This is an activity that you will have to make for your children to play with. Don’t worry, it is very easy.

You will need a piece of foam board (I got mine from the dollar store), marker, scissors, and a pencil.

Draw lines for your domino pieces. I made mine with four rows going long ways and six columns going short ways. I used a piece of scrap I had for the missing two letters. I didn’t measure them out exactly, but this is where type A’s could really have fun.

Use your scissors, craft knife, or steak knife and cut out your pieces.

This is where I drew a line across the middle as a divider. I drew mine in pencil because I always mess up.

Write upper and lower case letters on each side. I drew mine in the same direction to make it easier for my children to look at the dominoes and decide which ones matched up. I didn’t want any upside down.

This is a very good time to pay attention to which letters you write next to each other on the same piece. You want your children to be able to match the letters throughout the alphabet. I just did them in order starting with an upper case Z on top and a lower case a on the bottom of the first. The second domino had an upper case A with a lower case b. And so on.

Now throw the dominoes on the floor and start playing an matching up!

You can alter these with site words and pictures, dots and numbers, or anything you would like some hands on learning and matching. The possibilities really are endless. What are you going to write on yours?

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Lighthouse l

We have been chatting about lowercase ls a lot around here lately because my son recently gained a new sight word FIRE (it’s always all in caps on extinguishers, fire doors etc..)  – and the uppercase i throws him off sometimes.  So we had a brief discussion about fonts ( using your computer to show all the silly different ways to make the same letter is a great way to play with that idea), and decided since we were talking so much about this letter we’d use it for this week’s craft.

1. Gather your materials. You will need a full sheet of blue construction paper, some white, yellow and red as well. Glue, blue markers , scissors and sea life stickers.
2. Write a lowercase l on some white paper.
3. Start by having your child draw waves on the paper. I was so surprised that this was my son’s favorite part, he was so into it, carefully drawing squiggly lines.
4. Next add sea life to the ocean. This is not a must do step but I think it’s important to reinforce some learning about the sea. We took time to talk about the different animals on the stickers ( crabs, sea horses, fish and starfish) and peeling those little stickers off is great fine motor practice.
5. While they are working on their ocean, cut out the red roof and yellow ray of light.
6. Hand them the lowercase l, ask them what letter it is, sounds it makes and why you are making it into a lighthouse.
7. My son insisted on making red stripes on it , so I grabbed him a crayon. ( Mental note where is my red marker?? Can’t find it anywhere.)
8. Cut the l out.
9. Add glue to your ocean
10. Add your lighthouse, my son’s was way to the right only because he didn’t want to cover any of his stickers. Place yours wherever as long as it’s vertical .
11. Add the roof
12. Add the ray of light and let dry.

Song!

Over the Irish Sea

When I was 1 I sucked my thumb
and then I went to sea
I climbed aboard a pirate ship
and the captain said to me
“Let’s go this way , and that way.
backwards and forwards,
over the Irish sea!”

* Continue counting with rhyming words like 2 and shoe, 3 and knee etc

Books About The Sea!

Stanley at Sea by Linda Bailey made me giggle . The story is about 4 dogs that go out to sea unintentionally when they are searching for food. While out there they start wondering when outside will end because the sea is so wide and they are so far from land. One dog suggest that outside will end when then hit a fence. Sure enough they hit what they think is a fence, what readers know is a tanker and are rescued and fed steak and sausages they can eat before being returned to their owners.  Doggie nirvana for sure.  I love that the book is presented through the dog’s perspective, it gives young kids a chance to laugh and correct the dogs ideas about the things they encounter.

My Very Own Lighthouse by Francisco Cunha is a book about what it’s like to watch a parent go out to sea while you wait at home for their safe return. The little girl in this book is worried about her dad who is a fisherman so her mom explains to her why there are lighthouses. She decides to make her very own so that she can keep her daddy safe. I love the authors deep understanding of childhood anxiety, and how he has her gain some control by making her very own lighthouse with toys and a star. It’s not realism ( using a star as the light) , but any child will relate to the shift in power from being afraid and having nightmares to feeling as though she is actively helping keep her dad safe.

