Letter "Hh" Week

Let's HOP right into letter Hh!


Happy Hippo

Happy Hippo Trail Mix

There's really no right or wrong way to make this snack.  Just toss in a little of this and little of that and you'll have a happy, happy toddler!  Here's what we did...

• Honey Nut Cheerios
• M&M's
• Raisins
• Banana Chips
• Pretzels

Letter Hunt:  Your letter bucket is filled with a toy horse, house, helicopter, hippo, hog, hamburger, hat, etc.

Fine Motor: a "HOLE" lot of fun!

Use an old puffs container, or something similar, and punch holes in the lid.  Decorate it however you wish! Place hole reinforcers around the holes, and color with markers.  Place the lid on, and have your smartypants put the matching color of stem into the corresponding hole.

Coloring Page: Print off the Hh is for HOUSE coloring sheet on the Fisher-Price website. Click on the link: http://www.fisher-price.com/us/ms7/alphabet-coloring-pages.asp


Books: Below are a few suggested readings for your little ones.  You should be able to find most of these books at your local library or around the house.

• Greedy Grumpy Hippo by Stuart Trotter 
• The Hiccuping Hippo by Keith Faulkner
• The Happy Hedgehog Band by Jill Barton

"Little" Tip of the Week: 
One of our favorite things to do is use sidewalk chalk to make HOPSCOTCH.  It's a great activity to incorporate the letter "Hh", and includes number recognition, gross motor development, and, of course, PATIENCE, as you wait your turn to HOP!  Have some fun at the end of the week, and have a "Happy Hair Day".  Let your smartypants get creative with their hair!

Hope you had a hopping good time!

Letter "Gg" Week

Golly Gee, it's Letter Gg!


Toilet Roll Goat

What you'll need...

1. toilet paper roll
2. brown construction paper
3. brown paint
4. cotton balls
5. googly eyes
6. black marker or crayon

Paint toilet paper roll brown.  Let dry and then glue on eyes, ear shapes and horns from from construction paper.  Glue cottons balls on the top and bottom of the toilet paper roll.  Draw on face with a black marker or crayon.
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Graham Cracker S'mores Bars

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Ingredients:

• 1 10 oz. bag mini marshmallows
• 1 12 oz. package semi sweet chocolate chips
• 5 tbsp. butter
• 8 cups Golden Graham cereal (one 12 oz. box)
• 1 tsp. vanilla (optional)

Directions:
Place package of chocolate chips in the freezer to chill. Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan, set aside.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a pot over medium heat. Once butter is melted, add in 5 cups of marshmallows and stir until almost completely melted. Stir in vanilla if desired. Remove from heat and transfer butter mixture to a large mixing bowl and add cereal, stirring to coat. Once cereal is coated, remove chocolate chips from freezer and add to cereal mixture. Also add in the remaining cup of marshmallows. Gently stir until evenly distributed.
Press cereal mixture into prepared baking pan. Cover and refrigerate until set. Turn out onto cutting board and cut into squares. Keep stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator.
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Letter Hunt:  Your letter bucket is filled with anything green, gorillas, grasshoppers, goldfish, goats, etc. 

Fine Motor: 
Fill a bucket full of different items and let your child pick out only the green items.  Easy, fun, and did we say easy?!

Coloring Page: Print off the Gg is for grasshopper coloring sheet on the Fisher-Price website. Click on the link: http://www.fisher-price.com/us/ms7/alphabet-coloring-pages.asp


Books: Below are a few suggested readings for your little ones.  You should be able to find most of these books at your local library or around the house.

• Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Ratthmann
• The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

"Little" Tip of the Week: 
Find activities that correlate with the letter of the week.  For example, this week you could go golfing in your backyard.  For "Ff" week you can go fishing, etc.  If you let your creativity flow, you can really think of some great ways to add activities into your letter learning!  Go, go, go! 

Letter "Ff" Week

Let's have some FUN with the letter "Ff"...

Frog

You’ll need...

