Pirate Treasure Sensory Bin & Letter Map Match

It's no secret that we love all things pirate around here, so when we saw the chance to join in on the "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" Quirky Blog Hop we couldn't resist. International Talk Like a Pirate Day is actually coming up on September 19th, but today Witty Hoots is hosting this Quirky Blog Hop so bloggers can share lots of fantastic pirate fun to start getting everyone in the mood!

For our pirate activity, we decided to explore the world of pirates with a little bit of letter learning thrown in too! To make the learning as hands on as possible, we put all the materials into a sensory bin.

Pirate themed learning is always fun, and you'll notice at the bottom of this post several other pirate learning posts we've shared before.

An ABC Treasure Hunt

It's no secret we love pirates around here. In the past we had so much fun with our Pirates' Gold Number Play we knew that we wanted to extend it into some letter play. That lead me to create an ABC Treasure Hunt.

It's great to do these types of activities during the summer, so we can be outside. But, the materials are simple enough it could be recreated inside as well. 

Alphabet Sticker Sort

As our "staycation" stretched on this week Big Brother started to need something new to perk him up. Luckily I had this alphabet activity up my sleeve.

He's been really interested in what letters different words start with, so this activity really matched a place he's been at in terms of his pre-reading skills. He's also been pretty solidly remembering the sounds each letter can make, which means he was able to tackle this with only a little guidance. 

Quick Pick and Project of the Week: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Bath

It's been a while since we posted a Quick Pick and Project of the Week, and this is one I've wanted to try for a while now.

Several years ago I read in a parenting magazine (unfortunately I don't remember which one) that you can use craft foam to create your own wall sticker bath toys. We've done it a couple times now over the past few years to create different shapes and themes. 

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Bath

 

This idea, combined with the purchase a while ago of some bath tub letters, inspired me to create a "coconut" tree for the bath tub to go along with the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin. This book has such a great rhyme and rhythm and gives everyone a fun way to practice saying all the letters in the alphabet. 

Ocean Alphabet

As we continued with our Ocean theme this week I knew I wanted to tie in some literacy skills practice. With the warm, almost perfect, summer weather, it was also a great time to be outside and the kids were definitely interested with playing with water. That inspired the creation of our "Ocean Alphabet" activity.

Big Brother has done alphabet fishing before in our alphabet sensory bin. But this was the first time we created something outside in our actual pool. It was a huge hit with both Big Brother and Little Miss H!

ABCs of Nature: M is for Meadow

We're excited to be participating in the ABC's of Nature which is hosted by School Time Snippets. 26 bloggers are sharing a nature themed post for each different letter of the alphabet. Already so many amazing nature activities and resources have been shared.

We were lucky to have the letter M, as there were so many different nature themed ideas (mountain, moon, morning, mist . . .) But in the end we settled on "M is for Meadow."

I've mentioned before that we're pretty blessed to live in an area where opportunities to engage with nature are just a step outside our door. For this exploration, we walked a little farther down the road to a large meadow. We talked a little about what a meadow is and what we might find there before we left the house.

Letter Match Race Car Village

We love playing with race cars, they are a continuous favorite toy for both boys. We also love creating our own raceways using large paper on the kitchen floor.

We've made ones with different themes, including winter, summer, a candy village, and more. A while back we even made an ABC Raceway. This time we took some inspiration from some other ideas we've seen on the inernet and created a Letter Match Racecar Village.

Grocery Store Alphabet Search

Like most families we go grocery shopping weekly, often just me and the boys. While we love our double race car cart, sometimes we need something different to perk up our trip. This was a fun, easy way to keep our bigger guy entertained as we shopped.

It's also a great way to practice learning the alphabet in a meaningful and authentic way. 

Light Table Letter Match

About a year ago I started noticing other bloggers' posts on using light tables with kids. Although they make light tables specifically for kids, I was inspired to ask on our town e-mail list if a former photographer had a table they would be willing to sell of give away. I was pretty excited when someone responded with a homemade one as it seemed perfect for using with kids.

We started exploring it just after the winter holidays, when the early evenings were dark and we needed something to perk up our afternoons. This is our most current exploration, and it was a huge hit!

Alphabet Fishing Sensory Bin

Big Brother has been really enjoying a toy, magnetic wooden fishing set he was given last year for Christmas and it inspired me to create a new sensory bin for him this week.