Summer Enrichment Program for Preschoolers - Themes 2013

Back a few months ago, I presented a draft of what I thought might happen with Adrian's summer. I suggested that we might keep homeschooling but in a lighter version and I decided to follow through with this initial decision. (yay !?! ) Adrian could use some help in a few departments to be ready before his Grand Entrance in "Kindergarten", he loves doing "school with mama" and he looks frankly bored on the week-ends when school is out. On top of that, German school, which he attends a few hours a week, will not be out until the 31 of July, so if I were to, say, stop homeschooling now, he would, I'm sure, think I'm quite lazy! :) I am thus preparing a summer enrichment program for him to enjoy throughout the summer but in  a"lighter" version because well, I really want to be able to enjoy the summer and not feel like we have to get through anything. It's enrichment, not anything that MUST be done. If the weather is nice, I want to be able to just say: let's go out and play instead. I also want to spend most of my evenings and week-ends planning for the upcoming school year; not on planning the summer units... (Bad mama ! hehehe)

Ms. Dragonfly, last spotted in our NY backyard two summers ago;
back then, summers were quite spontaneous!

Summer Enrichment Program "Tiny Units" for Preschoolers

JUNE

It's a Luau ! (Week of June 17)

JULY

Space Camp (Week of July 1st)

Circus Time (Week of July 15)

Construction Zone (Week of July 22)

Ocean Life (Week of July 29)

AUGUST

Legos (Week of of August 5)

Out West with the Cowboys (Week of August 12)

You will notice that some weeks have been left out...That is not a mistake. Living abroad means we tend to have lots of friends and family members stopping by for a visit (of course, that's usually during the best season: the summer). As such, during these weeks, school will be out. If you are lucky, I'll have prepared some posts in advance and you won't notice my absence so much... :) Regular school should resume the very first week of September.

* * *

Your comments make my day ! 

(Please note : comments won't be visible until after my approval!)

* * *

Summer for Preschoolers - Part 2

Summertime is no doubts about it, my kids' favorite season. They both love being outside, and let's face it, it is much easier to enjoy the outdoors when the weather is sunnier and milder (at least where we live). Unfortunately, I've noticed they've already lost a bit of attraction to the usual pleasers (walks, playgrounds, backyard play). Time to bring on the games! While I'm busy brainstorming on those, here's the last part of our Summer Unit...

Wrist turning - Making bubbles

Using a whisk is usually included in most practical life albums but it's also a good and helpful way to develop the right muscles in preparation for writing with the wrist getting involved in there. I believe this is the first time we include the whisk in our activities and so I gave a short presentation as to how to whisk in a simple bowl of water. Outside that day, a bowl filled with water and dish soap was awaiting Adrian. At first sight, it looked like plain water and I guess it looked boring but I told him he was still welcomed to try using the whisk, which he did and to his surprise, bubbles started forming. He whisked for a while. His fun in the end, was to watch the bubbles burst, to then create new ones (that's why his head is practically in the bowl).

Making and Matching Play Dough Popsicles

Summertime will forever remind me of ice cold treats like Popsicles. For this activity, I made six play dough Popsicles and Adrian's tasks was to made matching Popsicles. A simple way to work these fine motor and include color revision and matching skills.

Sponge puppets

I'm not sure how I came up with sponges being related to summer (I think it had something to do with me scrubbing all the outdoor toys with them too much!) but I snipped a few kitchen sponges into various shapes for Adrian to create puppets. I've been trying to get his creativity flowing a bit more lately so I felt this was a bit more open-ended. In fact, I think it was a bit too much open-ended for him. He wasn't sure at all what to do with the sponges. "A puppet?", he asked. The interest was just not there, even after I suggested bringing goggly eyes, yarn for hair and felt for clothes. *sigh*

Summer Collage

Here's another summer project we did that turned out to be a bit more difficult than expected. The goal was for Adrian to make a collage of summery activities and summer things he likes. He started with the sun, grass and flowers and then, he went blank. Finally, we ended up building a kite and a hammock together.

Origami - Fan Folding

Possibly the easiest origami ever! I pre-cut two sheets of paper into squares. Adrian and I both colored ours and then folded them. He had no trouble following along. Using the fan to get some wind on the other hand... :)

* * *

Your comments make my day ! 
(Please note : comments won't be visible until after my approval!)