• Paper plate
• green paint
• red construction paper
• googly eyes

Paint the backside of a paper plate green.  Once dry, fold in half and tape, glue, or staple.  Handprint green painted hands on white construction paper.  Cut out and glue to the plate.  Glue some eyes, make a face, and attach a red tongue made with red construction paper. 

Letter Hunt

Find a bucket, basket or bowl and let your child “hunt” for items around the house that begin with the letter “Ff”. Will they find a frog, firefighter, fish, flower, or a fairy? You can repeat this several times throughout the week! When they find an item, make sure you’re reinforcing what letter the item begins with.

We like to find "Ff" items the night before and hide around the house.  They think it's fun when they wake up in the morning!

Fish Pond Cookies

What you'll need:

• swedish fish
• frosting
• blue food coloring
• cookies

*If you're feeling extra chef-like, make your own cookies to decorate.  Sometimes life is busy, and that's when I'm thankful for a can of already-made frosting and cookie dough. ;)

Directions: Color your frosting blue and spread on the pond.  Let your smartypants place the fish in the pond.  A fun, frosting-topped reward at the end of the week is FABULOUS!

FINE MOTOR SKILLS: Fishy "Fs": Fill a bowl with goldfish and let your smartypants form the letter "Ff".  If you have colored goldfish, you can talk about patterns and colors too! 

Funny Feet (extra fun!):

What you'll need:

• shoes that you don't mind making "funny"
• pennies
• glue gun
• googly eyes
• anything you can find to make your feet funny!

Glue your funny face on your funny feet!  Have FUN!  Glue pennies on the bottom so your smartypants can get their funnies out with a little tap dancing!

BOOKS: Below you will find a few suggested books for your little one. You should be able to find these at home or your local library.  

• Frogs by Gail Gibbons
• The Wide-Mouthed Frog by Keith Faulkner
• The Icky Sticky Frog by Dawn Bentley

COLORING PAGE: Print off the Ff is for Frog coloring sheet on the Fisher-Price website. Click on the link below and it will take you to your destination: 

http://www.fisher-price.com/us/ms7/alphabet-coloring-pages.asp

“LITTLE” TIP OF THE WEEK: After reading an "Ff"-focused book, have your smartypants flip through the pages and point out all the letter Fs to encourage letter recognition.  

Isn't the Letter "Ff" fantastic?!

Letter "Ee" Week

Entering letter "E"...


Elmo

What you'll need...

1. red or white construction paper
2. red and orange tissue paper
3. black construction paper
4. google eyes

Cut an Elmo shape with your red and white construction paper.  Cut red and orange tissue into squares.  Scrunch up and glue on red tissue around entire face.  Glue eyes at the top, and make nose out of orange tissue.  Cut black paper into a mouth shape and glue on. 

Quick Elephant Ears

These a fun, very quick and easy take on the elephant ears you get at the fair.  Surprisingly very tasty!  Well, they're fried...so of course they're tasty.

What you'll need...

1. 1 1/2 cups sugar
2. 2 tsp. cinnamon
3. oil for frying
4. 10 (7 inch) flour tortillas 

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a large plate; set aside. In a skillet, heat 1/2 in of oil. Place one tortilla at a time in skillet, Cook for 5 seconds; turn and cook 10 seconds longer or until browned. Place in sugar mixture and turn to coat. Serve immediately.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/quick-elephant-ears/detail.aspx

Letter Hunt:  Your letter bucket is filled with eggs, elephants, Elmo, engines, elves, etc.

Fine Motor:  Easy Shaving Cream E's

Let your smartypants develop their fine motor skills by practicing the letter "E" and other letters with shaving cream. Just wipe your counter down with paper towels or a dry rag, and you'll have a shiny table top that smells like Dad. :)

Coloring Page: Print off the Ee is for elephant coloring sheet on the Fisher-Price website. Click on the link: http://www.fisher-price.com/us/ms7/alphabet-coloring-pages.asp


Books: Below are a few suggested readings for your little ones.  You should be able to find most of these books at your local library or around the house.

