F Adventures

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Whew - we are finally facing this fearsome and formidable task of documenting our fabulously fantastic "F" adventures, which pretty much went on all summer long and flew into fall. We documented "F" activity trays a LONG time ago.

But for some reason my new schedule of skipping naps and Mommy's new schedule of working part-time just doesn't work well with blog posts that take 4-5 hours. So we've gotta come up with another plan.

We are actually wrapping up "G" week this week, but haven't had time to get through all the photos yet, so we'll see if we can check "F" off once and for all for now. Here goes...

(And sorry the photos are floating all over in Firefox. If you view this through IE, everything should line up. Still no answers as to why Firefox does that.)

Review: Fish.

Song.

• One, Two, Three, Four Five
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/tweenies/songtime/songs/o/onetwothree.shtml
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDSOMy7WN_Q&feature=fvw
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULjssl4QkyQ

Book.

• One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss (a Mommy favorite).
• The Alphabet Book by P.D. Eastman (another Mommy favorite).
• Swimmy by Leo Lionni (one of my favorites - poor little lonely fish).
• Fishing in the Air by Chris Raschka.
• A Fish Out of Water by Helen Palmer.
• Little Fish, Lost by Nancy Van Laan (another favorite).
• The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister (my absolute favorite of the week).
• Ten Little Fish by Audrey Wood (can I have two absolute favorites?).
• The Biggest Fish by Sheila Keenan.

Food.

• Goldfish crackers. I like the pretzel kind the best.

Computer Time.

• http://www.shegame.com/cat/36/Fish/flash-games-1
• http://funschool.kaboose.com/preschool/games/game_fishin_mission.html

Science.

• We made a floating face! It came from a kit, so it was easy to do. First you make a face out of a foam ball, with stickers and pipe cleaners.
• Then you put it over an air blower, and it floats!
• We also did magnet fishing. Mommy printed out a bunch of clip-art fish on cardstock, cut them out, and put paperclips on them. Then I took my pole with yarn and a magnet tied on, and went fishing. Except I only wanted the PINK fish...
• And we talked about the food chain and ordered fish by size - since generally the biggest fish eat the smaller fish and on down the chain.

Physical Activity.

• Swimming with fish in the swimming pool!

Adventures...
We made alphabet Flash Cards for "F" week. I had fun coloring them and then telling everybody "B is for Ball," etc.
And since we did this in August, I colored up an August FROG calendar. Every day we add a sticker to the right day on the calendar, and Mommy sings the 7 days of the week and the 12 months of the year.
We made lots of fishy things, too. A scaly shiny fish by pasting aluminum foil circles onto a fish shape.
And fingerprint fish (make a fingerprint and then draw on the fins and eye and mouth). And paper plate tissue paper fish.
Like this.
And rainbow fish - using do-a-dot markers and then spraying with water so the color runs.
And felt fish - 10 of them to go with the Ten Little Fish book. I glued the eyes on and drew on them. Here are the patterns we used: http://www.nancymusic.com/fishpattern.pdf AND http://www.preschoolexpress.com/pattern_station02/fish_patterns_jun02.pdf.
Plus I had a fish stencil. And a fish sticker kit.

Lapbook: Fox, Fingers, Feet.

Song.

• Where is Thumbkin?

Book.

• Wings: A Tale of Two Chickens by James Marshall.
• The Tale of Tricky Fox by Jim Aylesworth.
• Flossie & the Fox by Patricia C. McKissack.
• Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss.
• Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox.
• What's in Fox's Sack? by Paul Galdone (Mommy wasn't sure about the boy snack part).
• One Fine Day by Nonny Hogrogian.
• Ten Little Fingers by Annie Kubler (one of my favorites, though Mommy thought it was a little young for me).
• Here Are My Hands by Bill Martin Jr. & John Achambault.

Food.

• Edible hats (from The Tale of Tricky Fox book.
• And finger foods!
• And fingerprint cookies!

Computer Time.

• http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/index/play.htm?f

Science.

• We made a "feel" box of things to feel with your fingers - soft and hard and rough and smooth.
• And we inspected fingerprints with a magnifying glass

Physical Activity.

