Letter of the Week- Letter T

Turtles, Trains, andTigers, oh my.  Wait, that's not how it goes.  Whatever.  Letter T week was TERRIFIC!  Click on the link below for our curriculum and check out the pictures to see how much fun we had.  

Also, I keep forgetting to add in our activities for spiritual disciplines, but I get all my ideas from http://ministry-to-children.com/.  They have actual lesson plans for sunday school and I just modify them to fit our needs in our home.  Some things are super simple such as hand gestures to do with your kids while reading the passage or free printable color pages.  Anyway, you should check it out.

Handwriting practice.

Counting our fingers and toes.  How about that, there are 20!

We played a review game for number 20 week.  I would call out a number and Addi had to find it on the paper and trace it.  She was being kind of particular that day and wanted to use a different color for each number.

Wiping down the table with a towel.  She was so excited because it just seemed like everything began with the t sound.

T is for Trains.

We took a trip to the park to ride the train.  Addi thought it was neat that even tracks and tickets started with the letter T.

Someone is just a little excited.  What do you think?

Capital T train tracks.

We made 20 train cars from construction paper.  I would call out a number and Addi had to add that many cars to the train.  We played this about 7-8 times before she was tired of crawling around on the cold floor in her skirt.  

T is for Turtle.  We obviously found the jackpot in books with the Franklin series.  Addi really liked those a lot.  Her Daddy read most of them to her on his day off.  In fact, I believe they read for an entire hour straight.

To make our turtle, first, Addi put some green dots on a coffee filter.

Then she sprayed it with water and watched how the green leaked across the entire surface.

Finally, she added some legs and a head to complete the turtle.

We made another turtle with a paper plate.  We folded it in half, filled it with newspaper (although it doesn't look quite full enough), stapled the open edges, and decorated it.  Later Josiah played with it like it was an actual toy.  I thought it was sweet.

Next, we played a counting game.  I laminated a picture of a turtle and then wrote a number on it.  Addilyn had to count out the correct number of "turtle eggs" (marbles) and place it in the dish beside the turtle.  I originally wanted to hide the marbles in a small bowl of sand to make it more of a sensory activity but we didn't have any sand and I was not going to make a run to the store for this one activity. Oh well, next time.

T is for Tiger.

We've had this puzzle for awhile but I thought it was a little too complicated for her so I had never pulled it out.  I was wrong. She put it together with no trouble at all.

Here is our lowercase letter t.  We wanted to give it tiger stripes so we used a piece of orange foam, put strips of painters tape over it and then painted it black.

After it dried we removed the tape and we have are terrific tiger-striped letter t.

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Feed the Mouse

This might be my favorite busy bag game I've made in a long time.  It's not that it is especially challenging for my kids, but I just think it's cute.  Ha ha.  I cut a circle and some "cheese" squares out of yellow foam.  I attached the circle to the back of the cheese di-cut with a simple brad.  Next, I cut out a circle in the di-cut and wrote in numbers on the the foam.  As you turn the wheel ask your child to feed the mouse the correct pieces of cheese according the the number showing.

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Counting Cards

This is another really easy busy bag to make.  You can use card stock, index cards, construction paper, or whatever you want.  You draw a numeral (or use a sticker like I did) on one set of the cards and draw pictures or use stickers on the other set of cards.  The goal is to get your child to count and match the cards together correctly.  I only made this set up to five but you can go as high as you would like.  Also, you could add a set where the number is spelled out (i.e. one, two, three, etc.).

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Egg-citing Games

Who knew a dozen plastic eggs could provide so much entertainment?  This set has instructions for seven different games!  Yep SEVEN!!!  

I bought a pack of 36 bold plastic eggs and another pack of pastel plastic eggs for $1.98 each.  You don't have to buy that many eggs but I was planning on making some sets for a few of our friends and I also wanted some left over eggs for some Easter activities. 