• The Little Engine That Could by Watter Piper and Lauren Davis
• Emma's Eggs by Margriet Ruurs
• My Elephant by Petr Horacek 

"Little" Tip of the Week: Always encourage with positive words.  I know, it can be frustrating with a "little" temper tantrum now and then, but they THRIVE off of positive reinforcement while learning.  PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE your little smartypants!  "E" is for EXCELLENT! 

Letter "Dd" Week

We're ready to dig into letter D, so come on!

Doggie Puppet

1. paper lunch sack (any color)
2. googly eyes
3. glue
4. construction paper (any color)
5. sharpie
6. scissors

Grab a lunch bag, draw the face parts on construction paper- ears, nose, tongue, spots, bowtie, collar, etc.-for your "little" to cut out, glue on the puppy dog face and, doggonit, you're done!  Now you've got yourself a doggie puppet! I'd like to know how much this doggie would sell for in the window? Priceless.

Dalmation Doggie (can you tell we like dogs?)

1. paper plate
2. black and white construction paper
3. black pom pom
4. googly eyes
5. pink and black crayon or marker
6. glue

Cut out ear shapes with white construction paper and tape on back of paper plate.  Cut out black spots and glue on around face and ears.  Glue eyes and pom pom nose, draw your mouth and tongue and you're done! 

Dirt Cups

What you'll need...

1. cool whip
2. chocolate pudding
3. oreo cookies, crushed
4. gummy worms

Mix together cool whip and pudding and layer on top with crushed oreos.  Top with a few worms and DIG in!

Letter Hunt:  Your letter bucket is filled with dogs, ducks, deer, dinosaurs, dragons, dolls, dice, etc.

Fine Motor:  Doughy D's 

Let your smartypants develop their fine motor skills by rolling playdough into the letter D.  What else can they make with the playdough?  A diamond?  Maybe a dinosaur?

Coloring Page: Print off the  Dd is for dinosaur coloring sheet on the Fisher-Price website. Click on the link below.http://www.fisher-price.com/us/ms7/alphabet-coloring-pages.asp

Books: Below are a few suggested readings for your little ones.  You should be able to find most of these books at your local library or around the house.

• Go, Dog. Go!  by P.D. Eastman
• How Do Dinosaurs Love Their Dogs? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague
• Danny and the Dinosaur by Sid Hoff

"Little" Tip of the Week: Remember that your child gets excited when you do!  Add excitement with facial expressions, praise, high-fivin', etc.  It's great to see them so giddy about learning! It CAN be fun!

Letter "Cc" Week

We've got our coffee and creamer and we're ready to stop being crabby and get down to "Cc" week business! Go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/Smartypants/184737734925189 and post pictures of what you do!  We'd love to see your smartypants in action!

Crabby Hands

1. red paint
2. googly eyes
3. white construction paper

Paint hands with red paint and press hand firmly onto paper on each side.  Drop some glue and put on your googly eyes.  Done and done!  If you want to back it with paper to make it look even prettier, be our guest.

Cinnamon C's

• 1 roll Pillsbury bread sticks
• butter
• sugar
• cinnamon

Roll out dough and let your smartypants make the letter C.  Brush on melted butter and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar.  Bake according to the directions on the roll of bread sticks.

Crayons...Homemade Style!

• broken crayons
• muffin/cupcake pan (don't be shy to get creative with your smartypants...if you have a heart-shaped pan, you can color your heart out!)
• Pam
• toothpicks

Use broken crayons/break whole ones, spray a muffin pan with Pam, place the crayons with different colors your smartypants choose, and bake in the oven @275 degrees for 6-8 minutes. (Depending on the type/size of pan you use, it may alter the cooking time. You want them melted, but not scorching.  If there are a few chunks of crayon in the middle, it's ok- it will dry/mold divinely!) Swirl the colors around with a toothpick to supersize this fun, and freeze the crayons in the tray for about an hour.  They'll pop right out and your child can have a blast creating an art masterpiece with their new crayons! 

Letter Hunt: Your letter bucket is filled with cats, crayons, cards, cotton balls, cars and much, much more!

