The girls each had a similar writing paper for the letter C. My 3 year old had a capital C and lowercase c with tracing arrows, along with a cat to color. The 5 year old had the same paper, but added a short poem and more tracing C’s and c’s on the bottom. I found both of these in the C is for Cow, Car, Cat Preschool Pack Digital Download.
C is for Cat
I printed this C is for Cat Craft onto cardstock for the girls to paint. I cut out the Capital “C” for them to paint whatever color they liked for a cat. After that dried they glued it to a piece of blue construction paper. Then I cut out the face, ears, and tail for them to glue on.
We read the C book in our AlphaTales collection. The girls really enjoy these funny phonetic stories.
Kitten Match
She cut out the kittens and matched them under their matching momma cat with this Kitten Match Activity Page.
Cat Emotions
I printed out the Cat Emotions Matching game and then cut the pieces and laminated them. First we talked about different emotions and then she matched them up.
Cat Color Matching
I printed out the Cat Color Matching game and then cut the pieces and laminated them. She reviewed each color as she matched up the colored yarn with the cat with the matching colored hat and scarf.
Cat Counting
I printed out the Cat Yarn Counting game and then cut the pieces and laminated them. She counted how many balls of yarn on each piece and then matched it up to the matching number.
Last we put milk into a plastic glove and poked a tiny hole in the fingers. They could pretend to milk the cow’s udder into the bucket.
Butter in a Jar
We poured whipping cream into a jar half full and then the girls got to shake it all morning. We shook it hard and fast as much as we could and then a ball of butter formed. Just dump out the buttermilk and save to make biscuits or pancakes with.
Cow Writing
The girls each had a similar writing paper for the letter C. My 3 year old had a capital C and lowercase c with tracing arrows, along with a cow to color. The 5 year old had the same paper, but added a short poem and more tracing C’s and c’s on the bottom. I found both of these in the C is for Cow, Car, Cat Preschool Pack Digital Download.
I printed this C is for Cow Craft onto cardstock for the girls to paint. I cut out the Capital “C” for them to paint black spots on. After that dried they glued it to a piece of green construction paper. Then I cut out the head and tail for them to glue on.
I printed out the Cow Color Match game, and cut them out. I laminated them and the cut them again. Then we turned them all upside down and took turns flipping to try to find matching colors. They enjoyed this game, and did great taking turns.
Cow Shape Spots Match
I printed out the Match the Shape Spots game on cardstock and then cut the pieces and laminated them. Then she reviewed her shapes as she matched up the spots on the cows.
I printed out the Bear Cards on cardstock and then cut the pieces and laminated them. She liked to match the bear card with the one on the Wild Kratts episode.
We talked about how bears walk and looked at the Bear Walk poster. She put her hands and feet on the floor and walked around with her bum up. She also growled a lot!
Bear Writing
The girls each had a similar writing paper for the letter B. My 3 year old had a capital B and lowercase b with tracing arrows, along with a bear to color. The 5 year old had the same paper, but added a short poem and more tracing B’s and b’s on the bottom. I found both of these in the B is for Bee, Bus, Bear Teachers Pay Teachers pack.
Then we had a snack as we read the book Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury. We had shredded celery, goldfish crackers, chocolate chips, pretzel sticks, mini marshmallows, and teddy grahams.
Bear Walk
After our bear hunt snack we went on our own bear hunt with some sensory bins. We first stepping in grass, then water, and mud, next was sticks and last was ice cubes. The girls loved this and kept playing at it all day.
I cut a semi circle out of the side of 2 paper bowls and then we painted the bowls brown and painted a paper plate brown too. Next she rolled her large yellow dice and counted the dots. She then counted out the same number of counting bears and placed them into the first cave. She rolled again and placed the bears in the second cave. Then we talked about which cave had more bears.
Bear Patterns
Next we cut the bears to complete the Bear Pattern page.