• Follow the footprints on the floor! You can see this at my pocket project post.

Adventures...
On the first page of the lapbook was an "F" with five fingerprints all over it.
On the inside page was my F letter book. And a fruit pocket with fruit cards to go over my colors. And a farm mini-book.
The back page was a fish F coloring page.
As well as the lapbook, I painted some rocks shaped like feet. And we attempted to make a foot crayon by melting other crayons outside in a foot-shaped cookie cutter.
And I did fingerpainting!
I played with my clothespin rainbow - there are clothespins painted the colors of the rainbow that you clip onto a rainbow card - matching the colors. You use your "thumbkin" and your "pointer" to make the clothespins work!

Excursion #1: Farm, Fire Station, Fair.

Song.

• Old MacDonald Had a Farm
• The Farmer in the Dell

Book.

• My First Book of Fire Trucks by Jack C. Harris.
• Fire Truck by Peter Sis.
• Farm Flu by Teresa Bateman (a Mommy favorite).
• No Milk! by Jennifer A. Ericsson.
• Minerva Louise at School by Janet Morgan Stoeke (another Mommy favorite).
• Journey Cake, Ho! by Ruth Sawyer.
• Something Wonderful by Jenny Nimmo.
• Old MacDonald Had a Farm by Carol Jones.
• Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown.
• The Farmer in the Dell by Kathy Parkinson.
• Farm Morning by David McPhail.

Computer Time.

• http://www.kiddiesgames.com/en/games/fire_safety.swf

Adventures...
We went to the county fair! You can see more about that on my fair post. We saw lots of farm animals there!
I had a farm stencil to color with. And we grew a Miracle Gro farm. I put my feet in the water to grow with the farm animals, since they start with "F", too.
And Mommy printed out some baby farm animal matching cards.
Bible: Feelings.

Song.

• If You're Happy and You Know It.

Book.

• Lots of Feelings by Shelley Rotner (one of my favorites).
• If You're Happy and You Know It by Penny Dann (the song is one of my favorites).
• Today I Feel Silly & Other Moods that Make My Day by Jamie Lee Curtis (a favorite).
• Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go to Sleep by Joyce Dunbar.

Food.

• Happy face pizza!
• And happy face crackers - round crackers with peanut butter and raisins

Computer Time.

• http://www.kiddiesgames.com/en/games/parts_of_the_face.swf

Science.

• We talked about how many muscles you use to smile versus frown.
• And we talked about the heart and inspected the heartbeat with a stethoscope.

Physical Activity.

• When Mommy makes a happy face, you clap your hands. When Mommy makes a sad face, or an angry face, you stomp your feet.

Adventures...
We talked about favorites and made a list of my favorite things - that make me happy!
Mommy printed out lots of little emotion pictures that we glued onto craft sticks - two of each type of emotion. I liked playing with them.
And I matched them up into glass bottles - Mommy put one set in, and then I put the matching set in.
And we checked out some of the stuff on this tot book.
I colored some feelings faces. I put tears on them all to make them ALL sad!
And Mommy and I made faces in a mirror to show our feelings. And made sounds to show our feelings - crying and laughing and shouting, etc.
And we made happy-sad paper plate faces. Mommy cut each face into two (zigzagged), and I had to match them back together like puzzles.
Science: Frogs.

Song.

• Five Green and Speckled Frogs

Book.

• Peach & Blue by Sarah S. Kilborne (a favorite).
• Frog Went a-Courtin' by John Langstaff (a favorite).
• Hop Jump by Ellen Stoll Walsh.
• The Frog Prince by Jan Ormerod.
• Jump, Frog, Jump! by Robert Kalan (a favorite).
• Frog Goes to Dinner by Mercer Mayer (a favorite).
• A Boy, a Dog, a Frog and a Friend by Mercer and Marianna Mayer.
• The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellogg.
• The Frog Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta.

Food.

• Frog legs - celery sticks! And flies - raisins!

Computer Time.

• http://www.enchantedlearning.com/cgi-bin/paint/na/rhymes/coloring/Speckledfrogs.shtml

Science.