* * *

Today, I'm happily linking up to

Montessori Monday, The Kids Co-Op, Show-and-Share Saturday, Link & Learn, TGIF, Share it Saturday, Mom's Library, The Sunday Showcase, Sun Scholars's For the Kids Friday, Stress-Free Sunday, Thursday Toddler & Preschool, Tuesday Tots, Hammock Tracks' Look What We Did, Money Savings Monday, Serenity Saturday, Virtual Montessori Sharing Fair, and Artsy Play Wednesday, Monday Kid Corner, We Made That.

If you would like me to link up with you, please don't hesitate to ask, it might take me a week or two, but I generally do!

Summer for Preschoolers - Part 1

Summer hasn't officially begun yet but we've already explored the theme over here. I think it's our way of trying to get the summer to come faster! :) 

 
Play Dough Ice Cream & Props

This was by far the most loved activity of the week. Now that I'm not scared of how time consuming making my own play dough can be and now that I know how to make it, I have no further hesitation in making a batch and so one night, I put together this summery play dough for Adrian...who quickly showed Zahavah when she woke up. All through the week this play dough came out, school, or no school. It was first introduced in school though. I made a cocoa scented "chocolate" ice cream play dough, a "strawberry" one (strawberry extract will make it smell like it too!), a plain uncolored play dough (vanilla ice cream with vanilla extract for scent) and finally a green colored play dough with mint extract for our chocolate mint ice cream flavor. The chips are pieces of craft foam cut into squares. Had no brown so I colored mine brown with a marker. Made the sprinkles with colored foam too. The props are plastics foods we had on hand; strawberries, crackers and two cones with detachable soft serve ice creams.

Ice cream anyone?

Botanical tic-tac-toe

Here's an easy game to play outside this summer: tic-tac-toe. Props needed? Leaves or flowers. (We picked flowers that grow in our backyard) and some long leaves or sticks to make the grid. We played several times and had a blast. Playing this kind of quick game is good for teaching turn taking and reasoning.

Polishing sunglasses

Summertime is not the only time when sunglasses are recommended but sure make me think of them profusely. Adrian got his ready by giving them a good cleaning. Control of error in this case was foolproof: no fingerprints were left on the glass when the sunglasses were held against the light provided by a window.

Adrian modeling proudly his clean sunglasses

Preparing a summer snack: watermelon!

Melons are a summer favorite here. I usually serve them sliced though so when I presented the melon scooper to Adrian he did not like to idea one bit. It simply wasn't the way a watermelon was supposed to be prepared according to him. Hmm. I had not apprehended this discussion but went into how foods can be presented differently and even showed him pictures to support my argument. Convinced but still concerned he might destroy an otherwise perfect quarter of fruit, Adrian dug in with the scooper and tried his best to make balls. Wrist turning is still an issue so the balls turned out a bit more like curls but it was still very pretty and toothpicks were inserted for a final presentation. The snack was then shared in between Adrian and Zahavah when she woke up from he nap.

Final presentation with toothpicks

Patterning with summer berries

Berries are now available year-round but they always taste their best in the summer for they are fresher and local. A fun to do with your berries before popping them in your mouth? Create patterns with them like we did above. I started a pattern which Adrian then had to finish with the berries available. When all was done, he happily was allowed to gobble them all up! :)

* * *

Your comments make my day ! 
(Please note : comments won't be visible until after my approval!)

* * *

Today, I'm happily linking up to

Montessori Monday, The Kids Co-Op, Show-and-Share Saturday, Link & Learn, TGIF, Share it Saturday, Mom's Library, The Sunday Showcase, Sun Scholars's For the Kids Friday, Stress-Free Sunday, Thursday Toddler & Preschool, Tuesday Tots, Preschool Corner &5K, Hammock Tracks' Look What We Did, Money Savings Monday, Serenity Saturday, Virtual Montessori Sharing Fair, and Artsy Play Wednesday, Monday Kid Corner, Kids in the Kitchen, Mums Make Lists, We Made That.

If you would like me to link up with you, please don't hesitate to ask, it might take me a week or two, but I generally do!