Bear Color Match
I printed out the Bear Color Match game, and cut them out. I laminated them and the cut them again. Then we turned them all upside down and took turns flipping to try to find matching colors. They enjoyed this game, and did great taking turns.
The girls had fun learning about a bus today. They discovered that they love Honeycomb, and enjoyed creating the beehive. We got our recourses for today from the B is for Bee, Bus, Bear Teachers Pay Teachers pack.
The girls each had a similar writing paper for the letter B. My 3 year old had a capital B and lowercase b with tracing arrows, along with a bus to color. The 5 year old had the same paper, but added a short poem and more tracing B’s and b’s on the bottom. I found both of these in the B is for Bee, Bus, Bear Teachers Pay Teachers pack.
B is for Bus Craft
I printed this B is for Bus Craft onto cardstock for the girls to paint. I cut out the capitol “B” for them to paint yellow. After that dried they glued it to a piece of brown construction paper. Then I cut out the tires for them to glue on.
I printed out the Shape Wheels on the Bus game on cardstock and then cut the pieces and laminated them. Then she reviewed her shapes as she matched up the tires with the bus tires.
We found this Wheels on the Bus with Jesus song that they seemed to like, I think because it is familiar yet different.
Color Bus Match
I printed out the Bus Color Match paper, she matched the bus with the word color. The words are in color to make the matching easier.
Bus Snack
We placed a slice of cheese on the graham cracker and then added Cinnamon Toast Crunch for the windows and mini Oreo‘s for the wheels.
I printed out the Name Bus pieces on cardstock and cut them out. The girls glued them to a piece of black construction paper. Then they added a picture of themselves to the driver window and the letters of their names to the following windows in the bus.
The girls had fun learning about bees today. They discovered that they love Honeycomb, and enjoyed creating the beehive. We got our recourses for today from the B is for Bee, Bus, Bear Teachers Pay Teachers pack.
The girls each had a similar writing paper for the letter B. My 3 year old had a capital B and lowercase b with tracing arrows, along with a bee to color. The 5 year old had the same paper, but added a short poem and more tracing B’s and b’s on the bottom. I found both of these in the B is for Bee, Bus, Bear Teachers Pay Teachers pack.
B is for Bee Craft
I printed this b is for Bee Craft onto cardstock for the girls to paint. I cut out the lower case “b” for them to paint yellow. They let it dry and then add black paint stripes. After that dried they glued it to a piece of blue construction paper. Then I cut out the wings and antenna for them to glue on.
I printed out the Beehive Shape game and then cut the pieces and laminated them. Then she reviewed her shapes as she matched up the bees with the honeycomb.
I printed out the Pollen Playdough game and then cut the pieces and laminated them. I showed the girls how to make small balls with yellow Play Doh. Then they put the appropriate number of playdough pollen balls on the matching hexagon.
Bee Emotions
I printed out the Bee Emotions Matching game and then cut the pieces and laminated them. First we talked about different emotions and then she matched them up.
The girls each had a similar writing paper for the letter A. My 3 year old had a capital A and lowercase a with tracing arrows, along with an astronaut to color. The 5 year old had the same paper, but added a short poem and more tracing A’s and a’s on the bottom. I found both of these in the A is for Alligator, Apple, Astronaut Teachers Pay Teachers pack.
Astronaut Balancing Tree
I found this little Astronaut Balancing Tree for the girls to play with today. They had a hard time balancing it, so we just set it on the table for them to place the tiny astronauts on.
Straw Rocket
We printed out the Straw Rocket Outlines and then cut them out. We each colored one and then attached the larger end of the pipettes to the back of the rocket with tape. We inserted a straw into the pipette to launch the rocket by blowing up on the straw.
Space Dress
She wore her favorite dress today, her space dress.
Moon Dough (cloud dough)
She got some Butter Cloudz for her birthday and we decided to use it to create a moon for our astronauts from our Astronaut Balancing Tree to stand on. I gave them each a number tile from Math Box, and then they each placed that number of astronauts on their moon dough.
