M is now 28 months old and I started letter of the week program with her last week. Letter A week went pretty well and she is making good progress. Also having her brother at home due to school closures is benefiting her by having a model to copy from during some least favored activities.
If you missed Letter A week activities you can read them here.
For other letter of the week activities check out the links below.
Letter A /Letter B /Letter C /Letter D / Letter E / Letter F / Letter G / Letter H / Letter K
We focus mostly on improving vocabulary and developing motor skills. I have also included some hands on worksheets and honestly she is not a big fan of that. But I include them for her to practice table work plus it’s an easy prep for me. Of course she’s not strapped down on chair and always allowed to quit the activity anytime.
Here’s the weekly plan for Letter B. The activities are build around a theme each day to keep it fresh and appealing. I have also included a new tab that shows the list of materials needed for each day. I hope this makes the lesson prep a bit more easier.
Focus Wall
These are what I present her on the focus wall and this is how we always start a letter for each week. It includes:
- Alphabet magnets
- Alphabet puzzles
- Alphabet Flashcards
- Beginning letter cards ( from This reading mama)
- Lacing Cards
Day 1
🔸Beginning Sound Object Bin
We started our Letter B week with the object bin. You can take any bin/ basket and fill it with objects that begins with the letter sound. In this bin I have Butterfly, Bumblebee, Bus, Boy, Ball, Buttons, Bear, Bangle, Banana, Bird, Bed.
🔸Butterfly Dice Game
Gross motor activities are always a hit here. Having big brother at home helps to learn turn takings too.Write numbers 1-10 on foam flower sheets( I got these from Walmart) You can also choose to write them on paper and tape them down on the floor. I made a dice out of paper and wrote only 1-3 for easy number recognition. You can download the dice template here.
Now place the butterfly on the starting line ( a duct tape) and roll the dice. Move the butterfly that many spaces and whoever reaches first will be the winner. This game is a blend of gross motor and number recognition skill.
🔸 Cupcake Liner Butterfly Craft
I was unsure about this craft but it turned out to be beautiful especially when it was placed on the window. The dot markers were shining through the liners and looked like a suncatcher.
Straighten out the white cupcake liner first and let them dot paint the liners as they please. Then fold it in half and fold again to make a wing. Repeat the same steps for another liner.
Staple both the flaps together to form wings. Clip a clothespin in the middle to make the body. Draw eyes using markers and attach a piece of pipe cleaner on top for antennas. She loved to add some glitters on them too( totally optional if you hate the mess).
🔸 Dot marker page
This butterfly printable is from The measured mom and you can download them here. We used some transparent color counters to cover the dots first. Then she dotted the butterfly with purple and blue dot markers. She is getting better at using them.
🦋 Bonus Activity
We made a butterfly snack today after the craft using peanut butter, bread, banana , veggie straws and blueberries. Just assemble them as seen below and it will be over in minutes.
Since it was a hit I prepared another butterfly themed snack using snack size ziploc bag and clothespin.
Day 2
We started off our day reading the book Pete the cat and his four groovy buttons. They love this book series and I always check these books out from library. We miss library now during this lockdown period. Luckily I had some Pete the cat books at home to pick for this theme. We sang the button song and also watched a read aloud version of it in you tube.
🔸Pete the Cat Shirt Craft
You will need materials given below to do the craft.
- Yellow paint
- Cut pool noodle
- Shirt pattern on white paper
- Buttons drawn on colored cardstock
Color the shirt yellow using cut pool noodle. It’s a wonderful painting tool and so easy for little hands. After coloring wait for it to dry and cut out the shirt.
Then let them cut out the buttons and glue on the shirt. For M I cut it out for her and she glued them on. If you do it when paint is still wet you can skip the glue and buttons will stick to the paint.
They were so proud of the bright yellow shirt with the gorgeous groovy buttons and we sang Pete’s song again this time with the shirt. As you can see they couldn’t stop at Pete’s four groovy buttons.
🔸Button Counting
This is a simple math activity you can do with tots using some color card stock paper and buttons. This works on number recognition and one to one correspondence.
Take 1/4 th of a color paper and write down the numbers 1-5. Then trace the buttons on each paper as shown. I wanted to use it as a color matching activity too. So I matched the buttons to paper color while deciding the count.
She is fluent with her colors but struggle with numbers and counting. This was a good number recognition practice while learning about one to one correspondence.
🔸Decorate a button
We got this button printable from 3dinosaurs.com. She has many free printable packs for a variety of themes suitable for tots and preschoolers. We used some blue rhinestones to fill in the button dot marker page. You can do the same activity using buttons too.
Day 3
🔸Vocabulary Cards
We did a vocabulary cards matching game today. These perfect printables are from Themeasuredmom. She loved the baby most and it was fun to watch her giving kiss to the picture.
