Shell Pets

We had a lot of fun playing with shells this week. The book Marcel the Shell with Shoes on Things About Me was a great way to introduce our shell pet activity. Marcel has a very unique look and the book is funny to read as he explains what he does around the house. After reading the book Little Bit painted her shells. Originally I planned to paint 2 but she wanted to paint more. That night while we were out on a date she talked the babysitter into painting even more! So we have a several painted shells.

The shells turned out great! Little Bit only wanted two of the shells to have eyes. Little Bits babysitter showed her how to add sand to the shells after painting them, which added a fun texture. I love our babysitter! We also have a box that Little Bit decorated as a house for our shell pets.

 Painting our shells was Little Bits favorite thing we did all week. What fun things have your done with shells?

Train Books

We just finished up T is for Trains Unit. Little Bit loved playing and reading about trains. Below is a list of books that we read as we learned all about trains. There are fiction and non-fiction books included on the list. Little Bit enjoyed the non-fiction as much as the fictional books. The books range from ACB books, rhyming, informational, and classic story books.

The Little Engine that Could is a classic story. Little Bit loved the story and that the train was a big helper. Totally Tots has a few ideas that you can use when reading the book.

Trains Steaming! Pulling! Huffing! This is a book that shows what a train does and its parts.

Steam Train, Dream Train perfect for bedtime story time.

The Goodnight Train is another fun book to read as your little one is getting ready to go to sleep.

Seymour Simon's Book of Trains is full of facts that older kids will love. Little Bit enjoyed looking at the pictures and matching the train pictures to trains she found in other books.

Train Trip is about a little boy that takes the train to visit his grandfather.

I'm Fast! A train races a car to Chicago. Check out the book to see who is the fastest.

The Train Goes Clickety-Clack is a fun book to read and listen to the sounds a train makes. The book also explains what the train does.

All Aboard ABC This non-fiction book was Little Bits favorite. She loved the pictures and explained to me what she had seen on Thomas that was in the book. Bonus - it is an ABC book!

Hey Mr. Choo-Choo Where Are You Going? This book have a great rhyme to it and fun pictures.

Freight Train is a simple read with bright color cars. I enjoy the pictures in this book, they are so bright and gives the feel they are moving. You can also find lots of ideas to use with this book at Virtual Book Club for Kids. 

 All Aboard! is a easy read with great pictures of real trains. Little Bit liked the pictures and the sounds the of the train you make as you are reading.

Trains, Cranes and Troublesome Trucks is one of many Thomas the Train books you can read. Thomas the train is a favorite of Little Bit. This is a story about the troublesome trucks that cause the trains to wreck.

Prairie Train is a sweet story about a little girl taking a train across the prairie to visit her grandmother in the city. The story has a rhyme and good description of all the things that happen on the train ride. As we read this book Little Bit talked about how she rides in a car to see Grandma not a train. For older kids you can discuss how train rides were different in the past compared to train rides now.


There are many more train books that are available that were not included in the list. I would love to know what books are your favorite. What train book does your little one love?

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

If you have not read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to your little one, you should! Little Bit had not read the book before and when I read it to her she loved it. As we read she just started at the pages like it was the crazies thing she had ever heard, sometimes she would say "that is SILLY!".

It's Raining Food!

After reading the book we practiced catching dinner as it "rained" food. As the food rained down I would ask what was for dinner. Little Bit loved catching the food and wanted to take turns making it rain. This was a great activity for practicing catching and throwing. I found this awesome idea on the blog Chicken Babies.

Food Umbrella

We made a umbrella with food falling all around. When I told her what we were making she was so excited to play with an umbrella inside the house. It is the little things that excite kids. Little Bit enjoyed running around as it rained food all around her.

Bread Houses

Little Bit came up with our last activity all by herself. At the end of the book the town's people use bread to build new houses. This was her favorite page, she went back and looked at this page many times. After catching food and making our food umbrella Little Bit asked me, "Mommy, can we make bread houses?" I love when her imagination is working! So we pulled out some bread and used peanut butter as glue. Most of the "glue" was eaten, but Little Bit built an awesome house!

Counting in the Garden and Butterflies

 

 

We are currently in the process of moving so we have not had a normal routine at all. We did recently read the book Counting in the Garden. If you have never read this book you should! The illustrations are beautiful and it is a look-and-find counting book. As we read the book Little Bit worked on pointing and counting.
 
We then created the butterfly that you see below with small bits of scrapbook paper. Little Bit was able to practice cutting and using a glue bottle. I love how the butterfly turned out!
 

 

 

With the move I have not been able to do more with the book but I have a few ideas to use with this book.

• Use insect and animals figures or pictures and count out how many are found on each page.
• Create a garden with flowers and plants cut from construction paper and hide the different insects and animals in the picture.
• Create each of the animals and insects.
• Visit a local garden (or your own garden) and look for the animals that were in the book.

 
This is a list of gardening activities and crafts from other blogs.

• No Time For Flash Cards has a list of 23 crafts and activities that focus on the garden.
• Happy Hawkins has cute ideas for felt gardening play sets.
• No Time For Flash Cards has another great idea for practicing patterns and counting.
• Fantastic Fun & Learning as a fun the gardening sensory bin.