I typed up some simple directions and printed them on index cards, which fit perfectly in the top portion of the egg carton.  The first three games are super simple.  To clarify the 3rd game, the child would match the dark purple and light purple, the dark pink and light pick, etc.

Game 1

The last four games require a few extra components.  You can use whatever manipulatives you want.  I just used some things I had lying around the house.  Just make sure if you have a little one who is still putting things in their mouth that you pick larger objects.

Game 4

Game 5

Game 6

Game 7

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We love because God first loved us!

Most people in our culture could not tell you the history or origin of Valentines.  Most would not know the story of St.Valentine who was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers and ministering to Christians being persecuted under the Roman Empire.  Most would not know that the day was also celebrated as a fertility festival with rather risqué elements that I won't go into here. However, to most individuals, Valentines has become a day to celebrate the idea of love.  Weather it's flowers, candy, a nice dinner these things are meant to be shared with those who are special to you.  So, regardless if it's origins are nobel or revolve around pagan rituals, and despite our societies transformation of the day into a "Hallmark holiday," in our house we celebrate Valentines as a day to focus on LOVE.  True love.   Love that comes from the Creator God himself!  Last year, when Addi was one we told her over and over again "God is Love"  (1 John 4:8).  This year our verse was 1 John 4:19, "We love because God first loved us."  We made a point to teach Addilyn that the only reason we can love others is because God has shown us love.    Some other verses we read together and tried to live out included:

• Deut 6:5- Love the Lord your God with all your heart!
• 1 Cor 13:4a - Love is patient, love is kind. (This is how we can put love into action)
• Matthew 22:36-29  Which is the great commandment? “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (This is why we sent cards to others and hosted a party)

Here are pictures from our fun week trying to remember God's love for us and striving to love others from the overflow. 

These were cards we sent to grandparents and great grandparents.  On my mom's side of the family we always used the sign for "I love you" when leaving the house so when I saw this idea on Pinterest I couldn't pass it up!

This was the card we sent to Addi's great-great grandmother! Underneath all the pieces there really is a heart, I promise.  ;)

Addilyn made a heart butterfly to give to her Daddy.  So sweet!

Some of our friends who live pretty far away are going through a tremendous life change in their family by taking in a few foster children who desperately need love.  We collected letters, notes, and scriptures from others who knew them before they moved and put it into a Valentines care package. 

This is our Valentines morning breakfast tradition.  We LOVE cinnamon rolls in our house!

Addi and Siah had almost 20 friends coming over for their Valentines party so I thought we needs a few yummy treats to share with everyone.  Here is a homemade heart-shaped cookie cake.  I was so gooey when  took it out of the oven and began to crumble on the left side, but my oh my did it taste good.  

There was at least one friend who could not eat chocolate so of course I had to make another dessert so he could have some too, right?  It gave me a great excuse to make a homemade red velvet cake with homemade cream cheese icing.  I love baking, but feel I need excuse to do it.  This was my chance!

Since the party started around 10:00 I thought it might be good to have a few breakfasty items.  This was my attempt at at tray of raspberry danish bites and heart-shaped wild berry muffins. I think the muffins turned out rather silly looking, but oh well.

We had a fruit bowl full of heart-shaped strawberries and bananas.

Addi was thrilled to decorate for her party. She put decorations on the table...

...and sprinkled silk flower petals and heart garland all along the food counter.

For lunch, I could not pass up the opportunity to provide bagel pizzas with heart-shaped pepperonis.  So fun!

All the children helped make cards for a few ladies in our neighborhood.  They colored and used tons of stickers to really make the cards stand out.  I wish I would have taken pictures of a few of them.  They really were beautiful.  In addition to craft time, we also had game time.  I had made some Valentines busy bags for Addilyn and Josiah to play with and I pulled them out at the party to keep some of the kids entertained.  All in all I think everyone had a good time.

Heart size and color matching. 

Broken heart sticker counting.

Size sorting.

Cookie cutter match.

Candy heart pattern matching.

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