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Rainbow Letters and Numbers

This is one of my favorite ways to practice writing letters or numbers. We call them rainbow letters because the look so colorful and pretty when you're done.

Provide an outlined letter or number. Have the child write inside the outline of the letter 7-10 times using a different color each time. Make sure they write the letter using the proper form and in the proper order. Ex. For letter E down, out, out, out. For the younger kids I put a black dot where they need to start writing their letter each time.

Choosing a good font can be a challenge with this activity because you want the letters to reflect the elementary block font that they will be learning in kindergarten. I like to use Print Clearly from fontspace.com. It offers a normal, bold, and dotted form. It is free to download. The dotted form is especially helpful when you want the kids to practice writing specific words, like their name. 

You can print it dotted for them to trace. I love it and use it daily for name practice!

Enjoy!

Paper Plate Easter Bunny

Here's an old picture I had of a project we did last year. It's simple and cute, and your kids will love it! For the ears, I used a little less than half the plate. Half looked a little too fat for my taste, so I just cut a thin section off the straight side of each ear. 

What You Need:

• 2 paper plates
• pink and black crayons or markers
• googly eyes
• white cotton balls
• small pink pompom
• bow tie - you can use paper or get fancy and use fabric

What You Do:

1. Color the inside of the ears pink.
2. Glue on the ears to the back of the full plate
3. Glue on the eyes and nose
4. Draw on the face
5. Glue on the bow tie

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

P is for Platypus

So a platypus is one of those crazy, weird, yet interesting animals. It kind of makes me think that God was in a silly mood the day He made them. Even the name is kind of silly. Okay, pop quiz! Which of these facts are true about the platypus?

a. It consists of a beaver tail, duck bill, & otter feet.
b. When naturalists first discovered it, some thought it was a hoax.
c. It is venomous.
d. It is one of 5 egg laying mammals.
e. There is no universally used plural form of the word platypus. Both platypuses and platypi are acceptable.
f. All of the above.

F is correct! Isn't that crazy?

Of course this unique animal has gotten an extra measure of fame lately due to this amazing show, I'm sure you've heard of it.

We decided to study more about the platypus and make an Agent P Easter egg for letter P week. I mean his name is P and what is more perfect than that for letter P week?

We started at  the National Geographic Kids website and checked out their platypus creature feature page. It includes pictures, facts, a video, and a map of where they live. 

Then we made the Perry the platypus Easter egg from Family fun. The link to the craft is here.

Here's What You Need:

• Template printed from family fun
• bottle cap
• greenish blue egg (plastic or hard boiled)
• Glue dots

Here's What You Do:

1. Color and cut out the template. Make sure to draw the crisscrosses on his tail and a band on his hat.
2. Glue the feet and tail to the inside of the bottle cap. Bend the feet over the edge of the rim so they are pointing down. 
3. Glue the face and arms onto the egg. Wrap the hat around the top of the egg and glue the two back pieces together with a glue dot. Bend it so it sticks up.
4. Put your egg in the bottle cap to keep it upright.

We hope you have fun with your own weird, yet cool platypus egg.