P is for Panda

 

This is the Panda craft we did for Letter P week. I printed this Panda craft template online but I couldn't locate the link now!

Updated on 19 Oct 2013: The template can be printed here. Thank you to the reader who provided the link. 

I had to guide them with the pasting as they were not interested in pasting at all. They just wanted to apply glue with their glue stick. Y was very displeased when I helped him paste the Panda face.

Letter Matching

I think some of the best activities I do with the boys are the impromptu ones. Sometimes, an idea will strike me. Or the boys are so grumpy that I'm forced under circumstances to come up with something new and interesting to keep them entertained and occupied. Or most of my planned activities just fail to generate their interest and participation. These activities are usually easy to put together with little preparation. I'm a lazy busy Mum. Here's another easy one.

What You Need:
White Board
Paper with Letters on it
Magnet Letters
Masking Tape

I printed some letters on a paper and tape it to a A4 white board. I picked out some magnet letters in a tray. They are supposed to pick out the letters on the tray and match it with the letters on the board. If you are short for time, handwritten words work too. I printed a few sheets with different letters and I can just change it once they get bored with the current sheet. I just wished I have a bigger board so I have more letters on 1 board.

They made me quite happy at the end of this activity as they got all the letters right. :)

Letter J Craft - J is for Jellyfish

We did a Letter J craft.

What You Need:
Paper Plates
Streamers made from Crepe Paper/Tissue Paper/Ribbons, etc
Googly Eyes (optional, the eyes can be drawn)
Stickers (optional too but my sons love them)

I broke down this craft into few parts due to their very grouchy mood and short attention span.

Part 1: Cut the paper plate in half and let them color

Part 2: I gave them dot stickers to paste on the streamers that I have cut out.

Part 3:
- I had double sided tape at the back of the paper plate and they attached the streamers.
- They pasted the googly eyes with my help
- I drew the mouth of the jellyfish
- They asked for more stickers for their jellyfish. They are still crazy over transportation. That's the reason why you are seeing a scooter sticker on the jellyfish.

Writing and Drawing Practice - With Sand

Eversince the small "accident" we had after our first Sand Sensory Play at home, we did not touch the bag of sand I bought. I didn't want to let it go to waste, especially after so much effort of finding it and lugging the 10kg load back home on public transport. I decided to do some writing and drawing practice with them today. Papa is home to join us in this activity, which is great because it's also safer with another adult supervising the activity.

What You Need:
2 trays or any shallow dish or container
Play Sand
Sticks (optional, I used disposable chopsticks)

I had originally wanted them to write/draw with their fingers but they refused to let go of their new motorbikes and were a little finicky about having sand on their fingers. I find it very weird. They don't think twice to touch the sand when we are at a beach but they need lots of encouragements to touch it when we are home. I guess Sand and Home just don't go together. :)

We went through some of the alphabets that had been taught and drew some objects that starts with the letter.

We used sticks to draw and smoothen the sand for new drawing.

K is for Textured Kite

Another Kite craft we did last week for Letter K. We did a kite with 4 different materials.

What You Need:
Construction paper
Marker to draw a kite on paper
4 types of different materials for them to paste on the kite.
Glue

The 4 materials I chose were:

• Glitter Foam (rough)
• Corrugated Paper (uneven)
• Tracing Paper (smooth and transulcent)
• Hearts Sequins (Shiny)

I cute the glitter foam and corrugated paper into triangles for them to paste on the kite. I let them explore the different textures.

We then pasted triangle cut out from tracing paper. We also revised the shape, Triangle.

The sequins next.

Let dry and let them touch the different textures again when they dry.

K for Kite

 

Our Letter of the Week was K last week and this is the craft we did for Kite. 

What You Need:

Sandpaper

Paint

Hole Puncher

Strips of Crepe Paper or Ribbons or Tissue Paper

Marker

I drew a Diamond shape on the sandpaper. We talked about the shape of the Kite. (Diamond was the Shape of the Week) And I let them use finger/hand paint on the sandpaper. We also talked about the texture of the paper as they did that. 

They got bored with finger painting and asked for Cars. Their wish was granted and they enjoyed rolling their cars over the sandpaper. It was great as they could feel the difference when they roll the car on the sandpaper and on the newspaper. It was interesting to see them exploring with their cars. So, remember to listen to your children, they give you the best ideas!

