Sunday, March 18, 2012

Spring has Sprung! Activities for 10 Books

Super Tot is 3 years old.

What's on the Tray?

Building Butterflies with The Crunching Munching Caterpillar
In this book, Caterpillar meets a bird, dragonfly, bee & butterfly.  He wishes he could fly like them.  Of course, at the end, his wish comes true. 
Super Tot will be locating the shapes listed on each blue card and building a butterfly using those shapes (see example).

Being Fruitful w/ Secrets of the Vine
Secrets of the Vine for Little Ones is a perfect companion for teaching young children the significance of John 15, and for helping them understand the symbolism of the Gardener, Vine, branches & fruit in this parable.
Under each grape is the name of a person that Super Tot told me he wanted to pray purposefully for this week.  Each day, he will remove one grape, and we will pray for that person throughout the day.  He will also send a little note to each person, letting that person know that he prayed for them.

Sound Matching with Bunny
In Bunny's Noisy Book, little Bunny experiences the many sounds of spring as he ventures out.
Each green egg is filled with a different item, and each has a matching yellow egg.  Super Tot is to shake each of the eggs and match the sounds.  
This is my inexpensive homemade version of sound cylinders!

Finding a "Home for A Bunny"
In this sweet book, Bunny is searching for a new home.  He finds many options, but they are all taken by other animals, and wrong for various reasons.
Super Tot will help each bunny find it's appropriate home by using the chopsticks to place each one in the "home" of the same color.

Matching Fruits
How a Seed Grows teaches children what happens when we plant a seed - the life cycle of a plant.
Because many plants bear fruit, Super Tot will be matching photographs of whole fruit with photographs of each type of fruit cut in half.  Some will be obvious, but others less so.  I found these printables here.

Letter Matching with Ten Little Ladybugs
We'll be working on counting as we read this fun book, but we'll move on to letters once we are done.
Each 2-piece letter puzzle matches the uppercase letter with the lowercase and builds a ladybug.  The puzzles are self checking when you turn them over, as each one also builds an item that begins with that letter. 

Nature Walk in God's Forest of Dreams
This is a sweet book that goes through various things that God created & using our senses as we experience the end of winter and beginning of spring.
We will take a nature walk after reading this book, collecting nature items in our egg carton to match each color that I painted in the cups.  I got this idea from Family Fun.

Counting with The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Our little caterpillars are hungry, just like the one in the book!
There are 8 cards, each with a different number of holes that the caterpillar has eaten through the leaf.  Super Tot is to count the holes and place the stone with the correct number on each card.

Little Quack Math
This is one of Super Tot's favorite books.  
We will use the mat to count and do early math as we read the book.

One of this week's journal ideas:
In Don't Worry About Tomorrow, the little girl faces her fears and realizes she is having so much fun that she has forgotten them altogether.
I will be asking Super Tot to draw or write about one of his fears (I am sure it will be the dark).

14 comments:

  1. I love you guys! Big Smile!

    ReplyDelete
  2. We did a similar noisy egg activity when I was student teaching. We filled several eggs with different amounts of beads and the kids shook them and tried to put them in order from most to least.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love how you have a book to tie in each tray. So many wonderful ideas!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Awesome trays! I love how you connected your activities with spring books. I featured your post and Finding a "Home for a Bunny" photo in my Montessori-Inspired Easter Activities post at http://livingmontessorinow.com/2012/03/19/montessori-monday-montessori-inspired-easter-activities/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the idea of book themed trays. Can't wait to look through my book selection and make some for the kids!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I don't think these could be any cuter. What great activities.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the chopsticks in the above post. Can you please, let me know where I can get them?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually purchased them in Korea, but they are available at Korean markets stateside, as well as at http://www.littleseouls.com/item_724/Pororo-Training-Chopsticks-Step-II.htm .

      Delete
  8. Hello! I found your post from Montessori Monday link and I loved your ideas! I am from Greece so I don't have all the books but I have some so I will do your ideas in class! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  9. How wonderful are all these trays?! I'm super excited because I already have the book How a seed grows. I'll try that activity first! You have so many wonderful lessons I'm afraid to even peek those other blogs you listed! It's a whole new world! Lol

    ReplyDelete
  10. Soooo many cute tray ideas here!! Seriously - WOW!! I shared it with my Facebook fans here:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Living-Life-Intentionally/261252997248957 - Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Have a great week & I'll see you Friday =-)
    Beth

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for linking this up to Homeschooling on the Cheap! I'm featuring you on my Facebook page! Have a great week! Kelli

    ReplyDelete
  12. What fun to revisit these great activities! I featured your post and photo in my Montessori-Inspired Eric Carle Activities at http://livingmontessorinow.com/2012/06/26/montessori-inspired-eric-carle-activities-and-eric-carle-linky/

    ReplyDelete

Due to recent spam activity, I have turned word verification OFF and comment moderation ON.