Easter

Theme: Easter
Story: Peter Rabbit
Movement: Hop like a Bunny

MONDAY

Project Art: Fork painting baby chick

Process Art: Finger paint Yellow

Math & Science: Shape matching game

Language Development: Make "peep" sounds like a baby chicken

     I dont know who was more excited to remember the "Cute Chick" t-shirt that fit with our theme today, but I'd say it was a good way to get in the mood to learn about chickens, and was fun for her to point out and "peep!"
    The weather was gorgeous, we went outside straight away after breakfast.  I used chalk to draw shapes on the sidewalk and had some rocks we collected last week at the beach that looked like the various shapes (except star - how sad, A's favorite!!).  The trick to teaching is to keep it fun.  I didn't quiz her on the shapes, I pointed them out and we worked together as a team to match the rocks with the chalk drawings.  This was also a great time to work on directional skills - "Here is a circle rock! Let's find the circle. Hmmm, OH! It's *behind* you!"  The idea is to boost confidence and a love for learning: there's plenty of time to get it exactly right!






















 

Here was our PINspiration for the fork painting baby chick.

     I love pinterest! I usually hop on there when I'm thinking of projects and tweak them to better fit, but this one looked pretty good as it was.  Execution... not so much.  A's chick looks like it exploded.  I ended up putting a dollop of paint in the middle of her page and trying to convince her to squish it with the fork... then I showed her... and that's the only way her chick came to life.  Generally, I don't mess with her art projects, but this one needed it, therefore I would recommend this project for ages 3+.  For anyone under age 3, finger painting worked out so much better.

HOMESCHOOLING PRO TIP:  Mix a little bit of baby wash or hand soap in with your finger paint to make clean up easier, especially with darker colors and pink/purple.

Here is the difference with the fork-painted chick on the left and finger painted chicks on the right

  Trying to get creative for lunch, I used the peel of a mandarin orange to decorate the actual orange to look like a baby chick.  Using kitchen scissors, I cut out feet, a beak, and some little tufts of hair. Half a raisin per eye.  It turned out pretty cute, or so I thought, but A took one look and SCREAMED!  I guess appreciation depends on the kid.  For me, it was an easy and quick way to make lunch a little less mundane. For kids over 3, it might be fun to give them the pieces and have them assemble their own chicken.  Summer vacation/Spring breakers over age 5 should be able to cut out the parts on their own: ONLY YOU know if your kid is ready to handle kitchen scissors!

The scary chick...

TUESDAY

Project Art: Trace hand, fold to make Little Bunny Foo Foo

Process Art: Paint with Water (outside)

Theme Food: Greek yogurt covered berries

Math & Science: Feel feathers and cotton balls

Language Development: Sing Little Bunny Foofoo

     A slept in, and asked to have breakfast outside - proof she's mine.  I happily obliged.  Halfway through breakfast, we got rained on.  Luckily we were inside before it started hailing, but it really put a damper on our plans for the day!  That is why lesson plans are tentative.  That's why all plans are tentative when it comes to having a toddler.

     We watched the rain and hail for quite a while and sang "It's Raining, It's Pouring", a re-worded version where it's Mimi (Grandma) who is sleeping, and instead gets a kiss because A gets upset that the guy "bumps his head".  She's a sensitive kid, what can I say?  We sang Little Bunny Foo Foo, which also has head-bopping in it, and she laughed about that.

If you're unfamiliar with the song, here's a similar version of the one I sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6xKM-H2awE  Bigger kids may like to pick what Bunny Foo Foo might be turned into and choose whether or not he bopped the mice or kissed them at the end.  For my sensitive little A, we ended it with Bunny Foo Foo scooping up the field mouse and kissing it on the head.  "Down came the good fairy and she said, 'Little bunny foo foo, I'm so glad to see you, scooping up the field mouse and kissing it on the head!"

     For art, I traced A's chubby little hand on white paper, outlined with black marker, and cut it out.  She was mildly inconvenienced, still trying to write with her other hand.  I folded down two of the fingers and the thumb to make the same hand-shape as the bunny in the Bunny Foo Foo song.  THEN I realized I forgot to restock the googly eyes, so we'll be heading to the dollar store soon!  Not much for A to do in this project, but I'll be damned if it's not adorable anyhow.  

Bunny FooFoo, sans eyes

 

HOMESCHOOLING PRO TIP: If you're tracing your child's hand on construction paper and they refuse to sit still, wet their hand and make a hand print instead.  The paper will get darker where the hand is, and you can trace around without having to worry about wiggling!  Once the water dries, you can't tell a difference. 

My little lefty

   

   Water painting has been rescheduled due to rain, hail, and a possible tornado in the area, so we've switched it with Friday's plan to color with crayons- always a favorite here anyway.  We use this time to work on cooperation and manners, as well as color recognition.  Usually all at once - "Can I please use the red crayon?" means A has to listen, acknowledge, and then find the red crayon.  Always followed up with a "Thank you!".  I have been blessed with a kid who loves to be at the table, and will spend up to an hour or more coloring almost daily.  Today she worked on taking the crayons out of the box and putting them back in - fine motor skills!  We searched for shades of the same color - matching/sorting!  We drew circles and lines - gross motor skills!  

