Letter J Activities (ages: 3, 19 mo.)
In my option, around 18 months is a great time to begin a letter of the week series! It's just when little ones are really beginning to explore and learn so many new things. Remember the focus of doing these activities at this age is to HAVE FUN. Let your child lead as they explore. At this point, I will include activities we did for both my three and 19 month old. Here's what our week looked like for Letter J:
Read, Read, Read. I love reading to my kids on a daily basis. I checked out our Letter J Booklist at the library a week in advance. The picture above were our very favorite books, but you view more great Letter J books by clicking on the booklist link.
Read Letter J Book. We also love to read these Little Letter Books from The Measured Mom. For my three, we focus on the big and little letters at the beginning of each page. My 19 mo. old especially loves these books! He enjoys looking at the pictures and repeating the words after me on each page.
Letter J Songs & Rhymes. This year, I'm putting together an interactive set of songs & rhymes for each letter of the alphabet. My three and my 19 mo. old had so much fun doing the Letter J Songs & Rhymes with us this week. If you're looking for something more simple without props, take a look at this printable set of songs and rhymes from The Measured Mom.
Writing Practice. Every child is different, but my three loves writing letters! We practiced writing the Letter J's with "J's of All Sizes" from The Measured Mom. In the past I've laminated these, but this week I realized how much easier it is to slip one into a plastic sleeve protector. While my three practiced writing Letter J's, my 19 mo. old colored a block letter J with markers (also in a sleeve protector).
Craft #1: J is for Jewels Crown. I bought some letter stamps that we've been really enjoying this week! For our crowns, my three stamped big and little letter J's while my 19 mo. old stamped only big letter J's on a piece of card stock. Both boys also glued jewels onto their paper. Once they were finished, I cut the piece of card stock in half with jagged lines (as shown above, bottom right) and taped the pieces together to form a crown. Both boys LOVED these and have worn them around the house all week.
Craft #2: Paper Bag Jelly Fish from No Time for Flash Cards. I'm not sure what it was about these, but both my boys REALLY enjoyed painting and making these. I would say this was their very favorite craft of the series so far. All you do is paint a paper bag (we added glitter to our paint), wait for it to dry and glue on googly eyes. Cut slits in the bottom of the bags to represent tentacles. I hung our jelly fish from a light in our kitchen.
Craft #3: Jello Finger Paint Wall. This was a messy craft, but perfect to do in the tub! All you do is pour a packet of jello in a bowl and add enough water to make it a good finger paint consistency. I taped two large sheets of paper (from a large paper roll from Ikea - the ones used on easels) on our tub wall and let my boys go to town. My three loved squirting the jello finger paint with a syringe and dumping the paint. My 19 mo. old loved making hand prints.
Color Review - Jj Color Puzzles. I made these puzzle pieces from card stock and markers. I hid the big letter J's around the room and my three identified the color and found its lowercase match on our table. My 19 mo. old found a big letter J and repeated the color name after me. He doesn't know all his color names yet, but he is able to match colors together.
Math - Stamp the Shape. I drew a bunch of shapes on a piece of paper and told my three that all the shapes needed a stamp to get into the museum. "Can you stamp the circle so he can get into the museum?" He loved this game. We did something similar with my 19 mo. old, only less shapes (we're working on circle, triangle and square) and more guidance.
Math - Jewels on a Sword. My three is obsessed with swords, so I knew he'd love this. I was planning on him drawing a number and adding the same amount of jewels (cheerios) on his sword (pipe cleaner). He wasn't interested in doing numbers, so we didn't! He couldn't wait to show dad when he got home. My 19 mo. old also made a sword, but only put on a few cheerios on and off. This is a great fine motor activity. If I ever have a girl, I'll make a jewelry bracelet with her.
Sensory Play - Jungle Animal Excavation. This activity was a highlight of our week! We excavated our toy jungle animals from gelatin. You can read more about it here.
Letter Jj Activity #1 - We stamped big and little j's on our jewel crowns we made this week (read about this above in the "J is for Jewels Crown" paragraph).
Alphabet as a Whole - Shoot the Letter. My three helped me draw letters on our window with window markers. Our picture didn't show the letters very clearly, so I edited them in. My three loved telling me which letter he wanted to shoot and trying to shoot it with his nerf gun. Make sure your bullets are the ones that can stick to windows. My 19 mo. old had more fun sticking Squigz on the window letters.
And that's it!
