Summer Time Review/Activities for Tots!

Since we finished the curriculum about a month ago AND Grace will be starting pre-school in September, I figured it was time for some practice and review.  The practice is geared towards preparation for pre-school as Grace will have to sit in circle time and participate in other structured activities.  We have been doing some of the activities below plus practicing sitting in a circle spot and following directions.  The review is geared towards all of the things she just finished learning about through the Little Learners Curriculum (Gretchen and I hope to put it up for sale by the time Wesley arrives in October).

I was looking for something to review her shapes AND help practice color inside of lines.  I found this online quickly.  I had her point to the shapes and tell me what they were and then I let her practice coloring.  She was not into coloring on this day so we'll try it again!  No, she doesn't know what a hexagon or pentagon is...she thinks they are both octagons and I don't even know where she got that from, lol!

Here is my new and improved calendar for Grace which is on the side of our refrigerator.  I originally used dry erase markers but after a test run I realized that wasn't going to come off very easily (a magic eraser helped fix that).  So, I bought some extra magnetic letters to use for the numbers,  printed off the days of the week to tape on, and created "month" strips that I took to get laminated.  I also put magnetic dots on the backs of the month strips so we can interchange them easily...plus, Grace likes playing with them.

You're going to think I'm crazy for having a weather graph but hear me out!  First of all, I loved having this on the daily calendar math when I taught first grade because it's an easy way to integrate math and science.  Secondly, I like to think "future learning" when I make things so even though she doesn't understand the concept of graphing right now, I can use this from now until she hits kindergarten.  The main thing I focus on right now is the weather pictures.  Grace will go look out the window and choose the picture that matches the weather.  Then, she points to the picture on the graph and helps me color it in.

Month strips

Motor Skill Game: Jumping Frogs

I found this game when we were at the Dollar Tree. You press down on a tab and try to get the frog to hop into the "tub".  The Dollar Tree has GREAT, cheap games and supplies to be used in making all sorts of activities.

"Grace did it!" was her reply each time she tried to get the frog in the "tub".  Building self-esteem unexpectedly :)

Easy motor skill game: 

Make a ball out of play-doh, stick some tooth picks or long pasta pieces into the play-doh and have your learner stack Cheerios!

Uppercase/Lowercase letter matching game:

 I printed off the sheet to the left that has all uppercase letters on it.  Grace was to choose the lowercase magnetic letters from the right and match them to the correct uppercase letter.  She knows all of her uppercase and SOME of her lowercase letters so we will continue practicing this.

Grace is an easily motivated learner and I am grateful for that!  Just a little bit of  "Good job, Grace!" and she gets equally excited...hence, the smile on her face in this picture.

"Grace did it!" was her response after WE finished this activity together :)  She did well with it but did need some prompting.  We'll keep practicing this and I'll be finding other fun activities to practice letters.