G is for Gumball!

This summer I have been working with Emma on some of the letters she needs to practice.  This week we focused on the letter G.  We did fun math and literacy gumball activities.

 

I found these great dry erase Cat in the Hat writing strips at the Target dollar spot.  I love how the lines are colored so you can work on correct letter formation.  "Start at the Cat's hat (red line) and bring the letter all the way down to his feet (black line)."  We wrote letter Gg a few times. 

 

Emma had so much fun with this page, How Many Gumballs?.  She would say the number and put that many glue dots in the gumball machine, then she would sprinkle the glue dots with glitter.  If I do this activity again I would definitely not use loose glitter.  It was a little messy with my 1 year old!:)  I would try glitter glue.

 

For this gumball game you will need a gumball machine, I found mine at Dollar Tree.  I bought two machines because I wanted one for uppercase and the other for lowercase letters.  You will also need decorative pebble fillers.  I wanted colorful pebbles for this activity and the only place that seemed to have them was Michael's.  They were $6.99, make sure to use a coupon!  Then you will write the uppercase or lowercase letters on each pebble and place them in the gumball machine. 

 

To play: 1.  Turn the knob on the gumball machine.  2.  When a 'gumball' comes out they will say the letter.  3.  Place the 'gumball' on the mat with the matching letter.

 

You can download the gumball mats for this game here.

 

We made a gumball machine craft.  On each gumball we wrote either the uppercase G or the lowercase g.  Emma insisted she needed some of the other letters on the gumballs too.:)

In our sensory tub we had water beads.  Don't you think they look just like gumballs?  We had fun scooping them up with our new Handy Scoopers, I found both the water beads and scoopers on Amazon.

Emma stamped gumballs (her fingerprint) in her Counting Gumballs book.

 
We counted pom-pom gumballs on our counting mats.

 

Finally, we did Gumball Shapes.  Emma colored the gumballs according to the shape.

If you would like these activities you can check them out at my Teachers Pay Teachers store here.

 

Activity Day Catch-up

It has been a busy few months!  I really wanted to post all of the fun things we have been doing in Activity Days.  I apologize in advance for the long post!:)

 

In March, Alex made banana bread with the girls.  She had the girls look at the recipe and tell her what ingredients they needed and what the next step was.  The girls loved it!  I loved how she had mini bread pans for each girl.  She also sent the girls home with the recipe. 

 

 Our next activity in March was a Faith in God treasure hunt.  I found the idea here.  I thought this was such a great idea and a great way for the girls to learn more about the Faith in God book.  Even as a leader it was great for me to get to know the book better.

For each section in the book, I made a sign and put it in an IKEA frame.  I made and printed labels that had the section in the book, and attached each one to a chocolate gold coin with a glue dot.



We did this activity at our church building.  To set up I put the sign, the gold coins and something about that section on a table.  For example, Pray Daily, I put a statue of a mom praying with her children.   When the girls arrived we talked about the Faith in God book.  Then I showed them a map (not pictured).  We walked together around the church building finding the different sections in the book, all the while checking the map to see which one we needed to find next.  When we found one the girls would each take a chocolate coin and place it in their plastic black pot.  I bought the plastic pots at Zurchers party store.  Here are a few of the sections in the Faith in God book:

 

Memorize the Articles of Faith

Attend Sacrament and Primary

Pray Daily 

Pay Tithing

 

Honor Your Parents & Be Kind to Your Family

 

At the end of the treasure hunt the girls found a treat and a certificate.  Alex made the treat bags.  It was a perfect treat for the end of the hunt.

The girls each took a turn reading the section in the book and a short quote or scripture about it.

For the treat, Alex and I made a fruit rainbow.  I also made a cool whip and strawberry yogurt dip for the fruit.  It must have been a big hit because the girls ate almost all of the fruit and the dip was gone. 

After our yummy snack the girls colored a Faith in God page.  It is a great page for the girls to see what they need to pass off.  In the oval they drew a picture of them.  I encouraged the girls to keep it in their Activity Day binder.  I also thought it would be cute to put this page in a Dollar Tree frame and the girls could put it in their rooms.  You can download the page for your Activity Day girls by clicking the link below.:)

Faith in God Binder Page

 

In April, General Conference was coming up so Alex did a Get to Know the First Presidency activity.

 

She had a bag for each member of the First Presidency.  In the bag were things about each of them.  The girls would take turns coming up and pulling something out of the bag.  It was such a cute and fun activity!

For our last activity in April we talked about tithing and budgeting our money.  We filled out a tithing slip and discussed why it is so important to pay our tithing.  To help the girls remember to save and pay their tithing we made banks.  I was thinking about this activity for a long time and let me tell you it wasn't that easy to find 3 banks for 7 girls without spending a ton of money.  I eventually found these containers at Dollar Tree.  They were sold in packages of 3!  It was meant to be.  I printed Tithing, Spending and Savings on my Silhouette machine.  The girls put the vinyl words on each container and then they decorated with washi-tape and ribbon.  They had a lot of fun and I loved how they turned out!

 

 

To finish off the activity we had the girls come to the Activity Day store.  The girls have been earning Activity Day money for a while now and they were ready to spend their money.  Alex and I bought different things for the girls to buy at the Activity Day store.  Then we put price tags on the items and placed them in the shop. 



  

Of course they needed a shopping basket to shop.  I used Easter baskets and I attached labels with the store name.  I also put the same label on a decorative paper bag.  My mom and I found the cutest bags at Zurchers party store for only .99!  After the girls purchased their items we put their things in the bag.

I wish I had taken a picture of the store fully stocked, but I forgot.:(  I am just glad I got this picture.

 I am so grateful for my calling.  I love being with the girls and we always have so much!  I can't wait to show you the pictures of our Daddy/ Daughter activity in February and the Mother/ Daughter activity.



Preschool Week of January 19th

This week we learned about the letter H.  We read the H words book.

We did our H rainbow writing. 

 

 We put together shapely snowmen on the magnet board.

 

Adam loves books!  After the read aloud he wanted to look at the book again.:) 

 

We did the hands and feet car for our Rule Train.

 

 The girls were so excited to take their trains home to show their families.

 

 The girls also took home their first take home bag.  They could not wait! I use these for homework.  Each bag has a game or activity for them to complete with their mom or dad.  I had my kindergarteners take one home each week as well.  The kids LOVE these bags.  I am still working on the Preschool Take Home Bag set, but if you are interested in the Kindergarten Take Home Bag set you can check it out here.

On Thursday...
I finally took a picture of what the girls do when they come to school.  They find their seasonal cutout with their name on it and put it under the school picture.  If a student is absent it goes under the home picture. 

 

For our alphabet paint book we stamped cookie cutter hearts.

We talked about penguins.  Then we sorted them by 4 different kinds of penguin.  This came from Play to Learn Polar Animals pack.  You can find it here.  The girls loved looking at the pictures of the different penguins.

 

Then we played with some penguins in a tub of water and ice blocks.  I just filled a gallon and a sandwich size Ziploc baggie with water the night before to make the ice blocks.

 

Of course we had to make a cute penguin craft.:)  The girls sponge painted the white body.  When that dried we added the other parts of the penguin.

I think the highlight of the week was learning about penguins. :)