Letter A: Craft Stick Airplane, Airplane Cloud Jumping, Airplanes in Clouds Sensory Bin (Day 3)

1) Read books (especially the ones about airplanes!) from our Letter A Booklist. 

2) Make Homemade Airplanes. Last year, we painted these more complex Craft Stick Airplanes. This year, we are making things a little more simple for my three and one year old. All you need is a clothes pin, one craft stick, paint and some hot glue! See how we used these in our Letter A Songs & Rhymes. 

3) Airplane Cloud Jumping from Learn, Play & Imagine: This was also a new activity for us this year. I used white sidewalk chalk to draw clouds on our driveway and wrote numbers inside. My almost three and one loved jumping around on the clouds and holding their airplanes. My almost three doesn't love number activities, so I gave him a mini chocolate chip for placing his airplane on number I'd call out.

• Have your child pretend to be an airplane and call out numbers for him to jump on. 
• Ask your child to jump "five times" on the number five. Repeat for other numbers. 
• For an additional activity, use airplane manipulatives (toy airplanes - I found ours at the Dollar Store). Call out a number and have your child place the correct amount of airplanes on the number. 

4) Explore with "Airplanes in Clouds" Sensory Bin: Both my boys (ages: almost three & ones) love airplanes, so I knew this activity would be a hit for him. If the weather isn't in your favor, you can always do this activity in the bath tub!

• Fill a small plastic bin with shaving cream (or whipping cream) and add toy airplanes (I found ours at the Dollar Store)
• Add play kitchen items (measuring spoons & cups, spatula, whisk, tongs, etc) and a second bin of water to wash off the airplanes. My boys loved washing the airplanes off with the hose - this was a favorite. 
• NOTE: Sensory play is a great learning technique for toddlers. I've noticed they are the most successful when I don't worry about the mess and let them explore in their own way.