Are you looking for some loosely planned activities to do with your little? How about ones based on the alphabet?

I started on November 9^th with my alphabet based activity plans (you can find my previous posts linked at the end of this post). We have completed A through P. It’s been a bit of a struggle to come up with interesting activities but I’m committed to keep trying. I’m sure some weeks will be much better than others.

Either way I like the pre-planned structure and I’m sure little M likes the additional activities.

I’ve been pretty bad lately at keeping up with this. I’m having trouble coming up with interesting activities to do and my little has been sick and hasn’t been very interested in doing much which hasn’t left me very motivated.

Last week we did the letters Q and R.

• Monday we didn’t do an activity.
• Tuesday we painted with q-tips.
• Wednesday we played with ribbons.
• Thursday we watched videos about rockets.
• Friday we planned on doing activities related rain and rainbows.

This week we did the letters S and T.

• Monday we drew stars.
• Tuesday we played with sponges.
• Wednesday we coloured tulips.
• Thursday we had a tea party.
• Friday we didn’t do an activity.

A few things I learned over these past couple of weeks:

• Painting with q-tips worked better than I thought it would. Little M actually tried using them as a paintbrush. I only have finger-paints so it didn’t work the best but I think it would be great with paint meant for paintbrushes.
• Little M wasn’t very interested in the ribbons. She preferred playing with the cardboard spool the ribbon came on.
• I originally planned on making a rocket out of a paper towel roll but I’m not as crafty as I had hoped.
• Although I intended on making plans related to rain and rainbows we didn’t do anything letter related – mommy fail.
• Drawing stars was a bit of a lame activity since it really was just little M colouring randomly on a page where I drew a bunch of stars.
• Ok, new favourite toy. Little M loved sponges. She used them like blocks and build towers. She also liked taking them into the bath. I showed her how to squeeze them to suck up water, then squeeze them again to let the water out.
• Again colouring tulips was a bit of a lame activity but little M likes to colour so still fun for her.
• Tea party time. I just used cups we already had and put water into her cup but she liked pretending and any reason to have cookies is a great activity.

The post about A & B and C & D.

The post about E & F and G & H.

The post about I & J and K & L.

The post about M & N and O & P.

I thought it may be helpful to include links to my favorite sites for ideas:

• Preschool Express
• The Measured Mom
• No Time for Flash Cards

Have you planned this sort of thing to do with your little? How did you organize the activities (like I did by letter)? Do you have any other ideas for activities to do for the letters Q & R and S & T?

Are you looking for some loosely planned activities to do with your little? How about ones based on the alphabet?

I started on November 9^th with my alphabet based activity plans (you can find my previous posts linked at the end of this post). We have completed A through L. It’s been a bit of a struggle to come up with interesting activities but I’m committed to keep trying. I’m sure some weeks will be much better than others.

Either way I like the preplanned structure and I’m sure little M likes the additional activities.

I’ve been pretty bad lately at keeping up with this. I’m having trouble coming up with interesting activities to do and my little has been sick and hasn’t been very interested in doing much which hasn’t left me very motivated.

Last week we did the letters M and N.

• Monday we did an activity from the previous week – we painted using lemons and limes.
• Tuesday we made paper plate masks.
• Wednesday we had an indoor snowball fight using large marshmallows.
• Thursday we played with noodles and made noodle necklaces.
• Friday we did the same as Thursday; the little really liked it.

This week we did the letters O and P.

• Monday we searched for Oranges.
• Wednesday we played with homemade playdoh.
• Friday we had some pudding.

A few things I learned over these past couple of weeks:

• The lemon and lime painting was not worth the prep work. The little didn’t care for it.
• I learned that my little doesn’t like to wear masks or to see me wearing a mask. She was not impressed.
• She laughed when I threw the marshmallows at her but she didn’t get that she was supposed to throw them back at me. She would pick them all up off the floor then run away from me and throw them down the stairs.
• My little absolutely loved playing with dried noodles. I put a few containers and measuring spoons in a large Rubbermaid tub and filled the bottom with dried noodles. She would scoop and sort. On occasion she would try to move them from the bin onto the coffee table but would listen when I told her to return them to the tub. It was a great activity so we did it again the next day.
• I was not very good at coming up with activities for the next week but that was kind of ok since the little got sick and wasn’t too interested in doing much later in the week.
• The oranges were fun. I would hide them around the living room and she really enjoyed looking for them. I need to do this with more objects.
• It was pretty easy to make the playdoh and since it was made with Jell-O it smelled delicious. Here’s the recipe I used, it’s easy and makes great playdoh.
• Like all other things chocolate my little really liked chocolate pudding but I think she prefers straight milk chocolate or chocolate ice cream.

The post about A & B and C & D.

The post about E & F and G & H.

The post about I & J and K & L.

I thought it may be helpful to include links to my favorite sites for ideas:

• Preschool Express
• The Measured Mom
• No Time for Flash Cards

Have you planned this sort of thing to do with your little? How did you organize the activities (like I did by letter)? Do you have any other ideas for activities to do for the letters M & N and O & P?

Are you looking for some loosely planned activities to do with your little? How about ones based on the alphabet?

I started on November 9^th with my alphabet based activity plans (you can find my previous posts linked at the end of this post). We have completed A through H. It’s been a bit of a struggle to come up with interesting activities but I’m committed to keep trying. I’m sure some weeks will be much better than others.

Either way I like the pre-planned structure and I’m sure little M likes the additional activities.

A few weeks ago we did the letters I and J.

• Monday we ate ice cream.
• Tuesday we played with toy insects.
• Wednesday we played with ice (I froze some of the toy insects into a block of ice).
• Thursday we made jellyfish.
• Friday we created a jumping obstacle course.

I took a longer than expected break over the Christmas season and when I did try to start up again I had some things going on that didn’t allow me to focus. Because of this the timing of the letter activities is a bit messed up.

Last week we did the letters K and L.

• Monday we recited Old King Cole and made crowns.
• Tuesday we made a kiss painting (put on lipstick and kissed a paper plate).
• Wednesday we kicked balls.
• Thursday we painted with lemons and limes and watched a video about lions.
• Friday we skipped letter based activities (I know I’m bad).

A few things I learned over these past couple of weeks:

• She prefers chocolate ice cream over vanilla and strawberry, although I think she likes all three J.
• The toy insects were a hit and she liked that I froze them into a block of ice. I think she likes anything ice related. I should get more small toys like these.
• Although I knew that my little couldn’t do all the steps of making a paper plate jellyfish I thought she may like colouring on the plate. Nope, she was not interested. She only did a couple of scribbles before she lost interest.
• She didn’t want to wear her crown but thought mine was funny. She preferred to rip them apart.
• The lipstick “painting” didn’t hold her interest very long.
• She laughed when I kicked balls around the house but wasn’t very interested in trying to kick them back. She more into throwing lately.
• I only have finger paints so I used those with the lemons and limes. She watched me use them but was more interested in smearing the paint around than doing what I did.
• The lion video kept her interest. I should try another animal.

Here are the links to my previous posts.

The post about A & B and C & D.

The post about E & F and G & H.

I thought it may be helpful to include links to my favorite sites for ideas:

• Preschool Express
• The Measured Mom
• No Time for Flash Cards

Have you planned this sort of thing to do with your little? How did you organize the activities (like I did by letter)? Do you have any other ideas for activities to do for the letters I & J and K & L?

Are you looking for some loosely planned activities to do with your little? How about ones based on the alphabet?

I started on November 9^th with my alphabet based activity plans (you can find my first post here). We have completed A & B as well as C & D. So far sometimes it’s a bit of a struggle to come up with interesting activities but I’m committed to keep trying. I’m sure some weeks will be much better than others.

Either way I like the preplanned structure and I’m sure little M likes the additional activities.

Last week we did the letters E and F.

• Monday we watched videos of elephants.
• Tuesday we coloured pictures of faces and discussed the different parts like eyes and ears.
• Wednesday we had hard boiled eggs (always have some on hand) and made scrambled eggs.
• Thursday we coloured pictures of flowers.
• Friday we sang Old McDonald and watched videos of farm machines (little M loved heavy machines).

This week we did the letters G and H.

• Monday we pulled out everything we could find that was green.
• Tuesday we tried grapes (again).
• Wednesday we pulled out all the hats we could find and tried them on.
• Thursday we traced our hands and coloured them.
• Friday we watched videos of hippos.

A few things I learned over these past couple of weeks:

-E and F were hard letters for me. I don’t feel like I came up with anything too interesting. Maybe if I go around the alphabet again I’ll come up with something better next time.

-Little M still doesn’t care for grapes.

Please note over the week before Christmas and the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s I’ll be taking a break from these activities. This break will delay my next post until January 8^th (will be about I & J and K & L).

Have you planned this sort of thing to do with your little? How did you organize the activities (like I did by letter)? Do you have any other ideas for activities to do for the letters E and F or G and H?

Are you looking for some loosely planned activities to do with your little? How about ones based on the alphabet?

I don’t recall what prompted me. If it was something on Facebook, Pinterest or just my own brilliant thinking J but I got it in my head that I should start planning specific daily activities to do with little M rather than just winging it. Which is mostly what I’ve been doing during my leave from work and time at home with her. I say mostly because we do participate in scheduled activities like swimming and gymnastics but while at home it’s been kind of a free for all.

Even with the knowledge that my little may still be too young to really grasp the concept of the alphabet (she’s really good with identifying colours) I’ve started planning an alphabet based weekly activity plan. My plan is to schedule daily activities based on select letters covering two letters each week.

I’ve created a printable to help me keep my ideas organized but since it’s still a work in progress I won’t share it until I feel its worthy of being posted J. Based on my brainstorming ideas I selected some activities. I’ll list what we did below.

Last week we did the letters A and B.

• Monday we had some apple pie and read Ten Apples on Top.
• Tuesday we coloured airplanes and made paper airplanes.
• Wednesday we finger painted ants (well I painted ants while she made a mess, lol), and sorted buttons.
• Thursday we moved to the flight of the bumblebee, blew bubbles and made banana bread.
• Friday we searched for teddy bears and had burgers.

This week we did the letters C and D.

• Monday we planned on looking at clouds but to my surprise there were none, we also read The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
• Tuesday we made chocolate chip cookies, and made a card for dad that we coloured with crayons.
• Wednesday we sang songs about ducks while playing with rubber duckies.
• Thursday we played drums and danced to drum music.
• Friday we ate donuts and decorated construction paper donuts.

A few things I learned over these past couple of weeks:

-Although she liked the pie, cookies and banana bread I think she preferred helping mix the ingredients to actually eating them. When it comes to sweets she was much more fanatical about Halloween candy last month.

-I think we’re both enjoying having activities planned for each day. It’s only been a couple of weeks but I’m definitely going to keep this up.

-She is not quite ready for the alphabet but I know she’s a sponge and taking in everything I’m trying to teach her. It will click one day.

Have you planned this sort of thing to do with your little? How did you organize the activities (like I did by letter)? Do you have any other ideas for activities to do for the letters A and B or C and D?