No Time For Flash Cards » Letter X http://www.notimeforflashcards.com Educational Activities For Kids Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:03:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Letter of The Week X ! http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2009/05/letter-of-the-week-x.html http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2009/05/letter-of-the-week-x.html#comments Mon, 04 May 2009 08:00:00 +0000 admin http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/?p=501
Xylophone X !

Music is a big passion in our family, my son is nuts over Jazz and can be found playing air upright bass intermittently throughout the day. He recently discovered the xylophone and loves it. So keeping with that I decided to do Xylophone X today for our letter of the week. Not like I have many other choices for this letter anyway. It’s a huge bonus if you can tap into your child’s passions. No matter what the lesson is about, counting, letters, colors… if it includes something your child is into they are more likely to be more fully engaged and retain the lesson.

  1. Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of construction paper, some markers, 5 colors of foam ( more construction paper would work too), glue and scissors.
  2. Start by drawing a large X on one piece of construction paper.
  3. Have your child color it if they want. The audience of garbage trucks is optional.
  4. While they are coloring cut out 4 strips of foam, each slightly smaller then the previous.
  5. Cut out small squares of foam – please skip this if you have a young toddler who still likes to eat things.** you should cut out your X here, I had a momentary lapse and forgot, trust me it’s easier if you do it now, glue it onto your 2nd piece of paper.
  6. Add 4 long lines of glue
  7. Add your foam bars
  8. Add dots of glue on each end of each bar
  9. Add the tiny foam squares.
  10. Let dry.

* If desired you can make small mallets and glue them in the extra space of the X. I had them cut out but as you may be able to see in some pictures, my son had his garbage trucks watching art time and ready to go. At this point was more into filling them with foam scraps than doing any more art.

Books!

“I Know A Shy Fellow Who Swallowed A Fly” by Barbara S. Garriel was an instant favorite with my son. The text is a reworked version of “An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly” but this guy has a hankering for musical instruments. My son giggled through the book, and was very adamant that no one could swallow a harp but this fellow did ! I liked this book because it’s a fun and absurd, as well as educational. If your wee one is as into instruments as mine, you have to read this book.


“Meet The Orchestra” by Ann Hayes is a good resource for teaching about musical instruments. The book goes through many instruments found in an orchestra with a sizable description for each. Animals are used for the musicians and my son thought that was funny and actually learned a bit about them as well. It was really too long for us to sit and read cover to cover but it’s easy to break up and read one or two instruments at a time if it’s too much for your child in one sitting. Also there is some figurative language that young kids will not get at all. Helpful for teaching but I don’t expect it to become a favorite to snuggle up with.


“Zin Zin Zin ! A Violin” by Lloyd Moss is a big hit at our house and if you have a child into music or musical instruments this is a great book. You count the instruments as they come on stage for a performance and not only is this a great counting book, but it introduced musical instruments in it’s rhyming text and super fun pictures. I am biased though my little man is really really into instruments and loves this book. The day we bought it I had to sit in the back with him on the way home from the bookstore because he couldn’t wait to read it .

Additional Alphabet Activity

Letter

Lacing Card

Click here for the full how to.

Also don’t forget to check me out at
FamilyEducation.com

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X-ray
X

I thought this x-ray x would be a fun activity to start the week of Halloween, but but you can omit the orange paper and do the craft any time of year . Older children should be encouraged to draw and cut out the bones themselves, in which case regular old construction should be used in place of the foam sheets.
  1. Gather your materials. You will need one orange and one black piece of construction paper, 2 sheets of white foam , a pen, scissors, glue and crayons. We are using all the metalics , white and black crayons, just to stay with a Halloween theme.
  2. Have your child color the 2 pieces of paper, although it looks like fantastic squiggles, and they are fantastic, my son informed me that there were cats and a witch on his paper.
  3. Although we simply colored another option would be to use fun Halloween stickers .
  4. While your child does that you can draw a bone shape on one sheet of foam, and layer it with the 2nd and cut out.
  5. Trim the black piece of paper into a square and glue on the orange paper.
  6. Make a X with glue.
  7. Add the bones!

Little Artists !

This week I am focusing all on Halloween, if you have made one of our Halloween crafts and have pictures you want to share I will be devoting a post to our readers and their creations! All you have to do is send me the pictures!

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