Dot-to-Dot Letters

We did some pre-writing practice today.

I used small stickers to make a dot-to-dot of upper and lower case letters on each sheet.

I made one sheet for each letter of his name.

Little Mister used a highlighter to follow the dots and complete the letter.

Some he did really well. Others, he circled the stickers or just shaded the space between them. It was a pretty good start I think!

Letters from Santa

 For months I have been cutting out large letters from boxes of cereal, crackers, snacks, 12-packs... anything made of thick cardboard. 

(You might be able to tell that we like Sunkist and Cheez-Its around here!)

I confiscated an empty coffee container from Nonnie's house and cut a few scrapes of paper to make it look like Santa's belly!

 

Then, I added those seemingly thousands of letters and let the play begin.

We spelled names.

We sorted letters.

We worked on lining up the alphabet.

We sorted by color.

There is so many ways to play and learn with these letters!

Not bad for things that were rescued from a landfill! How's that for recycling?

Merry Christmas Mother Nature! 

Featured at:
 

On a ROLL again - Name Bowling

We just can't wait to get on the roll again!

And learn the letters of our name

Little Mister went bowling for the first time this week. His Aunt Tina and I actually went early one day and we were the only folks there. (I was worried about all the noise, so it worked out perfect.)

He was so excited when he saw all the balls we had to chose from, then bummed because we couldn't keep it!

I took the ball up to the line and he pushed it down the lane. I'm glad they were not busy because the worker had to get it a few times for us. He couldn't push it hard enough to make it roll all the way down. But he had fun! 

I took this new experience and made some learning fun out of it as well. I made some 'pins' from TP rolls covered in colored construction paper. I wrote a letter from his name on each pin.

He would aim at a specific letter or color and launched the ball at it!

Then he started cheating

Then it became a hockey game

BOYS! Gotta love'em!

That Snowman Knows My Name

Little Mister is currently obsessed with the alphabet! However, he can't quite get the song exactly right...

I usually hear, "a, c, g, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z. Can I have a cookie please!" Weird part is, he can say them but can't sing it?!

Today we made a name snowman. I let little man put the letters in order several times before we glued them together. 

Practice makes perfect!

Educational turned decorational! 

HeeHee

Featured at:

     

All Aboard!

 What little boy doesn't like trains? Mine is currently in Love.

Everyday we pass this old (recently restored) historic train depot. I finally took the time to stop and visit.  Inside were some old photographs and a few other odds and ends that little hands should not touch. The outside was its redeeming quality. It is beautiful. I believe Little Mister enjoyed going up and down the stairs more than anything else. We played until the mowers showed up... this was our cue to scram!

(He is a little scared of LOUD noises.)

 These were some really neat old pictures of the depot. In the top picture it is on the right. In the lower picture it is far back and on the left.

Of course our activities for the day had to be ALL about trains!

We practiced spelling his name on a Name Train.

I fired up the Photoshop and made a quick Train Trace Pre-Writing practice sheet.

 

Have you tried this with your kiddos? I actually still have one from my childhood.

Pennies on the Rail Road tracks.

Before and After

 

Rocks in my Socks

We are still working on activities for name recognition. 

He knows they are the letters of his name because he calls them "Rylee's letters". However, he continues to put them in the wrong order. So, I have been looking for any and all opportunities to review his name over the past few weeks. We sing songs while driving in car. I usually change the B-I-N-G-O song to his name. The beginning of the song usually changes depending on the places we are going or what we are doing at the time. He enjoys it as I'm sure do passing motorists. My friends tell me that I can get a little animated. We got an applause from a near by car once while sitting at a stop light. Hey, when there's a song in your heart , a girls just gotta let it out!

Anywho, when we go outside to play my Little Mister is automatically drawn to the rocks in our driveway. Usually I ask to find shapes or specific colored rocks, but today he had his own agenda. He brings me several rocks that are flat on one side. Of course flat rocks just cry out for something to be put on them right? Right! In this instance, we labeled them with the letters of his name and I Mod Podged over it. Once dry, we dropped them in a sock and let the play begin.