Fine Motor:  Cotton Ball Pass ~ Let your little one develop their fine motor skills with this cute little activity!  Get two bowls or cups and fill one with cotton balls.  Let your smartypants take the tweezers and pass to the other bowl or cup.

Coloring Page:  Print off the Cc is for car coloring sheet on the Fisher-Price website. Click on the link below.http://www.fisher-price.com/us/ms7/alphabet-coloring-pages.asp

Books:  Below are a few suggested readings for your little ones.  You should be able to find most of these books at your local library or around the house.

• The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
• C is for Curious by Woodleigh Hubbard
• The Berenstains' C Book by Stan and Jan Berenstain

"Little" Tip of the Week:  When you're out running errands, this is a great time for learning for your child.  How many school buses do you see?  What color are they?  Do you see any stop signs, flags, garbage trucks?  And when we get to a red light, the boys always sing, "Red means stop, green means go, yellow means wait, even if you're late!" 

Grab your steering wheels, SMARTYPANTS, because we're cruising out of the letter "Cc" and driving into the letter "Dd"...

Letter "Bb" Week

Are you ready to buzz into busy "Bb" week?  We are, too! Go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/Smartypants/184737734925189 and post pictures of what you do!  We'd love to see your smartypants in action!

Toilet Paper Roll Bee

What you'll need...

• black and yellow construction paper or paint or markers or crayons
• wax paper
• toilet paper roll

We used construction paper and cut into strips of yellow and black. You can also paint or color the stripes, too.  Tape or glue them on, add a black triangle with paper for the stinger, and cut out circles for the wings with wax paper. 

Letter Hunt:  Your Letter Hunt bucket should be filled with so many fun things!  Bee, bus, block, baby, bunny, banana, blueberry, bubbles, bear...please no boogers, boys.
Also, why don't you go...

• blow bubbles
• visit the zoo and find the bears
• go on a walk and find butterflies, bees and bugs
• take a bath with lots of bubbles!

MY "Bb" BOOK:

You'll need...

• white construction paper
• marker or crayon
• old magazines
• scissors
• glue or tape
• hole punch and ribbon or stapler

Cut out several pages of white paper to make a book.  You can do any size you want.  Either staple the ends together or hole punch and tie together with yarn or ribbon.  Flip through old magazines and find pictures of things that begin with the letter B.  Cut out and tape or glue onto your book.  Sit down and read your new book together!


Banana Pops

Our mom got us each this really cute recipe book called Silly Snacks, Classroom Treats, and Cookie Dough Fun where we found this tasty treat!

 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)
1 container vanilla yogurt
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup orange juice

Blend ingredients and pour into (5-ounce) paper cups.  Let freeze for about 30 minutes and then stick popsicle sticks in the center of each cup; freeze until firm.  Peel the paper cup off when frozen and enjoy! FYI ~ this is really sweet!  Next time we might try leaving out the condensed milk and adding a little more OJ.  With that being said, the boys devoured those sweet little banana pops!


Fine Motor:  fill a cookie sheet with rice, sugar or sand and let your child draw.  After you're finished with the rice, make stir-fry. ;)

Coloring Page:  Print off the Bb is for butterfly coloring sheet on the Fisher-Price website. Click on the link below.http://www.fisher-price.com/us/ms7/alphabet-coloring-pages.asp


Books:  Below are a few suggested readings for your little ones.  You should be able to find most of these books at your local library or even around your house.

• Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle
• The Berenstain Bears' Bedtime Battle by Stan and Jan Berenstain
• The Three Little Bears by Byron Barton
• BIG Little by Patricia Patricelli

"LITTLE" TIP OF THE WEEK:  Make a habit of reading books as often as you can.  If you don't already have a bedtime and naptime ritual of reading to your little smartypants, it's not too late!  Reading to your children from birth on, will not only help to create earlier readers, but will have a positive impact on their success in school for the future.  Point out the colors, shapes, and letters and ask questions before, during and after the book.

Now go buzz off, little bees!