Week 8: On the Farm

Day 1

Letter of the Week: H

Introduce the letter H. Write a uppercase and lowercase H. Talk about what sound the letter H makes. Create the letter H in play dough.  Pick out books at the library that start with the letter H or have the letter H in them frequently. Find the letter G in the book and practice making the sound.  Talk about the words that start with the letter H.

Theme Book: Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown

This is a cute book about the life of animals on the farm. Make the animal sounds, move like the animals, talk about how each do different things.  Lots of fun can come from this book! Singing Old Mac donald Had a Farm will probably come up.

Day 2

Scripture Story: The Creation

Focus on day five and six when God created the fish, birds, and all other animals. Talk about how God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden and instructed them to take care of it.  Talk about how we can take care of animals and plants too.

Primary Song: The World is So Big

Sing the song and do the actions (via):

The world is so big and, oh, so round (form a large circle with arms),

And in it God’s creations are found;

Mountains (put hands in mountain shape over head)

And valleys (put hands palms down in front of body)

And trees so tall (stretch arms up tall),

Animals big (reach up)

And animals small (reach down).

Stars shining brightly through all the night (straighten and wiggle fingers),

Sun in the day so warm and so bright (form a large circle with arms).

The world is so big and, oh, so round.

God loves us all; our blessings abound (grasp arms and hug self).

Day 3

Activity 1: A Farmer's Job and Planting Seeds

Draw a farmer on a large piece of paper. List all of the things a farmer does (maybe while looking at a farm book): milk cows, plants seeds, water crops, collect fruit, feed the animals, cut the wheat, collect eggs from the hens, shear the sheep, brush the animals, plow the fields, etc.  Choose a few activities to act out together or actually do (such as feed a pet).  

Plants herb seeds and talk about how they need sunlight and water to grow and that it is important to take care of them so we can use it for food, just like farmers. Have the child find spots in the house where there is sunlight for the plant and put it in a safe location.

Day 4

Activity 2: Stick Horse (via)

What You Need:

Wrapping Paper Tubes
Cardboard
Paint/Markers/Crayons
Yarn

What You Do:Ask your parents to donate some Christmas Paper Rolls (if you can not get enough use rolled up newspaper instead). Cut out horse's heads (leave a neck to go inside the tube) from cardboard and let your children design their horse. They can paint them and use yarn for the mane and halter. Help your children attach them with glue and tape. No go out Ridin'!

ASL

Signing Time Vol. 7: Leah's Farm

Week 7: Shapes

Day 1

Letter of the Week: G

Introduce the letter G. Write a uppercase and lowercase G. Talk about what sound the letter G makes. Create the letter G in play dough.  Pick out books at the library that start with the letter G or have the letter G in them frequently. Find the letter G in the book and practice making the sound.  Talk about the words that start with the letter G.

Scripture Story: The Lord Leads the Jaredites to the Promised Land

Use this scripture reader to tell the story of the Jaredites building barges in preparation for going to the promised land. Point out the shape of the barges, the holes for air in the barges, and the stones the brother of Jared made to give light.

Day 2

Theme Book: Perfect Square by Michael Hall

This is a fun read about a square being changed into all sorts of other shapes. If you can't find it at the library, check out this video of the story being read.

Primary Song:  Meet the Shapes

This isn't a primary song, but it is a cute song introducing all of the shapes. You can print out the PDF of it for free!

Day 3

Activity 1: Painting Squares

Take a sturdy piece of paper or cardboard and tape off square sections.  Pull out lots of different paint colors and let your toddler paint in each square.  The original idea suggests one color per square, but I'm thinking that won't be too realistic. I'm going to try using painters tape so I can pull off the tape and leave a nice square pattern.

Day 4

Activity 2: Find the Shapes

This game looks super fun and simple to set up! Print out the shapes (another free pdf printable!) and cut them out. Lay the shapes around the floor and call out different ones. Have your toddler run and jump on each one. Make it exciting and play along too. Let them call out the shapes.  There are so many options if they are enjoying the game!

Week 6: Space

Day 1

Letter of the Week: F

Introduce the letter F. Write a uppercase and lowercase F. Talk about what sound the letter F makes. Create the letter F in play dough.  Pick out books at the library that start with the letter F or have the letter F in them frequently. Find the letter F in the book and practice making the sound.  Talk about the words that start with the letter F.

Day 2

Theme Book: Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

This book doesn't have too much to do about outer space, but it does have a moon in it! Make sure you point out the moon each time you see it. 

Primary Song: I am Like a Star

Sing the primary song and talk about how stars "shine" in the night sky.

Day 3

Activity 1: Sun Paper Plate Craft

Make a sun out of a paper plate and pipe cleaners. Get yellow plates (or white plates and just paint them yellow), punch holes around the circumference of the sun, and attach yellow pipe cleaners all around! I'm planning on keeping it that simple, but you can do more like this tutorial suggests. 

 

Day 4

Activity 2: Solar System Fruit and Yogurt Plate

Using different food items, create your own solar system! Get the full tutorial here. I guess this one is a little out of date since Pluto is on there, but it won't hurt to talk about Pluto and how it used to be considered a planet, but is not anymore.

Week 5: Autumn

Day 1

Letter of the Week: E

Introduce the letter E. Write a uppercase and lowercase E. Talk about what sound the letter E makes. Create the letter E in play dough.  Pick out books at the library that start with the letter E or have the letter E in them frequently. Find the letter E in the book and practice making the sound.  Talk about the words that start with the letter E.

Day 2

Theme Book: The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tifuri

Find all the changes that are happening in the book for the fall.  Talk about how it is a time to prepare for winter and how we prepare for winter too.

Primary Song: It's Autumntime

Sing the primary song after talking about how the leaves change colors. This could be fun to sing as you are driving or walking around town and finding changing colors.

Day 3

Activity 1: Fall Guess Bags

Gather fall items and put them in separate bags with the word "Fall" on each bag.  Some suggestions: acorns, pinecones, leaves, wool socks, an apple, etc.  Have your toddler describe how they fill: bumpy, smooth, soft, pokey, and crunchy and then guess what is in the bag.

Day 4

Activity 2: Fall Leaf Painting

Collect the colorful leaves and bring a few inside.  Put a small roll of tape onto each leaf and let have toddler press them onto a piece of paper. Squirt some red and yellow paint into a cup and let your toddler mix the paint as they go, talking about how the colors mix to create orange.  When they are done painting, lift up the leaves so you have white leaf shapes.