Preschool Fall Activities

First up, we played in the rain. And this time I was right out there with them, and neglected to take pictures of my oh-so-cute-hooligans traipsing through the puddles. Good way to start a day!
Then we did school. And when I say, "did school," I mean that we covered Teaching Textbooks for math, for both kids. Bible, with all four little people-- I read, and they munch and draw pictures. Works well for us. We discuss it all, as well as any family can when a 3-year old is participating. Some days work better than others. Today he just wanted to talk about his favorite colors and animals. What color was Jesus. I answered, "brown." Figured that was close enough. Then we read books, did handwriting, and I started working with the two little ones while the older kids worked on Spanish homework (Papaw teaches Spanish and history every day, thank You, Lord!)
First up: button practice with felt leaves. All you need is felt, ribbon (or twine, cord, whatever you have on hand) two buttons, or a button and bell. Cut leaves out of your felt, with a small hole in the middle of each, for the button to go through.
Tie the button on one end of your ribbon, and the large bell on the other end.

Let your kiddo put the button through the hole, and string the leaves on the ribbon. Easy peasy. Great for motor skills, and just to keep little ones occupied for as long as possible. Much better idea than my black paint fiasco! Gah. I still have a black ring around my tub.

I love his little pudgy hands. Just want to eat 'em up!! Here is my LittleLad, still clothed in his yogurt-encrusted shirt. Don't judge me.

It was a long day, and I decided not to change their clothes more than 3 x, no matter what.

Next up, on Rainy Day, we worked on colors and spellings. Granted, at this age Oli only remembers a few actual spellings... it's more about the matching for him.

I'm guessing this is self-explanatory. Write out the color names on corresponding colored paper. Then do it again, and cut the letters apart. Let the kids match it all up, spelling the color word.

I don't really know why, but this is one of his favorite things to do.

Works for me. I just hope something brilliant is sticking in his little mind! ;)

At the same time, Dash worked on stringing his name up with clothespins. He's in kindergarten this year, and regularly "misplaces" the letters to his name. Yes, his name is Trevor. But when he writes it, it often comes out as "TVR," or "Trvr." I believe he hates vowels. If he decides to include an E, it often has about a hundred horizontal lines stabbing through it.

He tries, he really does.

And, frankly, I just don't care about his writing much at this point. He enjoys learning, loves to write (who cares if it makes no sense.) He narrates stories and plays educational games. Kindergarten should be fun. I'm not stressing the omission of vowels.

That said, if he likes to string up leaves, I might as well give him some to put in order. He doesn't have to write it, so he doesn't mind.

Any other ideas for our next rainy day? Or other fall activities we could try? I'm feeling all perky and crafty again-- maybe because Christmas is a mere two months away, and the crafting-for-gifts-force is pulling me into artistic overdrive. I've been painting and drawing every night. Feels glorious. :)

We love Childhood 101 & Preschool Corner. Check 'em out, and link to the playing parties!