The Grouchy Ladybug

I am in LOVE with these!  I'm pretty sure I smile every time I walk by and see them! We read the story  The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle and so I thought they were very appropriate to make this week especially with our insect (Letter I) theme.  They were also great for gluing practice/fine motor skill development.  

It's been all a BUZZ around here!

So everything we did this week revolved around insects including our fun art projects! These were made with bubble wrap and brown tempera paint for the hive and yellow painted fingerprints for the bees.  The kids filled in the details with a sharpie pen.  This is a partially structured art project with some instruction, but it's fun because there is still tons of room for the kids to express themselves so differently! I am just loving all the finished results! 

K is for Koolaid cube magic

This is a fun and tasty way to experiment with Koolaid ice cubes and color mixing.  To do this I froze some blue, red and yellow Koolaid into ice cube trays and then gave one cube of each color to each kid.  We poured in some sprite, said the magic words, and voila you get new colors (and flavors) which on a side note is a great & inexpensive way to have a flavored drink like the fancy drink shops that are so popular right now!  

I is for Itchy Insects

This is the insect that goes along with our action alphabet chart and is a cute easy and fun way to learn the sound the letter I makes.  We do the action by itching our body when we say the I sound. 

I is for Ice Cream

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice-cream!  We really do around here!  This was a fun snack one of our friends brought to share and it went along perfect with our icy theme! 

I is for Ice

This is always fun for the kids because lets be honest...how often do they really get to dump salt and squirt multicolored water all over frozen ice with eye droppers?  It's pretty novelty for them and pretty exciting to see what happens!  Such great scientific exploration and hands on learning!

In & Out of the Igloo

This game is exactly that.  The kids form an igloo with their hands and then I have them take turns choosing a card with a picture of something that starts with the letter I.  When it's their turn they tell us the name of the picture and as an example they would say something like I as in iguana "i", "i", "i" (using the short sound).  We also act out the action we have learned from our A, B, C program.  They then go in and then out of the igloo.  

I is for Instruments

Instruments are always popular in preschool and I love finding ways to incorporate them into our schedule! SO....we made a band and marched around several times.  We always do at least three rounds so the kids get to try out a few different instruments. 

I is for Insect

For this activity we flew around like butterflies and then pretended to land on flowers and used our proboscis to drink "nectar" from them.  I got the idea HERE. I know, our flowers weren't as cute and we didn't have one the adorable butterfly hats,  but it didn't make any difference in the end.  I'm pretty sure our class had just as great of a time.  We had so much going on this week, busy, busy!   

I is for Insect Swatting

For this letter game I gave each child a fly swatter (unused, of course) and then had them take turns swatting the insect with the letter name/sound I called out.  

I is for Ice Cream Phonics

Here's  a fun little game we played to practice rhyming & word families. 

I is for Ice cream sorting game

We used "Ice-cream scoops" to sort the ice-cream into the matching "cones".  Good for sorting and fine motor skills

I is for Insect Sensory Tub

This one came fully loaded with all kinds of insects, rocks, "grass", tweezers and tongs, and a dirthill. 

I is for Insect Snacks

We got to have these cute butterfly snacks as part of our insect unit. 

I is for Insect Art

For these butterflies we just used coffee filters.  I let the kids color all over them with markers and then spray them with water from a squirt bottle.  They painted clothespins and glued eyes and antennae's on them. 

I is for Insect Math

The kids are really catching onto the concept of adding and subtracting items in a group.  Since we are learning about insects right now I thought we could use some of my patterning bugs to help them understand this idea.  

The Finished Crystals

Here are what the crystals looked like when they were done forming.  I think they turned out pretty cool and I love all the funny little shapes the kids came up with.  

I is for Ice Crystals (AKA Borax Crystals)

The kids had a great time in the kitchen helping make some Crystals.  I used the "recipe" found HERE. I let the kids pick which color pipe cleaner they wanted and shape it how they liked. We used popsicle sticks in place of pencils and they seem to work just fine. They are still forming so I am not sure how they will turn out.  I'll post some pics. when they are finished. 

I is for Igloo

For this activity we all joined hands and made a giant igloo.  The kids took turns going  'IN' the 'IGLOO' to find items that started with the letter 'I'.  

Letter I Sensory Tub

This tub consisted of ice cream cone cups and spoons, floating icebergs with insects inside, and lots of water play instruments.  The icebergs were all melted by the time I got a picture-darn and I know it doesn't look like much, but they had fUuuUn! Yes all you ladies who have given birth, you know what those bottles are haha!  Don't worry, the hospital sent a bunch of them home with me and those were the unused ones.  They ended up being the popular item of the week.  I started off with just one to see how it went and decided we needed more.