Showing posts with label Read Along. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Read Along. Show all posts

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).

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Dr. Seuss - Week 1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. SUESS!!!

Dr. Seuss's birthday is this Friday, March 2.  To celebrate, I am doing a Dr. Seuss theme for Super Tot.  We will be focusing on 8 books this week, and 8 more next week.  I have chosen one activity to go with each book.  We will read all 8 books every day.  I expect that Super Tot will want to do all the trays each day, too.

Here are our activities & books for this week:
The Cat in the Hat

Counting Hats with Thing 1 and Thing 2...
Place the correct number of hats on each mat based on the number written in the circle.
I made "Thing 1" up through "Thing 5" to assist Super Tot with number recognition.  He has no trouble counting, but still needs work on recognizing the printed numerals.  I do not own copyrights to these images, so I apologize that I am not able to provide a printable.
~counting and number recognition~
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 The Cat in the Hat Comes Back
 Measuring & Creating Dr. Seuss Hats
Choose a blue card and measure it with the ruler.  Next, using the large white lego as a base and building up, alternate colors to create a hat that is the same length as the card.
~early math & measuring, fine motor~
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Green Eggs and Ham
 Matching Yolk Shapes
Match each wooden shape in the bowl to the correct egg yolk on the mat.
 ~shape recognition & matching, fine motor~
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There's a Wocket in my Pocket
 Wocket in my Pocket Alphabet Sort
Take a Wocket card out of the bowl and place it in the correct pocket based on whether it is an UPPERCASE letter or a lowercase letter.  The Wocket printable is available here, and I just printed pockets onto cardstock and pasted them on the red paper as actual pockets.
~letter recognition, fine motor~
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The Tooth Book
Counting Smiling Sam the Crocodile's Teeth
Count the number of teeth on each mat and place the correct rock into the crocodile's mouth.
I made these mats when we did our Letter Aa week (see here).  They were alligators then, but worked out perfectly to be Smiling Sam the Crocodile in The Tooth Book!
~counting & number recognition~
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I Can Read with My Eyes Shut
Mystery Bag Fabric Matching
Take one fabric square out of the crate and feel it.  Set it down and place your hand in the bag.  Without looking, feel the fabric squares in the bag and find the identical square based on touch.
I thought it would be fun to do a twist on the "Eyes Shut" theme and do an activity where Super Tot is not able to use his eyes to complete the task.  He enjoys the Mystery Bag activities we have done before, so I expect this one to be a hit.
~sensory integration~
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Daisy-Head Mayzie
Daisy Color by Number Pages
Color each daisy picture using the correct color for each number shown.
I printed off 6 different daisy coloring pages and wrote the numbers and legend on each one.
~fine motor, pre-writing, number & color recognition~
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One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
Fish Counting Mats
Take one mat and follow the directions at the top, either placing the correct number or color of fish on each mat.  Once complete, turn the mat over and complete the other side.
We have used this activity many times, and it is always a hit.  This is actually from one of our Busy Bags (see here).  The mats each have one side with a number and the other side with a color.
~number & color recognition, counting~
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For lots of inspiration, be sure to check these sites:

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Rainbow Fish Trays

Super Tot just turned 3!

After having a few days off, we are excited about having our Rainbow Fish theme week.  Here is a look at the activities I have planned.

Rainbow Fish Game
Each player has a fish game board.  Beginning with the youngest, players take turns drawing a card from the red bowl and either placing or removing the correct number of scales from his fish.  The player that fills all 10 scales on his fish first wins!
The inspiration for this tray was Super Tot's Hi Ho! Cherry-O game.  I wanted something fun that would incorporate both fine motor and counting, and I thought this would be perfect!  I drew the fish game boards, printed off number cards (1-4 and minus 1-2).  We will be using sequins for the scales, which adds the fine motor element.  I think he is going to love this one!
~fine motor, counting, early math~

Shades of Color Sorting
Draw a card from the white bowl and place it in the correct column.
I cut up paint swatches for this activity and glued the darkest of each color to the top box on the chart.  There are 3 additional shades of each color in the bowl.  Once they are all on the board, I will have Super Tot rearrange each column to show darkest to lightest variegation.  
**PRINTABLE AVAILABLE BELOW PHOTO**
~color recognition, fine motor~

Now I Know My ABC's!
Place a correct letter sticker in each circle to match the letter printed in the circle.
There are multiple stickers for each letter, so Super Tot will need to search a little for each one.
**PRINTABLE AVAILABLE BELOW PHOTO**
~letter recognition & matching, fine motor~

Find the Matching Fish
Draw a line from each fish in the first column to the matching fish in the second.
This will be Super Tot's first exercise in drawing lines that will end up crossing each other.
~fine motor, pre-writing, problem solving~

Scoop the Bubbles
Use the shovel to scoop out each ping pong ball "bubble" and place it in the blue bowl.
This box will be filled with water for this activity, so the balls will be floating.
~motor skills~

Do-A-Dot Shape Search
Draw a shape card from the red bowl and place a dot on a corresponding shape on the mat.  
This is an activity we have done several times, and Super Tot always enjoys it.
**PRINTABLE AVAILABLE BELOW PHOTO**
Printable includes outline shapes, as well as solids.
~shape recognition, matching, fine motor~

Fish Colors Puzzle
Complete this Melissa & Doug Puzzle (available here) by placing the correctly colored body on each fish.
This puzzle is really too easy for Super Tot now, but it fit the theme and is something he can do on his own with no assistance or instructions from me.
~fine motor, color recognition & matching~

Fish Finger Puppet Play
Unstructured play with finger puppets.
Super Tot enjoys creative play & finger puppets, so this should be a fun tray for him.
~free play & creativity~

Rainbow Fish Sticker Scales
Place the happy face stickers onto the white part of the fish to turn him into Rainbow Fish!
This is the activity I blogged about here as a preview of our Rainbow Fish week.
~fine motor~
Completed fish:

For lots of inspiration, be sure to check these sites I'm linking to:



Sunday, February 12, 2012

The Rainbow Fish Activity


This is going to be a short week for us, so I am not going to have a regular Tot School post.  The following week, I have a Rainbow Fish theme planned, so I thought I would give you a little preview.  

This is one of the fine motor activities I have planned for Super Tot to go along with the Rainbow Fish theme.  He will be using round happy face stickers (too bad I didn't have any silver ones) to fill in the white part of the Rainbow Fish drawing.

Here is an example of a finished one.

March is National Reading Month, so we will be taking a break from our Letter of the Week activities to focus on literature based learning for a bit.  I am very excited about some of the ideas I have planned, and hope to see lots of other literature based activities on other blogs!

For lots of inspiration, be sure to check these sites I'm linking to: