In the book In the Snow by Huy Voun Lee, Xiao Ming and his mother walk in newly fallen snow and his mother shows him Chinese characters by writing them in the snow. They discuss how the characters look like the items they are describing. Despite our lack of snow in Chicagoland this season,we made our own snow and practiced writing in the snow at our kitchen table, making English letters rather than Chinese characters as they did in the picture book.
During our only big snow (so far) this winter, we experimented with melting snow. In The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, Peter learned snow melted inside when his snowball melted in his coat pocket (get the book). Although our observations about melting snow were not scientific or controlled, our simple observations comparing melting snow in a glass on the counter versus in the fridge it gave us a simple preschool science lesson. Continue reading
I loved the picture book LMNO Peas by Keith Baker from the first time I read it. Basing our activity on the book’s list of jobs to do, we made our own A to Z book of people in the community. The last page asks us, just as the Peas do, “Who Are You?” It’s an activity that got my daughter thinking. I asked her the question, “What activities do you do that are a part of who you are?” Continue reading
My daughter has fallen in love with VeggieTales, which is now on Netflix! She loves that each episode ends with a reminder of God’s love for each of us, and I must admit that I like that too. We also happened to read a number of fun books about vegetables (named below), so this week we have been focusing on some vegetables learning activities!
Last week my daughter and I read some great books about community helpers and did some activities to recognize the community workers all around us. Now we are noticing all the people that help us on a regular basis. The librarian, the eye doctor, the worker at the dry cleaners, and the construction workers along the side of the road all are community workers. We’re grateful to all in our community who help make our lives easier and more pleasant! Together we did hands-on and interactive activities to recognize community helpers.
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If there is one thing my preschooler does not like, it is being alone: playing alone, resting alone, eating alone. You name it, she always wants someone right by her side to talk with her, to listen to her, and to be with her. She is an exuberant personality that loves company. Always.
I am, however, more of an introvert. Her constant company is exhausting. I love it, but it is exhausting. I’ve been working for years to try to get my no-longer-napping youngster to take an independent quiet time break each afternoon. In the past month, I’ve finally found a way to encourage independent quiet time for my preschooler: audiobooks, especially Playaways. 
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In The Gingerbread Man Loose in School by Laura Murray, the familiar character from the tale of the Gingerbread Man has now been retold in a new way. In this book, the Gingerbread Man has been created by a classroom. After he has come out of the oven, he is looking for his class! As he explores the school, he has a number of adventures before he finds his class, who has also been looking for him. When we read the book this week, we decided to continue the fun by playing Gingerbread Man hide-and-seek in our “school,” aka our basement. Continue reading
Last spring, we read a fun book called I’m a Dirty Dinosaur, in which the illustrations were created with actual mud. Of course, we had to make our own mud paintings! The same author has another book, I’m a Hungry Dinosaur, in which the illustrations were created with cocoa powder, chocolate, and sprinkles, so of course we needed to give a try to painting with chocolate ourselves. Continue reading
Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle is a fantasy story about a papa and his little girl who loves the moon and dancing. One night, she thinks about dancing with the moon and asks her papa to get the moon for her. Naturally, he gets a ladder and climbs it to the moon. Then the moon explains that he will be smaller soon. So, Papa waits for the moon to get small, and then carries it down to his waiting daughter.
What a perfect way to introduce the concept of moon phases to a little one! As a bonus, the book suggests that we dance. A gross motor activity during reading time is a perfect combination for preschool!
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My Heart is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall was an interactive picture book for us, just the way a picture book preschool lesson should be. The author, who is a graphic designer, has created a zoo full of animals, each one created using hearts of all sizes. The text provides similes comparing ones’ heart to the animals (such as “eager as a beaver”). Strawberry loved counting the hearts on each page, and we made our own heart animals. Her favorite page in the book is the hippos drinking apple juice. Continue reading