Preschool at Home - Week 7

Riley and I had a lot of fun this week! There are so many things to learn about plants and just as many activities to reinforce the concepts. In case you didn't catch last week's post, our theme is plants for the second week in a row. We repeated the topic because I accidentally forgot to discuss our shape last week. This week wasn't much better, but we did talk about rectangles here and there. We also did a rectangle lighthouse craft made form construction paper, but I totally forgot to snap a picture of that when we were taking our pictures today. It didn't go with our theme anyway so it wouldn't have gone with the post. Riley has the letter of the week down, but she still says "P for Papa!!" Every time she sees one. Since Riley thought she was the vine last week, we switched our verse to Matthew 13:37: ... He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man.

We have definitely enjoyed watching our "grass heads" grow their luscious locks. If only my hair (and Riley's, for that matter) would grow as fast we'd be in business. These pictures were taken today and we planted the grass seeds two weeks ago this coming Monday. The seeds were barely sprouting when I posted last week, but look at the grass now! On a side note, Riley thinks it's the funniest thing in the world to pretend that she's eating the blades of grass. I'm thinking she takes after her daddy.

We talked about insects and animals living in plants again this week. We did this handprint/fingerprint picture one day after our discussion. Riley really enjoyed this one. Since our garage is overflowing with junk a little bit cluttered, Riley and I have been doing crafts like this one on the kitchen counter. Let me tell you, I'm very glad that Crayola paints are as washable as they advertise. My counter and dishcloths would be rainbow colored by now if that weren't the case. 

After talking about the fact that many of the things that we eat grow on plants, Riley and I did this apple tree craft. We made the "leaves" of the tree by printing Riley's hand in the correct shape. The trunk is just a print of Riley's arm. For the apples, Riley used pencil eraser dipped in red paint and stamped it on the tree. 

This was probably Riley's favorite craft this week. Handprints, a flower, a dragonfly, and pink? It simply doesn't get much better than that in this two year old's eyes. We made the center of the flower by gluing poppy seeds to the paper. Sprinkling poppy seeds (or anything, for that matter) is right up there with handprints in Riley's book. Messy things seem to score big points with this girl. 

Since we have discussed plants' need for water and sunshine, we had to include sunshine in at least one of this week's projects. This was simple, but turned out really cute. We just used scrunchy basket filler from the dollar store and tissue paper to create a 3-D masterpiece. I've read that ripping and crinkling paper is good for a child's mind. If that's true, this craft definitely helped the brain cells. 

What would one of these preschool posts be without a couple bloopers from our photo shoot? I think the pictures this week definitely show Riley's personality to a T. Keeping up with this blog definitely help me take more pictures of Riley. I also snap a bunch of Caroline each weekend since she turns a new week old each Sunday. Going back and seeing these pictures and reading about what we did will be so much fun in years to come.

All in all, we had a great two weeks looking at plants. It's a topic that has a plethora of great children's books to read, lots of fun activities to do, and plenty to observe right outside your own front door. I encourage you to find some books on the topic, plant some seeds, and do some crafts that will put a smile this big on your toddler's face.

 

    Saturday Show and Tell at Cheerios & LattesSaturday Show and Share at I Can Teach My ChildMaking the World Cuter Monday at Make the World Cuter