    A loves all things soft and fuzzy, so the sensory activity was a hit.  She giggles while being tickled with feathers, and rubbing the cotton balls on her cheeks and neck.  She laughs when she does it to me, too!

WEDNESDAY

Project Art: Potato stamp easter eggs

Process Art: Tissue paper eggs

Math & Science: compare Big and Small with stuffed animals

Language Development: Baby Sign- Chicken

     No potatoes, but we made do with what we had and agreed that next week will be better.  Mother Nature seems to be having mood swings, so we spent the morning outside again before the rain hit, coloring in new shape drawings (Monday's had been washed away), drawing pictures, and picking out letters of the alphabet on the sidewalk.

     Since there wasn't a potato in the house, we used an onion for stamping - hey, it's an oval! It worked!  A picked out pink, purple, and orange paint.  I mixed with white to make them more pastel-colored, and she had fun stamping.  A potato may have worked better to make the ovals more pronounced, A's doesn't look much like Easter eggs, but she enjoyed it, and learned to stamp, so we're taking it as a win.  I'm going to cut it into an egg shaped once it's dry to fit the theme.

 Homeschooling Pro Tip: Stick a fork in an apple or potato (or onion!) when using it for stamping.  It adds a handle that eases use for tiny hands.

 

     We seem lucky enough to have a lot of big and small stuffed animals, which I picked out while A was napping and put in a pile to sort once we was awake.  We matched them up first by animal, and then talked about which was big and which was small.
     We used this time to work on animal noises (anybody know what an ostrich says?)  and sing Elmo's World ten times.

     The rain finally showed up tonight and we spent a lot of time on the porch; A has always loved the rain!  We sang rain songs, did a rain dance, and A called for thunder whenever it was quiet too long.  No matter what we have planned for the day, improvising to include environmental changes or special surprises is always the most fun, and nobody learns better than when it's fun!  Tissue paper eggs can wait. 

THURSDAY

Project Art: Cottonball Rabbit

Process Art: Color with Chalk (outside)

Math & Science: Counting Cotton balls

Language Development: Baby sign- Rabbit

Special Event: Visit the Easter Bunny!

     A was up late last night, early this morning, and decided against a nap since she wasn't allowed a pacifier (transitioning away from the binky).  We did manage to get some pictures developed for her cotton ball rabbit, which we pulled apart (fine motor skills!) and glued on to a pre-cut rabbit shape.  I dont have a printer, so I just hold a piece of paper up to my computer screen and trace around it, adjusting what I dont like to fit what I'm looking for -- DO NOT USE A SHARPIE.  Lesson learned the hard way, though I know I knew better, and now the black dots on my computer screen are a daily reminder.  Oops. 

     I cut out the rabbit, helped A rip apart the cotton balls, and covered the rabbit shape with a glue stick.  I cut out A's face in a circle shape and glued it down before we got started, and together we put cotton balls on to the rabbit.  She worked on the body, I framed the face and ears.  Once that was complete, I mixed pink and white paint and let A watch as the pink got lighter; she was impressed.  I painted her little feet as she squirmed and giggled and asked for more.  She liked looking at her footprints and back at her feet.  Once they were dry, I cut around her footprints and glued them to the rabbit.  Not many pics of the process because it was very hands-on for both of us! 

     It rained, again, so water painting and chalk were both forgone and instead A worked on the tissue paper egg we missed the other day.  I cut out an egg shape, some squares from tissue paper, and covered the paper egg in glue.  She methodically placed a few squares of tissue paper, then a handful.  I complimented her egg, which resulted in her saying, "No egg. My oval!" and ripping all the tissue paper off.  No pictures, and some                                                   chanting: "It's about the process, it's about the process".

     The Easter bunny at Outdoor World is my favorite.  The line was long, A needed a diaper change after about ten minutes in line.  Luckily, Grammie was with us and we made it back just as it was our turn.  A was so excited!! She sat nicely for a picture (unlike our experience with Santa), and tried to sneak back in to see EB after our turn was over.  The day was an adventure, A was exhausted by the time we returned home (an hour after bedtime!) and zonked out without the beloved binky.  *phew*

FRIDAY

Project Art: Construction Paper puzzle art: Rabbit

Process Art: Color with crayons

Math & Science: Animal Sounds

Language Development: Sing Here Comes Peter Cottontail

     I wont pretend I wasn't tired from Thursday. A spent an hour or so coloring with crayons, and watching nursery rhyme videos on YouTube.  Have I mentioned how much I love YouTube?!  I know many parents are against "screen time" but I say if the technology exists, use it.  I wouldn't let the TV babysit, but I do incorporate it into our day.
     I cut out an oval shape, and two rabbit ears from copy paper, and added some tissue paper (unused from yesterday's artistic failure) to the middle of the ears and as a nose (for reference).  I showed A how the pieces went together to make a rabbit, then handed them to her.  She placed each piece on the paper and I glued them.  Next, I handed her a blue marker and asked "Can you give the rabbit two eyes?"  We counted one and two eyes, and I traded her the blue for a red marker, asking if she could give the rabbit a mouth.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't completely impressed with the result! 

    A was completely unaffected by Peter Cottontail, so we sang Little Bunny FooFoo a hundred more times, and she laughs each time.  Overall, a good week!