January Week 1: Theme {Snow-man}

Theme: snowman

Math Concepts:

-sizes: big, medium and small

-Shapes: circles, square, rectangle and triangle

Science: solid-liquid-gas 

Sensory Tub:

Materials: "Instant Snow," styrofoam balls in three different sizes: big, medium and small and tooth picks (cut in half).

**{You can get the snow and a bag of the styrofoam balls at the Dollar Tree}**

First, I showed E how to build a snowman with the styrofoam balls and tooth picks. Then we built one together. By the third time E wanted to do it all by himself! He did really a really good job!

As he played with the "snow balls" we talked about the different sizes: big, medium and small. 

As he built a snowman I would ask him which size he would need first? (big)...second? (medium)...then last? (small). 

I had him point and identify the different sizes. 

Art project:

With this Shapely Snowman we again reviewed sizes and shapes. E glued the big, medium, and small circle to make a snowman. He then glued the brown square and rectangle for the hat. And lastly the orange triangle for the nose.

We added three dots of glue for him to add buttons (we used clear plastic pony beads). Then we headed outside to find two small sticks for his arms. E showed me were he wanted the arms and I added the glue.

Science:

I filled up some ice cube trays and small plastic bowls with water. I had E touch it and asked him, "what is this?" He said, "water!" I responded by saying,"Yes, it's water and water is a liquid." I asked him to say the word "liquid." 

I then placed the trays and bowls in the freezer. I asked him what his prediction would be ; what he thought would happen to the water. It was too cute, his response was, "burr, cold." :)

That evening we took out the trays and bowls and took a look at what happen to the water. I opened the freezer and ask him, "what happen to the water?" His response was, "it's ice!"

I shared with him that the water turned into ice! The freezer is so cold that the water turned into hard cold ice and that ice is a solid. The water was once a liquid and now it's a solid.

I placed the ice in a tray and E got to touch, observe and play with it. I added some salt, in a salt shaker, and E loved pouring the salt over the ice. We observed the ice melt and started to become a liquid again!

When E was done playing I rinsed off the salt and placed the ice back in the tray. We will go back and check to see if all the ice melts.

Once the ice melts, I will place it in the sun and hopefully it will eventually evaporate! We will see how long it will take with this weather! :)

Thank you for your support and stopping by! Hope these activities inspire you!

Blessings,

Erica

Love to hear from you!

Follow on Etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MyLittleSonbeam

Follow on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/MyLittleSonbeam

Follow on Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/pin/345721708866250375/

Take a look at what else we learned this week:

January Week 1: Bible {Noah Part 1}

http://mylittlesonbeam.blogspot.com/2014/01/january-week-1-bible-noah-part-1.html?m=1

January Week 1: Alphabet {Letter Kk}

 http://mylittlesonbeam.blogspot.com/2014/01/january-week-1-alphabet-letter-kk.html?m=1

November Week 2

Alphabet: Ii

Math: 1-5 and shapes

Theme: food groups

Bible: seventh day of creation

Alphabet:

Letter Ii box: iron, ice cube tray, insects and flash card.

We didn't have many items around the house that start with Ii! This was all I could come up with. E had fun going through the box and playing with the insects!

Craft: insects on I

We traced The letter I with our finger a few times and then I added the dots of glue for him to glue the insects.

It took me a while to figure out what to do for letter Ii. I did not have a lot to work with and then I received a great idea from the Lord! I have been seeing post on Pinterest about ice melt activities and I couldn't wait to do one with E. 

What you need:

-Ice cube tray and/or plastic containers to use as molds

-Water

-Plastic insects

-salt

I simply placed insects in a plastic container and in an ice cube tray and filled them up with water. I then Placed them in the freezer. I didn't keep time, but it will take probably 4-5 hours for the plastic container to freeze all the way. We were inpatient and took it out early before the block was frozen all the way! ;)

I placed the ice in a baking dish, put salt in a recycled sprinkle container and in a small bowl. The salt helps the ice melt faster so he can get to the insects!

E had a blast and this kept his attention for quite some time. While he played we talked about all the Ii words: insects, in, ice, and ice cubes. 

