We have always had ABC foam letters (and numbers) in the bath tub, but my mother-in-law didn’t know when she bought Sean Patrick a little fishing net that it would end up becoming a little teaching tool for the bath AND the backyard plastic pool…
Here are a FEW things you can use with just a little fishing net, letters, and bath toys whether you are in the tub or outside in the plastic pool…
1) Can you catch the letter “S” for me? {letter recognition}
2) Can you catch the letter that says /s/ (make the sound of a letter)? {letter-sound associations}
3) Can you catch the animal whose name has the sounds /fr/ – /og/ ? {phonemic awareness}
4) Can you catch the toy that rhymes with “moat”? (boat) {Rhyming}
5) For older kids… can you catch the d-o-g? (say the letters or spell it on the bath wall with the letters and they have to sound them out)
6) For younger kids… can you catch the green animal? {color recognition}
We are also having a blast making letters with the water shooter toy thingy (what is it called anyway?)…
Sean Patrick has really just lately taken an interest in writing.
Compare his grasp here to the ones in the following picture and you will see that he is just getting used to the “alligator chomp.”
We have done lots of pre-writing activities to work out his little muscles in his hands to ready him for writing…with Playdough, drawing in the dirt with sticks, driving his little cars all over different surfaces, chalking outside, coloring, tearing paper, etc.
But only lately has tracing HIS letter “S” really become a priority.
When I introduced him to holding his crayon with the “ALLIGATOR CHOMP” he became obsessed with it… he would literally tell random receptionists in offices that he could hold his crayon with the alligator chomp too.
This grip has to be modeled and you may have to take your little one’s hand to get them to have a feel for it, but first we did the alligator chomp without holding anything in our hands.
I have really started to take advantage of the love of his pencil grasp and his love for his letter S by trying out lots of different tracing activities.
I always model what he is going to do first, then I take his hand and we do it together (if he will let me – independence is important to him too), and then see what he can do on his own.
1) I wrote out his name while singing his song (I always do this first…. he knows his song).
2) Then I showed him how to trace his S with a little saying “Make a ‘c’ and then back around” (talking out the process of making the letter is important).
3) He then traced his “S” in every color … also called “rainbow writing”
His little sister scribbled all over it but you can see that he had fun with his “S”
4) We then put a paper over his name written in black marker so he could trace his name that way.
5) Since he mostly focused on “S” we made an entire page of just “S” and he had so much fun with this. He finally took off the top paper and started tracing his “S” with all the colors again, but side by side as shown in the following picture would be the next step after he masters tracing 🙂
If you try this and it is not fun for your little one… then go back to some of the pre-writing activities I mentioned earlier. You don’t want writing to be stressful for your little one… your little one will write when he/she is ready 🙂
Here is a short video demonstration:
If you have any questions or tips to add then please message or share them here in a comment on this post!
1) I read / summarize a story from “The Jesus Storybook Bible” in my most expressive, kid-friendly voice that engages my little ones’ attention.
2) I sing a song about it (sometimes I make it up) but other times I use songs I grew up learning OR a YouTube video.
3)We act it out with little toys we have (We choose the characters that seem fitting from our “little toys” cubbie).
4) We “write” about it. This is the time I model a draw on my clipboard the main idea from the story while I talk about what I am drawing to model the drawing process.
God Parts the Red Sea Reenactment
5) Then I write my kiddos names on their papers and I write the date, name of the story, and I write in quotes anything that they tell me about their picture.
That’s it!
Then, I read the same story for the next day or two because it is still fresh, repetition is better for memory recall, & they always want to sing the song they learned the day before again.
Here is one more…
Sean Patrick helped me pick out the toys that would represent David and Goliath for our reenactment.
I really cherish this time with my kids. It is a very quick and easy but meaningful time shared with them.
Whether, like me, you are somewhat homebound with a newborn, or you have other reasons that you need to get your kids moving (rain, heat, an injury, etc.). I wanted to share some great movement videos for young children. My kids spend at least half an hour enjoying some of the videos I have shared below.
We only have one TV in our house, but it happens to be one that has “Apps” like Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, etc. This makes our den my all-purpose room for sure.
If you subscribe to any of these channels you will discover LOTS of great educational songs too. Have Fun Teaching has some really fun songs that makes associations with the letter formation of the letters, the sounds, and words that start with that sound. And of course Sesame Street is so great too!
PLEASE share your favorites in a comment so I can add some new playlists 🙂
My kindergarteners loved these videos so don’t rule them out until you put them on for your kids. They are great to coincide with learning about the body to reinforce body parts and the importance of exercise.
Here is a little clip of my little ones and a friend enjoying “Jump” by Patty Shukla. Yes, we let them jump on the couches for this one…. I know some moms are going crazy, but ya know…. To each his own 🙂
We are so excited to welcome little one number three to our family….
Mckenzie Beth
Big brother and big sister are so excited!
As a Mommy Teacher, a lot has been going through my mind, and I wanted to share some of the teachable moments I have been purposing throughout the week with the NEWest addition:
1) I have set some clear boundaries for the older two siblings and I am trying to be as consistent as possible with the follow through for my expectations. They can touch her softly/gently but not on the face. They can hold her with mommy’s supervision, and I have set other similar physical boundaries. The kids also have to find something quietly to do while mommy feeds the new baby (typically, they each feed their own baby dolls during this time). We have also changed the baby dolls diapers EVERY time we have changed Kenzie haha.
2) They are learning so many great life lessons and teaching each other so many things… Sean Patrick is in charge of “reading” to Mckayla when she wants Mommy to hold her but I am rocking Kenzie to sleep.
Sean Patrick’s version of the story…”Oooh Ooh a tiger”
3) We cant get out much right now with a newborn so we are doing LOTS of music and movement (I will write about what we are doing this week) and we are playing in the backyard to get all our energy and wiggles out as well as swimming in the plastic pool, playing backyard sports, singing and dancing, jumping on the trampoline, etc.
4) We are learning about the differences between babies and ourselves (how they eat, sleep, what they can not to that big kids can do like walk, talk, etc.) and we have compared the letters in the kid’s names now that we have a new name to explore (With play dough letter stencils and bath foam letters mostly).
One activity for older kids that I think is SO GREAT and I had to share as an idea for you to keep in your memory bank (or pinterest board) for when someone in your family or a close friend has a new baby is a “Tips for having a new baby” LIST. My creative niece came up with some humorous tips that I should consider now that I have three young kids. Her mommy teacher, my sister, supported her in this writing process and they even re-wrote it to make it more presentable – GREAT handwriting practice. The night she came to visit us, she read it aloud (great presentation for reading, speaking clearly, and practicing “public speaking”). It was REALLY thoughtful and adorable….It is now on my fridge. Read the tips below and enjoy!
Here is her Rough Draft
Here is the re-written list of parenting tips … from a 7 year old’s point of view!