Dominoes, Paper and Play-Doh, Oh My!

First of all, I want to thank so many of y'all for your kind words of support as my family tries to mend itself from our recent loss. We are coming up on the two week mark and I still feel I am walking in a fog. I stay exhausted physically and mentally but, I still plod on trying to get a little normalcy back into our lives.

We are having a rough time getting back into a routine after the passing of my sister. I have sadly slacked on a few educational aspects of late which made itself known in our review time today! So, we are making a full turn around and going back to some name review activities.

I cut some felt pieces and grabbed some fabric paint to make our dominoes. I only used letters from his first name for our game.
For the large letter R, I tore small pieces from some paint sample cards we had left over and handed Little Mister a glue stick.
Finally, we pulled out the Play-Doh and shaped some letters.

Laundry Letters

Still working on fun ways to learn our name, by site and know the letters. Today's activity was a hodge-podge and touched in several areas!

Objective- Recognizes first name in print (MS Early Learning Guidelines for Infants and Toddlers: Language Development 1.3.4)

No Mess Painting! We baggie painted some t-shirt shapes. I printed some t-shirt shapes from the computer on card stock. After they were all cut out, I dropped some different colored paint on them and placed them each in their own baggie and sealed them up. Little Mister smashed and drew and swirled on them all and kept saying "squishy"! I removed them from the bags and let them dry. I them cut out letters and glued them on each shirt. Sticky letters would have worked well to but we were out.

I strung up a "clothes-line" in the playroom I used yarn and tied them to nails I tapped into the door jams. Little Mister practiced spelling his name by clipping the letters to the line with clothes pins. This allowed us to review name recognition and letters of his name while developing some motor skills with the clothes pins!

Being in the Moment

My husband is in charge of changing the sign in front of our church. We try to do this weekly for announcements or encouraging phrases to those who pass by on the highway. I go and help by sorting the letters and getting them ready for him to put up on the sign. Little Mister loves to go and "help" as well. I let him stack the letters that my husband brings in while I get the ones ready to go out. 

One day we were waiting for the letters to be brought in and I decided to get the letters out that spell his name. Immediately he dropped down on the floor and started to sort them. He would get them in the right order and I would pretend to move them by accident. He would say, "Sorry Mommy", and sort them out again. We did this over and over while we waited. 

Finding the time to teach children does not have to be chiseled out of the day. It can happen in the minutes you are standing in line at the bank, sitting at a red light or walking around the block! Learning does not only happen in a classroom or, for that matter, within 4 walls. Find those teachable moments and seize them with gusto!

Outside with Daddy changing the sign

This thing is REALLY tall

What's My Name

Of course Little Mister knows his name but, we are trying to recognize it in print. For some odd reason, my little guy knows the letters T, O and E. He points them out on everything. However, when you ask him to spell toe, he cocks his head to the side and says, "Huh?". HeeHee, I have to laugh because I am so blessed!

Objective- Recognizes first name in print (MS Early Learning Guidelines for Infants and Toddlers: Language Development 1.3.4)

Materials- File folder, letter stamps, paint, card stock, glue, scissors

Procedure-
1. Stamp letters of first name on card stock several times and cut out for game pieces.
2. Stamp letters of name across the top of another page and glue the page inside the file folder.
3. Stamp "Name Game" across the front of the file folder.
4. Glue an envelop inside the folder to hold your game pieces.

Once everything is dry, let the play begin.

I mixed up the game piece letter, he then placed the corresponding letter on top of the matching letter on the paper. He loved it and screamed RYLEE every time he completed placing the letters of his name. He then wiped them away and did it again!

We also did some watercolor resist with his name! Simply use white crayons on white paper and paint away to discover what's underneath.