Bb is for Bat and more Batty Activities...

 

We made this simple bat craft and had fun flying around the house! 

 

Above you can see how the parts that I cut out for little man. I guided him as he glued them together.  After making our bats, I thought that this would be cute attached to a toilet paper tube.  You could have them paint it black first. Just a thought. 

Other activities..
We focused on the letter Bb and the sound it makes.  Sing a song.. Bb is for bat.. ba ba ba, Bb is for bat... ba ba ba.

Read a bat poem/song..

Bats Are Sleeping
Tune: Frere Jacques

Bats are sleeping
Bats are sleeping
Upside down.
Upside down.
Sleeping in the morning sun.
Waiting for the night to come.
Then they'll fly all around.
Then they'll fly all around.

Read a book.. my favorite.. Stellaluna

 

Pretend you are a bat. Be prepared to hear the kids squeal as they see a grown person flapping their wings and running around.

Learn about bats.  When do they sleep?  What do they eat?  What other animals are similar to bats?  How are they different.

So many more bat ideas here... Going Batty from Kinder Korner.

For older children..

My kids (8 and 10) love to research animals.  They would enjoy learning more about different types of bats and then using this info to create a PowerPoint slide show.

The following are  links to bat websites...
KidZone: BAT FACT INDEX
Smithsonian: Bat facts
Bats4Kids.org
Discovery Kids: Are bats really blind?

Write a poem or funny story about a bat?  Write an interview for a bat.. what questions would you ask a bat?

Read Stellaluna with older children and then watch the cartoon.  Have them compare and contrast the movie with the book.  Which did they like better and why?



Enjoy!
Jen

The Elephant Song

This morning's Pinterest find! Little man couldn't stop giggling.
 

Source: youtube.com via Danielle on Pinterest

Just a fun, silly song that's great for little one's!

Idea for Preschoolers and up..

Have your child illustrate an animal in a funny situation or acting like a different animal. Older children can write about their illustration as well. 

What did you find valuable on Pinterest today? Jen

Clouds, Clouds, Clouds..

Our favorite cloud book...

Cloud books that we wish to explore...

Activities for Toddlers/Preschoolers

-Ideas for using Little Cloud in the classroom from The Official Eric Carle Website

-Make a Cloud Puppet

-Sing a song...

Clouds are Floating

(to the tune of Frere Jacques)Clouds are floating, clouds are floating,

Up so high, up so high,
Floating up above us, floating up above us,
In the sky, in the sky.

Activities for Older Children

-Discover and Observe Clouds

"Take A Cloud Walk teaches you how to identify the clouds in the sky, take field notes, and write a journal. Here you can even learn how to write your own book!"

Recommended for Grades 5-8- Free download for educational use.

Learn about different clouds from Enchanted Learning.

Study Weather Map Symbols



Enjoy your day,
Jen

Googly Eyes

After sharing the fun music video with your child, foster creativity by having them design their own googly eyes pictures or products! My little man loves the above video- it makes him giggle. He made momma play it 3 times in a row. 

Sunshine (age 10)

Peanut (age 8)

                                          

You've got googly eyes.... you've got googly eyes..... so catchy, isn't it?

Jen

Hh is for Hippo....

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.  :)

Ee is for elephant....

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! 

Jen

Aa is for....

Aa is for alligator, ants, apple, apricot, airplane, armadillo

Day 1:
*Starfall : letter A
*Review A on ABC poster. Sing ABCs. (daily)
*Aa  discover bag.
*Color the letter Aa template- decorate. Hang on wall.
*Snack- animal crackers
*Aa segment on video: Animal Alphabet
 (Aa is for armadillo)

Day 2:
*Airplane- look outside for airplanes. Act like an airplane.
*Fly paper airplanes with Dad.
*Play with airplane toy.
*Music: I'm a Little Airplane Now.. from Sesame Street


*Cute airplane craft from Crafts N Things for Children 

Literature:


Rhymes/Fingerplays:

The Airplane

The airplane has great big wings:
(arms outstretched)

Its propeller spins around and sings, "Vvvvvv!"
(make one arm go round)

The airplane goes up:
(lift arms)

The airplane goes down:
(lower arms)

The airplane flies high
(arms outstretched, turn body around)

Over the town!

Day 3:
*Alligator- act like an alligator
*Alligator puppet- pretend play.
*Music/literature- The Lady With the Alligator Purse

More fun literature....

Day 4:
*Ants- observe ants outside
*Create an ant- use cootie bug
*Music- The ants go marching one by one...parade with sisters
*Letter A is for ant color sheet from DLTK.
*Feed the ants from Totally Tots.
*Simple Ant craft- 3 circles, 6 rectangle, glue stick- make ant
  (skill focus: counting, shapes, using a glue stick)
*Literature:


Day 5:
Apple activities
*Painting with apples
*Craft- apple stickers in tree
*Literature

*Count and sing- one little, two little apples...
*Color focus- red- sort red objects
*Review ABC poster- hang A on coconut tree. (plan to make large coconut tree for wall)
*Snack: apple slices (extra apple from craft)



Resources:
letter coloring sheets
http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/mabcposter.html

Letter templates:
http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/simple-a.htm


DVD:




As I organize ABC activities for little man, I'll post them above under ABC Curriculum.  I wrote these as 5 day lessons, but I'm going to be flexible depending on what's going on in our lives! I may add more ideas or delete as we go along depending on his interest.  :)

Please feel free to share your ABC ideas so we can learn and help our children grow together!

Jen

The Baby Times! 9th Edition: I Love You Songs

I must admit, I have shared the I Love You Barney song with my children quite a few times. I've had to stop singing it once the girls became way too cool for Barney, but now my little man enjoys it. Besides this love song, I like to sing a song about love that my mother sang to me when I was a tot. I'm not sure of the title, but it starts like this- I love you a bushel and a peck... All of my kids enjoyed this song and my girls will even let me still sing this one to them. Please excuse my singing, it's not the best, but I do have a cute video of me sharing this song with little man.



Do you have a special LOVE song that you like to sing to your little ones? And please admit if you sing Barney, too.

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Dancing and Singing with Raffi

Oh, how my girls loved Raffi when they were little! It has been a long time since we've sang with him. Our days have been filled with Hannah Montana, Taylor Swift, and the Jonas Brothers, so I was excited to get our my dusty Raffi CD (Raffi: Baby Beluga ) out yesterday to play for the baby. My girls who are "way too cool" for Raffi, enjoyed sharing their old favorites with our new baby. He seemed to enjoy dancing in my arms and listening to the lyrics. It was great to see my girls laughing and dancing along as well.


Raffi video

Take Care,
Jen

Travel With Us to Africa!

Last week, we were in Australia studying Aboriginal art and Australian music. This week, we "flew" over the Indian Ocean and landed on the continent of Africa. So far, we learned about different types of African masks.




Sunshine designed her own animal mask based on the African Elephant.




She is also studying the Meerkat and started recording facts about this African creature. Aren't they cute?
She had fun learning about the Meerkat over at Animal Planet.
I made a little booklet for her to help her focus her research. So far she has found out about the meerkat's diet, anatomy, and predators. We also enjoyed reading a folk tale from Africa. Next week, we will be exploring African music.
We are so lucky that she has an awesome art and music program through her Cyberschool. Her meerkat project is enrichment that I had planned for her to correlate with her other studies. She explored a variety of African animals and chose her animal based on her own interests.

If you ever need suggestions on planning your own mini-research project with your kids, let me know! Also, there are so many ways to demonstrate learning through a variety of products. For example, poster, puppet show, mural, etc.

Have a great day!!

Jen