Printable Word Family Books

These Printable Word Family Booklets are another awesome resource I recently stumbled upon. I've printed quite a few to read with B. After we read it a few times together, he "reads" it on his own and feels so proud of himself. The length is perfect for a beginning reader.

Baby Activity - Valentine Songs and Rhymes

Do You Know My Valentine?

(to the tune of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?")

Do you know my valentine?

My valentine?My valentine?

Do you know my valentine?

S/he's wearing (a/an) [color] [article of clothing].

For example, "He's wearing a gray shirt."

Found at the Holiday Zone

H-E-A-R-T

(to the tune of "B-I-N-G-O")

There is a shape;

it stands for love,

And "heart" is its name.

H-E-A-R-T

H-E-A-R-T

H-E-A-R-T

And "heart" is its name.

Found at the Holiday Zone

FIVE LITTLE VALENTINES

Five little valentines, I bought at the store.

Gave one to Mother, now I have _____.
Four little valentines, pretty as can be.

I gave one to Daddy, now I have _____.
Three little valentines, red, white and blue.

I gave one to brother, now I have _____.
Two little valentines, enough for everyone.

I gave one to sister, now I have ______.

One little valentine, what should I do?

I know what, I'll give this one to you!
~Jean Warren

Found at Preschool Express

Brown Bag Mystery - Letters

I had B pick out 3 Melissa and Doug magnetic letters and we put them into a brown paper bag. I asked him if he could reach his arm in and pick out the letter E without looking. To find it without looking, they really have to know and feel for the different characteristics of a letter.

He did it once without looking but then he refused to do it unless he could look. I stopped myself from fussing with him about it because I realized who cares if he is looking. The real goal is to have fun while identifying letters.

You could also do this activity with:

shapes,

animals,

or small toys.

No matter what is in the bag, they are following directions and thinking or looking for different characteristics.

What I would do different next time:

*Pick out the letters myself - I would start by using letters that have distinct characteristics like a T, O, and B for example. I think the M and the E were too similar for the first time with this activity.

*I would have worded the directions differently - Instead of saying "See if you can find the letter M." I would say "Use your fingers to find the letter M without looking."

*I would start with something simpler like shapes or small toys to introduce the activity before jumping in with the letters.

Linked up to:

Dot Painters

I finally bought some dot painters from Lakeshore Learning store and they are a big hit. We are addicted! Here's what we've done with them so far.....

We love using these Magnet Pages from Making Learning Fun!

They also have these Do A Dot Marker Pages but we haven't tried them yet.

Letter Searches from Prekinders

We've used them to trace letters.

We've used them to make rainbows.


What else can we do with these? We need your ideas!

Handprint Lillies Craft - Repost

We made this Handprint Paper Flowers Craft for Mothers Day last year, but I wanted to repost it because I think it would make a great Valentines Day gift.

Nursery Rhyme a Week - Printable

I stumbled upon this free, printable Nursery Rhyme A Week Instructional guide and it reminded me of when I did a Poem of the Week in my 4th grade classroom. So I decided to print a few and give it a try with B.

With each poem they've included rhyming picture cards, rhyming riddles, and lesson plans. B isn't ready for most of the skills that the lesson plans target so I decided we'd just have fun reading them everyday and B could keep adding to his own nursery rhyme book.

When we read them, I point to each word in hopes that after he has memorized them he will also start pointing to the each word and make some beginning reader connections.

To be honest, I didn't think he'd really like some of the nursery rhymes (like the two shown above) but I was wrong! He LOVES to print a new rhyme every week and put it in his "special reading book". He asks me to read them with him over and over again and I often hear him singing the rhymes on his own.

I think this is a great resource to use in whatever way that works for you and I just wanted to pass it on and tell you a little bit about how we are using it.

Baby Activity - Valentine Handprint Keepsakes

I know parents love their kids' handprint crafts regardless of their age or size of their handprint, but there's just something about an itty bitty handprint keepsake that melts my heart!
Here are a few ideas that I found online that would be so cute to use for a Valentines Day Keepsake:

Handprint Heart – from Activity Village

Handful of Love Card – from Freekidscrafts.com

Handprint Flower Scroll – from allfreecrafts.com

Handprint Heart Valentines – from craftsforallseasons.com

*Put one of these in your scrapbook.

*Make a card for the Grandparents.

*Make a gift tag.

*Scan it to use for your screensaver.