Star Count
I printed out the Star Count Activity game and then cut the pieces and laminated them. Then she counted the number of stars on each piece and placed them on the proper number.
We had some indoor astronaut training. She jumped on her mini trampoline, then hopped on her two handled hippity hop and last she spun around on her gymnastics bar.
The girls each had a similar writing paper for the letter A. My 3 year old had a capital A and lowercase a with tracing arrows, along with an apple to color. The 5 year old had the same paper, but added a short poem and more tracing A’s and a’s on the bottom. I found both of these in the A is for Alligator, Apple, Astronaut Teachers Pay Teachers pack.
A is for Apple Craft
I printed this A is for Apple Craft onto cardstock for the girls to paint. I cut out the lower case “a” for them to paint red. After it dried they glued it to a piece of green construction paper. Then I cut out the stem and seeds for them to glue on.
I printed out the Apple Shape Matching game and then cut the pieces and laminated them. Then the girls took turns making a match as they told me the color and shape that was on the apple.
Apple Observations
Then they each got an apple to measure with their Linking Cubes. The colored how many cubes it took to get the height of the apple.
Then they, felt it, smelled it, and then I cut it and the tasted it.
They counted their seeds and colored in that many seeds on the paper. (Save the seeds for the Jumping Apple Seeds experiment).
Jumping Apple Seeds
We placed some apple seeds into a clear plastic cup with a fourth cup of vinegar. Then they added a teaspoon of baking soda and watched the seeds jump around.
The girls each had a similar writing paper for the letter A. My 3 year old had a capital A and lowercase a with tracing arrows, along with an alligator to color. The 5 year old had the same paper, but added a short poem and more tracing A’s and a’s on the bottom. I found both of these in the A is for Alligator, Apple, Astronaut Teachers Pay Teachers pack.
A is for Alligator Craft
I printed this A is for Alligator Craft onto cardstock for the girls to paint. I cut out the capital A for them to paint green. After is dried they glued it to a piece of blue construction paper. Then I cut out the teeth and eyes for them to glue on.
Alligator Pie
We read the poem by Dennis Lee:
Alligator pie, Alligator pie… If I don’t get some… I think I’m gonna cry! Give away the green grass, Give away the sky, But don’t you give away my Alligator pie!
We made vanilla pudding and dyed it green, then we folded in 8 ounces of cool whip, and placed this in a graham pie crust. Refrigerate it for a couple of hours, then enjoy!
Each of the girls got to choose a number to place on their side of the board, then they placed the same amount of buttons to match their number. After they did this, we talked about it together to figure out if we should use the “greater than” or the “less than” alligator.
Alligator Crawl
The girls didn’t get to do the Alligator Crawl today, but they liked the idea. One of them had a stomachache today and the other had a nasty fall and scraped up her elbow the day before. We will probably try it in a few days when they are all healed up!
She had this little alligator finger puppet craft in her Abeka Arts and Craft with Amber Lamb book. You just color, cut, and tape. She is growling like an alligator in this picture!
Alligator Color Match
I printed out the Alligator Color Match game, and the girls helped me cut them out. I laminated them and the cut them again. Then we turned them all upside down and took turns flipping to try to find matching colors. They enjoyed this game, but had a hard time when the other girl found their favorite color.
I took a big, clear, shallow, empty tub outside with the kids. I asked them what was in a swamp. First they said water, so I added some water to the tub. Next they said grass and leaves, so they all gathered some grass. And last they said that a swamp has mud, so we added a couple small shovels of dirt. I added some foam hand soap to make it bubbly, and last they put in their Schleich Alligators and Fisher Price Little People Alligators. They loved this sensory tub and played in it for quite a while, and one of them got all wet!
Today we talked about the science behind rainbows. We learned that all a rainbow needs is light and water so we went outside to try to create some or our own rainbows. Today we included more rainbow crafts, science, math, literature, and snacks.
