Sorting Sprinkles: Fashion Week for Preschoolers

Don't you hate it when you have an idea for a theme and it just doesn't pan out as well as you thought it ought? This was one of those themes I was sure would be great to explore and would offer an array of possibilities for work stations and now, I just feel "meh" about it. It wasn't bad by any means but it wasn't great either. My daughter, who loves her school hours, loves most everything though so this week was just fine for her...which is what really matters! :)

Sorting buttons

I like these buttons. They all look like flowers and are so colorful. Even better, they come in different sizes too! For this activity, we only worked on sorting them by color but in the future, we could take it to the next level! To help with the color sorting, I provided yogurt cups in purple, blue, green, orange, yellow and red.

Language: Bingo with button chips

Bingo is loved here and now that my daughter has learned more letter sounds, it makes for good practice to hold a letter sounds bingo! It's great for reviewing letter sounds of course but it's also a good opportunity for children to see how letters are sometimes written differently from the Sandpaper Letters. For example, at first, the printed "t" caused a bit of confusion but she eventually figured it out. If you too want to make your own bingo cards (I make some for sight words for my first grader so it really is a lifelong learning tool), you can use the free bingo generator from Osric like I did.

Practical Life: Hanging Laundry

This was most definitely the favorite this week. I offered two sizes of clothespins: the traditional ones (bigger but harder to control) and the medium ones (smaller but easier to pry open) as well as doll clothes for hanging. My little one loved doing her own "laundry" and repeated the activity several times. Finally, the clothespins are catching on!

Hanging laundry...again, and again, and again

Winter Hat Craft

Now this came from an idea I pinned a while ago. Using scrap felt pieces and cotton balls, the idea was to make a cozy winter hat. I put my finished model in view and that was it! Easy craft for everyone. Once again, we focused on using liquid glue and controlling the amount squirted out. We also learned to fluff up cotton balls to make them less round. My preschooler tried to cut through the felt by the way but it was very difficult as it was thick so I provided her with strips. The original idea used ribbons mostly as well as coloring. Just as pretty. We just tend to use what we have on hand. :)

Practical Life: Removing lint

I miss having kitty cats but...I don't miss finding their hairs on my clothes. In the meantime, I have young children who constantly make the dust come out of who knows where so this practical life activity was perfect to introduce the lint roller. I provided a "travel size" one to make it easier for little hands to manipulate.

Seasons 3 Part Cards

I always liked these 3 part cards. They came as a free printable with my purchase of a KHT Montessori album. I printed a set for use on our Morning Circle Time Board and kept a set as 3 part cards. This was our formal introduction to the seasons but they had been informally "visited" during calendar time and well, through life of course! After this work, I encouraged my daughter to check out the clothing sorting activity...

Sorting for the seasons

Piled up on our couch were a few clothing items to be sorted by seasons. Some fitted more than one of course but it made for a great discussion. Why do we not wear wool socks in the summer? Why would I want a pair of tights in the fall?

Count & Match : buttons and numbers

Loved this idea when I first saw it on Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten. My set didn't turn out nearly as pretty as that classroom's but it did the job just fine. Printed some sweater and pants clipart. Stuck some stickers on the sweater and penned some numbers on the pants. The work? count the "buttons" on the sweater and match with the pants adorned by that number. We only went up to number 5 but next year, we could add numbers and make these outfits cuter...and bigger possibly.

Practical Life: Velcro Frame

Well, I never bought the dressing frames as you can see. They're essential life skills work sure, but each frame runs around $12 and they can be handmade for much less. Here, I took a weaving hoop (I believe that is what it's called...) and inserted a velcroed jacket. The material was thick so it didn't work that well but my little one knows how velcro works anyway... :)