Bathtub Ice Cubes

We already use these shaped ice cube trays for making crayons, transferring ice cubes with kitchen utensils, and for Muffin Tin Monday but I'm always trying to find new ways to use them. Then, I got this brilliant idea (or so I thought) to make some to take in the bathtub for B to experiment with. I just added food coloring, froze them, and we were ready to go.

B had a great time "seeing what would happen". He was catching them with a net and all he could talk about for the rest of the night was how they melted and that we should try it again tomorrow.

So B loved this activity but Mom did NOT! It was over in seconds and I got WAY too carried away with the food coloring and panicked that it was going to stain our skin. Ha! (Does that happen?)

This is the PERFECT way to experiment with mixing colors because the bath water changes all around them. I didn't think that far ahead though when I used orange and yellow food coloring.

Linking up to:

Measuring "Worms"

B loves tools and to "do hard work" like his dad so I decided to give him a chance to use his measuring tape with this activity. I cut pieces of yarn to make "worms" in 2 inch, 4 inch, and 6 inch pieces. I felt like those lengths were easy for little fingers to handle and to tell apart if any of my measurements were a little off. I wrote the numbers on index cards so that the worms could be sorted after being measured.

This turned out to be more of a number identification activity disguised as measuring fun. I held the beginning of the yarn at the beginning of the measuring tape and B figured out which number it reached and sorted.

To modify this activity for older children, have them hunt for 3 things around the house that they think are about 5 inches long (or whatever measurement you want to use) and measure to see if they are right.

Don't have a "kid friendly" tape measurer to use? Here is a printable ruler from abcteach.com.

Going on a Letter Hunt

While B was napping one day I took these letter sticky notes and hid them all over the house. When he woke up I told him there was an alphabet mystery (referring to a favorite book) downstairs and he needed to help me solve the problem.

When he found a sticky note he would bring it to me and tell me what letter it is and what sound it makes. Then I put them in order on the counter so we could see which letters we still needed to find. After we finished, he hid them for me to find. Fun!

Don't have letter sticky notes? No problem. Make your own with regular sticky notes and leave off the picture.

Next time, I will plan ahead and stick the letters on things that start with that letter (L on the lamp, D on the door) so we can work on beginning sounds!

Baby Activity - More Winter Songs & Rhymes

I'm a Great Big Snowman
(sing to the tune of "I'm a little teapot")

I’m a great big snowman, (hold arms in a circle in front of you)
Round and fat,
Here is my scarf, (touch neck)
And here is my hat, (pat head)
When the sun gets warmer, (raise hands like the sun coming up)
I get flat,
I melt into a puddle just like that! (spread hands flat in front of you)

Found at Brooklyn Public Library Website


PRETTY SNOWFLAKES
Tune: "London Bridges"

Pretty snowflakes falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
Pretty snowflakes falling down
All through the town.
Pretty snowflakes, on the street,
On the grass, on my feet.
Pretty snowflakes falling down
All through the town.

~Jean Warren

Found at Preschool Express

Walk a Dog

B and his friend C have the best time "walking their dogs". They put leashes (or strings) on their stuffed animals and take them to the park, feed them, teach them things, etc. I realize in the picture it looks a little disturbing but it really is so much fun and has provided hours of pretend play. Give it a try!

Spelling Your Name

Blake went through a phase where he was really interested in spelling his name, our names (Mom & Dad), and our dog's name (Max). I felt like we were singing them or writing them non stop.

During this time, I gave him a pile of index cards with a letter on each one. "Here are the letters to spell your name. Can you put them in the right order? What comes first?" I also did that with each of our names and when he got really good at it, I gave him the letters for all of our names to sort through at once.

Another great idea from Teach Mama is to put the letters on sticky notes. What kid doesn't love to manipulate sticky notes?! I love they way she did it and the wording she used!

My Favorite Parenting Book

"Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood Practical Parenting from Birth to Six Years" by Jim Fay is my favorite parenting book!

When I was in the classroom we read "Teaching with Love and Logic" and it really worked for me so I gave this book a try. I bought it when B was like 6 months old (I'm not kidding!) and starting to get into things. I realized then I didn't have a plan and needed to get one.

A lot of it is common sense (a nice reminder though) and focuses on giving your child choices as often as possible, consistant dialogue to use, and empathy and consequences. There is only a small section for young babies but I've already read the entire book several times and I refer back to it every 6 months or so after a rough day.


I have not been compensated in any way for recommending this book. It has just helped me so much and I wanted to spread the word!