Letter of the Week {Zz}

This is our final post in our letter of the week series. You can find our posts for the other letters of the alphabet here.  Remember that you do not need to do everything. Just pick and choose one or two activities to introduce the Letter Z to your child.


Books for the Letter Z

Snack Ideas

Little Debbie Zebra Cakes

Zoo Mix

Or for a healthier option- Zucchini Muffins

I love this idea from the Munchie Mom to make a little zoo on your child's plate with pretzels and animal crackers. The Zoo letters are cut out of bread using alphabet letter cookie cutters. 

Crafts

 Zebra Craft- Cut out the White Letter and then let the kiddos glue on the black stripes. 

Here is a great idea from the Measured Mom for making a Zero Picture. Just use a milk jug lid or other round object for a creating a picture of zeroes. 

Making the Letter Z with pipe cleaners. 

Activities

The Measured Mom has created a super fun Zoo sensory play bin using popsicle sticks fences, beans and rice and plastic animals. Kids can use the large bin for building their own zoo and designing different habitats for each animal.

I love this idea from Strong Start Preschool. Using the book Good Night, Gorilla create some matching cages from shoe boxes to hold small stuffed animals or plastic animal figurines. Then kids can match the color of the key with the color of the cage to free the animals. I love this funny story about a gorilla who sneaks the keys from the zoo keeper and releases all the animals who follow him home at the end of the day and pile into his bedroom to spend the night! Find all the details here.

I love this idea from Pinterest for the Zig Zag Race Track. Line up some match box cars and have the kids race down the zig zag track drawn on butcher paper to the finish. This is great for fine motor skills and is super fun in the process.

Games and Songs
Check out these fun ideas from How to Run a Home Day Care.

I love this Zoom song. You could even make some toilet paper roll rockets to go with the song as you do the actions.

Here are some cute ones from No Time for Flash Cards

I also love the Z adaption for the Hokey Pokey! I love when you can get littles ones to move as they learn. Find the instructions for the song at the link above for How to Run a Home Daycare. I love that the kids hop on all the corners of the Z as they sing the song.

I also love putting three kids together to spell the letter Z with their bodies.

Find your Letter Z Printables at the Links Below:

Tracing Pages

Alphabet Flash Cards



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Letter of the Week {Yy}

We are almost finished with our letter of the week posts. Here are some fun activities for the Letter Y.
Find the rest of our Letter of the Week series here.

Snack Ideas:

I love the idea of focusing the snack on the color Yellow. There are so many delicious foods that kids can try that are Yellow. Bananas, Pineapples, Papaya, even yellow pear tomatoes make a fun snack for preschoolers to try.

Books: 
You will notice several books in this collection about yawning. Preschoolers love to mimic yawns and try to get each other to try to yawn. Read one of these fun yawn stories and then allow extra time for a yawning competition. You will be delighted at the faces the kids will make!

Crafts: 
I love this simple craft from The Measured Mom using the color yellow for this Y collage. Turn the kids lose looking for small yellow items to include.

Here is a fun yarn lacing activity. Find the instructions here. I love the fine motor skill work that lacing requires.

Isn't this handprint yak adorable? I found it on Pinterest but the link didn't lead anywhere. Sorry I can't give proper credit.

Learning Activities: 

Yummy or Yucky?
Here is a fun tasting activity from Some of This and Some of That. Simply provide a variety of foods for your preschooler to try and then put a check mark in one of two columns Yummy or Yucky. Here this cute guy is trying a piece of lemon!

Here are some other yummy and yucky options:

Tootsie rolls, marshmallows, pretzel, peanut butter and cheese crackers, salt and vinegar chips, regular potato chips, popcorn, sugar cubes, lemons, limes, bitter chocolate, goldfish, jelly beans, popcorn, pickles, apples, oranges, almonds, Hershey's bar, red licorice and back licorice. 

Water Balloon Yo-Yo

I have to try this terrific idea from Inner Child Fun. This seems like the perfect activity for a summer day even if you aren't studying the Letter Y. This is definitely on my bucket list for this year. All you need to do is fill a balloon with water and attach a piece of rubber tubing. If the balloon bursts, that just adds to the fun! 

Letter of the Week Printables: 

Find the Letter of the Week Tracing Pages Here

Find your alphabet flash cards here




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Letter of the Week {Xx}

Here is the next installment of our letter of the week series-- the letter Xx. The letter X can be challenging. It is so easy to identify but hard to think of what activities to do with this letter.  Check out the great things we came up with below. See all the rest of our letter of the week posts here.

Snack Ideas

How about making some hot cross buns!

Recipe for Hot Cross Buns

Or look at all the cute X ideas at Cookie Cutter Lunch.

X-Snack Ideas

Books
I love the Taxi Dog and books about X-rays are always fun.

Crafts
My favorite is this cute X-ray Fish Activity by Red Ted Art.  And look at this adorable Q-Tip Skeleton.

X-Ray Fish

Instructions for this simple handprint x-ray activity can be found at Almost Unschoolers. 

Handprint Bones

Learning Activities

Try this Criss Cross Chalk Game.
Draw a large letter X on the pavement with chalk then have the children position themselves on the end of each line. They have to run along the X without bumping into each other at the intersection.

Play a game of Tic Tac Toe.

Follow a Treasure Map- X Marks the Spot.

Make an X on a piece of paper with Painters Tape. Then completely cover the piece of paper with paint. Let the paint dry and remove the tape to reveal the hidden Letter X below.

Practice playing a xylophone. You could even play musical chairs using a xylophone for the music. Let the kids take turns.

Set up a doctor's office and have the kids practice taking x-rays. You can make a simple x-ray machine by cutting holes in a cardboard box and gluing cut outs of bones on the front.

The Measured Mom has instructions for making this amazing x-ray light box. Wow!

X-ray Light Box

Free Printables

Find your Letter of the Week tracing worksheets here.

Find your Alphabet Flashcards here..

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Letter of the Week {Ww}

We are finally getting around to finishing our letter of the week posts. Here are some fun activities for you to do with the letter Ww. Stay tuned for X, Y, and Z in the next three weeks and find the rest of our Letter of the Week posts here.

Snack Ideas:

Watermelon is the most obvious choice. I love the idea of attaching popsicle sticks to make these watermelon wedges easy to hold.

You could also whip up a delicious watermelon fruit slush.

Or how about Waffles and Whipped Cream! It wouldn't get any easier than these mini Eggo Waffles. Yum!

Dirt Cups with Worms

Favorite Books:

Learning Activities:

Watermelon Seed Counting. I just use our leftover watermelon seeds from snack for counting. The kids love saving their seeds and washing them off before matching them to the correct watermelon in this fun and easy activity.

Water Activities:
You won't believe all the amazing activities to do with water over at The Measured Mom. Love them!

Water Math and Science Activities

I especially love her Water Balloon Math for Number Recognition.

And this fun activity to see what happens when different objects are left in the water for a period of time.

Crafts:

Paper Bag Whale

Watermelon Fan
I love this cute fan by Crafts By Amanda.

There are several cute worm crafts out there.
I love this one.

Doesn't this Wiggle Worm game sound fun?

Wiggle Worm Game

Free Printables:

Get your Letter of the Week Tracing Worksheets here.
Get your Alphabet Flash Card here.


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