Leprechaun's Letters: An Alphabet Sensory Tub

This week has been a little funny as Little Brother came down with a stomach bug early on. And although it only lasted 24 hours, it still threw off our routines a little for the whole week. It also meant a stay home day with just mommy for Little Brother, which he always enjoys.

In order to create something fun for us to do one on one, I put together a new sensory tub: Leprechaun's Letters, an Alphabet Sensory Tub.

Lately Little Brother has really become interested in letters, especially as he's watched Big Brother take off in reading. Little Brother's been working hard to identify letters on his own and asking questions about letters. So why not combine the upcoming holiday with some fun, letter explorations? And of course a Leprechaun would have golden letters in with their treasure! 

CVC Alphabet Cracker Activity & Snack Mat

The return to school this year is definitely taking more energy than we expected this fall. An increase in work hours for me and Big Brother kicking off kindergarten, combined with our normal, busy family routine, means it's been hard to share some of the fun after school and fall activities we've been squeezing in. But now we have a bunch of new posts lined up to share in the next week!

One thing we really enjoyed was an engaging snack that built upon the new reading skills Big Brother is quickly taking on in kindergarten: a CVC Alphabet Cracker Activity & Snack Mat.

My kiddos are huge fans of ABC crackers, we especially love the ones made by Cheez-It, although we've seen other brands at the store. 

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. 

Rhyming Fish Play with Dr. Seuss

In the last few months Big Brother has gotten really interested in Dr. Seuss books, asking to read the ones in our collection quite often. I was excited when I saw that this month's Virtual Book Club for Kids author was Dr. Seuss himself. We decided to read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish for our read this month.

The book is full of silly rhymes. As an extension I decided to play with rhymes in connection with reading the book. 

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!

Alphabet Adventure: V is for Vultures at VINS

It's been quite a while since we posted an Alphabet Adventure, and it's actually been quite a while since we went on this adventure.

The Adventure

For our V adventure we headed to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) in Woodstock, VT. VINS is a great place to see rescued raptors of many kinds, in a beautiful location. We knew we could see Turkey Vultures on our visit, which would fit our V theme, but we were also eager to see some of the other birds too.

Rewriting a "Time to Sleep" for Spring

The author for this month's Virtual Book Club for Kids is Denise Fleming, and while we love her more spring and summer themed books we also really enjoy Time to Sleep which takes place in the fall.

When we reread the book this week we knew that the animals were no longer going to sleep for winter, but waking up from their long winter nap for spring!

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. 

Building Math Skills with Beading

The other day I was looking for something quiet for Big Brother and I to do while Little Brother took his nap. I realized we hadn't done any beading in a while. As soon as I knew Big Brother was too old to put small things into his mouth I introduced him to using beads.

We use classic "pony" beads. Originally we started with stringing them onto pipe cleaners, as they were easier for little hands to start with but these days we use a thin, satin ribbon. We tie one bead to an end to be a stopper as he beads. When he finishes we knot the other end through the bead.

I've liked keeping beads on hand as it promotes developing fine motor skills, including the small muscles in a child's hand which we use everyday for a multitude of things: writing, buttoning, zipping, playing, etc. It also promotes hand-eye coordination, helping our brain to get our eyes and hands to work together.

But as we were creating our necklace this day it struck me how much more we were doing; this simple quick project was full of early math skills. All of the skills mentioned below are important in developing early mathematical understanding which will lead to stronger reasoning, logical thinking, and complex problem solving skills.

Alphabet Adventures: P is for Pancakes and Pumpkins

We were really excited to involve two of our favorite local places in our Alphabet Adventures: a local café and our favorite farm stand. The two are about a half mile away from one another and made a perfect "P" adventure.

The Adventure

We started our morning at the café, which Big Brother used to call "The Pancake Store" because ever since he was little he has always gotten pancakes there. It's a great local place for breakfast and lunch, and we've been going there for years. I even waited tables there just after college, so it's a comfortable place with people we know.

Our pancakes, as always, were delicious!

After breakfast we headed down the road to our favorite farm stand in order to explore their pumpkin patch. 

Big Brother picked the largest pumpkin he could find, which he promptly turned into a seat. Little Brother had fun exploring the different pumpkins, using them as props for standing up. 

Later in the day we read a great pumpkin book It's Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall. There are so many great pumpkin books, it was hard to pick. But this one has colorful illustrations which clearly and simply explain the life cycle of a pumpkin. 

The Project: P is for Purple Paint

We decided to keep the project a little simpler again by just sticking to painting. 