A Sea-Wishing Day by Robert Heidbreder is a wonderful tale of adventure, pirates, mermaids and treasure! The best part the little boy and his canine companion never really leave his backyard in the city , instead the adventure is all in their imagination. Anyone with a preschooler will appreciate this book, playing pretend is a huge part of most 3-5 year old’s playtime, and it should be. This book encourages, as well as celebrates that as this little boy discovers adventures on the high sea.

You May Also Like:

Boat b
Laundry Basket Boat
Shape Boat

Earth e !

Earth Day is coming up so to extend our learning about the earth into our regular letter of the week craft we made an earth e today. My son loves this paint roller and for a craft like this where you cover over crayon it was the perfect painting tool.  I couldn’t narrow down my books to just 3 today, they range from toddler to school age so there is something for everyone.

1. Gather your materials. You will need some white construction paper ( or paper plate), another sheet for the backing, a blue crayon, a black marker, green ( or yellow and blue) paint,scissors , glue,  a dish and a paint brush or roller.
2. Start by writing a lowercase e on your white paper. If you are me fail miserably, try again on the other side ( yes this is a picture of my better e). Still mess it up.
3. Grab a paper plate because that was your last sheet of white construction paper, make a stencil and trace it on the paper plate.
4. Give your child the blue crayon and explain that this e is the Earth ( show them pictures of the earth if need be to explain how the blue is the ocean and the green is the land).  Have them draw some ocean- make sure they press hard.
5. Time to pour paint
6. Now mix it. I prefer to do this than use the regular green if possible. It’s some extra fun and extra learning.
7. Roll it on!
8. Let dry and cut out. 
9. Glue on your backing paper.

For more letter of the week crafts check out my eBook Alphabet Crafts !  From A-Z you will be learning and creating with your child .

Books

In the Gardenby Leslie Bockol is a little board book all about growing your own fruits and vegetables in your garden. It is simple and although it’s listed for 3-6 year olds I would read it to 1-3 year olds. It identifies a number of fruits and vegetables and completes each page with ” I pick it and eat it!” my son loved the repetition and quickly completed each page for me while I was reading it to him. I think it’s a perfect book for toddlers and young preschoolers to introduce gardening to them.

The Whole Green World by Tony Johnston was an unexpected hit with my son.  Today reading it he learned that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, he saw the book in our pile to read and wasn’t taken with it, but I suggested maybe just reading the first page and he was hooked. The book is really about appreciating the whole world, from the view point of a little girl who grabs some seeds, plants them , waters them and savors the beauty all around her. My son loved the sing song text and the ultra detailed illustrations by Elisa Kleven. Which my son would study with every turn of the page asking me ” Mommy which bird, which book, which cake is your favorite?” making reference to the illustrations . It was a wonderful book to snuggle up with !

Herman and Marguerite: An Earth Story by Jay O’Callahan is a funny story with interesting and sometimes unexpected illustrations. The story is about a worm who has heard about the orchard above and wants to see it, but the sun is threatening and he is saved by a caterpillar! They develop a friendship and because of it the orchard that was once barren starts  attracting  animals again.  It’s not all easy along the way and the worm gets to return the favor of saving the caterpillar when she gets stuck between rocks on her way to spin her chrysalis. When she emerges as a butterfly her worm friend is there and so is a beautiful flowering apple orchard!   My son liked this book , I found it somewhat disjointed and what we both thought was odd was the random inclusion of photos of the author throughout the book. “Who is that weird guy Mama?” I wasn’t sure how to answer that one. Still he sat for the whole thing, and learned just how important worms are. It won’t be renewed over and over from the library though.

EcoMazes by Roxie Munro is a new book that was sent to me by the publisher for review. The idea of this book is to showcase different ecosystems like wetlands, the tundra, desert and more through both a maze and search and find game. This book is not designed for preschoolers although my son loves it. We do the maze together as that is far too complicated for him, but he loves to find the animals on each page and has learned a lot about them too. What is awesome for older children ( 7-10) is that along with an answer key to the maze and pictures there is a full page of information about each ecosystem in the back of the book. This doesn’t talk down to the reader and gives great information using sophisticated vocabulary. I am excited to see how this book’s use changes over time in my home.