Theme:

Using real food I made an assortment on a small tray. I placed one or two items from each food group: vegetable group (celery and carrot), fruit group (banana and orange), protein group (ham), diary group (string cheese) and grain group (a slice of bread).

I kept it simple! We first talked about what the names of each food item and then I shared with him which food group it belongs to. Ex: "celery and carrot are vegetables they are in the vegetable group."

And then of course E wanted to try some of the food! :) that's the advantage of using real food!

Shapes:

Craft: Shapely vegetables

After we discussed the food groups we made this Shapley craft. It's hard to tell in the picture above but I traced an outline of the oval, circle and triangle on the brown paper. Together we made this craft. He added glue to the shape (and then I added a bit more glue) and he placed the shape in the correct spot. I helped guide him when placing the diamonds, star and rectangles since I did not make an outline for those shapes.

As he glued each shape we talked about the name and the color of that shape.

When we were all done we reviewed the names of the vegetables we created with the shapes.

Numbers:

This activity is great for counting and for developing fine motor skills. We have done this activity a few times and E really enjoys it! We counted and identified numbers. E decided to match the beads to the color instead of adding the correct number of beads to the corresponding number. He decided this all on his! What a cutie! 

Bible:

We finished our study on the days of creation. We reviewed days 1-6 and talked about all that God made. I then shared him that God was pleased with all that he created and so he rested on the seventh day. As we chatted about this he helped me glue the bed, pillow, sun and z's on the paper.

.....

For the third week in November we will learn about nutrition and Thanksgiving.

Thanks for your support and stopping by! Hope these ideas inspire you!  

Blessings,

Erica

Love to hear from you!

Follow on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/MyLittleSonbeam

Follow on Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/pin/345721708866250375/

Follow on Etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MyLittleSonbeam

October Week 4

Alphabet: letter Hh

Math: shapes (rectangle and triangle)

Theme: water transportation (boats)

Bible: creation day 6

Alphabet: 

Letter of the week box: hanger, helicopter, heart, horse, hammer, hay, hard hat, hands, and flash cards.

Give name of the object as your child takes it out of the box. Emphasize the beginning sound. Ex: "That is a hammer. /h/ /h/ /h/ hammer. Hammer starts with H" (point to the letter h on the flash card).

Letter Hh craft: H is for hearts

Have child trace finger over letter. Then add dots of glue for them to add paper hearts on the letter H.

Letter H activity: sensory tub

What's inside: hay, toy hammer, bolts, foam blocks (covered in craft paper: house), holes made in the foam blocks, and toy hand noise-makers.

I bought foam blocks and circles at the dollar store. With a knife, I cut the foam into small pieces. I wrapped the foam pieces with craft paper. Then I drew doors, windows and a roof on the blocks. 

I pre-made holes on the foam and highlighted the holes with a black sharpie.  

1. I originally bought bolts for E to use to build the homes, but the bolts were not long enough. So, I used screws we already had to build the homes. I had E find the hole, I placed the screws in the hole and E hammered them in. 

2. Then I made some foam blocks with holes for him to use the bolts with. 

3. The bolts are not sharp, and after seeing how I did it (with the screws) he knew exactly what to do. He grabbed a bolt and placed it in a hole and hammered away! He loved it!

4. I also showed him how to hold the foam block while hammering. This kept the block from moving around.

5. After all the bolts were used up and all the hammering was done, E enjoyed throwing the hay in the air! :)

*Here is an overview of the Alphabet Sensory Tubs we've done so far:

Theme:

Theme craft: Shapley Sailboat

We reviewed rectangles and triangles to make the sailboat. First E used finger paint to to paint the water. Once the paint dried we glued the shapes on.

As we worked on the shapely sailboat we talked about where do sailboats sail? On road, sky or water?

Theme activity: sensory tub

I grabbed one large boat and one small boat and placed them in E's sensory tub. On one side of the tub I filled with clean water and on the other side I filled with dirty water (chia seeds and blue food coloring was added to water).

As E played we discussed all sorts of subjects. 

We talked about the boats: which boat is the small/big one? How many boats are there? Where do boats go? On the road? In the sky? Or in the water?