As Big Brother painted we talked about some other "p" words. He decided to paint a purple pig with a purple princess looking at it. As we were painting just before bed, I couldn't resist reading one more book: Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. We've been enjoying how Harold's imagination takes him such fabulous places, so it was a great reread. 

Our P adventure and project proved to be an easy one to complete with lots of different "P"ossibilities. 

Other P adventure ideas: park, playground, picnic, party, playoff game, or pool. 

Alphabet Adventures: O is for Orchard

Fall has proven to be a great time to continue our adventures by giving us all new options. When we started our adventures I envisioned a summer day trip to the ocean but as the cool temps arrived our ocean trip turned into an orchard trip.

The Adventure

Every fall we enjoy picking apples as a family and a favorite spot is Windy Ridge Orchard. The orchard provides flavorful apples, amazing fall views, and lots of fun extras like farm animals, a playground, and sweet treats. 

Before arriving we talked to Big Brother about what an orchard is, a place with lots of fruit trees. He remembered last year and couldn't wait to get to the apples.

Little Brother and Big Brother both enjoyed the wagon ride. 

Mmm, Big Brother enjoys the first bites and Little Brother enjoyed his first tastes. 

As we were there a little later in the season, a lot of the best apples were up high. 

Of course, we also enjoyed some other elements of the orchard. We loved their fun photo cut outs and feeding the variety of farm animals. We sampled some delicious kettle corn (sadly, the amazing smelling donut line was just too long) and some fresh cider. 

One of the best treats for Big Brother was the "cow" ride which loops through the orchard. 

When we got home we read Picking Apples, Picking Pumpkins by Amy & Richard Hutchings. 

The Project: O is for Octopus

O could have been for orange, either in a color collage or orange prints. But, although sounds haven't been the focus of our adventures, when I mentioned "orange" he told me he couldn't hear an /o/ sound in the word. Since we had also done orchard with the same /or/ sound at the beginning for orchard, I decided to switch it up last minute. 

We have an octopus shaped massage tool which we decided to dip into orange paint. 

Big Brother used it to see what different patterns it could make. First he tried making dot patterns. 

Next he found he could turn it in order to make a large circle, or as he called it, "O."

After painting I couldn't resist playing on the octopus theme a little more. For dinner he had an octopus hot dog in an ocean of peas with apple waves. While we ate we listened to "An Octopus's Garden" by the Beatles. 

It's always fun to make our letter fun go in lots of directions!

This post may also have been shared at some of these terrific link parties. 

Alphabet Adventures: N is for Noodles

I can't believe it's taken me over a week to write up this Alphabet Adventure. But we've been a little excited about the amazing fall weather and getting outside as much as possible. We also celebrated my husband's birthday this past weekend and had several special projects to complete before his big day.

I have to admit this wasn't our best adventure either. Our errands ahead of time ran late, which meant we were all over hungry and ready to be home. Big Brother was also a little under the weather, which meant he really wasn't feeling himself and acting that way. And Little Brother was way over due for a break from all the errands. But in a "Real Family Moment" we gave it a go despite the early warning signs it might not work out and then decided to take our food to go shortly after it arrived. Although not that fun, it was important for us to set some consistency in our expectations and to admit when it was no longer working to stay. To top it off, the camera wasn't set on the right setting so please excuse the blurry photos. 

The Adventure: N is for Noodle

A new "noodle" restaurant opened locally. The restaurant allows you to mix and match from a selection of noodles, sauces, and add-ins to create your own personalized dish. They then cook it to order. We decided to order two of their recommended creations for ourselves and helped Big Brother order his own creation. 

As we waited for our food to arrive, we also tasted one of the restaurant's other specialities: bubble tea. Having never tried it before, it was a huge hit with both Big Brother and myself. 

When our food came we were really impressed with the sizes of the portions and flavors. Unfortunately, Big Brother really started to crash and we decided it was better to pack it all up and took the noodles home and enjoyed them there instead. 

A few days later we read More Spaghetti, I Say! by Rita Golden Gelman about a monkey who loves spaghetti and eats a little too much. We connected the book to the noodles Big Brother had ordered. 

The Project: N is for Night

We did a quick project for N, which is to create a night scene using black paper, silver marker, gel pens, and stickers. 

I'm really enjoying how Big Brother's imagination is taking off with his free art. For this project he decided to draw fireworks with an astronaut floating in space. 

We've been enjoying another "Henry" adventure and reading Henry's Night by D.B. Johnson and read the book another time after finishing the project. 

