Do-a-Dot Color Recognition

N is working on recognizing her colors by:

1) picking the color I tell her to choose
2) picking a color and telling me which color it is

Such a cute student to have! :D

Picking her colors.

This is N painting "quietly".  She would dab the paint softly.

Dabbing her dot paint.  I had to show her how to hold the bottle correctly.  It takes talent to be able to take the lid off and turn the bottle upside down.

The finished product-not too bad for a 2 year old! And she stayed on the paper, too!

This activity reinforces fine motor skills, color recognition, and self-control!!  Keeping a 2 year old in one place to do an activity for at least 5 minutes can be challenging!  But I believe it is very important to have them practice at home before they enter the school setting (whether at home or in school).  Once they get into the classroom they will already have an understanding that they are there to learn/work and not just play.  Just my own opinion! :D

Cutting Straws

N (2yrs)  is concentrating on using her scissors and holding the straw in between the blades-2 very tedious tasks. 

The hardest thing for her was letting the blades open back up.  We have a pair of right-handed spring scissors.

I may have to invest in a pair of left-handed spring scissors because she kept switching hands and they won't cut that way.  

This is one of the easiest and simplest activities that really does help kiddos develop their fine motor skills! With the added bonus of seeing how far they can make the straw pieces fly!

Sorting and Counting

 This activity has several steps.  But it keeps L busy!

Materials:  Pom poms, dice, sorting cups, pickle tongs or tweezers of some kind.

I made this activity sheet and then made copies of it.  You can make one that fits your child's skill level. (I used my do-a-dot paints, a sharpie, and a straight edge to make this sheet.  You could probably make something on your computer, too.) 

L rolled the two dice and then put that number of pom poms into each cup.  He did this only once but you could have your child roll the dice more than that to get a larger number. 

Next he started filling out his chart.  Sort the colors in each cup.  Write the number in the correct box. 

Counting

I then had him add the two columns together.  Cup 1 + Cup 2 for each color.  Then I had him add all the  pom poms together 

There may be lots of steps to this activity, but they all keep L's mind busy.  I like to have some activities that are more involved.

You could also use beads instead of pom poms.

This activity reinforces counting, sorting, one-to-one correspondence, number formation, addition, and fine motor skills.

Popsicle Stick Shapes

 I've seen this activity floating around the internet in several forms.  Here is my take on the activity. 

Materials:  Velcro tabs and colored Popsicle sticks

Press the Velcro tabs onto the Popsicle sticks.  I made each shape a different color.  Write the name of the shape on each Popsicle stick.  Have your child put the Popsicle sticks together to make the shapes.

I only made three basic shapes.  A rectangle is doable, but might be difficult.  You could cut one Popsicle stick in half to make the shorter ends. 

You could also put Velcro tabs on several Popsicle sticks and just let your child build whatever he/she wants! 

This activity reinforces shape recognition and fine motor skills.

Letter Ring

My oldest daughter is in Kindergarten.  To help learn her sight words her teacher made up a stack of word cards, punched holes in them, and placed them on a loose leaf book ring.  My son and his friend like to flip through her cards, even though they can't read them.  So I made up a set of letter cards for each of them.  I used card stock, a hole punch, a paper cutter, and a loose leaf book ring.  You can find the rings in office supply stores.  Cut your paper into rectangles (or any shape of your choice-be creative!).  Punch a hole in the same place on each card.  Write your letters.  I chose to do capital and lower case.  You can do just the capital or just the lower case.  You could also type them up on the computer and print them out-but this took me less than 5 minutes to do!  Now L and his friend B each have a ring of letter cards to flip through!  This ring of letters can be use for many activities besides just flipping through them.

Other Letter Ring Activities:
~Flip to a letter and write that letter. 
~You (the parent) say a letter and have your child flip to it. 
~You (the parent) make a letter sound and see if your child can flip to the right letter.
~Laminate your cards and your child can trace the letters with a dry or wet erase marker.

Other Ring Card Activities:
~Use color paper to make color word cards (red paper with the word RED, yellow paper with the word YELLOW-you get the idea).  Your child will learn to recognize the color words!
~Number cards with the name of each number written underneath (write the number 1 and then spell the number o-n-e under it.  Your child will learn to recognize the names of the numbers as well!
~As your child progresses you can make sight word cards, too.
~Name cards with the names of each family member.  You could even make them larger and print off pictures of each family member and then write their name underneath.  Your child will begin to recognize everyone's name!  Kids love to find their name written somewhere!  L loves it when he finds the letter L or any other letter in his name!

BE CREATIVE!  HAVE FUN!  DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU AND YOUR CHILD!

Magnetic Letters

We have a TON of magnetic letters!  Grab a cookie sheet and you are ready to begin!

L picked out the letters and put them in order.  Since we have so many, next time I will sort out one set of letters-it took him a while to dig through our stash.

 

Magnetic Letter Preschool Activities:  Spell your first name, or other simple words like mom, dad, dog, cat, or non-sense words CVC words (consonant vowel consonant).  If you have a ton of magnetic letters like we do, have your child do a letter match on the cookie sheet. 

Magnetic Letter Kindergarten Activities:  Spell your first and last name, spell your siblings' names, spell your parents' names, or sight words (do an internet search for kindergarten sight words).  Take it a step further and after your child has spelled words with the magnetic letters have him or her write them on a sheet of paper.  Make a word, write a word. 

Magnetic Letter Toddler Activities:  Putting the letters on the cookie sheet works their fine motor skills.  As your child puts the letter on the sheet you (the parent) say the name of the letter and have them repeat it.  If he/she doesn't repeat it right away, that's okay!  The more your child hears the name of the letter, the more he or she will remember it!  Keep it fun!

Simple Skills Activity

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L worked on 4 skills today:  cutting, patterning, letter order, and letter formation.

1) L cut strips of paper into small squares ( I had drawn lines on the paper for him to cut).
2) L chose a patter of blue, yellow, green and laid it out on the floor.
3) L glued the squares into his workbook (I helped him make the frame).
4) Together we wrote the letters in ABC order and glued the card in the frame.  This particular activity helps with the order of things.  He writes one letter, I write the next letter, and then he has to figure out what comes next.