• We did a sink-or-float activity - Mommy gave me a bowl of different little objects, and I had to sort them out by whether they float or sink.
• And Mommy showed me how to put frog life-cycle cards into order.
• Like this.

Physical Activity.

• We played with frog squirters in the swimming pool!

Adventures...
Mommy made some origami frogs that hopped! And I got to check out real tadpole/frogs in a friend's pool.
And we made a toilet paper roll frog.
And a paper plate frog! We painted the plate green, and two parts of an egg carton green. We put eyes on top of the egg carton parts.
With a tongue - like this:
Social Studies: Family & Friends.

Song.

• I Love You (The Barney Song).

Book.

• Fathers, Mothers, Sisters, Brothers: A Collection of Family Poems by Mary Ann Hoberman.
• Yo! Yes? by Chris Raschka (a favorite that's short to read; I asked for it over and over).
• Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber.
• My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann.
• Do You Want to Be My Friend? by Eric Carle.
• May I Bring a Friend? by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers.
• Will I Have a Friend? by Miriam Cohen.
• We Are Best Friends by Aliki.

Food.

• Fondue - family eating at its best!

Computer Time.

• http://www.starfall.com/n/y-as-e/y-as-e/load.htm?f

Science.

• We talked about symbiotic relationships in nature - different plants and animals that are "friends." Like moss on trees.

Physical Activity.

• We practiced giving hugs!
• And we inspected the moss on the fruit trees outside.
• And played follow-the-leader around my sandbox!

Adventures...
I made some notecards with flower stickers for friends.
We made a family/friend collage from magazine pictures.
And I made a flower magnet picture frame for family pictures.
Here's a picture of Mommy and me at the fair!
Another idea we didn't quite finish was to stick velcro onto family pictures and put them on the feltboard.

Excursion #2: Fireworks & Flags, Flowers.

Song.

• Oh, Who Can Make a Flower? by Grace W. Owens. (Oh, who can make a flower? I'm sure I can't. Can you? Oh, who can make a flower? No one but God-- 'tis true)

Book.

• Flower Garden by Eve Bunting (a favorite).
• Counting Wildflowers by Bruce McMillan.
• The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle (a favorite).

Adventures...
I got to pick lots of flowers! We went to a u-pick vegetable farm where I got to pick some flowers for free. And we picked flowers in our own yard, too.
I also had flower stencils to color with. And I painted some wood flowers.
And some do-a-dot flowers, too! Those markers work really well for flowers.

Kitchen: Fruit & Flan.

Song.

• I Like to Eat Eight Apples & Bananas.

Book.

• How Nanita Learned to Make Flan by Campbell Geeslin.

Food.

• Fruit (cherry) pie.
• Like this.
• And flan.
• And fruit (blackberry)-filled pancakes.

Computer Time.

• http://www.freshforkids.com.au/games/games.html
• http://www.knowledgeadventure.com/games/cooking-with-chef-piglet.htm

Science.

• We spent lots of time inspecting our fruit trees and vines in our orchard throughout the summer - from little green things all the way until they got ripe!

Physical Activity.

• We climbed the fruit trees in the orchard.

Adventures...
I have a bunch of fruit felts I got to play with.
Mommy hid some fruit erasers that I had to find through a scavenger hunt.
And of course, we spent lots of time in the kitchen with fruit.

Miscellaneous

Book.

• Feathers Like a Rainbow by Flora.
• The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle (a favorite).

Adventures...
We went to a pet store and checked out the fish.
And the ferrets.
I made feather crayon rubbings to go with the Feathers Like a Rainbow book. I'm still figuring out how to hold the crayon.
And we made a cat face from some fur I found while Mommy was looking through the WalMart clearance aisle.

And another fun "F" adventure of my own making - getting into a sack full of flour.

We made a flower fairy house from a kit Mommy found for $2 at a thrift store. Here's the house:
Here I am working on the house: Lots of glitter glue and tissue paper glued onto the roof, and stickers, too.
Here are the flower fairies. They have a styrofoam head, pipe cleaner bodies, yarn hair, and a big flower petal for a dress.
THERE! F is FINALLY FINISHED! We should have G going for you next week - since it's just about done now. It'll be a little different - since we're back to one letter per week.
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