Preschool Music Lessons

 Archer (35 months) has always been the kid that sings all day long. Sometimes they're real songs, sometimes it is just random singing. For a while now, he has been interested in the piano, probably because big brother takes lessons. A couple of weeks ago, he decided he wanted to be able to play Twinkle Twinkle. I dug out an old book with letters written by the notes and a key guide and started showing him how to play (it definitely helped that he has been obsessed with letters his whole life). It took effort and determination, but could eventually play some of the song. My husband witnessed this and said that we need to do something to support this interest. My crazy early education self was on it!

I ended up signing up for a 30 day free trial of Prodigies (I'm not an affiliate, so I gain nothing by sharing with others). Both kids enjoyed the rhythm songs and it became our routine to do some lessons after breakfast.

Archer usually just watches, but will sometimes sing, sign or play along with the videos. (You can buy stickers for the piano that coordinate with the lessons, but I have not done it yet). 

We tried some of the worksheets from the website, but Archer was not too interested.

What struck me was how often he was singing these songs randomly during the day. One day, he had some colored gears and was using them to sign and sign Do, Re, Mi. That was enough for me to decide this kid really enjoys learning music, so two weeks in I decided to order him some desk bells.

I ended up ordering the Rhythm Band Bells through Amazon instead of going through Prodigies, because they're made by the same company, they were a little cheaper and for $10 I could buy a 4 year protection plan. 

His bells came and he was super excited! I hope the excitement and interest continue and am looking forward to where we go from here.

Preschool Easter Week

We've taken a couple of weeks off from our Alphabet Activities to do some holiday themes. However, Archer does not always like holiday activities as much, so sometimes we do what I plan and sometimes we don't. This was our Easter Week. Archer turned down most activities. He's young, so I do not force him.

This was his school shelf. I had lots of Easter books and then threw in Just Enough Carrots and Rabbit's Pajama Party because I thought they kind of fit the theme. Archer is in a huge Thomas the Train phase, so Easter Engines was the favorite. I also hung some artwork he did.

He really likes using the Cuisenaire mats I make, particularly counting up how many of each color were used. This was the rabbit from the Easter set.

Working on the carrot Cuisenaire mat.

I printed some eggs with the letters of his name and had him put them in order. He does pretty well, but the second "e" sometimes throws him.

Painting.

I got this egg spinner for Archer to decorate eggs. Then, of course, I only got pictures of Xander using it.

Adding up the dots on dominoes was a big hit. He did this a couple different days.

These were the shelves from the week. On the left was a peg puzzle, Lucky Ducks, Duplo vehicles and letter and number blocks, and some stepping domes. Shelves on the right had Color Code, word eggs, Hiss, number matching eggs, Magna-Qubix, Lalabloom and a basket of cars.

Beginning sound eggs. You rotate it to make different words.

Dot number match eggs.

Peg puzzle

Playing Hiss. He understands how to play but now how to win.

Lalabloom

Magna-Qubix

Duplo bin. He played with these a lot this week. I think his normal bin is just too overwhelming, so having a more limited selection was helpful.

 

Easter Cuisenaire Rod Templates

  

I've been trying to incorporate Cuisenaire Rods more lately. Since we're still in the exploration/familiarization stage with the rods (and probably will be for months, since he's so young), template matching activities seem to work well for us. He enjoys them and they let us have conversations about the rods and how they compare to one another. He also enjoyed the element of counting up each color of rod at the end.

Print the Easter Cuisenaire Templates HERE

St Patrick's Day Preschool Activities

I meant to get everything set up and posted before St. Patrick's Day, but then we visited a friend and got sidetracked. We ended up going a little light on the activities, but here are some pics I got.

Archer's work and his shelf of books.

Cuisenaire Rods are still a big hit. I made him some St Patrick's Day templates and we did it together.

He used some Do a Dot Markers and this rainbow page.

I made him this quick 10s frame activity with some plastic gold coins.

Height activity.

St. Patrick's Graphing

Trying to match the patterns on his magnetic ring matching activity.

Magna-Qubix on the light table.

Rainbow colored pickup sticks and a basket with holes. He had fun both taking the sticks out and putting them in.

This was my first time getting out his Rhyming Puzzle and he did great!

 

St Patrick's Day Cuisenaire Templates

 

I've been trying to incorporate Cuisenaire Rods more lately. Since we're still in the exploration/familiarization stage with the rods (and probably will be for months, since he's so young), template matching activities seem to work well for us. He enjoys them and they let us have conversations about the rods and how they compare to one another. He also enjoyed the element of counting up each color of rod at the end.

Print the St. Patrick's Cuisenaire Templates HERE

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Letter P - Penguins Week

 These are our homeschool preschool activities for the Letter P and Penguins week. Archer was 33 months. You can see our full "curriculum" post here, but we will only use some activities each week. The majority of his time is still unstructured play. 

This was his shelf setup above his desk. I hung some bulletin board letters and his work from the week. The shelf had a letter construction capital and lowercase letters, an Alphabet Reader, a Meet the Phonics Letter Reader, a peg letter and a wooden letter train car.

There were his shelves for the week. I used Magnatiles to make a P on his white board and added some magnetic letters and fridge phonics. On top I have his Alphabet Soup Can and his preschool basket.

Shelves on the left had Little Cooperation, Penguins on Ice, a car track and Tobbles. Shelves on the right had some Hot Dots, Magna Quibix, activity rings, a penguins Toob, an alphabet fishing game and a basket of cars.

Letter maze (free to print here).

Tracing cards and line tracing (free to print here).

Playdough with cookie cutters and a  letter stamper (similar to these) and see and stamps. He also used the penguins Toob to make little footprints in the dough. I got out his  alphabet dough mat, but he didn't feel like doing it.

Beginner spelling cards.

Magnetic Pattern blocks on his easel. (Template from Confessions of a Homeschooler)

Building a P with Cuisenaire Rods (template here)

Penguin size sorting (free to print here).

Penguin lacing (free to print here).

Tracing the letters in his dry erase coloring book.

Tracing sand paper letters and then writing them himself. He really likes this box, usually wanting to write the numbers from 1-20 (DIY tutorial here)

Letter P puzzles.

This week he rediscovered his base ten blocks (they live on a high shelf and he forgot about them). He enjoyed making some numbers.

We tried out some Hot Dots. They were not really his favorite thing. I think maybe I need to give him a more challenging book.

Alphabet fishing game, although, he prefers putting them inside and using the magnetic "cat" to get them out.

Magnetic vehicles

Magnetic Tile building

Playing some Osmo Letters

Playing My First Orchard

Playing Penguins on Ice

See other Alphabet Posts: