Sunday, May 24, 2020

M is for Mermaid!

It's M week! I was all set to do M is for Monster, and even planned out a week of fun activities. But Sweet E has been so in love with her Little Mermaid book and movie, that I decided to change it at the last minute. Keep scrolling to see what I came up with, or click on the links below to revisit similar themes from her big brother's and big sister's Tot School days!


The Letter M - 2013

Introducing the Letter M
As always we began our letter of the week by creating it in various ways. This week: tracing, stamping, poking, building with playdoh, and covering with stickers.


She loves playdoh, and was happy to roll out the snakes to build the M.


So pleased with her work!



Mermaid Craft
I found this fun idea and free printable at The Best Ideas for Kids. First Sweet E and I colored in our mermaids. Well, I colored mine; she drew a couple squiggles onto it and moved on.


Then we squeezed some glue onto the paper, and pressed lots of sequins onto it!


And then she squeezed more glue onto it, and dumped a lot more sequins onto it!


Here is mine... the look we were going for...


And here is her's! 😂 💗


Seashell Dig - Alphabet Review
For this activity I wrote the letters we'd covered so far onto the backs of seashells. Then I buried them in sand, and invited her to find them. I decided to keep them contained in a bucket, so that they wouldn't get lost forever in her sandbox.
  

She got so excited to find one! 


I had written the names of the letters on a piece of paper, and placed it beside the bucket for her to match them up. I also had some mermaid stickers on there, that I found in our sticker drawer, to keep it in theme. 


I would ask Sweet E what letter was on the seashell. She'd tell me, and then place it onto the paper on top of the matching letter.


She loved this!


She did this activity a couple times in a row. And her big brother even played it with her again later!


Mermaid Ice Excavation
We've done this activity a number of times over the years. It's always fun! The night before the warmest day of our week, I froze her two mermaid toys in a dish. I tinted the water, and tossed in a few pretty gems and glitter too. The next afternoon we were ready to play!


I supplied her with some salt, warm water (in a spray bottle and in a cup with pipettes), and some tools. At first I could only find one tool, but then I ran to our playdoh supplies and brought out lots more! She loved spooning salt over the top.


And rescuing the gems as they became free.


She tried spraying it with warm water, while big brother and sister used the pipettes.


Actually, Honey Pot and Little M&M were all over this activity. I decided immediately that I would do this again soon, and in 3 separate dishes, so they wouldn't get in each other's way!


Those playdoh tools really helped!



The big kids have taken over!


Sweet E was able to rescue the second mermaid by herself!


Counting Bubbles - One-to-One Correspondence
Okay, excuse my drawing skills (or lack thereof LOL). For this activity I drew some bubbles on the chalkboard wall, in clusters from 1-10.


Sweet E needed to count the bubbles, find the number at the bottom, and place the post-it note on top of it.


While she can count to ten (and higher), she sometimes trips up while actually counting things. So this one-to-one correspondence activity was great practice for her!



She enjoyed this so much she actually did it three times in a row, and then again later. I guess my drawing didn't frighten her too much! 😆

Sunday, May 17, 2020

L is for Ladybug!

Welcome to our next letter of the week! We did a few letter L and ladybug activities!


Keep scrolling to see what Sweet E did this week, or click on the links below to revisit similar themes I've done with her big brother and big sister.

Bugs - 2013
The Letter L - 2013

Introducing the Letter L
I created another page for Sweet E to learn the letter L, which including tracing, stamping, poking, building with tape, and painting with a q-tip. 


I try to mix up the building portion of this worksheet, to give her some variety. For previous letters, we've done playdoh, craft sticks, string, blocks, etc. 


And she loves using the giant pushpin!



Here is the completed page!


Though just as last week, she saw it hanging up near her craft table a few days later, and asked to do it again. So we just went right over everything in another color.


One-to-One Correspondence - Ladybug Math
I created this playdoh mat (and others) many years ago, and we keep coming back to it! I took a die from a game, with the numbers 1-6. Then I asked Sweet E to roll the die to see how many spots to put on the ladybug.


This was a great activity! First she had to count the dots on the die, then say the number, and finally, roll the pieces of dough into balls. 


We did this several times until she had gotten each number on the die.


Ladybug Craft
It seemed like a good time for a glue craft! So I gave Sweet E a paper plate and several red tissue paper squares to stick all over it.


Once it was filled, she glued on some black circles for the ladybug's spots.


Finally, a half circle for the head, and two eye stickers!


Alphabet Scavenger Hunt
I was inspired by a post from No Time for Flashcards to do a bug hunt. But I made my own, since we were limited to ladybugs. First I hid our ladybug letters around the backyard, and then I set Sweet E out in search of them!



Each time she found one, she had to come put them into our bug jar. I'm not the best at drawing, but I think it resembles a jar well enough. LOL. In case it became windy, I had laid a piece of contact paper (sticky-side-up) over the jar, to help them stay in place.


I had also traced each ladybug in advance, so she not only matched the letters, but turned them to fit like a puzzle.


She loved searching for ladybugs!


Here is her completed jar!


Letter L Review
Sweet E is always asking for "homework" when her big brother and big sister are doing theirs. So I've been printing these great free printables from Teachers Pay Teachers.


She loves these!