F is for Frog

Letter F Tub

We put together a tub with various items that start with F. Little Bit and Friend explored the bucket and talked about each word listening for the F sound.

 
Items in the F tub:

• frog
• feather
• flashlight
• firetruck
• flower
• flip-flop
• various size letter Fs
• fish
• fox
• four and five

Frog Pond Play

We played with pretend frogs in 4 different ways. Check out my post about our frog ponds. 

Frog Books and Activities

Hop Jump by Ellen Stoll Walsh

This is a fun book about a frog that wants to dance not jump and hop. After read we practiced our frog hop and checked to see who could jump the farthest. 

I found this fun game at the Dollar Store (sweet!) that is all about jumping frogs. Little Bit and Friend loved making the frogs jump. 

999 Frogs Wake Up

This is a cute book about a sleepy frog. The books does not include counting but you could create your own counting game with this book.

Frog and Fly by Jeff Mack

Frog and Fly is like a comic book split into six parts. After reading the story Little Bit tried her hand at eating like a frog. We used small toy insects and sticky slap toys. The sticky slap toys I found were in the shape of a lizard, I think the sticky hands would of words better but the lizard did the trick this time.

Little Bit loved pretending to be a frog with a sticky tongue.

Five Green and Speckled Frogs

Five Green and Speckled Frogs Song

*the words in this video are not the exact words from the book*

We read the book and then played the song from YouTube that is listed above. As the song played Little Bit used the frogs and log I made to act out the song. 

I created 5 frogs and placed them on popcycle sticks, then used a paper towel roll as a log. The frog fit into the small holes I cut until they were ready to jump into the pool. This was an easy and simple way to act out the game and very cute. 


I hope you enjoyed reading about the fun we had as we learned and played with frogs. There are so many great ideas for playing with frogs, below are a few sites that have great ideas for playing with frogs. 

Coffee Cups and Crayons has a great post about jumping like a frog. 

Walking By the Way has a great resource for counting with frogs. 

Activity Village has a printable available for Five Green and Speckled Frogs. 

There is are many different Frog Boards for Preschoolers on Pinterest. 

Frog Sensory Ponds

 

During our F is for Frog week we had Friend and Little Friend with us everyday to play. We played everyday with our frog pond. I decided to switch things up and present the pond in a different way each day. 

Day 1 - We played with the frog pond in a tub with water, rocks, foam lily pads and frogs. Friend said he was having fun several times. Since the bin was on the floor Little friend was able to play too.

Day 2 - The next day frog pond was in our water table. The rocks, lily pads and frogs were each in separate containers so that Little Bit and Friend could arrange them like they wanted. I only put water in to one section of the table. Little Bit and Friend used the dry area as land for the frogs to sit on.

Day 3 - On day three we talked about how frogs sometimes live in the mud. I set out a tub with dirt and water table with water. Friend and Little Bit quickly started adding the water to the dirt and making mud. Little Bit was the first one to touch the mud and not long after they were hiding the frogs in the mud then digging around trying to find them. The one word they used to describe the mud over, and over again was GROSS!! If they could of jumped in like the frogs they would have. :) The dirt came from our yard so it had leaves and sticks in it which added extra fun to the digging around.

I do believe this was their favorite frog pond :)

Day 4 - On the last day we played with our frogs in green goo (Obleck). Little Bit had never played with green goo so she enjoyed dipping, scooping and burying the frogs. We did not use the rocks for this bin, just the frogs and lily pads.

We had fun playing with the frogs in different ways. Very little changed with each of the bins but Little Bit and Friend enjoyed playing and exploring the different ponds.

Red, White & Blue Shaving Cream

We today played with shaving cream, paint and glitter. I originally saw this idea on the blog No Time For Flash Cards through Pinterest. As you may have noticed from my other post I use a lot of ideas from so many fabulous bloggers. The internet is a wonderful way to share and learn about new ways to play.

I used shaving cream, red and blue paint and glitter. As I was setting up I found spice containers to use for the glitter, which let me control how much glitter was used and let Little Bit glitter al by herself. After adding the shaving cream to the container I added drops of paint then created a firework pattern with a stick. Little Bit became very curious and couldn't wait to dive in.

Little Bit spent a few minutes trying to figure out what it was and what to do with it. She was a bit hesitant but quickly was painting herself with shaving cream, mixing the paint and adding glitter. She kept saying it was sticky and was like play-dough. Next time we will do this outside so that she can sling her arms and clap. Little Bit was laughing hilariously when she clapped her hands and a big glob flew to the ground. This was a fun and messy activity.

4th of July Fun

We have been having lots of 4th of July fun his week, yes I know it is only Tuesday. We decorated the house and have been reading our 4th of July books. Little Bit is very excited to see all our family and the fireworks. Check out what we have done so far to celebrate.


Pom-pom Fireworks

We used pom-poms to create fireworks with paint. This was a quick and easy art project. I found the idea on the blog Sense of Wonder. We used small and large pom-poms the smooth ones and ones that are spikey. Little Bit dipped the pom-poms in paint and then touched them to the paper. We love finding new ways to paint.


4th of July Wands

 

 We are making fun wands for the girls in our family. They are simple to make and look so cute! We used: wooden dowels, screw eyes, and various ribbon. I was able to get all the supplies at Wal-Mart in the craft section. I was able to screw the screw eye into the dowel by hand. Little Bit then practiced her scissor skills and cut the ribbon. Next, she threaded the ribbon through the screw eye. When it was time to tie the ribbon I looped it and Little Bit pulled it tight. That is it, so easy. This fabulous idea came from the blog Buggy and Buddy.

