The Olympics- Patterning

Patterning is one activity that I have been very consciously working on for months with E, and it is clearly paying off.  This activity is pretty simple to put together for any theme.  I pulled out my sports stickers and started creating patterns.  I verbalized the names of the balls as I placed them, and E's job was to decide what sticker went on the blank.  It was much more difficult for her to just look at the patterns and find the next one, but she has become very good at being able to hear and see the patterns, then continue them. 

We even talked our way through one where the blank was in the middle instead of the end!  I think it is so important to have her hear how I work through a problem by showing her how I look at the pattern including what is behind and ahead of the missing spot.  Being transparent can be difficult because so many of the skills we work on with our kids are second nature to us, but trying to break it down into those little steps can help them become better problem solvers.

Bugs- Worksheet Notebook

Ever since I have been getting onto Pinterest, I have been interested in using a set of worksheets with E from  1+1+1=1.  Here you can find the link to a list of their preschool packs, including the Pretty Bugs packet that I printed out, cut and laminated parts of, and placed in page protectors.

I know some people are very anti worksheets, but the truth is, once kids are in a formalized school setting, they are expected to show skills on paper.  I think the pages serve a great purpose as filler activities to supplement the activities we are doing.  

This particular activity involves graphing.  E rolls the die (or spins a spinner) and charts which bug the die lands on.  It was great for her object correspondence, as well as getting used to writing in a particular box or area of the graph.  

We have played or E has completed about half of the worksheets from the packet, and has had a blast doing them.  It is great seeing her work through some of the sheets on her own, and the games allow us to work on various skills together, too.  My labels for this post will reference the packet as a whole.  A big thanks to the creators of the worksheets!

Bugs- Collecting

 I love giving E little gifts by putting them on her table after nap time.  This bug collection set, another dollar store find, has been a big hit.  It came with the collection container with a built-in magnifying glass, tongs, and  a small net.  We first created a bug habitat by finding a couple of plants, including one with flowers to put down into the collection container.  We then went to an area where we have some bricks that can be flipped over, revealing lots of interesting bugs.

 We collected a millipede, roly-poly bugs, a June bug, and a couple of bugs I don't know the name of.  Collecting the bugs was dependent a lot on me...the tongs can be tricky to use and not squish the bugs.  I read to try using a paint brush to pick up the bugs, so we will do that next time.

This is E studying the bugs from the bottom.  The clear container allows a great look at the bugs from all angles, allowing us to talk about all the bug parts, and make connections between what we read and what we see!

Filler Activity- Measurement

The materials for this post were the ones we used a couple of activities ago when we were working on texture. When I cut the ribbons, I made sure there there were some the length of a Popsicle stick or shorter and ones longer than the Popsicle stick (which acted as our measuring stick). We started out the activity talking about what longer and shorter meant, and we did a couple of examples together.

Then, I set E free to determine if each ribbon was longer or shorter than the measuring stick. She struggled some with this activity. I think she may have been getting confused if she was supposed to be comparing the length of last ribbon to the one she was measuring instead of always comparing to the stick. This will definitely be a concept we revisit very soon!

The Five Senses- Listening Activity

Like most toddlers, E loves music and instruments. I thought incorporating these instruments into a listening activity would be both fun and challenging for E. I pulled out about seven of her instruments with varying sounds. I took a picture on the iPad to act as a reference for later in the activity, then I let E play around with the instruments to make sure she was familiar with the unique sounds that each one makes.

Then, I took the instruments over behind the puppet theater, leaving E with the picture of the instruments on the iPad.

From behind the puppet theater, I played each instrument, one at a time, and had E identify what I was playing. Being able to look at the iPad pictures was a very helpful step that I would suggest to not leave out. One thing I would do differently if I did this activity again would be to make sure to review the names of each of the instruments we were using. There was a lot of "the shakey thing" and "the whistle." I missed an opportunity to expand on vocabulary on the front end of the activity. In the end, though, E enjoyed this simple activity!

The Five Senses- Texture Activity

While shopping at a dollar store (one of my favorite places to find materials to use with E), I found this plastic dish with two compartments (a dog or cat bowl, I believe), which I thought would be a perfect container to have on hand to do sorting activities. So, I created this activity to work on feeling different textures of ribbon and twine. I knew I wanted to use the materials in this activity to do a measurement activity later on, so I cut the ribbon and twine to a short length and a long length for that activity.

I then labeled the sticks and added example ribbon to help to show what rough and smooth feel like. We discussed the words rough and smooth, we talked about how it feels on our fingers, then E began the sorting! She actually did a great job of determining the texture. The was a simple and fun activity.