]]> http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2010/04/letter-of-the-week-earth-day.html/feed 8 http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2010/02/letter-of-the-week-olympic-edition.html http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2010/02/letter-of-the-week-olympic-edition.html#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:01:12 +0000 admin http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/?p=3061

t Torch

The Olympics are a big deal in our house. My grandma was a Canadian Olympian, I lived in Calgary in 1988 when they hosted the Winter Games and grew up in Vancouver where the Olympics are going on as we speak. We are heading up to Vancouver later this week and getting very excited. For today’s letter of the week I had to do something with an Olympic theme.

1. Gather your materials. You will need a black piece of paper, a white piece of paper and some red and yellow tissue paper ( or regular paper too) , glue, scissors and markers ( the Olympic colors- red, green, black, blue and yellow).
2. Start by writing an upper or lowercase t.
3. I drew the Olympic Rings to add to the torch , this is totally optional.
4. Have your child decorate the torch with the markers. I absolutely LOVE how my son decorated it, I don’t know why I do so much but this craft is not getting recycled, I think it’s so pretty.
5. Cut out the Olympic rings – I drew lines to guide him( and then I still helped him as well) .
6. Cut out the t and glue it to the black paper, add glue for the Olympic rings.
7. Add the Olympic rings.
8. Cut the tissue paper to make flames. Let the kids go nuts, irregular cuts make awesome flames.
9. Add glue.
10. Add the flames and let dry.

Looking for more Olympic Crafts ?

Book

Tacky and the Winter Games by Helen Lester is wonderful, hilarious and really explains the winter games  in a fun way. Of course these winter games a little different than the ones you may be watching on TV, the skis are made of fish and the medals are a little more honest than our bronze, silver and gold- my favorite being “Not Bad” for the third place.  The process of leading up to competition is very similar though the eating healthy, physical training and even an opening ceremonies of competitors from various lands.  Kids will pick up on the similarities quickly but also the ways that Tacky never really follows the crowd, he is an odd bird after all. Like in all the Tacky books Tacky stands out from the others, and just when we think he’s messed up for good, he finds redemption! Very cute book and perfect for this activity.

Looking for Alphabet Books?

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Fire f

I know I am only part way through the lowercase alphabet and I am repeating f, but true to what I preach I wanted to make something that was relevant to my little man. He is very into firefighters right now and he has had me read the books below countless times so I thought it more important to focus on his interests than if we’re repeating a letter or not.  Also he is not in the pictures today because he was out with his grandparents for a birthday treat.  We will be making this in the morning .

1. Gather your materials. You will need red and yellow tissue paper, one piece of orange construction paper, one piece of black construction paper , glue , a marker and scissors.
2. Start by writing a lowercase f on the orange paper.
3. Cut your tissue paper into rough strips.
4. Add glue
5. Add your flames ( tissue paper)
6. Let dry
7. Cut out
8. Glue to the black paper.

Books

Firefighters A to Z by Chris L. Demarest is an alphabet book that teaches about fire safety and the danger firefighters face every time the alarm sounds. My son is fascinated with firefighters right now, he loves to dress up as one at preschool and we often take the long way home to swing past the station and see if the engines are in or not.  He loves this book but I don’t think your child needs to have the level of obsession mine does to enjoy it.

The Little Fire Engine by Lois Lenski is a simple little book about a fire engine that goes to put out fires. Nothing special but every time my son sees it at the library he won’t let it go. In 6 months we’ve taken it out 4 times. I think the bright retro illustrations ( it was originally published in 1946) and the simple text is what makes it so appealing.
Fire Engines by Anne Rockwell is the current favorite at our house. I found it at a thrift store for twenty five cents and I am definitely getting much more than my moneys worth! It’s a cute book with easy text and cute cartoon dalmatians as fire fighters. I particularly love that there is a fire boat in the book since we often see those around here. Cute book for fire engine lovers!