Homeschoolers

My 3-year-old daughter absolutely loves to wash dishes. I use it as a reward for finishing her other school work. Today, I set up a wash station at the big sink in the kitchen. I brought in a variety of her play dishes, filled the basin with a couple inches of water and proceeded to teach.

I asked her to point to the red dishes... the blue... the yellow... and the black.

I then asked her to count the red dishes... the blue... the yellow... and the black.

I then gave her a math word problem. Might as well introduce her to these now...

How many dishes do you have all together?

If mommy takes away the plates, how many dishes do you have left?

This may be a bit much for a 3-year-old on a worksheet, but when she can touch the dishes while she counts-- it is totally possible and enjoyable for her!

I love it when she's learning and she thinks she's playing...

These are more or less an outline of my ideas. I followed this plan with my 3 year old over the course of a week. It worked and she enjoyed herself! (Don't forget it's easiest to give your toddler LOTS of breaks!)

Monday:

Letter B

Boats

Craft - Sailboat out of Meat Tray (make a Barbie Boat if you have a little girl)

Letter B/Boat Coloring Page:

http ://homeschooling .about .com /od /langearlyread /ss /letterbcolor _4.htm

Science: A lump of clay sinks. Change its shape to make it float.

B = Barbie

Barbie - Coloring Pages:

http ://www .coloring -book .info /coloring /coloring _page .php ?id =14

Barbie - Ballerina Videos- I Can Be a Ballerina

http ://icanbe .barbie .com /videos .html

Color: Blue

Blue starts with letter B

Craft: Bonnie Blue Bell Colors Buddy

http ://www .dltk -teach .com /colors /mblue .htm

Tuesday:

Letter C

Cars

Make a shiny car:

http ://www .dltk -kids .com /crafts /transportation /mshapescar .htm

Cats:

Make a cat headband:

http ://familycrafts .about .com /cs /catcrafts /a /blcathb .htm

C Book:

http ://homeschooling .about .com /od /langearlyread /ss /letterccolor .htm

http ://homeschooling .about .com /od /langearlyread /ss /letterccolor _2.htm

http ://homeschooling .about .com /od /langearlyread /ss /letterccolor _8.htm

Color: Yellow

Yellow Flowers Activity

Need: yellow baking cups, green pipe cleaners, tape, crayons or markers

Directions: Give your child a yellow baking cup, crayons, a green pipe cleaner and scissors. Use the yellow baking cups as "flowers" and have your child draw on the inside of the cups. Tape the base of the "flowers" to the green stems (pipe cleaner).

Wednesday:

Letter D

Dog

Doggie Puppet:

http ://www .dltk -kids .com /animals /mbagdog .htm

Letter D Template:

http ://www .dltk -teach .com /t .asp ?b =m &t =http ://www .dltk -teach .com /alphabuddies /image /b -dd .gif

Dog headband:

http ://familycrafts .about .com /od /dogcrafts /a /dogheadband .htm

Color:

Brown

Brown Tree Pictures Activity

Help your child paint their hand and the upper part of their forearm brown and make a brown print on a piece of paper or poster board to create the trunk and branches of a tree. Decorate the branches of the tree according to the season. For winter, add pieces of cotton for snow. For spring, add scrunched up scraps of pink tissue paper for blossoms. For summer, add pieces of green construction paper for trees, and small colored circles to represent fruit, red for apples, orange for peaches, etc... For fall, add scraps of red, orange, and yellow paper to represent leaves.

Coloring picture:

http ://www .homeschoolhelperonline .com /worksheets /pre _school /color _brown .htm