 
 

Ocean Animal Play

 

A few weeks ago we went to the beach and ended up on a section of beach that had tons of shells of all sizes. The teacher/mommy in me was so excited and spent most of the morning filling sand buckets with shells. It was worth it because we now have a wonderful collection of shells that Little Bit can play with.

 

Our next theme will be water, ocean, rivers, ice, rain, etc. I ordered a pack of ocean animals to go with the theme and have been excited to pull them out.  Even though I had not planned to use them yet I decided to setup a ocean play area. To setup I filled the water table with water and added a few shells. Then placed all the ocean animals on Little Bits new buggy board.

 

 

 

We spent some time talking about different animals and if they lived in the water only or lived on land too. Our set of animals had three of each animal and Little Bit decided that all the animals should be with their family. All the animals were put into groups (sharks, fish, whales, etc) by the time we finished. Little Bit used several bowls and cups along with the water table as homes for the animals.

 

 

 

 

There are lots of fun stories about ocean animals, these are a few of the ones that we like.

 

1. The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler

2. A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle

3. How Deep is the Sea? by Anna Milbourne

4. Don't Eat the Teacher! by Nick Ward

5. Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae, David Wojtowycz

6. Tickly Octopus by Ruth Galloway

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday Books

This week Little Bit turned 3! It has been a busy, busy week celebrating. To help celebrate Little Bits birthday I checked several books out of the library about birthdays. Three of the books were Little Bits favorite and we read them over and over. Below are the books that we loved reading over the past week.

1) Big Birthday by Kate Hosford

 

Big birthday is a fun story about a girl that is tired of ordinary parties and decides to have her party on the moon. A party on the moon sounds like fun until it is time to light the candles. The story has a great rhyming pattern and cute story.

 

 

2) When You Take a Pig to a Party by Kristina Thermaenius

 

 

This is a fun crazy story about a pig going to a party. There is a cause and effect theme and lots of messes. When we read this book Little Bit would always say "That is silly!"

 

 

3) Best Birthday Party Ever by Jennifer LaRue Huget

 

 



 

Imagine the best party our have ever been to and it will come nothing close to the party this little girl is planning. As she counts down to her big day the party grows bigger and bigger. You will need to read this one to see if all her dreams come true. 

Noah's Ark Activities

 

 

 Noah's Ark

 

Little Bit and I have been reading, playing and learning about Noah's Ark for the past few weeks. This fit into out animal theme summer perfectly. I created a background and cut the ark out of white paper. Little Bit loved cutting strips of brown paper into small pieces of "wood" to glue to the ark. We covered the ark with the strips of "wood" and put the ark on the background.  

 

We added foam animals to complete our ark. Little Bit found two of each animal and put them next to each other around the ark. This is our finished ark.

3D Noah's Ark

I found a printout that makes a 3D ark when folded. It was printed on cardstock so that it would hold up. Little Bit colored it, then we cut and glued it together. The 3D ark can be found at Sunday School Kids.

Noah's Ark Book

We used the books below as we talked about Noah's Ark. There are many other great books available but these books were the ones that our library had and best fit our needs.

 

Gail Gibbons - Virtual Book Club Linkup

My friend at Fantastic Fun & Learning is part of a monthly Virtual Book Club, this month we are reading book's by Gail Gibbons. This goes perfectly with our summer long animal theme. We spent the week talking and reading about snakes and had fun with lots of different snake activities. I would of loved to have a real snake for Little Bit to watch all week but my husband would of probably moved out for the week. :)

Decorate a Snake with Leaves

I cut out a snake and we used dead leaves to decorate it. Before we started we read several books about snakes. Hannah loved looking at the pictures and was fascinated to learn that snakes live in trees.

Our leaf snake will be added to our animal wall.

Button Snake

We practiced our fine motor skills with a button snake. The idea came from Fun & Engaging Activities for Toddlers. I sowed a button to one end of a ribbon and a piece of fabric to the other. Then cut small squares with a small slit large enough for the button to fit through.

Little Bit enjoys practicing with the button. We also used this to practice patterns. Somehow both times I snapped pictures of Little Bit playing she was in her PJ's :) 

We read lots of books about snakes. Little Bits favorites were My Snake Blake, Lizard's Home and Hide and Snake.

4th of Juy Activities

 

4th of July is a fun holiday for us, it is a summer holiday with fireworks and it is just a few days before Little Bit's birthday. We are planning lots of fun things to celebrate the 4th of July this year. Below is a list of the activities, books and sensory play that I found with a 4th of July theme.  

 

 

Montessori Activities for 4th of July

 

The site Gift of Curiosity has a post that includes several activities such as sorting, matching, and fine motor skills. We will use several of the activities.

 

 

 

Pom-Pom Fireworks

 

Sense of Wonder has a fun art project using pom-poms to make fireworks.

 

 

 

 

Cookie Cutter Star Art

 

Not Time for Flash Cards uses star cookie cutters as stamps, this is so simple and fun.

 

 

 

 

Footprint Flag

 

A fun, messy, and patriotic art activity from Coffee Cups and Crayons.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sensory Bins

 

Shaving Cream and Fireworks

 

4th of July Sensory Bin

 

4th of July Sensory Tub

 

July Sensory Bin and Playdough