The Letter D

Every other week I introduce a new letter to Hailey.  I use a variety of ideas to help her learn the letter such as:

• Make the letter out of toys (or clothes- as in the picture on the right).
• Color a large D paper.
• Draw D’s while playing in the dirt or sand.
• Add D to our alphabet book.
• Draw D’s with sidewalk chalk.
• Play find the “D” with felt letters.
• Here are several more ideas for the letter D from ChildFun.

Tags: D activities, Teaching the letter D, Toddler and Preschool Activities

Randy the Raindrop

Adventures of Randy the Raindrop

Randy the raindrop lived in a cloud
the heat from the sun made him big, strong, and proud!
He got bigger and bigger until one day – Oh My!
He fell through the floor of his house in the sky!
Randy was scared, then he noticed more raindrops falling,
“Hey Randy, isn’t this fun?” they were calling
Then onto a leaf with a splash Randy fell,
and what happened next is a strange thing to tell.

Randy was made up of water, you know,
a part of him went to help the tree grow.
The rest of him went into a puddle so round,
then the sun came out and shone on the ground.

The sun warmed Randy and he started to change,
He became water vapour – My isn’t that strange?
Little drops of water, too tiny to see
Floated into the sky- yes that was Randy!

Randy’s home once again was a cloud in the sky,
He was a raindrop once more, but then by and by…
The sun made him bigger and bigger and then….
He fell through the floor of his house once again!

(This is from one of my Mailbox magazines)

Sheep Craft

Wow. What a catchy title I came up with, huh? 

Anyhoo, here is what you’ll need for this fun little sheep.

• Paper plate
• Cotton
• Glue
• Pre-cut pieces for the face, legs, etc-depending on the age of the child.  Since Hailey is too young for scissors I have the pieces cut out for her.  For children around age 3 I would have them cut their own pieces out.

Now let the fun begin!

Hailey had never touched cotton before (unless you count when I used to use cotton balls to clean her bottom during diaper changes) so she was pretty interested in how it felt.

Gluing the cotton balls on proved to be pretty interesting.  Hailey loves playing with the glue and got it on her hands.  So, the cotton started sticking to her fingers and she did not like that.

We managed to finish making her sheep though:

Of course while she was making this, I asked her questions about what the cotton felt like, what color it was, and about the color and shapes of the pieces to go with the sheep.

It will probably be a little while before we use cotton and glue at the same time even though it did turn out cute.

Tags: free toddler activity, sheep craft

Mother's Day Craft

Now I know that Mother’s Day is over, but I didn’t want to post this beforehand since Hailey was giving this project as a gift to her grandmothers. It’s really cute though, so I still want to post it and maybe you’ll like it enough to tuck it away for next year.

Mother’s Day Hand-print Poem

What You’ll Need:
Two Paper Plates
Poem
Paint
Skin Tone Paper
Pink Card Stock
Washable Paint
Assorted Ribbon, Lace and Silk Flowers
Glue
Scissors
 

Directions:
Spread paint in one paper plate. Press the child’s hand into the paint and on to card stock to make hand-print.  Trace around the hand and cut out.  Allow child to paint the other paper plate.  Print poem on pink card stock. Cut out in the shape of a heart. Decorate the edge of the paper plate with flowers, ribbon and/or lace. Cut a 30″ piece of ribbon make a loop in one end. Glue to the back of the plate with a loop at the top for a hanger. Glue the heart poem to the bottom of the ribbon under the hand-print as shown in photo (below). Add a bow to decorate.

The poem that I used says:
Someday I will be big
And gone upon my way
But here’s my little hand-print
To remind you
of this day
XOXO

The finished Mother’s Day Hand-print Poem

Tags: Mother's Day toddler art activity