisingly well with this game.

Number: 2

Theme of the Day: Number 2

Age: 21 months

Which Is Two? - Numeral and Pictures

I created these sequences in Photoshop Elements. She kept pointing out the pictures with one image in it though, so I'm not sure that she quite understands two yet! I've concluded that once we've covered 1, 2 and 3 separately we will have a day devoted to all three of them before moving on.

Sesame Street Videos

These were such a hit last week with the number one that I had to find some more for this lesson too. Here are the two videos that I showed her today. Please note that I do not own the rights to these videos - I found them on You Tube and they belong to Sesame Street!

Lauri Puzzle

I gave Honey Pot the next in her set of Lauri puzzles to play with. She again loved poking out the shapes and pushing them back in again. We worked on counting the pears a little bit. Then I showed her what 2 looks like with my fingers. Although she tried to imitate me, she couldn't get her little fingers to stay in place yet. We'll have to work on that before her birthday in May!

Paper Towel Art

I found this idea on Pinterest - here is the original post. With washable markers, I wrote the number 2 a few times on one paper towel, and on the second paper towel I drew shapes in pairs of two. Then I gave Honey Pot a paintbrush and a small cup of water. She really enjoyed painting with the water, and the result was fun for me to watch too. It was a fun craft that we can return to for various themes. And cleanup was super easy too!

Here is what they look like immediately after finishing.































And here is what they look like once they have dried. Pretty!

Magnetic Pom Poms

I know I was going to give this activity a rest this week, but when Honey Pot found the magnetic pom poms in my closet she asked to play with them. So I quickly created this in Photoshop Elements and let her play with it. :)

Shape: Circle

Theme of the Day: Circle

Age: 20 months

Circle Hop

I had seen similar activities, where the child walks onto various textures placed across the floor. So I incorporated the idea into our circle unit. I found six images of common circular items, and glued them onto paper plates. "What do all of these pictures have in common," I asked her. "What shape are they?" She answered correctly, and we named what was in each picture: sun, cookie, clock, wheel, M&M and ball. "Jump on the M&M!" I'd say, and she'd run over to it and jump. "Jump on the wheel!" and so the game continued.

Originally, we did this activity in her carpeted room, and the plates slipped all over the floor. Although she fell down almost every time, she had so much fun! When we returned to it later in the day, I taped the plates onto the hardwood floor. This was definitely better, and she didn't fall down once. That is, until, we changed the game to the following: "Spin in circles on the cookie!" (See last game of the day.) She loved this game, and it was a great energy buster. I may alter it for other themes in the future.

Do-A-Dot

This seems to be a very popular activity with young children. I created my own circles in Photoshop Elements, and added white circles within each one for Honey Pot to daub with the markers. Trying to be frugal, I had her use my Bingo markers instead of buying a set of washable Do-A-Dot markers. So in her natural curious state, she tapped the top and stained her fingers. Point taken. They've been added to my Amazon wishlist. I was impressed though that she was able to daub with the markers, instead of drag them across the page as she had last time I introduced these to her. A job well done! But we'll have to work on doing it inside the white holes. :)

Does It Fit?

Remembering something I found on Pinterest, I pulled this activity together impromptu. I gathered circular items from around the house, as well as an empty toilet paper tube which, I guess I've been keeping in my craft supplies "just in case". We reviewed big and small as Honey Pot tried to drop various items into the tube. She had fun with this, and eventually created her very own Chinese Hand Trap out of it. She wore it as a bracelet too, which is actually a nice craft idea for another day!

Stacking Cheerios

The classic toddler snack is in the shape of a circle, so we had to work this into today's circle theme. I found this activity on Pinterest and thought we'd give it a try. After having Honey Pot identify which shape the Cheerios are, I had her stack them onto the spaghetti noodles. She did fine for a while, but of course they are much more fun to eat. So snack-time it became!

Spinning in Circles

What circle day would be complete without doing more of this? "Whooooa, I'm dizzyyyy!"