Thomas ABC’s.

aI have two Thomas loving boys. I wanted to share a recent fun alphabet activity we did with some very cool oversized alphabet flashcards. (Thanks to Nana!)
Normally, flashcards are well boring…..but I tried to find a way to spice them up a bit as they still are the easiest way to test to see what letters we still need to work to learn.
First, I had all 3 kids help me set them out in order.
Then we hit our Thomas collection and matched the first letter of each engine’s name with the right letter name.

Or a conductor in a Uniform…..

Harold the Helicopter goes in for a landing on letter H!




This was a lot of fun and really easy way to add a touch of learning time into their playtime!

Finger Painting Fun

I enrolled Zachariah in a sensory ABC class at The Handwriting Clinic . He loves the class. It is a very hands on way for him to learn to write his alphabet. Each week he is supposed to practice the things he learns in class on Monday. This week he needs to practice “long line down” and the “circle stroke.” 
Today, I used a highlighter to make the handwriting lines on finger paint paper for him. He did a great job!
 
He is allowed a little free painting too!

Of course, little brother and sister want to learn right along side him…which is great:)

I also found these awesome color by number sight words over at Carissa's Blog .  Today, I used them in a plastic sleeve and let Zachariah’s find the finger paint color that matched the number. We worked on the words Go and To…that are in his reader Go, Go, Go this week!


Other fun on this snowy/ice day included….

putting out a fierce fire in at Ava’s castle!

Finding loose change for her piggy bank…(great fine motor skill by the way)

N is for Nativity

This week the kids are studying letter N. Levi was also the V.I.P. for his preschool class which meant that he got to bring home “Mr. Froggy” for a visit. Levi’s assignment was to teach Mr. Froggy all about the letter N.

The first thing Levi showed Mr. Froggy was our Little People Nativity Set.

After they played with the Nativity for a little bit, I read Mr. Froggy a book about Baby Jesus.

Next, I gave the kids a page of stickers and let them create their own Nativity on paper. They did a great job.

And then it was time for my favorite activity for the day! Last year, my friend Eve did this with her kids and I have had it “tucked away” since then.

We made a Gingerbread Nativity Scene.

First, ice your graham crackers with icing.

Then you “glue” them to the side of your box. We used 1.2 of a butter box.

Then you put a glob of icing down and arrange pretzels for a manger.

Next, add coconut (colored yellow) for the hay.

Then, add your animal crackers!

(They stand easily in globs of icing)

Next add Mary and Joseph. We used

Gingerbread people:)

Finally, place a star on top.

I used a cookie cutter and cut out a piece of bread and then toasted it so it would stand up.

HAVE FUN!

Loving Letter L…

Well, Triple Smiles is on our 2nd week of Letter L. The first was last summer and one of the first letters we tackled. However; after the kids started preschool, I am working at home on the same letter they are learning at school each week.

Revisit our first letter L week here

I have fallen in love with another blog Teach Preschool The author is a preschool director who shares wonderful quick activities to do with your kiddos! Check out the blog here. Recently Teach Preschool spotlighted this fun activity.

painting on the glue….

sprinkling blue sand

Triple Smiles L’s!

Fun with Mixing Colors and Letter K

This is just a real simple quick activity the kids LOVED! We started with blue paint in a plastic bag….

then added yellow paint….

Squish it all together…..

I used a sharpie in advance to write our letter of the week on the bag…then the kids can coved the letter with the wooden letter parts.

Then we worked on visual memory skills by having the kids duplicate the letter on a separate mat….

Yes! We have more work to do on the Letter K!

Handy Manny Day

I am so excited about this post because it all came together without a whole lot of planning.

Last May, I downloaded the Handy Manny Lapbook from Carisa’s site and put it in my “H” folder for our Summer Learning.

I had told my mom ahead of time that we would be having H is for Handy Manny day on Friday. She had the boys matching T-shirts and a few books ready for them when we arrived!

On Thursday, my sister in law and myself hit a local consignment sale and I found the above toy. I was THRILLED to say the least. The truck turns into Manny’s workshop with all the tools.

So we started our day playing with the Handy Manny toy and reading a Handy Manny book.

Then the kids settled down one at a time to work on the lapbook.

Zach and Ava are matching the “toy tools” with the tools on the page of the lapbook and the coloring them the correct color. (I am also teaching them the word in Spanish as they color…but that is not primary task)

(This is Levi doing the same thing, he was out with Nana earlier)

Levi working on putting the letters of his name in the correct order.

We also played a “round” of Handy Manny Dominoes:) Thanks Nana for all the fun toys to make today special.