🔸 Here’s the beehive puppet play
Kids had some buzzy fun with this beehive song and finger puppets. The bee printables are from the ebook zero to two: the book of play by nurturestore. Print and laminate the bees and velcro them on a black gloves. It’s a fun song and they were waiting for the part where bees come out of the hive to run around.
There’s also a finger play version of the same song in YouTube which you can do with no prompts. The link is given below
Here’s the beehive Finger play
🔸B is for Bee Craft
For each alphabet we will be making a craft and I plan to compile them into an alphabet book for her to flip on later. For Leter B craft you need
- Block letter B printable or draw it freehand on a cardstock
- Black paper strips
- Googly eyes
- Yellow paint
We used kiwistix paint stick to color the B yellow. You can also use tempera paint or even use yellow construction paper to make it easier.
Glue on some black paper strips across the ‘B’ . Then cut out the ‘B’ and paste it on another piece of paper.
Now add the eyes, wings and antennas as shown above. Most of the craft works are done with a lot of help from me. It’s ok as we can model and show them how to do certain steps. We also do process art where she is free to do anything as she please and never bother about the end product.
It turned out beautiful and someone is definitely proud of her ‘work’!!
🔸 Dot the bee
I printed off this bee page from thisreadingmama Letter B printable pack. I called out the numbers from 1-10 and she dotted them using yellow dot marker.
Day 4
Today we learned about bears and read the must read book for toddlers ‘Brown bear brown bear what do you see’. We have already read this book many times but it’s still fun.
I made this head tail matching game on a file folder from the pictures on the book. She loved this file folder game and could match all her favorite animals.
I have also made a Totbook based on this book using printables from Carissa’s blog 1+1+1. You can read about Totbook here and download the ones for this book here. There are lot of fun printables in this pack for any toddler who loves this book.
🔸Bear Counters and cups
This is one of the toy in my must have list. These counters can be used for mastering a variety of skills and I use them even with my eldest who is in first grade now. I invited her to do the color matching to cups first and she played with them for a while.
I also printed this free color sorting mat from the measured mom for
Filling in the Ice cube trays are a great way to learn number correspondence. By placing the bears on each slot they will get a strong grasp that each item counts as one. This early math skill is crucial for them as they learn further.
🔸Bear Headband Craft
In the afternoon we made a brown bear headband art project. After printing out this free printable we painted them using brown paint.
Glue on eyes & mouth and then tape the band around to fit on child’s head. They had so much fun wearing it and pretending as bears. We played hide and seek in our living room with bear being the hunter.
🐻 Bonus Activity
Making a bear snack is very easy and can be done by kids themselves. Spread peanut butter on a bread. Use cookie as ears and blueberries for eyes. For the mouth cut out a circle from another bread and place on top of bread along with a blueberry. Now the bear is ready to be eaten!!
Day 5
This beginning sound cover page is so engaging and resourceful. She loves to look around the page and name the objects that she knows. We cover them using bingo chips and she usually take turns with big brother.
🔸 Balls size sorting
A simple and quick activity you can play with balls. Just grab a cardboard box and make different sized holes in it. Give them multi sized balls and invite them to put in the box. While playing encourage them to try all the holes and find the right size for each ball.
We also played a ball catch game using our Ikea baskets and basket ball. R was eagerly playing to score as much as points as he can while M was busy trying to fit herself in the baskets.
🔸Letter B Collage
It’s fun to make a letter collage using objects that begin with that letter sound. For Letter B we used some band aids. It’s a good fine motor skill peeling the band aid while curbing their never ending craze for band aids.
🔸 Pattern Block Letter
It’s another fun way to teach letters to the littles. I have purchased these magnetic pattern blocks from amazon. The free alphabet pattern block printables can be downloaded from Confessionofahomeschooler.com. We love the magnetic pattern blocks than the wooden pattern blocks as they don’t wiggle around once placed on the board
Playdough Invitation
This week playdough invitation is all about butterflies. We use homemade playdough for our activities and they are more smooth and last longer than the store bought ones. Here are the materials used in this tray:
- Homemade Red playdough
- Cut Straws
- Craft sticks
- Buttons
- Google eyes
- Flower gems.
Usually I set out the tray for M to explore the items and let her choose what to make. She always pick the playdough first and start poking on it. She also loves to stick the straws ,craft sticks or beads into it. We roll them in balls and squish them, roll them in snake and cut them; all wonderful fine motor activities to strengthen those tiny muscles.
I usually make something next to her so that she can watch me and copy. I model language by saying ‘roll the dough’ , ‘ put the eyes’, ‘look at my butterfly’ and so on. Playdough invitations are one of the favorites at our home and there is no limit to the imagination and creativity. Sometimes even grownups also can have fun making some cool creations.
Sensory Bin
My plan for this week was to use black beans and bugs for an easy sensory bin. But unfortunately i couldn’t wrap my head around setting up a bin this week. But we have done a book based bug sensory play in the past. So I’m linking that below for you to refer and include in this week’s lesson plan.
The Wall of Fame
