Sunday, August 17, 2014

Ice lolly book (Summer craft)





I used this idea both for my 4 year old, who can already read and write, and my 2 year old, and it worked for both of them.
I drew the shape on 2 sheets of cardboard paper, cut them out and used them as the cover and back of the ice lolly. Between them we added some white paper of the same shape and size and my oldest daughter used them to write what she likes the most about summer and then draw something that reminds her of summer. My youngest one instead colored some pictures I had made about summer and cut them out and glued them. Both of them decorated the cover with some Summer stickers. Then I stapled everything together and glued them onto a stick.

Drawing/Writing practice



I have these large sheets of paper that I use for painting on our easel but sometimes I like to surprise my kids and do something unusual, so we lay one of those sheets on the floor and use it for drawing and writing instead. I usually also provide my kids with a new set of crayons or surprise them, say, with a new batch of scented markers, so that they are excited about trying them. The fact that they are so big worked really well when my oldest daughter was 3 and I was teaching her how to write, because I used to give her lots of different tracing activities to do and the big size of the letters and drawings made it easier for her to reproduce.

Shapes (matching) + dancing game

Draw some big shapes and ask the child to lay the sheets on the floor. Then ask the child to match the little shapes with the big ones on the sheets of paper. You can use wooden shapes, magnetic shapes, puzzle pieces, or make them yourself by drawing them on cardboard paper. Then play a song and dance, then pause it and ask the child to run to/jump on/pick up the shape you say out loud.

Color sorting with pom poms and wooden shapes


For the poster/puzzle: Just draw some squares (or any other shape or a mix of many shapes) on colored constructions paper (one square for each color). Cut them out and glue them on a large sheet of cardboard paper. Cover with transparent tape or laminate.

Math with buttons


Ladybug

Very easy to make! My kids loved it!
Draw a ladybug on a piece of red cardboard, then draw the spots and the central "triangle" on black paper (cardboard or not) and cut them out (or ask your child to draw them and/or cut them out him/herself). We used white fluid glue that we applied with a brush but I think glue stick would work just as well. Draw the smile and add the eyes and... you're done!
You can then use this as a counting activity as well: ask your child to count the black spots, or make it into an addition and/or subtraction activity.
Many more ideas and suggestions here:

Letter L is for Ladybug - Confessions of a Homeschooler