This weekend was gorgeous!  The weather was perfect for exploring Pensacola.  Corn mazes, hay mazes, and pumpkin patches opened up and there were lots of festivals to kick off the fall season.

Every Monday I am reaching back into the archives to share the learning activities that we did last year when Little S was home with me.  I decided that this week is the perfect week to celebrate fall!  Each week, we worked our way through the alphabet and we read stories, did crafts, and played games that helped reinforce the letter we were learning that week.  If you have any additional activities to add to the list, please leave us a comment!

Monday

1. Leaf Rubbings – Go for a walk in the neighborhood or at your favorite park.  Collect different kinds of leaves.  Lay them on the table and place a piece of paper over the top of it.  Color the paper so the leaf rubbing will show.

Tuesday

1. Color the scarecrow coloring sheet.
2. Complete the scarecrow dot to dot to practice numbers.
3. Make a paper plate scarecrow.

Wednesday

1. Make a library trip to get some books on Fall or October.

Thursday

1. Read Fall poems together.  Make up our own.
2. Make a handprint wreath.  Trace your child’s hand 10-20 times (depending on how big you want your wreath) and cut them out.  Glue them together in the shape of a circle.  You can also let your child paint their hands and make the wreath on paper instead.

Friday

1. Make a fingerprint tree.
2. Read our library books.

Every Monday I am reaching back into the archives to share the learning activities that we did last year when Little S was home with me.  Each week, we worked our way through the alphabet and we read stories, did crafts, and played games that helped reinforce the letter we were learning that week.  If you have any additional activities to add to the list, please leave us a comment!

Monday

1. Color Letter E.
2. Trace the Letter E.
3. Color in the E Template.

Tuesday

1. Library Trip – We don’t have a single book with an elephant character.  If you have any suggestions, leave me a comment!
2. Paper Bag Elephant

Wednesday

1. Read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
2. Make green eggs for breakfast!

Thursday

1. Watch An Egg is Quiet on PBS.org.  This video is a nonfiction story about how the egg becomes a chicken.  Be sure to preview the video before you choose to show it to your child.
2. Make a PomPom Chicken.

Friday

1. Cook together today!  Make chicken salad, egg salad, and/or deviled eggs.
2. Review the letter E by writing the letter and finding things around the house that begin with the letter E.

Every Monday I am reaching back into the archives to share the learning activities that we did last year when Little S was home with me.  Each week, we worked our way through the alphabet and we read stories, did crafts, and played games that helped reinforce the letter we were learning that week.  If you have any additional activities to add to the list, please leave us a comment!

Letter D

Monday

1.  Color the Letter D.
2. Trace the Letter D.
3. Take a field trip to Krispy Kreme to see how donuts are made there.  You can watch through the window and pick up a treat if you wish afterwards.

Tuesday

1.  Read How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food by Jane Yolen
2.   Make the Shape-a-Saurus Craft

Wednesday

1.  Read Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff or go to the library and pick out a different dinosaur book.
2. Make salt dough fossils.
3. While waiting for salt dough to bake, have the kids color some dinosaur pages.

Thursday

1. Read Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey.
2. Make the paper plate duck craft.

Friday

1. Write the days of the week.
2. Make a calendar for the week.  Color it, decorate it with stickers, etc.  You can also print one from the computer (just do a search for weekly calendar).  As each day passes next week, cross it off.

Every Monday I am reaching back into the archives to share the learning activities that we did last year when Little S was home with me.  Each week, we worked our way through the alphabet and we read stories, did crafts, and played games that helped reinforce the letter we were learning that week.  If you have any additional activities to add to the list, please leave us a comment!

Letter C

Monday

1.  Color the Letter C and this letter C.
2. Trace the Letter C.
3. Eat carrots for a snack.

Tuesday

1.  Read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle or watch the video ofThe Very Hungry Caterpillar (this is a YouTube video. I have watched it and deemed it appropriate to watch together with my own children. Be sure to always preview YouTube videos before you show them to your children).
2. Caterpillar numbers practice – Color in the circles and put the numbers in order
3. Butterfly art project – Trace your child’s hands, cut the out and put them together as the butterfly wings (fingers pointing out).  Draw the butterfly body and add pipe cleaners for antennae.  Draw eyes or glue googly eyes!

Wednesday

1.  Practice tracing circles.
2. Draw a pizza or use the pizza coloring sheet.  Draw circle shaped veggies and pepperonis.
3. Eat pizza for lunch.  We love homemade pizza or English Muffin pizzas!

Thursday

1.  Trace the number 1.
2. Using cotton balls (which are circles!), make a number one on a piece of construction paper.
3. Catch up on anything that we didn’t finish Mon, Tues, or Wed.

Friday

1.  Read The Cat and the Fiddle.
2. Make a Cow Jumping Over Moon art project (scroll down the site…you can’t get the template unless you are a member, but you can use the picture as an idea for the project) or make the Hanging Around Paper Plate for Kids (third project from top).

Last year, Little S missed the cutoff for VPK by just a few weeks.  I wanted to be able to do some learning activities with her at home so I created a loosely structured learning time program.  I scoured the Internet for activities, books, games and more.  We loved the time together and really enjoyed the structured activities.

This year, Little S has just completed her first week of VPK and she absolutely loves it.  We aren’t going to be using the learning time activities this year but I thought that I would reach back into the PWK archives every week and share them with you!  Enjoy the family time!

Week One – Letter A

Monday

1.  Color the letter A.
2. Together, find five things around the house that begin with the letter A.
3. Read Chicka Chick Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.

Tuesday

1.  Read Ten Apples up on Top! by Dr. Seuss
2. Eat an apple for snack.
3. Color the A is for Apple page

Wednesday

1.  Practice tracing the letter A.
2. Eat applesauce for a snack.
3. Listen to the story of Johnny Appleseed on the Weekly Reader website (meant for older children, but story is short and characters are fun to watch)
4. Apple Tree Craft – Using construction paper make an apple tree.

Thursday

1.  Talk about animals that start with the letter A – anteater, alligator, ants,
2. Read There’s an Alligator Under My Bed by Mercer Mayer
3. Alligator Craft

Friday

1.  Practice tracing the letter A.
2. Make a paper bag puppet animal.