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Sunday, June 5, 2011

C is for Caterpillars

We got our caterpillars a few weeks ago.  And when I had originally decided to order them....my intent was to jump start myself and get me into gear.  Since going back to work this past January (and probably a little before that with the start of our business).....I have really neglected our more constructive learning time.  Over the months, we have done activities here and there....that I usually did not photograph because I was too lazy/tired.

But now that I am starting to getting settled in and adjusted.....I am trying to re-work my balance of time, and ready to make this time with Parker more of a priority.  I also want to have this time with Grace, too.  But I have a bit more organizing to do first!  ;)

Since I ordered the caterpillars, I decided I would do letter C first.  We've have only done a few letters in the past, and C was not one of them.  I am trying not to be so hard on myself and realize that I might not always have the time to get everything done in my head that I want to get done, but rather, just go with the flow and have fun while doing it.

So last week our caterpillars became chrysalis (or is it chrysali for pleural?).  There were 6.



One of our first letter C activities was a wonderful printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  She used her Do-A-Dots to make the letter.  She loved this.  So from here on out I think I will make several copies of these pages for her to do over again.



Also from Confessions of a Homeschooler, this lacing activity.  We have lacing beads and she does really well with the lacing....


But for this activity, she didn't quite understand the pattern of going up through one, then down through the other.




I absolutely love this next activity.  Also from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar.


I printed these things out from Confessions of a Homeschooler's site (all of her printables are free and they are amazing!).  Laminated.  Then cut out.  As we read the story she would string them through a shoe string.



And at the end.....I pulled the butterfly from behind me and 'surprised' her with it.  She loved it.  What a great manipulative in seeing the life cycle of a butterfly!




She also did this letter C magnet sheet.



I recently got these Power Magnets and love them.



So remember earlier in this post when I talked about flexibility.....and how I am going to try to be flexible?  Well- this is where this comes into play.  Our caterpillars have already become butterflies.







And Geoff and Parker set them free yesterday.  She, apparently, had to use her Barbie to get them to leave their temporary home?





So back to the flexibility thing.  I had planned in my head to be completely done with Letter C and onto Letter B when they actually became butterflies, but time did not permit.    However- I still plan to do letter B next!


So this afternoon she painted egg carton caterpillars.  I really enjoyed watching her do this because we did this last year and I love to compare.


Last year- it was a mod podge of color....


This year.....more carefully orchestrated....







I also got a great many things from 1+1+1=1 Tot Packs and Preschool Packs.  I still have not finished cutting everything out, but everything you see from here down is a free printable from this great site!


With this activity- she had to put the caterpillars in order from smallest to biggest.  Geoff helped guide her with this activity.  She understands bigger and smaller, but this is really her first time doing this actual type of activity.






Carisa from 1+1+1=1 also just recently added her C is for Candy Preschool pack, and since candy is one of Parker's favorite things, I thought we should do a few activities.  There are still a few more I'd like to do, but here's what we've done so far.

With this activity, she had to decide whether or not the picture was a fruit or candy.  She had no problem with this activity at all.  haha.  ;)



With this next activity- I put the number at the bottom of the candy bowl....and then she has to count out and put that number of lollipops in the bowel.  She did a great job....but we only made it to the number 4 before we got distracted.




Here- she had to pick which one was different in each line.  She struggled a little with this.  We did end up identifying the 'different' one in each line and she had them all circled correctly......but then she got circle crazy and circled them all!



This activity is great, too.  She had to trace the line to the toothbrush.  The first one she tried was the second one....the zig-zag.....and you can kind of see the rounded squiggle line underneath.  I didn't think she quite understood what to do.  So I traced directly over that zig zag to show her.  Then- it appeared that she caught on.


I'm really excited about starting these activities up again.  I love this time with her (usually in Grace's nap time) and how eager she is to learn/do the activities.  The first day back, she would keep saying, "What's next, Mommy?"  She just ate it up!

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And lastly, this evening.....Parker asked to play with these strips of laminated paper that were my cutting scraps from her activities....and she had colored them.  Then she asked for scissors and and tape.  We gave them to her because we were busy cleaning the kitchen....when I heard......"Mommy!  Look!  It's a 't' like Jesus!"  




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Linking up to

Tot School

3 comments:

Stefanie said...

Great week!! We just raised butterflies recently. And ladybugs and praying mantis'. LOL Big sister is studying insects.

Just popping in from tot school.

oliviadog said...

You are such a creative mom!

Viv said...

Loved all the pics and activities, but how sweet was that cross! Ya'll are such wonderful parents!

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