Happy President’s Day to you! I like to celebrate Presidents, with little ones, by talking about several well known Presidents like Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, etc. and the current President of COURSE. One great teaching tool for talking about the Presidents is coins. Pennies, Nickels, Dimes, Quarters, and dollar bills provide a visual of former presidents for children, as well as introduce other significant concepts that may be taught to older little ones.
I like to teach a few facts (about the Presidents AND coins) and then let little ones make their own interpretations by playing with their new ideas….one example is a coin face drawing. Simply put the coins down on drawing paper and allow your little one to draw the body and maybe even add details to their picture.
Bah humbug! I definitely bit off more than I could chew! I planned to share my “schedule” in the making for my little one and even more Christmas activities this week, but the dash to get things done in time for Christmas has completely consumed my time and energy!
I have been MAKING most of my gifts because I am in the house a lot with my little ones, and so all of my nap time minutes have gone to use.
Here is part of daddy’s gift that I have spent a lot of time on:
16 x 20 canvas with three vertical 5x7 pictures and two 4x6 horizontal pictures
Sean Patrick knows a lot of letters but the letters “D” and “A” must be ENGRAVED on his mind after an hour’s worth of pictures trying to get a good “D” and “A” shot of all the different possibilities to assemble for the D-A-D Christmas shot. I am still not sure that it turned out the way I pictured it, but it is the thought that counts.
I will share my niece’s gifts tonight or tomorrow….they have turned out so cute.
I can’t wait to share my activity ideas and schedule that I am setting up for my little one, as well as another great giveaway on the way!
In the meantime, here is a freebie that I made for your little one to practice drawing sets of objects. Don’t just hand your little one a set of crayons/markers and say “get busy.”
First, lay the Christmas Tree Counting Printable on the table with something small and colorful (like skittles) that you and your little one can use to practice counting sets together.
Then, point to one of the trees and show your little one how you might “decorate the tree.” “Ooh, this tree has the number nine on the star, I’m going to decorate the tree with nine colorful skittles! One, two, three, four, …..etc.”
This is a great way to model the directions by showing your little one how to recognize the number and count out that given quantity, AND by modeling one-to-one correspondence (counting one object per given number).
After you have your little one complete the hands-on round of the printable, on their own (assisting and prompting where necessary), then explain that instead of skittles, this time they will draw the number of ornaments (circles, candy canes, snowflakes, or whatever shape he/she wants). Before they begin, model an example of how to do this on a separate sheet of paper. And that’s it; now you have purposefully used a printable 🙂
When I was teaching in the classroom, I had literacy, math, and open-ended stations that would each accomplish different objectives. My literacy stations were: 1) reading comprehension, 2) listening comprehension, 3) fluency, 4) phonics, 5) phonemic awareness, and 6) computer skills.
I am going to start planning weekly learning station activities that I hope to post as often as I accomplish this. I really want to bring back the structure of having activities planned and provided for; that way my little one can start working on skills in an even more fun and meaningful way.
Just like you, I want to make time at home purposeful when my little one isn’t purposefully playing outside, with toys inside, or going about our daily routine.
So, in the meantime, until I post lots of Christmas activities next week, I wanted to share my “winter wonderland” template with ya’ll.
It is SIMPLE. It is a simple template that I handmade- which you can undoubtedly tell by looking at it. But, it allows your little one to cut out the images (use fine motor skills), identify shapes (shape recognition), and assemble the images to make a picture (practice spatial skills). You can help your little one come up with a sentence about it (oral vocabulary), and help them write it (to practice his/her writing skills).
First, he or she will assemble the template however they think it might make a picture, and before gluing it, help them brainstorm where the items might go or what other features they might add (nose, arms, etc.)
One of my favorite Thanksgiving memories is when my cousins and I would gather together to make crafts that my Aunt had prepared in advance. So, I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity to make a Thanksgiving-themed activity.
As I talked about in my post “Number Sense,” children need to learn that a number is a symbol that represents a quantity. Counting slowly, touching one object at a time, is one way to start. Drawing ojects one object at a time is the next step to practice representing a number. After your child is exposed to counting through hands-on activities over a period of time, they will start to be able to recognize a group of 3 objects as 3 objects without even needing to count. So, today’s activity is:
2) Cut out the turkeys; let your child assist you, teaching him/her how to hold the scissors and take small “bites” carefully.
3) Encourage your child to identify the number on the turkey and draw that many tailfeathers on the tukey’s bottom, making it as colorful or simple as they like using crayons, markers, or even paint (with fingers or brush) if you want to make it more of a craft.
I like to teach a few facts (about the Presidents AND coins) and then let little ones make their own interpretations by playing with their new ideas….one example is a coin face drawing. Simply put the coins down on drawing paper and allow your little one to draw the body and maybe even add details to their picture.