What Makes a Rainbow
Discuss: A rainbow needs light and water for us to see it. Show a simple demonstration of how we bend light by using a straight straw and a clear cup that is half filled with water. Even though the straw is straight, it looks bent when we put it into the water. That is just the light bending. When we bend light, it is called “refraction.” Let’s bend some more light. Show the kids a prism, go outside and used a prism to create a rainbow on a piece of white paper. Why do we see rainbows when it rains? The raindrops are like a tiny prism, bending the light that comes from the sun. So we need both sun (light) and rain (prism) at the same time to make a rainbow in the sky. Let’s do a simple demonstration to see how the sun and water make a rainbow. We’ll use the hose in the backyard to make a rainbow. Make sure the sun is behind us and the water is in front of us.
Read: What Is a Rainbow? By Chris Arvetis and Carole Palmer
Comprehension Questions:
What makes a rainbow? Light and water
Fruit Loop Bagel Breakfast
Materials:
Plain Bagels
Cream Cheese
Fruit Loops
Directions:
spread cream cheese on the bagel
place the fruit loops in the shape of a rainbow
Tissue Paper Rainbow
Materials:
colors of tissue papers
pencil with a full eraser
school glue
white cardstock with an outline of a rainbow on it
markers or crayons
Directions:
Have the children use the markers or crayons to color in the colors they want their rainbow to look like.
Cut the tissue into 1 inch squares.
Pour some school glue onto a tray or plate.
Have your child take one piece of tissue, and show them how to center (approximately!) the eraser onto it.
Wrap the tissue up around the pencil.
Dip into the glue.
Hold onto the edges of the tissue, and press the glue tipped end onto the paper, matching up the color from your picture. Slide the pencil out.
Rainbow in a Box
Discuss: Like water drops in falling rain, the CD separates white light into all the colors that make up the rainbow. The colors you see reflecting from a CD are interference colors, like the shifting colors you see on a soap bubble or an oil spill. You can think of light as as being made up of waves-like the waves in the ocean. When light waves reflect off the ridges on your CD, they overlap and interfere with each other. Sometimes the waves add together to make a rainbow.
Materials:
CD
Box
Flashlight
Directions:
Shine a flashlight on an old CD in the bottom of a box turned on it’s side.
Turn off the lights, and move the flashlight across the CD to make the rainbows dance.
Rainbow Addition
Materials:
Paper
Pen
Construction paper
Directions:
Draw an outline of a rainbow on the paper.
Write addition combinations on the blank rainbow. (make sure they are spaced out quite a bit)
Cut the construction paper into rectangles small enough to cover one of the combinations.
Write the answers to the top row of combinations on the red rectangles.
Next row answers are on the orange rectangles. And so on.
Child will look at the combination and find the answer in the colored pieces and place it over the combination. At the end there should be a completed colored rainbow.
I modified the one for A. to counting dots on the white paper and finding the correct number on the colored pieces.
And I modified the tots to matching colors.
Eat the Rainbow
Discuss:
Talk about what different colors of the rainbow that we can eat to be healthy. Fruits and Vegies Then make a chart with the kids that have all of the foods that they suggested written on it.
Materials:
Posterboard
Markers of crayons
Strawberries
Cantaloupe
Banana
Pear
Blueberries
Red Grapes
Kabob Skewers
Directions:
Make a rainbow on a plate or platter with different fruits.
RED – Strawberries ORANGE – Cantaloupe YELLOW – Banana GREEN – Pear BLUE – Blueberries VIOLET – Red grapes
2. Let the children use the kabob sticks to make their rainbow fruit kabobs.
Read: I can eat a Rainbow by Annabel Karmel while they eat
Make a REAL Rainbow
Read: A Rainbow of My Own by Don Freeman
Discuss: Rainbows appear wherever sunlight falls on water or glass. We used the Rainbow Diagram here to help us with this experiment.
Materials:
Glass of water
Dark kitchen
White Paper
Masking Tape
Flashlight
Directions:
Fill a glass of water (almost to the top) and place it at the very edge of the counter in a VERY dark kitchen or bathroom.