Although it wasn't our best adventure, we still were really glad to try out a new restaurant and we're looking forward to trying it again. 

This post may also have been shared at some of these terrific link parties. 

Virtual Book Club: Listening Walk and Book based on Bill Martin

So we missed participating in the Virtual Book Group for Kids in July and August for various reasons, but I was really excited when I saw the author for September was Bill Martin Jr. . I've only recently realized how many books he has written as many of them are illustrated by very different artists.

Although we've been reading several of his books, for our extension project this month we decided to use Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear?

We're big fans of the better known Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See." Big Brother and I enjoyed talking about the different animals and their sounds while reading and Little Brother was really engaged with the colorful and bold illustrations. 

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.

Alphabet Adventures: M is for Maze

This past weekend, Labor Day, marked the unofficial end of summer. It also marked our half way point through the alphabet on our Alphabet Adventures. So while we had originally hoped to complete the alphabet over the course of the summer we have decided to continue on the weekends this fall.

With the letter M we had lots of ideas for an adventure, but in the end our late summer timing gave us the opportunity to try a corn maze. None of us had ever done one before. We were able to go through the maze on opening day. For our local readers we went to Riverview Farm. Although known for their tasty pick your own apples, the maze was really fun and creative. Not only was the maze complicated enough to keep us all entertained, but there was a story line written like a fairy tale with large props throughout the maze.

The Adventure: M is for Maze

The three guys are ready to head into the maze. 

The corn was tall and upon entering the maze we quickly felt like we'd stepped into a different place. My husband is pretty tall, a little over 6 feet tall, and in this picture you can see how much taller the corn is than he is. This meant you really couldn't "cheat" and peek your way over to find the way out.

At first Big Brother was kind of just following the paths, not very clear on what a maze was. However, as soon as he hit the first "dead end" he started to get the idea of what we needed to do. 

We had a lot of fun finding our way out. The whole adventure took about a half an hour. The fairy tale story line proved to be over Big Brother's head but as grown ups we found it interesting. Mostly we all enjoyed the feeling of being "lost" in a jungle of corn as a group of four. 

I had thought it would be fun to end with a "m" themed snack like a muffin. But in the end, we couldn't resist the fresh cider and cider doughnuts at the farm stand. 

The Project: M is for Marble

We've done a lot of marble painting before and knew it would be a great project for the letter M. The materials are simple: paint, paper, marbles, and a flat container of some kind. (We used a gift box lid for this round.) I have particularly found that marble painting is great for toddlers and preschoolers with high energy (which I think is all of them) as they get to shake the container to roll the marbles and mix the paint. For this project we chose to use yellow and orange paint on blue paper. I always tape the paper down on two ends so that the marbles don't roll under the painting. 

A special weekend side note: Coincidentally we wound up on several other "M" adventures over the weekend. We went to Massachusetts to visit my alma mater Mount Holyoke College where we visited an art museum. 

Other M adventure ideas: mountain, museum, movies, magic show, and Maine. 

This post may also have been shared at some of these terrific link parties. 

Alphabet Adventures: J is for Jump!

Early this summer we learned that a local community center sets up an indoor bounce house two days a week and for a small fee ($3) kids could come jump and play for several hours. We waited for the letter J in our Alphabet Adventures  series to go so we could do J is for Jump!

The Adventure

We're pretty excited to discover this great resource as summer is coming to a close. For our bouncy Big Brother this will be a great indoor activity when the weather gets cold. Not only did the center have a bounce house but also large floor mats, foam climbing shapes, and balls.

Unfortunately, even though we were at the center for quite a while and we all took a turn in the bounce house, it really didn't lend itself very well to photos. 

It was a huge hit with Big Brother, who loves to jump all the time, so we'll definitely go back. An even better part for him was running into some new friends from town so he had other kids to jump with. 

When we returned home we read Hop Jump by Ellen Stoll Walsh. This wonderful tale is about a frog who wants to dance instead of hop and jump. She and the other frogs learn there is always room for both dancers and jumpers. 

The Project

We kept our project simple this time, J is for Jewel! For a long time now Big Brother has enjoyed using gem like stickers. Unlike other stickers they are very easy for little fingers to peel off. We decorated a blue "J" for our book. 

Another great adventure while learning about a new resource for the upcoming fall and winter months. 

Other J ideas: jumgle gym, jewelry shop/store, junkyard, and making jam. 

This post may also have been shared at some of these terrific link parties.