That's Y's finger pointing to the Kite done by his Brother. They know which is their work! Once this is dried, punch hole on the top and bottom. Attach ribbon/string on top and crepe ribbons at the bottom. They can hold the top ribbon can start running around. However. as the sandpaper is a little heavy, it can't really "fly".

Sensory Craft Beads

What You Need:
Craft Beads
A big container to contain the craft beads
Containers of different sizes
Scoops/cups/spoons of different sizes and design
A Funnel
Magnet letters for some letter hunt fun

Preparation:

• Pour the craft beads into a big bowl or bin

•  I put some magnet letters in the bowl and they sink to the bottom. The boys were surprised to find some letters at the bottom of the bowl.

• Have some containers of different sizes and add a funnel for them to pour the beads into. Prepare different types of scoops/cups/spoons for them to start pouring.

Y busy pouring

 Tips:
 Always check how breakable are the containers you offer to your kids. I was careless. I wanted something tall and heavy so the container won't fall easily but I didn't test if the container is safe enough and Y broke it, very easily. We had a hard time trying to get the boys' hands off the glass bits and cleaning up.

Accidents happen, though this could and should have been prevented but the boys still had fun with this sensory pouring activity with some letter surprise.

Letter G Activities - Alphabet Crafts

Last week was a really bad school week as the boys were having very bad teething days. They were extremely irritable and fight over every single thing in sight. We have pencils and brushes flying all over the house. I got a brush right at my face from Y. So, most of the activities had to be stopped midway.

Letter of the Week: G
Vocabulary: Garden, Guitar, Go, Green. Grass
Nursery Rhyme: Mary Mary, Quite Contrary


Lowercase G Craft (see above picture)
I had shredded Green paper to resemble Grass to paste on the alphabet cut out. The didn't want any "grass" on their letter and threw a tantrum when I showed them how to paste the paper.

Uppercase G Craft
We had all things Green for the alphabet cut out, Green Colored Pencils, Paint, Do A Dot, Markers, etc. We stopped when the Green brush came right in my face.

Alphabet Coloring

 Check out K's grumpy face

As I was busy breaking fights the whole day, we didn't manage to go into the Garden theme that I had planned but we still read a lot.

I'm so glad the week has passed and this week seems to have started on a good note. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Letter F Craft - Rice Covered Fish

This is an impromptu craft on a rainy afternoon. It's so easy to put together the materials.

What You Need:

• Contruction Paper
• Marker to draw the fish shape or you can also print out a fish shape
• Rice (White or Colored)
• Googly eyes
• A small box to do the pour the rice 
• Spoon or scoop
• Glue
• Brush to spread the glue (optional)

Method:

• Draw or print a fish shape on a piece of construction paper
• Apply glue on fish body and spread the glue with brush
• Put paper in box and pour the rice over the area with glue
• Shake off excess gently
• Glue the googly eyes on
• Let dry and you have a fish with rice scales.

Y, playing with the rice

Homemade ABC Book

There are many versions of homemade or DIY ABC books out there on the web. Here's a few:

Alphabet Mini Books from First School
Printables from Enchanted Learning
Photo version by Carina Gardner - I love this!

Here's my version.

I will print some words and pictures of words starting with the letter of the week. I try for 5 words per weeks but that's actually quite a lot and sometimes we take 2 weeks to cover the 5 words. I find 3 words per week to be more comfortable for their age (currently 18 months). I will paste the cards on their learning poster after introducing the words to them and we will review the words as and when they look at the board. 

At the end of the week, during the weekend, we will review the words again and I will cut them into smaller pieces for them to glue on to the page. I also have alphabet cut outs in Upper and Lowercase for them to paste on though they are really more interested in taking them off the page most of the time.

After we are done with the pasting, we will review the letters that were done previously. They are enjoying their ABC book so far, the tearing part more. So, if you have young children like mine, you have to print on card stock and print extras.

Elephant Finger Puppet

 

We did an Elephant Finger Puppet for Letter E Craft. I found this cute craft at Enchanted Learning and you can find the template here. It's a very cute and simple craft which I think it's suitable for 15 months and up. Older toddlers can cut the template after decorating themselves.

                                     

I found these bed trays at Ikea and thought they make good craft tables. The boys were using it for the first time and they seem happy with them.

I printed the Elephant template on cardstock and let the boys decorate their elephant with crayons.

When they are done, I helped them cut the elephant shape and a hole at the center for their fingers. I thought it looks very cute and fun but Y didn't even want to slip his fingers in and K only played with it for maybe 1 minute.