Place a sheet of plain white paper on the floor a few inches away from the counter.
Put two pieces of masking tape over the front of a flashlight so that the light comes out of a slit about 1/8 inch wide.
Shine this light across and down into the water as shown in the figure. When a narrow beam of light is passed through a glass of water, a spectrum can be seen on a white sheet of paper.
Can you see a small rainbow on the white paper? If not, move the flashlight around a little until you achieve the best results.
Rainbow Symmetry
Discuss: A line of symmetry divides a shape into two identical parts. In some cases, as with a rainbow, you’ll find one line of symmetry down the middle. In other cases, there is more than one, like with eight sections of an orange. So if we paint a rainbow on one side of the paper and then fold it in half it should appear the same on both sides forming a symmetrical rainbow.
Materials:
Cardstock folded in half
Paint for all the colors of the rainbow
Directions:
Fold the paper in half and open.
Have the kids how to paint half a rainbow on one half of the paper in the right order.
Fold the paper over and press gently.
Open again to see your rainbow print.
IMG_0701
Rainbow Celebration Cake
Cake Materials:
White cake (2 boxes)
9 in. cake pan
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple GEL food coloring.
Cake Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Spray 9” cake pans. Make the 2 cakes according to the directions.
Divide the batter into 6 bowls (about 1 1/2 cups each.
Then whisk 2 drops of the appropriate food color into each bowl. Pour into the pans and bake for 12 minutes each.
When you remove them from the oven, let them rest on the cooling rack, in the pan, for ten minutes. Then flip, cover, and stash them in the fridge to cool quickly.
Frosting Materials:
2 Cups shortening
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ cup water
2 lbs. Powdered sugar
Frosting Directions:
In large bowl, cream shortening with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add water and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.
This icing can be stored 2 weeks. rewhip before using.
IMG_0680I added sugar sprinkles in the shape of a rainbow to it too.
Just last week we saw a double rainbow and I actually got a picture of it with my phone, so we decided to make that day 4 in our rainbow unit study. We had a rainbow breakfast and lunch and did some more rainbow crafts, math, and science. The kids loved the mini fruit rainbow pizzas that we had for snack today.
Double Rainbows
Discuss: In a “primary rainbow”, the arc shows red on the outer part, and violet on the inside. This rainbow is caused by light being refracted while entering a droplet of water, then reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it. In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colors reversed, red facing toward the other one, in both rainbows. This second rainbow is caused by light reflecting twice inside water droplets. The second arc is also lighter than the first one.
Read: All the Colors of the Rainbow by Allan Fowler
Comprehension Questions:
What is the order of the colors in a rainbow? Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple
What is the order of the colors in the double rainbow on the top? Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red
Have the children draw a double rainbow (top rainbow lighter and in opposite order)
Rainbow Pancake Breakfast
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
food coloring
Directions:
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
Lightly beat the eggs with the buttermilk, milk and melted butter.
Just before you are ready to make the pancakes, add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients all at once, stirring just long enough to blend. The batter should be slightly lumpy.
Separate the batter into 6 bowls and added food coloring to make the colors of the rainbow.
Heat a lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet over medium-high heat (375 degrees on an electric griddle).
Pour 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto the griddle or skillet, spacing the pancakes apart so they do not run together.
When bubbles appear on the surface of the pancakes and the undersides are lightly browned, turn and cook for about 2 minutes longer, until lightly browned on the bottom.
IMG_0A said “Look, I made a flower” (so girly)!618
Hand Print Rainbow
Materials:
Paint (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)
Poster board
Directions:
Cut the poster board in the shape of a semi-circle.
Have the children put their purple hand prints along the bottom curve.
Then blue hand prints over the purple prints (it’s okay if it overlaps a bit)
Then green, yellow, orange, and red hand prints
Blow It Up
Discuss: Baking soda and the vinegar create an ACID-BASE reaction. When combined/mixed they create a gas – carbon dioxide. Gasses need room to spread out, so the carbon dioxide gas fills the bottle and then moves into the balloon inflating it. A gas can float in the air but we usually can’t see it.