 
4th of July Sensory Bin

Materials in our sensory bin:

• blue, red and white pom-poms
• red, white and blue necklets
• red, white and blue popsicle sticks
• blue star ice trays
• red, white and blue lays (cut apart)
• American flags
• red, white and blue glitter stars

Cookie Cutter Stars

This is another fun way to paint. Little Bit loved this, as you can see in the picture. We used three different size star cookie cutters and blue and red paint. Little Bit liked that she could stamp inside the big stars with a little stars. She also explained to me that when you put red and blue together it makes purple. This idea originally came from the blog No Time For Flash Cards.

Counting with Stars

Gift of Curiosity has a free 4th of July packet you can download with lots of fun activities inside. Little Bit loved counting the stars and finding the number they matched. Check out the packet, there are many different activities: puzzles, counting, letters, patterns, cutting, tracing, etc.

 

Sensory Bin Link-Up

My daughter loves sensory bin; she pours, scoops, and digs for hours. Sensory bins are a great way to explore a theme such as a color, holiday or topic. There is no end to how you can use sensory bins.

CrayonFreckles is hosting a sensory bin link-up with tons of great ideas for sensory bins. Hope over to her page and checkout all the amazing ways that sensory bins can be used. Below are the bins I have blogged about and the link to my Pinterest sensory board.

• Easter Bin
• Pantry Bin
• Pinterest Sensory Board

Summer of Animals

This summer we will be focusing on all things animal. Little Bit and I will be taking three different classes at the zoo that is just for preschoolers. I am excited to go to class with Little Bit, she loves animals and watching her in class should be fun.

The first class is all about how animals grow from baby to adult. The second class is all about Florida animals and the third class is about being a zoo keeper. The first class starts this week and the last class ends in August.

To prepare for talking about animals I pulled together a few things to get started:

• Animal pictures: I printed LOTS and LOTS of animal pictures. The pictures all go along with one or all of the class themes.
• Small animal figures: we can use these in many different ways.
• Animal Books: it is amazing how many animals books we had around the house.
• More will be added to this list as the summer goes on.

There are so many things that you can do with animals. Below is a list of activities we will do, this is not a complete list by any means. If you have any favorite animal activities please let me know.

Animal Activities:

• Sorting picture by air, land and water animals
• Match picture of mom and baby animals
• Math animal figures to animal picture
• Animal shape cookies to decorate
• Foam animals - decorate, play, sort, etc
• Animal print match up
• Patterns with animal figures
• Visit the zoo, petting farm, state park, etc
• Books, books and more books

This is a list of some of my favorite ideas from fellow bloggers.

• Zoo Passport: We Wilsons
• Ice Animals: Sweet Happy Life
• Zoo Hunt: Kids Activities Blog
• Build Your Own Zoo: No Time For Flash Cards
• Noah's Ark Activities
• Pretend Vet Office: Mess For Less
• Play-dough Zoo: Mess For Less
• Pinterest Animal Theme Board - the rest of the animal activities I will be using are on my Pinterest board.

Sensory Bins:

• Edible Zoo: Fantastic Fun &  Learning
• Desert Bin: Blog Me Mom
• Farm Bin: The Imagination Tree
• Artic Bin: No Time For Flash Cards

The Pantry Sensory Bin

Before Little Bit took her nap I told her we would swim in the pool. Of course when she woke up it was raining so I created the last minute Pantry Sensory Bin. I looked through the pantry and found dry goods that were expired (crazy what is hiding at the back of the pantry) and boxes that were almost empty.

Our sensory bin had the following items:

• brown and white rice
• oats
• Chinese noodles (crunchy kind)
• 4 jumbo pasta shells
• 15 bean soup
• cups
• bowls (all sizes)
• Indian spice holder (this was Little Bits favorite container)

 



The Pantry Sensory Bin kept Little Bit busy through the rainy afternoon and rainy next day. So, what is your favorite sensory bin? These are a few of my favorite from fellow bloggers.

• Marshmallow Sensory Bin- Fantastic Fun &  Learning
• Zoo Sensory Bin- Janne.C
• Artic Sensory Bin- No Time For Flash Cards
• Frozen Jell-O Sensory Play- The Imagination Tree
• Ocean Sensory Bin- No Time For Flash Cards
• Garden Sensory Bin- Fantastic Fun &  Learning

Easter Sensory Bin

Recently I put together our first sensory bin, this one is all about Easter. Everything in the bin I bought for a dollar at Wal-Mart or the Dollar Tree. When I put the bin together Little Bit immediately started asking what is was for and playing. She has loved playing in many different ways with all the different items in the bin. It is fun to watch Little Bit thinking, playing and discovering. 

What is in our bin:

Large and small eggs
Foam cutouts: shapes bunny, egg, and carrot
Grass: pink, green, purple
Buckets: mini square baskets, 2 small metal buckets, 2 large plastic buckets
Erasers: various Easter shapes
4 Bendable Bunnies
Stickers: used for matching eggs and on cutouts
Tongs


Ways we use our sensory bin:

Sorting - foam cutouts by shape, large and small eggs, foam cutouts with and without a sticker
Matching - top and bottom of eggs by stickers inside the egg
Counting - eggs, cutouts, erasers, bunnies, etc
Finger Play - bendable bunnies, grass, putting eggs together, picking up items with the tongs,
placing small eggs inside large eggs

Easter Bins that inspired me:

1. Fantastic Fun & Learning - Easter Sensory Bin
2. Mama to 4 Blessings - Easter/Spring Sensory Bin
3. Weiser Academy - Easter Sensory Bin
4. Simply Mommies - Easter Sensory Bin
5. H is for Homeschooling - Easter Sensory Bin
6. 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 - Easter Fun ~ Sensory Bin & More