Fall Art and Games - Part 2

 

Coffee Filter Pumpkins:  Coffee filters can be used for any season to make something fun!  We used Do-A-Dot markers and a spray bottle.  Watch the orange blend into the white spaces as the water is absorbed.  When it dries, add a construction paper stem and small pipe cleaner for a curly vine.

Fall-owing Directions Math and Literacy:  These laminated worksheets helped Emma practice following directions to add and decode a mystery message.  We also worked on number and letter formation.  These came from www.allkidsnetwork.com.

Jack-o-Lantern Funny Faces:  These 1/2 pieces can be arranged in any fashion.  After creating one, choose a follow-up activity.  Ask your child to point to the ones that are happy, have circle eyes, do not have a nose, etc.  Or ask if he/she can make a jack-o-lantern with certain characteristics.  You can also discuss emotions and model character development by speaking as the jack-o-lantern in a unique voice.  Then ask your child, "How is this jack-o-lantern feeling?  How would he talk?  What would he say?"

Jack-o-Lantern Memory:  As with the previous matching game, you could also discuss shapes and emotions with these cards.  Ask your child, "What happened to make this jack-o-lantern be so upset?  Why is this one laughing?"

More Fall Books:  We are developing quite a home library with many seasonal books.  Most of these had a Thanksgiving theme.

Fall Art and Games - Part 1

Paper Bag Jack-o-Lantern:  Emma stuffed a paper bag with old paper, tied a green pipe cleaner around the top, and painted it with orange and brown tempera paint.  After it dried, she cut her own shapes out of yellow to create the lit face.

Acorn Counting:  After rolling the die, Emma added pom pons to the acorn picture.  For round two, she took them away.  It gave her practice reading the dots on the die, rather than counting them each time.

Knuckle Print Pumpkin Patch:  So cute!  Make a fist.  Dip the top section (the part that you use to fist bump) into orange paint and press on paper.  When it dries, use green and brown markers to add leaves, stems, and vines.

Books:  We read so many great books about fall and Halloween!  Emma's favorites were Let It Fall, Hello Kitty's Fun Fall Day, 10 Trick or Treaters, and I Love Pumpkins.

Sunflowers - Part 3

Numbers:  On this workbook page, Emma identified the number of items, found the matching number card, and wrote the number on the paper.

Missing Addends:  The third grade math teacher in me refrained from using the terms addend and sum, but I gave Emma the answer and asked her to find two numbers that could be added to make it.  She had to use sunflower seeds to count up to the total, making sure to put some on each of the two flowers.  Then we said, "____ + ____ = ____."  Sometimes I would keep the same sum and ask her to find a different seed combination to show that there is more than one way to get the answer.

Seed Letters:  Emma used the seeds to form various alphabet letters.  It was tedious work, so we only did a few.  You could also form shapes or numbers.

Seed Dissection:   What's inside?  Emma noticed that a few sunflower seeds were splitting open.  She pried them apart to reveal the "baby plant" before it starts to grow into a plant.  Again, the third grade science teacher in me wanted to use vocabulary such as seed coat and germination.  All in good time!

Story Time:  We enjoyed several fiction and non-fiction books about sunflowers.

Sunflowers - Part 2

Academic Practice:  Emma completed two workbook pages on numbers and uppercase/lowercase letters.  She's a fan of using a pencil.

Coloring Page:  I found a sunflower image and added a title and name line to create this coloring page.

Addition:  This game from Making Learning Fun involved choosing two brown circle numbers and placing them in the center of the sunflowers.  Then Emma used sunflower seeds to represent each addend.  Finally, she counted on to find the sum and placed the numbered blackbird on the top of the placemat.

Sunflowers - Part 1

Handprint and Footprint Sunflower:  We used yellow paint and Emma's hand for the flower petals, green paint and Emma's foot for the stem and leaf, and sunflower seeds for the sunflower seeds!  When they dried, I cut them out and Emma glued them together to create a life-size sunflower.

Ordering Numbers:  When I found these tiny baking cups in our cabinet and decided I was not likely to make mini muffins, an idea struck me.  The yellow ones looked like sunflower petals.  I wrote the numbers 1-10 on the inside and mixed them up for Emma to put in order.  This was part one of the activity.

Counting Seeds:  Next, Emma had to count out the exact number of seeds and add them to the sunflower cup.  It was a lengthy activity, but great counting practice.

Ss Do-A-Dot Pattern:  Emma wanted to do a yellow and green pattern on this worksheet.  I thought her idea and color choices were perfect!

Observing Seeds Grow:  We planted sunflower seeds a few weeks ago.  Emma loves watching the seed coats sit on top of the sprouts and fall off as the leaves unfold.

Life Cycle of a Plant:  Emma cut out the four stages at the bottom of a worksheet I found in a plant workbook, placed the pieces in order, and glued them on the flow chart.

Blow and Measure:  Emma came up with this game herself.  She started blowing seeds across the kitchen table as I was cleaning up our materials.  I suggested we use her ruler to measure the distance.

Heart Day Story Hour

We love our local library! Each month they host family story hour on a Saturday morning. The librarian reads 2 books and leads 2 songs The kids also get to do a related craft and 1-2 games based on the theme. Then we spend another hour playing in the Discovery Room and picking out books to take home.

Superheroes! - Part 2

Books: A year or two ago, Target had these kid-friendly superhero books with Marvel characters in the dollar bins. For those of you who are not privy to the comic world, DC created Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern, among others. Marvel penned Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Hulk, etc.

Puppets: Scott and Emma created several straw puppets over the course of a week--Tinkerbell, Elmo, Curious George, etc. After watching her Daddio make a Batman stick puppet, she decided to make her own one night when he was at class. Look closely at her version, complete with bat ears on the top of his head!

Creative Play with Figures: Scott snagged this Imaginext Batcave as part of Amazon Vine. They ask him to write reviews for products after reading/using them. This was a rare toy on the list of product to receive and review, and an expensive one at that--free! Emma loves playing with her tub 'o' superheroes with the cave.

Superheroes! - Part 1

Size Sequencing: These Hulk cards, as well as the next several activities, came from a blog called Preschool Printables.

Superhero Identification: Emma added a pom pom on the superhero as it was named. If I was a true fan, I would have known the alter ego of each, but I was only successful at recalling Batman is Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is Peter Parker, Superman is Clark Kent, Hulk is Bruce Banner, and Wolverine is Logan something. (I checked with Scott, and he said It's just Logan--no last name. I guess I know more than I thought!)

One of These Is Not Like the Others: Three of the heroes in the row were exactly the same, but one was slightly different. Emma placed a pom pom on the one that was different.

Line Tracing: The Crayola dry-erase crayons work great on laminated pages.

Name Writing: Emma flipped over her tracing page to write her name--terrific!