Month 4, Week 2: All about the letter K.

This week we are continuing our learning of snow, ice, and winter with our number of the month being the number 5 and our shape of the month being rectangles. With that we are also learning all about the letter K and Arctic animals. This week we kicked things off with our letter of the week crafts and like most weeks I let our preschooler guide us on what he would like to create for this week's craft. This week we have created a king's crown for our capital K and a kite for our lowercase k.

 

As we continued our learning of winter and all the snow and ice that can come with it (obviously, depending on where you live). We decided to switch gears over to learning about the animals that exist in the colder Arctic and polar habitats. We recently bought a book that is hands on and helps children learn all about different areas of the world and those who live there whether it be animals or people. Thanks to this book and a trip to our local library, we had enough material for learning about all the Arctic and polar animals. But learning from a book alone isn't how we do things around here and we had a great way to really relate to these animals we were learning about.

 

 

We wanted to give our kids a hands on learning opportunity about animals in cold weathered climates and how they have special fat on their bodies to keep them warm. Since we don't have the same fat on ourselves I found a great hands on activity that you will only need a bowl of ice water, Crisco or butter, and plastic wrap. Fill your own bowl with cold water and ice to start. Then you will have your own toddler immerse their hand for as long as they can stand (usually it's only a few seconds) so they can see how cold the water is. Then coat their own hand in Crisco thickly and wrap with plastic wrap and have the immerse their hand once more for as long as they can stand (usually they can do this for quite awhile, we even let our toddler do it a few times). And that's it! This learning activity teaches them how the Crisco we used is like the special fat these animals have and how it helps protect their bodies from cold temperatures. Toddlers and kids alike love this hands on learning activity!

 

After a trip to our local library to enjoy story time and a fun outing to our local indoor bounce place, we wrapped up our week with a winter themed sensory box. This simple sensory box was just something I whipped up with what we had on hand like buttons, metallic ribbons, water beads, and small animal figurines. These easy sensory boxes are a quick and fun way to give your toddlers something hands on to learn and play with.

 

 

 Like most weeks we try to make a few trips to our town's local library to collect books and learning materials on what we will be covering for the week. This week after story time, we collected a few books that we enjoyed learning with. Here are a few of our favorites for this week:

 

 

 Thanks for another great week of learning with us and we can't wait to show you all the fun things we have planned for next week. As you may have noticed each week varies on how many activities we include in our learning and some weeks are shorter than others, this was definitely one of those weeks. With more activities outside of our home and some traveling we made the week short and sweet (one of the perks of homeschooling). We cannot wait for next week's theme and to share all the fun things we have planned!