F is for . . .

. . . float. We found letters and created words using floating bottle caps. 

The kids would pick a letter or word from the laminated word stips. Then they would fish out the bottle caps with the correct letters on them. 

This is an engaging and easy activity to do any time. You just need plastic bottle caps (like from juice containers, milk gallons, or gatorade bottles), water, and a slotted spoon. I just used a sharpie to write the letters on the inside of the cap. Sometimes they start to fade and I just rewrite them when that happens.  . . . fly. The kids practiced identifying letters with our fly swat game. I would call out a letter and they would swat it with the fly swatter. Want to play your own fly swat game? Download our alphabet of flies here.

. . . fall. We read the book, Let It Fall. After we used tissue paper to make our own fall trees. 

Sink or Float Center

Here's a great activity that's as simple as it comes. Do the items sink or float? Before the kids were allowed to touch water, we made predictions and sorted the items between what they thought would sink or float. 

After testing everything, we discussed our predictions. 

To create a little bit of flare we added a writing component to the activity. The kids drew pictures or wrote letters or words to represent the items that sunk and floated. Do you see that cute little "roc?" I was so proud of the kids for trying letters and sounds to create words. And that adorable little two legged dog is pretty fun too. 

Click here for a free printable of our sink/float chart to use with your little ones. 

When you click on the link, there are a lot of ads on the page. You want to click the small grey download button right beneath the box that says view document. You will need to sign in to download the paper. You can sign up for a free 4shared account or use your social media outlet to download. Please leave a message below if you have any problems or questions. 

Spring Time Song with Finger Puppets

 Spring is upon us and summer is fast approaching. In our neck of the woods, everyone is planting their gardens and the roses are starting to bloom. Here is a fun spring time song with finger puppets for the kids to play along while you sing. 

It is titled In the Leafy Tree Tops. It is from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints children's songbook. The song can be listened to or downloaded at lds.org. Or you can go directly to the song here.

When we sing this each child has a flower on a popsicle stick and a bird finger puppet. Cut out the circles where the beak should be and their thumb and pointer finger become the beak. My holes are a little small, so you might have to cut a little bigger than what is drawn. I printed the bird to be about 5 inches tall.

In the Leafy Tree Tops

 In the leafy treetops, the birds sing "Good morning."

They're first to see the sun.

They must tell ev'ryone.

In the leafy treetops, the birds sing "Good morning."

In my pretty garden, the flowers are nodding.

"How do you do?" they say.

"How do you do today?"

In my pretty garden, the flowers are nodding.

I hope you have a great spring and that the birds sing and flowers bloom in your garden!

Easy Fall Themed Center

Here is one of the centers we did last week to continue our work on the season of fall. Each bare tree has a number at the bottom and the kids are responsible for putting the same number of leaves on the branches. For example, the 6 tree would have 6 leaves. The 8 tree would have 8 leaves. Pretty simple and a great way to work on number recognition. 

 You will need to provide your students with a variety of bare trees with numbers below them and cut out leaves for them to put onto the tree. 

Dr. Seuss Math

 One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

For older kids - work on patterns

For younger kids - work on colors, matching, and counting

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

We have been having a lot of fun using our fly swat activity lately. 

 

Since we are working on the letter F and we've been swatting flies all over the place, I've been thinking a lot about the song There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. So, we made our own old lady who swallowed a fly. 

This activity is an oldie, but a goodie. A baggie is attached to the back of the Old Lady cut out so that you can have her "eat" the animals by putting them into the baggie. Her stomach is cut out so that you can see what she's eaten. It's great to help remember the song and to help with the math skill sequencing. I'm sorry that I don't know where I got this, but I know there are a lot of these on the web if you just search on Google.

Alphabet Fly Swat

I don't know about you, but I hate flies. We live near a cow farm so flies are an inevitable part of our existence. Of course, since we have kids that love to play outside and often forget to close the door, flies are sometimes found flying around the house. My kids love it because I pay them 5 cents for every fly they kill. Plus, there is something satisfying about swatting something with a fly swatter. 

Well, here is a fun way to practice your letters and get that satisfying swat without the annoying flies that actually buzz around. These fake flies are just the trick. 

Put the alphabet fly pictures up on a wall or on the floor and call out the letter name or the letter sound. When the kids find the correct fly, they swat it with a fly swatter. Use as few or as many of the fly letters as you need to practice.  Pretty easy and pretty fun! 

Click here to get a free printable of the alphabet flies. 

T is for texture

 I thought I had lost these pictures, but I found them so I figured this is better late than never right?! We made these during letter T week and also as an Easter activity.They are foam eggs with different textured materials on them. This activity would work with any shape, you could even do the letter T or F for feel.

Each egg was a sticky backed foam paper. We peeled off the sticky part to attach our textures:

Hard beads.

Soft pom poms. (These didn't stick very well, so we had to use glue.Next time I think I will use yard for soft.)

Bumpy shredded paper. 

 

Fall Trees

This activity somehow got missed when I was posting stuff last month. I thought I would throw it up here because it is a good fall activity even thought fall is mostly over. Can you believe that Thanksgiving is next week?! This school year is just flying by. 

Anyway, this is a pretty simple activity. You trace the child's hand and arm on brown construction paper and cut it out to create the tree. Then add red, yellow, and orange tissue paper or construction paper squares for the leaves.

F is for . . .

. . . float? The kids guessed whether items would sink or float and then tried out their hypothesis.

. . . feet! We traced our feet all over a long piece of paper and colored them in. Then we counted how many there were of each color, how many there were all together, and compared which were the biggest or smallest, etc. 

. . . freeze! We danced to "The Freeze" by Greg & Steve. It's basically a freeze dance song with a great beat.

 . . . feel. We explored our sense of touch by feeling things with different textures, temperatures, and feels. - Cold, soft, sticky, hard, bumpy, rough, warm, etc.

F is for Friendship

High five for good friends! We read the book Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes. It is a great book about making new friends and treating each other kindly.

After we read the book, we made a list of five things that good friends do. After we made our list, each child gave a high five to the paper with paint.

Fire Station - 3 Yr. Olds

 F is for fire station. We visited our local fire station to learn more about our community. We were given a tour of their station. They showed us their living quarters, kitchen, weight room, and offices. 

 After we saw the inside of the station, they took us to the garage to see their equipment and trucks.

 

One of the firemen showed us what it looks and sounds like when they have their suits on so that the kids could understand what a fireman might look like if they came to our house. 

 

As the kids were on their way out, the firemen gave each child a bag of activities and information and their own firefighter hats. 

The trip was a lot of fun and the kids learned a lot. Thanks to all the parents who joined us!