Then we talked about the water: what does this water (dirty) feel like? Which water is clean/dirty?

These are books we read, throughout the month, while learning about transportation.

Bible:

Memory Verse of the Month: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth." Genesis 1:1

Memory Verse Song: "God is Creator" by Seeds Family Worship

We are continuing to talk about that God is Creator. This week we focused on the sixth day of creation. On day  6 of creation God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds... Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness..." (Genesis 1:24, 26 NIVUK)

As E glued the man and women on the paper, we talked about how God made people. He made boys and he made girls. He made you and he made me. 

Then we talked about that God made all the animals in the world. As E placed an animal sticker on the paper, I would ask him what animal that was. He would respond, and I would tell him that God made that animal. As he was finishing I asked him these type of questions: Who made people? Who made all the animals? Who made you? Who made me? 

What a blessed week! 

The first week in November we will learn about community helpers transportation. 

Thanks for your support and stopping by! Hope these ideas inspire you!  

Blessings,

Erica

Love to hear from you!

Follow on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/MyLittleSonbeam

Follow on Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/pin/345721708866250375/

Follow on Etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MyLittleSonbeam

October Week 3

Alphabet: letter Gg

Math: number 4, counting with pumpkins and shapely pumpkin craft

Theme: air transportation 

Bible: creation day 5

Alphabet:

Letter of the week box: glue, glue stick, gift, green, garbage can, golf ball, golf club, girl, goose, gorilla shirt, guitar, flash cards.

Letter Gg Craft: sprinkle gold glitter on letter G {I added the glue on the G and my son loved sprinkling the glitter over the G}

Letter Gg Activity: sensory tub

***Update: a week after posting this, I found a recipe for ALL natural, safe and edible Gak!!! Oh how I wish I had this recipe a week earlier! The recipe is by Fun At Home With Kids. Here is the pin from Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/pin/345721708866346627/

************************************************

What is inside the sensory tub: Green Gak, Gold plastic beads (from an old cheap plastic necklace we already had), two googly eyes, glitter, letter G magnet and a plastic knife for play.

I found this recipe for GAK on Pinterest. This recipe is very easy and simple to make! You will need Elmer's glue, borax and water.

E loved pushing the beads into the Gak and then cutting the Gak into pieces. 

Math: 

Math activity: counting with pumpkins

I drew four pumpkins on a piece of card stock paper and numbered the pumpkins 1-4. I paired it with a bowl of plastic pumpkins, pumpkin ice cube tray and tongs. 

Number 4 Activity and Craft: count four pumpkin stickers and add them on a number four cut out. 

Shape Craft: shapely pumpkin

This was a fun and easy way to review shapes! 

Theme:

All week we played with airplanes: at home, in the bath, at restaurants, in the car and so on! As he played with them I would ask him questions like: where do airplanes fly? Do airplanes fly in the sky? In the clouds? Do airplanes fly in Water? Do airplanes fly on the road? 

For this activity I created an airport landing strip with painters tape. At one end I had 4 (number of the week!) airplanes covered with cotton balls (clouds!) in a small plastic container. E would find an airplane,in the clouds, and have it fly out to land on the airport strip. He would have it park at the end or fly back again in the clouds. E had a blast flying the airplanes in the air and hiding them in the clouds.

Memory Verse of the Month: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth." Genesis 1:1

Memory Verse Song: "God is Creator" by Seeds Family Worship

We are continuing to talk about that God is Creator. This week we focused on the fifth day of creation. On day five of creation God said, "let the waters teem with living creatures, and let the birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky."

As I played the scripture song E placed the bird stickers in the sky and the fish stickers in the water on the paper. When the song ended we talked about who made the fish? Who made the birds? We also talked about that fish live in water and birds fly in the sky.

What a blessed week! 

For the fourth week of October we will learn about water transportation. 

Thanks for your support and stopping by! Hope these ideas inspire you!  

Blessings,

Erica

Love to hear from you!

Follow on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/MyLittleSonbeam

Follow on Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/pin/345721708866250375/

Follow on Etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MyLittleSonbeam