Letter S
Some 4 year olds love video games, some love playing catch , mine loves to pretend. Almost every moment that my son is awake he is pretending to save someone , catch someone or just be someone, Lately one of his favorite things to pretend to be is a super hero and so when I asked him what letter we should make he suggested Batman and when I suggested he could make his own super hero S he was game.
- Gather your materials. You will need 3 pieces of different color paper, paint, paint brush, marker, scissors, glue and 2 googly eyes.
- Start by writing a large upper or lowercase S on one sheet of the construction paper.
- Ask your child what their super hero has as a costume. We made a cape, a chest button and mask. Draw them or have your child draw them on a light piece of paper.
- Paint the costume pieces.
- We goofed and added the letter to the chest plate after painting. Have your kids do this before they paint .
- Cut out the s while they paint, or if your child is able and willing have them cut it while it dries. Mine wasn’t.
- Add glue. My son loves tracing the letters with glue which is wonderful letter practice too.
- Add the s to the final sheet of paper. Paint if the mood strikes!
- Cut out the costume pieces and add them to the s.
- Add the googly eyes on top of the mask.
- Let dry.
Remember that kids learn as they play. By using their favorite playtime activities for the more directed activities that focus on things like numbers and letters you enhance both their play and their learning . Have fun with it!
- Gather your materials. You will need 1-2 full size pieces of construction paper ( two if you want to mount the finished seahorse on some paper), water colors, paintbrush, some water, glue, sparkles, scissors, a googley eye and some scrap paper.
- Start by drawing an S on your paper, I used the seahorse on “Mister Seahorse” below as a guide, but a regular upper case S would do the trick.
- Hand the letter over to your child to paint with water colors.
- While they paint cut the scrap paper into little fin shapes, we did some triangle and some trapezoids.
- Set the S aside to dry and hand your child some glitter to use on the shapes
. Let dry
- Glue the googley eye on .
- Glue the shapes onto the S
- When everything is dry cut the S out and glue onto a 2nd piece of construction paper.
Books !
“Mister Seahorse” by Eric Carle is a story about the more involved fish fathers in the sea. Mister seahorse isn’t the only fish that takes care of his eggs until they hatch , in the book we meet other dads that do too. I didn’t realize how many people don’t like this book until I read some reviews on amazon when ordering the book a few months ago. Many parents are off put by the father fish who announces he is “babysitting” his own baby fish. It never really bugged me even though when a parent says that in real life it irks me. All the positive daddy fish outweighs that one comment for me.
Stars are my favorite shape and I couldn’t resist making our letter of the week into a starry creation, we were also eager to test out our new glitter. This craft is a great add on to a shape or better yet a space theme! Bet you thought it was going to be a shamrock S , not today but we still have a few St. Patrick’s Day activities to come !
- Gather your materials. You will need 3 pieces of construction paper ( 1 black, 2 neutral) , markers, glitter paint, scissors and glue.
- Start by having your child paint the black paper with glitter glue.
- While they do that draw a large S on the lighter paper
- On the 2nd piece draw some stars. I used a cookie cutter for one, and free styled the others, hmmm perhaps I should have traced the cookie cutter for all of them !
- Time to color the S, use the markers. We didn’t use the glitter but you can if you want .
- When they are done with the S, add glitter to the stars. Our glitter was a little hard to get out so I squeezed and my son smeared.
- Let everything dry.
- Cut out the S and glue it onto the black paper.
- Cut out the stars
- Add them to the S
- Let dry.
Books!
“Draw Me A Star” by Eric Carle is often not read in classrooms simply because of a beautiful depiction of a naked man and woman. It’s not what most parents expect to find in an Eric Carle book but it is very fitting in this beautiful and really touching book. The story although very similar to a biblical creation story isn’t necessarily reflective only of a christian view point , rather as I read it is was the author’s own creation. It begins and ends with a star , and hits all the right points in between.
” How to Catch a Star” by Oliver Jeffers is a sweet story about a little boy who wants a star of his own. I loved the bright and simplistic illustrations and the message about holding on to your dreams, working for them and figuring out that sometimes things come to you in packages you don’t expect! Great book!
- Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of construction paper, some paint, scissors, some black and white paper or foam, glue, and a red pipe cleaner.
- Draw a thick S on a piece of construction paper.
- Mix some paint colors together, you don’t need to do this step but I have been noticing since doing this my son has been naming colors more accurately. I ask him ” Which color should we use?” while holding 2 or 3 for him to choose from. It could be a coincidence but it takes an extra 30 seconds so I think it’s well worth the time!
- Paint your S, you aren’t going to cut it out until it’s all dry and this makes it less frustrating for little ones who are less able to stay within the S.
- While your child is painting cut out 2 black circles of paper or foam sheets, and then small white diamonds and glue together. Of course you can use googley eyes if you want to skip this step.
- Let the snake dry.
- Glue the eyes on.
- Add a tongue, I am using a pipe cleaner but red paper glued on would work great too.
- Glue the S onto another full piece of paper for strength, without it the S will be ripped in no time.
” The Greedy Python” by Eric Carle is a fun fable about a snake that is so greedy and keeps eating and eating that eventually he eats everything, even himself! Kids love this silly story!
Magnetic writing boards
An activity I enjoyed doing with a student who loved this was to play restaurant, she was the waitress and would take my order. I would order letters, shapes, and numbers and she would write them down on the board. Older children enjoy playing hang man on this toy too!
