Footprint Butterfly

Materials: Paint, white paper, colored construction paper, black marker, glue stick
Activity: Paint your child's feet and then print each foot on the opposite side of the paper leaving space for the "body" of the butterfly. Create the body of the butterfly out of colored construction paper and glue between the 2 wings. Add details using your black marker. Older children could decorate the body of the butterfly or add patterns to the wings.

Monkeys and Shapes!

Two of my son's favorite things are monkeys and singing the song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". We've been doing some activities based on these interests lately! Magnetic Monkeys: I copied 5 monkeys, colored them and then laminated and put magnets on the back. I made corresponding number cards. We sing the 5 monkey song and take one away as each falls of the bed, as well as the highest number. My son is really into counting right now, also. So often we put the cards up or count the monkeys out.
Jumping Monkeys: This is an activity that they do at our library story hour. They give each child a stuffed monkey and have the child make their monkey jump as they sing the song. You can put this on a CD or just sing it. We like to put on the CD and jump along with our monkeys.
Shape Matching: This game helps with identifying shapes, hand eye coordination, and one to one correspondence. All I did was create a "mat" with shapes on it. I kept it simple at 4 shapes, but you can include whichever shapes you want. Then make a matching shape to use as your "piece". Your child will match each shape to the one on the mat. While playing this with your child you want to be saying the name of the shape (and colors too!).
Twinkling Stars: Nothing is as fun for a little one as something hands on. That's why I created these twinkling stars for my son. We simply use these when we sing "Twinkle Twinkle" and wave them in the air. A simple activity that is really a favorite with my little guy.

May 18-22: Caterpillars and Butterflies

Sorry it has been so long since my last blog update. Things have been very busy around our house since the weather got warm!

Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Fingerplay:

The Caterpillar
The fuzzy little caterpillar went up into a tree(act like your climbing)
spun his cocoon and then (yawn)went to sleep (spin hands)
While he was sleeping he dreamt that he could fly (making flying motion)
When he woke up (loud, excited) he was a butterfly.

Vocabulary: butterfly, caterpillar

Art activities:
*egg carton caterpillar
*footprint butterfly
*circle caterpillar
*coffee filter butterfly
*mirror image butterfly

Other activities:
*hungry caterpillar fruit salad
*butterfly life cycle pasta project
*feeding the hungry caterpillar

Helpful links:
literacy and ABC butterfly and caterpillar themed activities
hungry caterpillar emergent reader
information on creating your own butterfly garden