The Letter A

A is for APPLE!!

Today is the first day of SUMMER vacation!! Kenna and I are starting off a new round of Letter of the Week, and this time, I've decided to post a few of our ideas. Kenna is 28 mos old now, and I am going to try and keep all activities geared towards 1-2 year olds. We also do themes each month, and I'll try to post some of those activities as well. (All the while keeping in mind that I am 39 weeks 2 days pregnant today, and also have a 9 month old son to keep track of!)

Introduce the letter:
We talked about the letter A and signed it. She's a whiz at signing her letters, so that was easy and confirmed that we both knew what we were talking about.


Writing:Using a letter A outline I printed, we practiced writing an A. Then we traced it a couple more times for fun. Then we traced it again. And again. I used dots to show her where to start and stop the crayon. I held her hand for about 5 attempts, and then it was on to the infamous" DO MYSELF."

Stamping: Next we stamped a capital A stamp all over an A that I drew with a Sharpie. (We also stamped all over the table, and our face, and our little brother...) I love those giant washable ink pads- I got mine for $5 each at Hobby Lobby, and they are perfect for little people! The A stamp is part of an alphabet stamp set I bought a million years ago on clearance.


Cutting: Scissor time! Kenna is a whiz at scissors now, so I let her cut out the A shape. She did a pretty good job, and I tried not to be a control freak about it. (Tape can fix anything, don't forget!)


Lastly, I gave her a bottle of glue and let her squeeeeeze glue all over the back of the A. (first time with this... normally I give her a small bowl with a puddle of watered-down glue to use with a paint brush.) We really glued that A down, smooshing the paper with fingers, hands and elbows. (Great motor skills at work here!)

Other activities:
We read 10 Apples up on Top by Dr. Suess after nap and shared a Red Delicious apple for snack.

We made it through our first Monday! First day of summer school was a success!

I am planning to buy a binder so that we can make an alphabet book this year and save all of our artwork. I'm thinking three ring notebook with clear page protectors. Any other ideas?