Jelly Bean Graph

Sawyer loves jelly beans, so I knew I needed to think of some way to incorporate them into a lesson. I decided to teach Sawyer how to make a graph. This was the first time I had ever done this with him and it went really well. First, I let the boys separate the jelly beans by color. They each snuck one to eat.
Then I showed Sawyer how to put the beans on the graph. He counted them as he did this.
Next, he colored in the graph. The last thing we did was look at the graph and talk about what color we had the most and fewest of.

I let the boys eat one of each color, so Jaxon was happy with that.

Eggcelent Colors and Shapes

I love this time of year. I love the beautiful weather, flowers, and colors. I bought some plastic eggs and other Easter materials the other day. There are so many activities I can use them with.
First, I played a color match game with Jax. I put colored paper at the bottom of these ramekins and had him match the colored egg to the paper. He did a great job with this. He got them all right on the first try and was so proud of himself.
Next, I let him put the eggs in the spoon and drop them into the containers. Sawyer did this once too. It was really easy for him, but still fun.
For Sawyer I filled the eggs with pictures of shapes and hid them around the house while he was sleeping. I could have done letters, numbers, or really anything. I had him find the egg and then tell me what was inside.

Bunny Ears

Last week the boys and I worked on the letter x. We talked about xylophones and x-rays. I didn't take any pics. The only letters we have left to review are y and z. This week I decided to focus on Easter activities. Tuesday I helped the boys make bunny ears. I found the idea here. We also sang, "do your ears hang low?"
First, they colored construction paper with chalk.

Then while I cut the paper into headbands, they glued cotton balls onto the ears.

I stapled them all together. I think I put the ears on backwards, but they didn't care.

Then we hopped around the house pretending to be bunnies. Jax and Sawyer practiced wiggling their noses like little bunnies.

A little bit of T, U, and W

Wow! I have really slacked lately. We have been so busy with vacation, sickness, and just life lately. We have done a few things, but like I said I have really slacked. A couple of weeks ago we talked about the letter t. We had a scavenger hunt around the house. I hid things that started with the letter t and the boys found them. One day I read a book about tigers and we played a tiger game.

We also painted with toothbrushes and toothpaste. The boys loved this.

This week we moved on to the letter u. There wasn't much to do with the letter u. We read books about u and made an umbrella. I also started the letter W and we talked about weather. It was a good week for umbrellas and weather, because it rained all week.

One day the boys made clouds with glues and cotton balls. The top one is Jaxon's. He kept trying to taste the glue, but he did a pretty good job.

This next week is spring break, so we probably won't do much.

More Valentine Fun

I love Valentine's Day! I think I had more fun than the kids did this week. One day when they were napping I made these cupcakes. They enjoyed the surprise when they woke up.

The boys also made this paper flower one day. They colored it and I cut it out and helped them glue the pieces on.The pieces weren't straight at all, but I love them that way. I don't really like their artwork to look too perfect. I want them to have fun and for their work to display what they can do. Of course I help with cutting and things like that, but I try to always let them do as much as they can by themselves.



Then today I just let the boys go wild and make Valentine's. I got out paper, stickers, paint, and markers. Jax made 2 and Sawyer made 4 and would have made more if I would have let him.

Veggies and Valentines

I decided to skip a couple of letters and do letter V this week, since Valentine's Day is this Saturday. I introduced letter V on Monday. It was probably a good idea anyway, because V and U are really the only letters Sawyer gets mixed up sometimes. He knows the V sound, but sometimes he confuses the V with a U or and A. I put paper vegetables all over the living room and told the boys to pick the veggies. They put them in baskets and then we sorted them.

The boys had so much fun making Valentine's this week. I cut out hearts and had them glue red tissue paper to it.

They also made paper hugs. I found the idea here.

They painted the hearts and I cut them out. I helped Sawyer and Jax glue the faces and arms on. Sawyer said he wanted to give his hug to Jax.

Letter S

This week we talked about the letter S. Our theme for the week was snow. We didn't really get started until Wednesday. Both boys decorated the letter S with snowballs (cotton). They also had a snowball fight with cotton balls. We did this twice this week, because they enjoyed it so much. Sawyer also made a snowman with hectagons.
Thursday Sawyer painted with a mixture of shaving cream and white glue. This was a great sensory activity. I told him to paint with the snow however he wanted. When it was dry it smelled like shaving cream and felt soft like snow. Jax played with shaving cream while he did this and when Sawyer was finished he joined in. This kept them busy for about half an hour.
Sawyer's bible verse was "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want." We read several stories about David this week. On Friday I had Sawyer paint a shepherd's staff. I let him paint a paper bag and then I cut it out. I wrote his verse on a piece of paper and glued the staff to it.

I let Jax play with water and sponges while we did this. He had a blast. Again, Sawyer joined him and they had a great time.