Preschool Corner – April 25, 2010

M is 3.5 years old.

This was a pretty laid back week.  We’ve had a bird theme going on, but I’ll wait until we’ve finished all our activities before (hopefully) including them all in one Preschool Corner post.
Here are some of the other things we’ve done…

Fine Motor Skills:
Tweezing pom poms into a vase:


Building with a pipe connector toy.  This is actually a game, called Pipeline, that I found at a thrift store for next to nothing.  I thought it would make a great fine motor activity, and M loves it!

Literacy:
I set out a mini ABC foam puzzle for M.  He likes to link these together in one long line.  I try to get him to do it in alphabetical order, but that’s really hit or miss at this point. :)

He did great with matching up these rhyming cards (from Prekinders):



He put together these little sticker scenes by matching the letters on the stickers to the letters on the paper.  I made these for him a long time ago to do on a car trip.  We just never got around to them.  He really enjoyed them this week.  To see more about this, go here.

And one morning I found him “reading” a few books to his trucks. :)  So sweet! 
Sensory, Practical Life, and Art:
We are fortunate to have a breezeway in our home (kind of like a 3 season porch, but it runs from the front of the house to the back); when it was too cold to go out one day I set him up in the breezeway on a towel with this messy little project:
This was scooping and pouring practice for him.  He placed the funnel into a bud vase, then used the ice cream scoop to scoop and pour the colored sand into the funnel. 
He quickly realized how neat the layers looked and it turned into an art experience too:  
Then, of course, he wanted to do more with the sand so I gave him some glue and colored paper and he made these:

For more Preschool Corner posts and ideas go here!

Have a beautiful day! :)

Books of the Week – Don Freeman

M has named Corduroy, by Don Freeman as his favorite book since we first read it almost 2 years ago.   I’m sure everyone reading this knows about Corduroy, the bear with the missing button, who wants to find a home and a friend.  He is very loveable. :)
Recently we picked up Dandelion at the library.  We both enjoyed this book about being authentic and not worrying too much about appearances.  “Be who you are” books are always a big hit around here. :)  I didn’t realize until later that it was also written by Don Freeman!

Then Vanessa, over at  Silly Eagle Books mentioned Beady Bear, also by Don Freeman in this blog post.   Of course we had to find it!  It’s an adorable story of another toy bear and his silly experiment in living like a real bear.

We were having such luck with Freeman’s books that I looked online and put another one of his books on hold for us – Earl the Squirrel.  We read it this past week.  Without a doubt, this one is my favorite Don Freeman book (of what we’ve read so far).  Earl is spoiled by a little girl named Jill and has no idea how to get his own acorns, which irks his mama to no end.  Eventually he ends up getting some acorns on his own in a very unusual way.  It’s just a cute, funny story.  And well, who wouldn’t love a squirrel named Earl, right? :)

For more book reviews, check out Natalie’s blog carnival at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns!
Have a beautiful day! :)