Homeschool: The Letter A {crafts, preschool, toddler activities, apple, alligator, acorn}


Our first week! I was blown away by so many things this week. The sense of pride I saw in my little man's face was priceless. He was thrilled with each new accomplishment and project, and wanted more, more, more! He has grown by leaps and bounds in just one week of more structured learning time, and I find myself constantly amazed at what he is capable of.

I struggled a bit here and there. It is challenging to keep my "teacher hat" on, and to keep my "mom hat" tucked away. Of course I want to keep Camden on task, but I also want him to enjoy his time "at school." I try to be conscious of the subtle differences because, well, it's important.

Because he's not quite four, my goal for this year has been to keep things light. If he isn't "on" for a couple of days, we step back and do a couple of extra crafts instead. I encourage him to finish what he has started {no throwing in the towel half way through that worksheet!}, but if he isn't taking to an activity, we find a stopping point and save it for another day.

Anyway--those activities I'm sure you're eager to see.

Each week, we will repeat some activities. For example, these letter templates. Camden begins each week by filling in the circles with circular color-coding labels. Dot markers, or bingo markers, would also work. While he's filling in the stickers, we talk about the letter. We practice making the sound(s) the letter makes, and we list a few words that begin with the letter. I found that keeping the chatter light and simple was the best way to keep his attention.

We also tear the appropriate letter page from another workbook I bought at Target, made by Mead. This week, he was really eager to do a few additional worksheets, so I used Pinterest and google to find things I thought he would enjoy.

Letter-specific activities we enjoyed...

A is for Apple Paper Plate Craft


Paint a paper plate red, then glue apple seeds near the center or draw seeds with a marker or crayon. Cut a leaf shape from green construction paper, and a stem from brown paper, and attach with a glue stick.

A is for Apple Mosaic


Draw or print an apple shape. Cut or tear small pieces of paper from red construction paper, and attach with a glue stick. Repeat with green paper. Fill in the stem by repeating the paper process, or use a marker like my little guy did. Cut out the entire shape {renewing the apple shape, if your child's torn paper went over the edges}, and glue to another piece of paper, if desired. Use letter stamps to stamp the word "apple" above the image.

A is for Alligator Letter Craft


Cut a large letter A from green paper. Cut small triangles for the teeth, and small circles for the eyes. Attach the pieces to turn the letter A into an alligator. Stamp the word "alligator" on the picture, if desired.

A is for Acorn Mosaic


Draw or print an acorn shape, and then tear or cut brown paper into small pieces. Attach the pieces using a glue stick. At this point, Camden chose to fill in the white spaces with brown marker. Cut out the entire shape, then glue to another piece of paper.

5 comments:

  1. Love the creativity. Teaching my kids a is for apple and this sure will help for activity class :) :) thank you for sharing! :D

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  2. Christina--I am loving this homeschool series, by the way. It is seriously awesome, and I'm following along with Ainsley. Just wanted to say thanks!!

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    1. Thanks Becca! I'd love to see crafts you make and things :)

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  3. i like this idea of the book...my gbabies love books, i could see them getting into this and the fun in making it.

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