Materials:
baking soda
vinegar
plastic bottle
6 balloons (one of each color)
funnels
Directions:
Using your funnel pour vinegar into your bottle. You only need to fill about 1/3 of the bottle.
Using another (dry) funnel pour baking soda into your balloon. Fill the balloon approx. 1/2 way.
Cover the top of the bottle with you balloon. Make sure you don’t let the baking soda spill into the bottle yet.
When ready, lift your balloon and let the baking soda fall into the vinegar.
Watch as the mixture fizzes, bubbles & expands your balloon!
Measure a Rainbow
Materials:
Construction Paper in colors of the rainbow
Scissors
Stapler
Directions:
1. Measure and cut the construction paper into 1” wide strips. Measure and cut each of the strips into the following lengths:
2. Stack all of the strips together in the rainbow order with red on top. Align and staple the aligned end together.
3. Bend and align the other end and staple to form a rainbow!! And that’s it…a fun rainbow with a little bit of measuring practice as a bonus!
Rainbow Spaghetti Lunch
Ingredients:
Spaghetti
Oil
Food Coloring
Tomatoes
Carrots
Croutons
Lettuce
Rasins
Shredded Cabbage
Directions:
Cook a small pot of spaghetti and drained it and tossed it in a couple of teaspoons of oil.
Divided it into 6 bowls and added a some liquid food coloring to each one, and stirred it through.
Serve with a salad make of RED – Tomatoes ORANGE – Carrots YELLOW – Croutons GREEN – Lettuce BLUE – Raisins VIOLET – Shredded Cabbage
Rainbow Wind Catcher
Materials:
paper plates
paint
glue sticks
a stapler
crepe paper
Directions:
cut paper plates in half.
paint a rainbow on the back sides, both halves.
after they were dry, use a glue stick to add the streamers.
cut the streamers in half long wise so they measure about 1in. X 10in.
in theory you would add the color of streamer under the color of paint.
glue streamers to the inside of both halves of the plates.
staple the two plates together.
tie a knot in a loop of yarn and then stapled it in when putting the plates together.
Crayon Melting Canvas
Discuss: Why does wax melt? Energy travels from the heated area to the wax, a solid. When the energy hits the wax molecules, it causes them to speed up, resulting in liquid. As the heat is removed, the wax molecules begin to slow down and heat the air around them. As the molecules lose energy they slowly stop moving as much and become a solid again.
Materials:
11×14 canvas
hot glue gun & glue stick
hair dryer
lots of crayons
newspaper
Discussion:
Pick out the colors you want to use and line them up until you run out of space.
Using a glue gun, make a line of glue across the crayons (if you want a certain part showing, like the label, be careful to put the glue on the opposite side). Quickly place onto canvas in a line, as shown below, with tips facing down.
Line your floor with newspaper, place the canvas against the wall, and start blow drying.
Aim the heat right at the middle to lower area of the crayons (where the tips are). Once the wax starts melting, move the dryer around as needed to prevent splattering and get wax to go straight down.
IMG_0655
Extension:
Kids can do individual crayon melting pictures on cardstock then cut off the crayons.
IMGI tried spelling something with stickers and peeling them off._0594IMG_05Instead of the wax not showing up under the stickers to make it appear white, the wax spread under the stickers.96
Mini Fruit Pizzas
Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 jar Marshmallow Cream
1 block cream cheese
Raspberries
Manderin Oranges (cut in halves)
Banana (sliced and cut in fourths)
Green Grapes (cut in halves)
Blueberries
Plums (sliced and cut in fourths)
Directions:
In a bowl cream butter, 3 ounces cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth.
In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir till soft dough forms.
Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Bake cookies for 8 minutes or until lightly browned and let cool.
Mix 1 jar of marshmallow cream and 1 block of cream cheese for the kids to spread on the cookies.
Cut up the fruit for the kids to make a mini rainbow on their cookies.
