Color Sorting in Envelopes

Here's another activity you can do, using things you already have in the house. I set this up on a wall in our dining room (which is attached to our kitchen) so it's been a great go-to while I'm washing dishes or making dinner. Super easy for a two year-old to play independently!

More Color Sorting!

I had a bag of a bunch of little pieces of scrap paper (Weird. I know. I knew they'd come in handy one day!), but for all of the normal people who don't have that on hand, just cut up a bunch of pieces of different colored paper. I did three of each color, assuming several would get lost or crumpled up.

Then, mark envelopes as all the different colors. I just glued on a strip of colored paper to each envelope. You could write the color word too, especially if your child is a little older and is starting to recognize color words. Tape the envelopes to the wall so that they still open on top. I used painter's grade masking tape, which is strong enough and won't pull your paint off. (After I glued all of my colored paper on, I realized it would have made more sense to glue them onto the back. That would've been easier for Rowin to get into the envelopes. Oh well! I wasn't about to start over!)

Drop all of the pieces on the floor and have your kiddo put them inside the matching envelopes! Model how to play first if you have younger ones. Have fun!

  

What Your Child Should Know

Having taught kindergarten and second grade, I've had a few friends ask me if I thought their child was "on track" to be ready for preschool and kindergarten. Since nobody hands you a curriculum when you become a Mommy, I thought it would be helpful to know some of the skills and concepts that you can be working on with your child at home. A lot of these are skills that your child would still be learning/practicing even in kindergarten, so don't freak out if there are things on here that your four year old doesn't know! However, if you are wondering what else you can be doing with your kiddos, hopefully this will give you a little direction.

Math:

·   * Shape Identification

·      *Color Identification

·      *Counting to 20

·      *Number Identification

·      *1:1 Correspondence (one ball represents the number one, two bears represents the number two, etc.)

·      *Classification/Sorting (by shape, color, size, etc.)

·      *Creating and Continuing a Pattern

·      *Comparing objects (bigger/smaller, shorter/taller, etc.)

Language Arts

·     *Identifying letter names and sounds

·      *Identifying capital and lowercase letters-which ones are the same letter

·      *Tracing/Writing letters and numbers

·      *Identifying rhyming words

·      *Drawing pictures to tell a story

Reading

·      *“Reading the pictures” (have your child “read” you a story by telling you what’s happening in the pictures)

·      *Retelling the story (you read a story and have your child retell what happened)

·      *Story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution)

·     * Making predictions (“What do you think is going to happen next?”)

·      *Sequencing (Putting the events of a story in order-what happened first, next, last)

·      *Discussing lessons/morals in a story

·      *Making connections (to yourself, another story, etc.-“Alexander is having a really bad day! Can you think of a time when you’ve had a bad day?”

·      *Identifying new vocabulary words and discussing meaning

·      *Modeling fluent reading, using expression and phrasing

Science/Social Studies/Other

·    *Weather

·      *Seasons

·      *Holidays

·      *Months and Days of the Week

·      *Family

·      *Animals

·      *Fine Motor and Gross Motor Skills

Number and Color Books

One of my goals, as I'm adding to this blog, is to keep everything very non-intimidating for you moms who think you aren't crafty or creative (even though you probably are). Sometimes I look at other blogs and think, "That's amazing but I would NEVER take the time to do it!" I hope you feel like all of these ideas are very doable. :) With that said, here are a couple of very homemade looking books that we've made!

Number/Counting Books:

We've made these a couple different ways. We have a bunch of 5X7 paper around for some reason so that's what we used. For one number book, I wrote the number and the number word (1-10) on each page and had Rowin add the corresponding number of stickers. 

For another number book, I put a number sticker in the middle of each page (1-10 again) and had Rowin use differend stamps to stamp the corresponding number on each page. 

Here are a couple pages from the books, side by side. When he was finished with all of the pages, I used a hole punch and bound them together with yarn. 

You could do this several different ways. If your kids are a little bit older, you could have them trace the numbers and number words. You could also have them draw their own shapes or pictures. 

Color Book:

Same idea as the number books except with colors. I wrote a different color word on each page for Rowin and then had him use matching markers and stickers to decorate each page. Make sure you let your child decide where the stickers go instead of telling them, since the goal is for them to practice identifying matching colors. 

I bound this one with little plastic fasteners, but you could use yarn, metal rings, or just staple it together. Rowin thought my cover was lame, so he added a little somethin somethin. 

I hang all of his little books from a Command hook on the refridgerator, low to the ground, so that he can grab them and look at them when he wants. 

Popsicle Stick Puzzles

Rowin is kind of in between puzzles right now. The big block ones are too easy for him but he can't do a 24-piece puzzle by himself yet. These simplified puzzles are the perfect fit for him right now!

For these puzzles, you can use a 4X6 photo or any small picture from a magazine or book. I took one large popsicle stick and traced lines on the backs of the pictures. Then I cut out the strips and Mod Podged them on to the popsicle sticks. Let them dry completely as they stay sticky for a little while. Here are a couple that we made.

We store them in separate snack bags so the pieces don't all get mixed together.

If you don't have Mod Podge or popsicle sticks, you could always just cut up a photo or picture and have your child put the pieces back together. It may not hold up as well but would certainly work!

Another option, if you would rather not do ANY cutting or gluing is to buy a deck of "Go Together" cards. Rowin really likes Winnie the Pooh, so I found these at the Dollar Store! Exact same idea. No prep required. One dollar. Can't beat that. 

Toddler Activities!!!

My first post!! My goal is to post about once a week with 1-3 new activities for you. Here are a couple of activities we did this week.

Color/Shape Jumping:

Rowin LOVES to jump, so I thought this would be a good way to get some jumping out AND practice color/shape identification. All I did was draw shapes on paper plates using different colors for each shape. I taped all of the plates to the foor (so that he wouldn't slide around). Then I would say, "Jump on the yellow rectangle...Jump on the orange triangle...etc." He loved it! They've been taped to the floor for about a week and even if I'm not there to play with him, he likes to just run and jump all over the plates. :)

Puff Ball Tunnels:

Rowin likes any activitiy that uses colored puff balls. Not sure why, but he does. We had a few toilet paper and paper towel tubes so we decided to put them to use! I found a space on the wall (low enough for him to reach by himself) and taped the tubes to the wall in different directions, so that the balls would go through. (I used masking tape, but it didn't stick very well. Painter's tape probably would've worked better.) We put a few cups underneath to try to catch the puff balls. Rowin is two, but if you have an older child, you could have them create the design for the tubes and experiment with different ways to set it up. We tried this with marbles first but the marbles were a little too heavy. Plus they went so fast, Rowin could hardly see them!

Color Sorting:

We are working on our colors a lot over here! This is a super easy activity to help your child identify and sort different colors. I put pieces of different colored construction paper on the floor. Then I found several objects for Rowin to sort (play food, balls, cars-you could use anything!). I gave him the object and would ask him, "What color is the banana?" He would find the yellow paper and put it on top. Easy set up, easy clean up and you could switch out the objects every time you play!