We are officially back at it over here! We took the leap and started our homeschool schedule back up after a nice long summer break. And what started us of? This adorable apple name puzzle!
We officially started back on Wednesday, for a variety of reasons, and have a co-op we attend every Friday, so we really only did two days in our homeschool rhythm. But it certainly felt like a whole week! Phew. It is tricky getting settled into a new routine.
We are keeping things very much the same as in the past. One hour of core skills in the morning with unit studies and their corresponding projects in the afternoon. The only thing different this year is that Norah is truly a part of things. Don’t get me wrong, she was very much a part of things last year (a part of EVERYTHING in fact), but I decided this year she was ready to dive into Kindergarten at Home – so she officially has some homeschool activities to do of her very own this year. And she is THRILLED!
We are going to be picking and choosing the activities we do from our Kindergarten at Home curriculum, as she will actually be going through this same program a second time next year. I love doing this program twice with children! The first time through they gain huge experiences as they are exposed to all of these skills for the first time. And that second time through? Magic! Skills click, activities they were exposed to previously are now completed masterfully, and confidence soars!
This week (well, Wednesday and Thursday – it is baffling that we only did two days, it definitely felt like five!) we completed three activities. We made an apple tree name (combined with an apple tree sensory bin), we learned about the magic stars in apples and did some gorgeous apple printing, and we made this adorable apple name puzzle!
Just before we dive into how we created this apple name puzzle – and why it was such a fabulous activity for Norah – I wanted to share with you this awesome freebie I think you will love. It’s filled with tips and tricks for teaching little ones their letters and sounds, starting with their name letters and progressing through the rest of the letters in a very special order. Grab yours here:
To make these apple name puzzles, I freehanded a big apple out of construction paper. Next, I wrote ‘Norah’ across the apple, as this is where we begin when teaching children letters, with their names. (You can read all about how to introduce the letters in this magical way that flows right into reading right here: Teaching the ABCs – but not in that order) Finally, I drew vertical lines separating each of her name letters.
Next, Norah and I cut out each piece of her apple. She is still very much practicing her cutting skills and for the most part we still just use thin strips that she can snip through with one snip. So this activity was one she needed support with. I held the paper steady, reminded her to keep her thumbs up, and helped her to go slowly. As I was creating this blog post I realized I forgot one important tip! Having little ones keep their arm nice and close down to their side is very helpful. See how her elbow is pointing to the side? It should be pointing down to the ground next to her body.
Once all those letters were cut out we played a few games. We hid them around the room to do a scavenger hunt. Norah found each letter, brought them back to her table and put them in the correct order. Then, we turned all those letters upside down, flipped them over one by one calling out their sounds, and put them in the correct order again.
My plan was to use these apple pieces all week long, playing with them in a variety of ways before gluing them down into the apple craft. Norah’s plan was to glue them down immediately. Turns out she was VERY passionate about her plan, so glued them we did. Immediately.
And there you have it! A sweet little apple name puzzle craft that is so full of learning. So what did we learn when doing this craft?
- fine motor skills
- scissor skills
- lowercase letter names
- An uppercase letter name
- letter sounds
- Name letters order
- And the fact that a 4-year-old can be very persuasive when it comes to gluing.
That is one of the things that I love most about Kindergarten at Home. I know that the careful thought of ensuring all foundational learning skills has been covered has gone into creating this program. So I can simply enjoy these activities one by one with my little one!
Would you like to join me? It is never too late to get started – you can begin Kindergarten at Home all year long! Find out more, and get started right here:
Kindergarten at Home
Thank you so much for reading, my friend,
xo
Sarah
P.S. Don’t forget to grab your FREE Teaching Letter Recognition Guide right here:
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