Theme: Reindeer
December Themes: My boys (ages 2, 4) go to preschool twice a week, so I planned our activities for the off days - Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I printed a monthly chart (link to come) as a way to keep organized and stay on track. However, some weeks we just do activities as we go. Here's the first week at a glance:
MONDAY:
Art (R is for Reindeer): I drew a R and r on a piece of white card stock and my boys painted the R's with brown paint. Once the paint dried, I cut out their Rr's and we decorated them to look like reindeer! We used brown and red felt and a googly eye.
Numbers (Where's Rudolf?): We didn't get to this number activity!
Science (Reindeer Orbs): We love playing with water beads! I found a "reindeer set" at Target that came with white, green and red beads. We placed our beads in a cup and added water to watch them grow throughout the day. At the end of the day, we added the beads into our sensory bin with tongs, scoops and submersible tea lights.
Sorting (Orb Sorting): We separated the reindeer orbs (pictured above) into their matching colors of red, green and white. All the red orbs went in one cup, green orbs in another and white orbs in another cup.
WEDNESDAY:
Sensory (Reindeer Book): My four has loved bringing home little books from preschool. I thought we'd try making a reindeer book with little facts about reindeer. Below is a preview of our book.. Click here for your free printable!
Colors & Fine Motor (Antler Clothespin Match): Aren't these darling?? I found these Color Matching Reindeer from School Time Snippets. My boys drew a reindeer and used those fine motor skills to squeeze the matching colored antlers on top. I didn't have a pink clothespin, so I drew with pink marker on a regular wooden one.
Treat (Reindeer Poop): I knew any treat with the word "poop" in it my boys would be excited about. These are no bake cookies and my boys helped me make them! Click for the recipe from Life is Sweeter.
FRIDAY:
Shape (Wikki Stix Antlers): This is a bit of a stretch, but I've been wanting to use Wikki Stix for a while now, so we pretended the Wikki Stix were "reindeer antlers". My boys always surprise me how they interpret different activities. My idea was to wrap the "reindeer antlers" around each shape, but my boys had more fun cutting and feeling how the wax of the wikki stix stuck to the laminated paper. We still identified the shapes just in a different way than I expected :)
Gross Motor (Reindeer Hoof Prints): We made some reindeer hooves with sponges, card board and duct tape. My two wasn't too impressed, but my four stepped in water and then walked across the "snow" to make reindeer hoof prints.
Rhyme (Reindeer Hokey Pokey): I was DYING watching my boys doing the reindeer hokey pokey! We dressed up in reindeer antlers and red noses (from the Dollar Tree) and stuffed dish towels down the back of their diaper/undies as a tail. They danced around to the Reindeer Hokey Pokey and had me smiling and laughing from how cute my boys are. "You put your tail in. You put your tail out. You put your tail in and you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around. That's what it's all about!"
Outing (Movie Night): We don't have any reindeer/elk close by, so we decided to watch a Reindeer Movie at home. It isn't one of my favorites, but my boys just loved this one about Rudolf saving New Year's Eve.
Reindeer Booklist: And of course, we read often throughout the week. We mostly read before our quiet times each day, but we occasionally read during a meal or random time during the day. I placed these books on hold at our local library a week in advance and we enjoyed reading them this week as we learned about reindeer:
- Flight of the Reindeer by Robert Sullivan
- How the Reindeer Got Their Antlers by Geraldine McCaughrean
- Inger's Promise by Jami Parkison
- Olive the Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh
- Reindeer by Emery Bernhard
- Reindeer (A Day in the Life: Polar Animals) by Katie Marsico
- Russell's Christmas Magic by Rob Scotton
- Santa's Reindeer by Rod Green
- That's Not my Reindeer by Usborne Books
- The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett
Note: We FINALLY started week two of our beginning reading program for my four. We learned a new sight word ("see") and worked on handwriting, rhyming, beginning sounds, and teen numbers this week. This program is very outlined and takes 15 minutes or so per day. We plan to do it right as my two goes down for a nap.
