Heart Activities (Valentine's Day)

We really do not get into any holiday here...but Valentine's is an easy planning day for me because I have so many preschool heart themed activities.  So, I pulled out my tub labeled "hearts" and I filled T.'s cart.  :-)

 Cart from Discount School Supply

 

 www.childcareland.com

T. is interested in letters, words, reading.  No, he didn't know those sight words, but he enjoyed matching the sight words!  The tray on the right, circle the sevens.

I've been been watching T.'s circle formation.  I usually use the ability to close a circle and cross a T, going from left to right instead of starting in the center to go right and center to left, as a clue to when to start more formal letter formation activities. 

  

Play-doh, heart hammer, heart cookie cutter and heart "picks".  :-)  Great fine motor!

 

Scratch board from Discount School Supply.

Older brother helping out since I was busy.  But T. really didn't enjoy this for whatever reason.  Ah, well, that happens sometimes.

 

T.  did enjoy this activity.  I normally use eyedroppers and colored water (that was the sample heart from another child awhile back).  Chose to use actual watercolors this time so that it's a bolder color.  He then glues it to paper when it is dry and uses "crazy" craft scissors to cut around the heart shape. 

 

He didn't get to this one on the same day and I don't think I got a picture of him working on it either.  We placed the sheet of paper on a mini bulletin board.  Had him trace the heart shape with dark marker and use a push pin to make punches around the shape.  If they get the holes close enough, the shape will then come away from the paper on their own.  This is a take from a Montessori activity but I have found that most of my preschoolers can only take this in small doses.  :-)

 

I believe these little alphabet sorting cards are from ChildCareLand also.  I hand wrote the lower case letter and he sorted upper and lower case letter tiles.   We've been working our way through the alphabet in an organized way to not miss any upper and lower case letters.  :-)  I do about 4-5 letters at a time, not necessarily with the same activity though.  I find that for as "routine/structured" as he is, he does not really care for doing the same activity more than one day in a row. 

 

Don't forget the dollar store stencils for painting.  :-)  These don't always turn out well for preschoolers but the process has always been a favorite.  :-)

 

 

Reinforcing pink and purple.  These are the two colors he gets the words mixed up yet.  :-)

 

 

 

By far, my favorite activity of the day.  :-)  And that he did them all correctly was icing on the cake.  I believe the heart links were from Oriental Trading.   

      

 

 

This was actually part of a cover-up game that I used when I had more than one preschooler.  They rolled the dice and covered the number rolled with a heart marker.  Today we used it more as a fine motor activity since these numbers are mastered with T.  He rolled the dice and stacked the correct number of heart erasers onto the heart mat.

 

 

No picture of him working on this wreath either....just the end product.  :-)  I hear a lot of people liking these sticker foamie shapes.  I don't.  I'm disappointed that I can't find theme shapes (only can find basic shapes) without sticker backs.  Even some of my school-agers have a hard time removing the backings on these.  I'd rather just use glue to affix the shapes.  Teaches glue control then.

 

One of the reasons why I didn't get a picture of his working on this wreath was because we were doing school and decorating cookies at the same time :-D

3rd grader

 

4th grader                                          1st grader

 

 For whatever reason, most likely because we were getting done with our first part of the morning, these two kiddos didn't get a snapshot of their cookie decorator.  Got one of C. at the table with his cookies but why not of E.?  I'm not quite sure.  But can't go back and change it...

2nd graders

 (The boy in the picture on the right is actually doing a little activity that went along with our metamorphic rock lesson.  :-)  He's causing a snickers to change by adding pressure and heat.)

 

T. made one also but right as we were eating snack so no picture of him either.  Ah well, can't get do everything!  :-D  We have very busy days...I love the social aspect of having all the kids here...but like everything, there are pros and cons to having such a large group in a small house.  I don't often get posts published on either blogs but if you are interested in our Schooling at Home Adventure you can visit us at www.schoolingathomehappenings.blogspot.com.

 

Shapes and Sensory!

Here's one of the activities that was a "favorite" for Mr. T. this past week.

This is "so him".  :-)  He picked through the shapes to find two of each kind to arrange them in this orderly fashion.  He almost had a heart attack when he couldn't find another yellow circle.  :-D  Had to help him out before he lost it.   Tee hee!  Oh my, I so wonder if this will carry through until adulthood.  This activity reinforced basic shape names but what I liked best was that it reinforces basic shape "drawing" twice.  1st he spread glue on the shape and glued them on the paper.  Then he squeezed glue around the shape to add his "snow sugar" as he called it.  It really was just a mixture of salt and glitter.  Later on he pointed to his paper and told me he really liked his snow sugar and wanted to do it again.  Wow!  He has come along way...this was an extremely messy activity for him (and me...it was everywhere!) but he handled it well and only washed his hands at the end.  (Very quickly after he finished though..."I'm done, I going wash my hands."  LOL) 

 

Have  I mentioned that T. is not an easy "preschooler" to plan for?  He's very academically minded and prefers order.  I really do not have time to work with him 1:1 during "school hours" so his activities have to be pretty much independent.  He doesn't care for the sensory or the art projects.  Heaven help me!  :-)  He definitely prefers something to do with...

 

numbers

(Dollar store Winnie the Pooh flash cards.  Together we set the numbers out from 0-10.  Then he matched the honey pots to the correct number card.  Then together we went through the number word cards.  These are neat because when they are all matched correctly, when flipped over, there is a Winnie the Pooh scene corresponding with the number so he gets the counting reinforcement again.)

 

letters

(Sandpaper letters-stick letters only, and an Othello game.)

Oh, he'll explore with sensory for...

5 minutes or so!  Usually takes longer to set it up.  :-D

Surprisingly enough, he dumped the rice into the pool on this occaision.  Typically he likes it contained in a tub with him sitting in a "clean" pool.  I remember my other kids and other preschool students playing in sensory for 30 minutes or more.  Just goes to remind us that every child is different.  :-)