Gardening, Play-doh and More

I think we are on Day 26 or so of over 100 degree temperatures.  It's so hot that the kids don't want to go outside at all, but seeing the need for outdoor time, we try to get out as early in the morning as possible.  This morning was no exception, but we were on a mission.  It has been three days since we picked tomatoes and there were plenty that needed picking.

Once that task was done, we headed inside for Circle time and our table work.  Our "All About Me" book is finished and the kids took it home to practice last night.  This morning each child drew their house on the address page.  Tomorrow we will finish the book by adding some cell phone clip art and a birthday cake with the appropriate number of candles.  I've already noticed that my Little Man, "O," is reciting part of our address during his play activities.

With name recognition being a big objective for the week, the kids worked on making the letters of their names.  We used the raised name cards from yesterday and rolled out play-doh snakes to outline the letters.  Rolling out the dough was challenging for a couple, but they worked through it and were very proud of their work.

Following the name exercise, the kids spent another 30 minutes or so "playing" Play-Doh-lots of good fine motor work going on there!

Right now, I'm using real "Play-Doh" from the store, just because I found a decent sale on it and I don't typically buy all-purpose flour, so it was just as cheap to buy it pre-made as buy the ingredients.  But, in case you don't have Play-Doh handy, or you are dealing with a gluten sensitivity (Play-Doh has wheat in it), here is the recipe for homemade dough that I use.  For gluten free, you can just sub your regular gluten free flour mix in place of the flour (I used to make one with white rice flour, tapioca starch and potato starch.)

And here is a final picture just to show that preschool is hard work, even if you are just watching.

Name Recognition

In my experience one of the best ways to get kids interested in letters is to work on name recognition.  Once they figure out that a certain set of lines has meaning (their name), then it opens the idea that a certain letters make certain sounds.  That of course begins the exploration of phonics and reading.

To get lots of exposure in, the kids have their names many places-under their coat hook, on their tag for circle time and I just made one with raised letters for a name rubbing project.  This is just half a page of card stock with colored glue used to write the name.  Once dry, the glue provides enough of a raised surface to do rubbings or just to trace with your finger.

I made the colored glue by squirting gel food color into a half full bottle of regular school glue (I used by Elmers and Staples brand and they worked equally well.).  Shake like crazy and then give it to someone else to shake while your arm recouperates.  Once it is mixed together you are ready to go.  I made these cards Monday morning and they weren't completely dry by Monday evening, but this morning they were fine.  So, you need to plan a little ahead, but the activity was great fun (and I learned a lot about where the kids were in their pencil grip-plan to see quite a few fine motor activities in the future).

Like I said, I used card stock because I had a few pieces left from something or other.  Index cards would work or even a thin piece of cardboard.  You could also accomplish the same thing by glue and string or maybe even floral wire. 

Here they are at work.

And here we go...

We had a huge garage sale this past Saturday and got rid of a few appendages, so yesterday I spent the day cleaning up and getting ready for today (the first day of preschool).  All the kids came in and were so happy to be starting a new adventure.

Today we started out with how circle time would go and began learning the Days of the Week and Months of the Year songs (I'll add video when we get good! LOL).  We read a story about the importance of learning your address and talked about our names.

Our first table activity was to decorate names using collage materials.  I wrote each child's name on a piece of paper and then supplied beads, foam scraps and various shapes, feathers, etc. for them to glue on their name.  It took quite a bit longer than what I had originally thought it would, so we didn't get to starting our "All About Me" book before lunch.  We'll work on that after snack and I'll post pics of it tomorrow.  If you don't have the extensive stash of craft "junk" that I do, the same thing could be accomplished by cutting paper up in small squares and gluing them to the letters as we did.  Anything from tissue paper to recycled newpapers or even used gift wrap would work well.

We also went outside in the miserably oppressive heat for 30 minutes or so.  The sandbox was a favorite place since it is completely shaded.  Normally I would take the kids back outside again this afternoon, but with the heat, I think we'll just stay in and do some exercising and work on our book.