I used 6 square inch cubes from Michael's and a photo to create a puzzle for the twins.
I aligned 6 pictures on the cubes alternating sides as I went. I used regular Elmer's glue which seemed to stick so far.
They turned out pretty good and I like them because they are a great independent activity they can work on while I am prepping a meal or cleaning up.
I made one set with family pictures and one set with their favorite Disney and cartoon characters.
Today we played a letter and sound identification game using flash cards and butterfly shaped (fly) swatters. We're changing their names to just swatters. ; )
I called out a letter or sound and the girls would find the right card and swat it.
Big sister was having a moment so just little sister played the game this day.
At the end to clean up, I had her gather the cards that matched what I called out.
It's always a great idea to turn cleaning up into a game or race. At least, that's what works for us.
As the girls continue to work with letters they are beginning to understand that letters make up words.
Especially their own names.
I put animal stickers on index cards and labeled them.
Next, I wrote letters on clothespins for the girls to match up.
They did pretty well, so hopefully this helps them connect letters to words as they become emergent readers.
One spiraling activity we do is sorting objects.
Today we sorted pom pom balls by color. To add a twist, I gave them clothespins to grab the items with. This helped strengthened their fine motor skills which will help their handwriting later.
Big sister had some trouble squeezing the clothespins open so I modified the game by giving her a wider chip clip to use. Crisis averted. ;)
To work on our number sense, we used stickers to count and represent numbers to 6.
After we were fine we talked about what they noticed. One girl said 1 only had 1 sticker and 6 had a lot.
Later, relationships between numbers will help them learn basic concepts or adding and subtracting. For now, we're just trying to get more familiar with numbers and their value.
Today we used different colored beads to make patterned bracelets.
Threading the beads through the pipe cleaners was also good fine motor skills practice.
To work on our letter name and sound knowledge we played our fishing game we haven't played in a while.
Today it seemed like shorter attention spans really tested the girls' patience when trying to hook a fish.
Since the object of the game was letter/sound identification I let them place the fish on the hook. Whatever works right?
Using shaving cream is a fun way to let kids explore and learn through their senses.
I will sometimes let them play directly on the table but to control the mess today, I taped down a foil workspace.
As they play talk to them about what it feels like and what they can create. Volcanoes, faces, designs, letters; the possibilities are endless!
Remember to make learning fun. It'll go a long way!
This was a very easy activity they did mostly on their own that we will be able to re use.
I numbered index cards 1-10 for each child.
Then I modeled how to add the correct amount of stickers on the cards.
They were able to work on their own but I was there to make sure they were counting or recounting if they needed to.
Later we can use these for flash cards or matching games.
After the girls practiced cutting up paper, I figured out a way to use the "trash."
I wrote their names on a sheet of construction paper and then had them glue their scrap pieces of paper on the letters.
Today the girls drew pictures about their favorite part of their vacation.
After they drew their picture, I had them dictate their caption to me and I wrote it down for them.
We used fruit juice to make popsicles today.
Do you have any good popsicle recipes?
To work on our number order, I had the twins construct a sun picture with numbered rays. I precut and labeled the pieces for them to complete independently while I monitored.
