Aren't these monsters cute? I fell in love with these little guys the first time that I saw them on a tissue box in the store. I knew that after the tissues were gone, I could use the container for something.
First, the box was used to store Little Man's pom poms. After multiple uses though, the box started to fall apart. Just as I was going to throw it away, those little monster eyes looked up at me and I just couldn't do it! So what did I do? I cut out those little monsters and turned them into a matching game. Yeah!
Patterns can be found everywhere in our world including music, math, and art! There are so many fun ways to share patterns with kids. We discovered this wonderful book- Pattern Fish by Trudy Harris. It was enjoyed by both my toddler and 2nd grader. Fun and interactive! Bubble-bubble-pop...
1. Create colorful pattern fish using stickers, markers, or crayons. Great creative thinking activity.
2. Using colored fish manipulatives or goldfish crackers, have your child create patterns. AB pattern- yellow, red, yellow, red... or ABBA green, yellow, yellow, green. Our crafts N things used dappers to create fish patterns- awesome idea!
3. At education.com, I found the article Preschool Math: Exploring Patterns. Many wonderful ideas! One of my favorite is Movement Patterns- jump, skip, jump, skip..... What a fun way to get moving and teach patterns at the same time!
4. Make a colored pasta or cereal(fruit loops) pattern necklace.
Little man loves the letter Tt! Do you want to know why?
Well, I'll show you....
Do you know how stinkin' cute it was to hear him trying to sing this- oh my goodness!
Well, after that, I just had to do a Tt craft with him.
Turtle Craft
Materials: green and yellow construction paper, google eyes, glue, brown paint, and a sponge or large pom pom
After cutting out a half a circle for the shell, I had little man paint brown spots on it. He used a large pom pom. Cut out the other parts of the turtle. Cut a yellow Tt.
Let the shell dry before helping your child glue the parts together.
Last, with assistance help glue the Tt on the turtle. Talk about the letter and the sound.
He's so proud of his Tt turtle!
Turtle song
I had a tiny turtle,
His name was Tiny Tim.
I put him in the bathtub,
to see if he could swim.
He drank up all of the water,
He ate up all the soap,
He tied to swallow the bathtub,
But it wouldn't fit down his throat!
(different versions online)
I made a paper bathtub and acted out the song with a stuffed animal and the bathtub. I think I had more fun with this than little man. Oh well! Maybe your little one will like it!
One of the things that I love about the education blogging world is the willingness to share ideas! So today I'm going to share a site that I came across this week that I think will benefit educators/parents.
The story & props link features great books with manipulatives that you can use for a felt or magnet board. I printed out the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree with letters to laminate for little man.
I hope that you enjoy this resource. Let me know if you find anything useful!
Little man LOVES robots, so it was easy for me to pick my Rr craft for him- a life size robot. Well, at least toddler size!
Make your own robot...
Materials: glue stick, construction paper, and scissors. Pre-cute shapes and the letter Rr.
Directions: Talk to your child about the letter Rr. Show him or her the parts of the robot. Discuss the shapes and colors as your child glues the parts together.
Robot coloring page
I'm sure you can find something better, but this page I drew made little man happy!
We also pretended to be robots and walked around singing.. "I'm a little robot. I'm a little robot."
Isn't this hippo adorable? I saw this craft from DLTK and just had to have an Hh day with little man. Plus he has really been into hippos lately since he got a super cute hippo bath set for Christmas.
We actually only made the face, because the bottom didn't print for me for some reason.
I also found a cute hippo song to sing from the same site.
Peanut also decided to join in on the fun and sang this song to little man...
I can spell cat.. C-A-T I can spell hat... H-A-T I can spell bat... B-A-T But I can't spell hippopotamus!!
Hippo mini- poster: And then I search online for actual pics of hippos on google images and let little man pic out his favorite images. I printed and cut them out or him and he glued them on to paper. Hh is for hippo is in the center of our mini-poster.
Other activities we did we Hh- bingo dabber letter hopping Hh is for happy- If your happy and your know it, clap your hands....
And here is the bath toy, he's been enjoying. It has also been great for color recognition- hand Momma the yellow hippo, etc. or what color is that hippo?
Bruin Whistling Hippo Bath Toys
Wish I had taken a trip to the library before doing an Hh day, but sometimes I'm just throwing things together at the last minute based on his interest that day. Anyways- these books look adorable for a Hippo day.....
Disclaimer: I didn't receive any compensation for mentioning the above product. It is my son's toy and he loves it, but other toddlers may not! Also, haven't read the above books, but would like to in the near future. :)
The front opens up like a toilet seat cover-super cute.
There are real-life pictures of big boys going potty. It takes your little boy through the steps with lots of encouragement. Reward stickers are also included.
Little man looks so cute tonight in his big boy undies holding his new book! He is a little young, but has shown so much interest in the potty, so I'm going with it!
What potty books have been successful for you?
Jen
Disclaimer: I didn't receive any compensation for this review. The opinions are my own and may differ from others.
Squishy paint between your toes! Sound like fun? Maybe not to you, but to my little one- he just loved it! We have been focusing on the letter Ff this week. Yesterday, we made a fish and did a letter Ff activity.
Today we painted with our feet and fingers! Little man decided to get his face involved as well. It does start with the letter Ff, so how could I say No!
and of course after painting with your feet, you just have to read....
I couldn't wait to put this together for my little man! It was so simple, too. I used items around the house and some thrifty dollar store finds. Gotta love the Dollar Tree!
Contents: pom poms, snow flakes, bows, jingle bells, mini garland(cut), wrapped toilet paper roll, mini stocking, Christmas gift box
Little man had a little bit too much fun creating this elephant puppet! How much fun? Well, enough that he decided to paint himself as well. This is the danger of leaving the room for a couple of minutes to check on the older kids' school work. Also, he dumped the water on his lap- yeesh.
So after his painting - you know where little man went...
straight to the bath tub!!
Literature:
The Saggy Baggy Elephant by K. Jackson & B. Jackson
Music/Pretend Play
Can you stomp around the room like an elephant?? The things we do to make our kids happy!
I've heard of this book before, but have never read it. This morning little man and I came across it on youtube- adorable!
I recommend this story for little ones. I love the humor in the story and it was perfect timing for this video, because we just visited the zoo a couple of days ago and little man just adored the gorillas. Yesterday, he had fun making a gorilla stick puppet. He can even say "gorilla"- well sort of- he says - "orilla, orilla" He made me play the video over and over. "more, more!"
