Pinecone Art

Today we collected pinecones and painted them for Christmas and Thanksgiving.

Using a cardboard tray we rolled the pinecones in paint.  We had fun talking about the colors and using action words such as "roll".   

These will look nice on our mantel for the holidays.

Creating Counting Cards

We have been focusing a lot on early math skills.  It is important to be counting many different times through out the day so we count stuffed animals and whatever motivates.   I made these cards to add a little variety.

I placed stickers on a paper, drew a circle for the milk cap and laminated it.  

 Using a Sharpie I wrote numbers on milk caps.

  Adeline then places the correct number to the card.

Counting and Quantities for Preschoolers

 We have been working on counting and learning quantities.  Here are some of the activities we have been doing.

1.  Matching milkcaps to circles on filefolders

2.  Spelling numbers - I found these wonderful templates at Confessions of a homeschooler.  I use our foam magnetic letter along with this activity. 

3.  Counting Strip -  OK, I know this looks a bit ragged and it is.  I started with a sentence strip and every week or so I add another.  We count through these number every day. 

4.  Counting animals -  I lay out some of our beany babies and Adeline counts them.

5.  Making Marks -  I had some left over laminated pieces so I write a number, and Adeline makes that many marks with her dry erase pen.

6.  Magna Doodle Counting-  I write a number on our magna doodle and Adeline uses a refrigerator magnet to count out the correct quantity,

7.  Counting Bears -  Again I found these templates at Confessions of a homeschooler

8.  Fine Motor Counting -  Counting beans while we drop them into a bottle.

 

3 of Our Favorite Gross Motor Activities

 

 Everyday I try to do some gross motor activities with Adeline.  We always crawl and hang from a monkey bar but here are a few others that we try to add in.

1.  Stand up, Sit down - I stack a pile of our mats to create a stool.   I hold an animal in the air and Adeline will stand up to grab the animal and sit down and throw it in a basket.  This activity works her legs and core.    

   

                                       

2.  Scooter Pull - Adeline sits on the scooter, grabs an animal and I pull her across the room to throw her animal into the box.   

 3.  Step, Step Throw - I create two steps with our mats.  Adeline will choose an animal step across the steps and throw her animal in.  Then back to get another animal.

As you can see we have many beany babies.  Whenever I see one at a yard sale I grab it.  They are very motivating for all our activities.