News with Naylors

I have really enjoyed doing a Letter of the Week series with Easton! He has LEARNED so much and we have had a lot of FUN along the way. I have loved having a variety of activities to do at home, especially when we felt stuck inside during the winter months. I started the series when Easton was 18 months old, which is also about the time I had another baby. It was so nice having a few things planned to do with Easton each day, while my newborn napped at home in the morning. Between holidays and my energy level in finding and planning activities, it took me almost a year to complete the series. I am now putting together a list of supplies for each letter to save other moms the hassle of doing it! A lot of the items listed below you will buy once and be able to use for multiple letters in our  Letter of the Week Series . For instance, the plastic sensory bin you'll only buy once, although you will use almost every week. The options are endless for what you'd like to do with your c...

1) Read books (we read all the apple themed books today) from the Letter A Booklist .  2)  Hand and Q-tip Apple Tree : I love any type of craft involving my two's hand. This one won me over. You'll need: White Paper Construction Paper: Green & Brown Glue Q-tips NOTE:  You can also use cotton balls, finger prints or scrunched paper Washable Tempera Paint: Red (optional - green & yellow) Trace your toddlers hand on a piece of brown construction paper (or on a piece of white paper and color it brown with a crayon, if you ran out of brown paper like me!) Glue the green leaves and "tree trunk" onto a piece of white paper.  Use a Q-tip dipped in washable, red tempera paint and stamp apples onto your tree. 3) Apple Sizes File Folder from File Folder Fun: I have a little obsession with file folders!   Print two copies of apples onto white card stock.  Leave the first page as is and cut the apples out on the second page. NOTE: ...

1) Read Books (especially the ones about Ants) from the  Letter A Booklist . 2) A is for Ants Craft: I really enjoy doing crafts that include the letter we're learning during the week! Ours is adapted from an  ant craft  on Classified Mom. Use toddler safe scissors to cut small slits into green construction paper, as the grass.  Glue the grass and Letter A onto your paper. Use fingerprints of three black office stickers to create your ants. NOTE:  If your toddler needs help knowing where to put the stickers, draw little dots with pencil as a guide for him/her to put the stickers. Help your toddler draw legs and antennas on the ants. 3) Ant Colors & Sizing from Confessions of a Homeschooler: Draw an ant from a brown paper bag and talk about the color. Compare two ants - small and big. Compare three ants - small, medium and big. Help your child (if needed) put them into order from smallest to biggest. 4) Go on an Ant Hunt from Pre...

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 f...

1) Read books from the  L etter A Booklis t . We read There's an Alligator Under My Bed, The Lady with the Alligator Purse, and Alligator Alphabet. 2)  A is for Alligator Craft  from Crystal & Co: This is another craft that includes the Letter A! You can print a "letter A" as well as an alligator template from the link provided. You need: Blue Construction paper Green Letter A Green Tissue Paper, cut into squares Glue Stick 2 white circles (eyes) 2 black circles (pupils) White Triangles - have your toddler help you cut these out with toddler-safe scissors Glue your letter A onto a piece of blue paper.  Use a glue stick and put glue over the entire letter A.  Press tissue paper squares (scales) onto the glue. Glue on eyes and teeth.  Crystal & Comp. 3) Hatching Alligator Eggs: I always look forward to Fridays, because they are the day we get to do an extra exciting activity! And this one did not disappoin...