I week ..... extended ;)

It has taken us forever to do I week. We have literally been out and about everyday for almost 3 weeks now. It is crazy! The good part is that most of the things we have been doing are educational in one way or another. I will try to get everything caught up on here. In there mean time, here is our I week. I was trying to get Tristan to do something different for his letter I, but he LOVES the beans. So, once again, we glued beans on the letter. Whatever works, right?!?

Chicka Chicka boom boom

I just have to throw this out there. If you are looking for a great book on the alphabet that is not too boring, because lets face it, they can be, then you should check out Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Tristan and I love to read this book together. He likes to "read" it with me and try to name all of the letters on the page. If you are not familiar with it, check it out! Amazon has a geat deal on it.

I week

This week is I week. Hmm..... this should be an interesting one!

Here are some I words you may be able to use...

igloo
iguana
inch
inchworm
ice
Indian
infant
ink
insect
instrument
invitation

ice cream

H is for House

I say this ALL THE TIME, but this did not turn out as planned :)

This week we have been working on the letter H. One of the activities that we did was a house. The plan was for each window and door to have a member of our family peeking out. I had Tristan draw each family member on a piece of precut (and measured) paper. We are really really struggling in the people drawing area... Then we glued them behind the house. It is cute, but I probaby should have given him a photo of each family member and had his glue it in each window and door.

The other thing was I made sure that each part of the house was a certain shape. We talked about the colors, and shapes as well as the letter H. We had fun!!

I should have let him glue on bushes etc, but after this much, he was done. ;)

The letter H

This week has been H week. I am late posting this, again... sorry! I am trying to do better!

Here are some H words to get your creative juices flowing :)

helicopter
horse
house
hat
hair
hammer
hummingbird
heart
horn
hamburger
helmet
hippo
hands
Humpty Dumpty
Harry
happy
helper
hot
heavy
hard
heard
hear
hairdresser
hospital
hobby
hardware store
hop

just for fun

This is not a G post persay, but it was certainly a learning field trip! Tristan and I try to spend one day a week with my mom in Richmond. My dad tries to join up for the fun, too, when he can get off work. This week, we went to Maymont Park, in Richmond, Va. I LOVE Maymont. For those of you who have never been there, this is a beautiful park that is very hilly (so you get a GREAT workout) and it has animals spread out throughout the park. There is also a petting zoo. The park is free, however they do ask for donations. It is well worth the visit. It is also a perfect place for a picinic lunch!

Enjoy the pics :)

 The bears were fighting! The one in the back by the tree was on his hind legs. Ive never seen anything like it. So cool to watch!

 This goat was Tristan's BEST friend. He followed Tristan everywhere he went.

Tristan and his Grammee went over the steep bridge in the Japanese Gardens.

We had a GREAT day!!!

G is for simple grapes

G is for Green Grapes! This is also super simple, but that is the point of this blog! Super simple crafts for learning the ABC's!

We are constantly drilling (in a fun way of course) colors, letters and shapes. I try to use standard shapes for most projects.

For the green grapes, I only used a rectangle for the stem and circles obviously for the grapes. This did not turn out as cute as I had hoped, however, the lesson itself and the discussion made it worth it. Not to mention the fact that anytime Tristan completes a project, he is proud of himself. Isn't that what it is all about??

The letter G

This is super simple and you can use anything to glue on to your letters. It is all about your child seeing and hearing the letter. There can never be too many repetitions!

A Green letter G

Tristan has his favorite things he likes to glue, but get creative! I don't trust him with glitter yet. Otherwise, it may have been sparkly :)

G is for...

G week was last week. I unfortunately haven't been able to post lately. I will try to get everything up and current this weekend.

One of the things that I had wanted to make with Tristan was a guitar. He has a guitar, that is just his size, and he loves to play with his Daddy. But, I thought it would be fun to have him make a guitar. They are super easy so I wanted to pass it on to you.

materials
box
rubberbands
scissors
paint (optional)


All you need to do for this is get a shoe box. Cut a hole in the center of the shoe box lid. Put the rubberbands (at least 3) lengthwise around the box. PLAY!

If you would like to get more involved, you could have your child paint the shoe box before you put the rubberbands on it. You could also make a neck out of a papertowel roll and glue it on the small end of the shoebox. There are lots of possibilities!

Additional lesson:
Guitars make music. The "string" vibrate. Vibrate means to move back and forth quickly. Have your child strum the guitar to see the strings vibrate. Then have your child put his/her hand on his/her neck over the voicebox. Have your child whisper. Feel anything? Now have your child talk normally. Feel anything? Vibrations!

We used to do this when I taught first grade. We would pull out all kinds of instruments for vibrations. See what you can find! Or save it for the letter V ;)

G is for Giraffe

G is for GREAT GIRAFFE!
This is too cute! Bag puppets are so much fun! If you are like me, you probably wont print out the template, but I wanted to pass this great site on incase you wanted to! They provide the materials needed and the step by step directions to complete this giraffe bag puppet with your child. Have fun!

DLTK has some great ideas for toddlers-K kids!

G is for GRAPES!

This will be a two part post.... we are working on a grape craft but it seems to be taking us forever to get it finished no matter how simple it is...

But the other thing I wanted to pass on was a site I discovered accidentally. The DOLE website. Dole Grapes are mighty yummy. They have some games and activites for kids on their site. They also have a wealth of information on nutrition for parents as well. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE :)


http://www.dole.com/

G is for garden

Although I have not taken a lot of pictures with the letter G, there are so many activities for G (and most letters) that do not involve a craft, but just hands on learning time with Mom. I find that the best learning is through doing and conversation. Tristan loves to be outside with me and we love to plant. This year I regret not doing a real garden, but we were still able to do some gardening with flowers. Our yard really needs some TLC and there is no TLC like that that comes from a 2 year old. Whew.... what messy fun!

G is for grandparents

G is for Grandparents! Tristan is so blessed to have THREE awesome sets of grandparents! I hope one day he realizes this blessing! They would all do anything for him (or us) and we are so thankful for our relationships with them.

I encourage you and your child to write a note of thanks to your child's grandparents! Even if your child can not write, have them tell you what they like about them or his/her favorite thing to do with them. The recipient will be tickled!

Have fun with it and let your child sign the card/letter as well!

Happy Writing!

girl or boy?

Gender is one of those things that we just seem to know and take for granted. Tristan was very quick to remind me the other day that that too, has to be learned. When we were working our making our family last week, we were talking about Mommy being a girl, Daddy being a boy and Tristan being a boy. Tristan kept telling me I was a good boy. :) Ryan, my husband, kinda laughed and said, "Well, you are working on G next week so maybe you should work on what a girl is!" I think he was right!

So we have been talking about girls and boys, picking them out of books and I have been interjecting gender comments in casual conversation. It is amazing how just talking to your kids about everyday life, is so important! Improvement has been made, but as always, there is still more room.

The Letter G!

This week was supposed to be G week. We are going to extend G into next week as well considering today is Friday and we just got started!
Here are some ideas for the letter G...

glasses
glass
goat
grasshopper
glue
glove
goose
grapes
gavel
gate
globe
gift
guitar
garden
golf
golf ball
granola
grilled cheese
green
goldfish
garbage
girl
game
ghost
gingerbread

Field Trip idea- grocey store- call ahead of time and see if they will allow you and your child to view the back part, deli areas etc.