Robots Week for Preschoolers - Part 2

Robots Week really had me all fired up with inspiration. It was a fun week for my son and it was fun for me to prepare as well.  Here is the last post on the topic...

Robot Creation - Wrapping, Gluing and More

What can you do with an upside down empty individual applesauce container and a small Del Monte pull-top vegetable can? This beautiful robot of course! You'll also need foil, pipe cleaners, goggly eyes, glue and gems of your choice for buttons. The best part of course is the wrapping. Foil is so easy to maneuver for small hands wanting to wrap. It was both easy and fun to do for Adrian.

Circuit Board - A "3D dot-to-dot" with elastics and screws!

I always try to come up with different ideas for Adrian's school so he won't get bored. I thought this would be perfect with the robot theme since robots have circuits. Of course, we're not gonna start welding this year so to make connections, we use elastics! :) I used a styrofoam piece, wrote down letters and numbers, inserted screws and told Adrian it was like dot to dot but with elastics! He LOVED it and did it several times in a row. Using elastics is also good for fine motor developement!

Funneling robot parts -which funnel will let the robot parts through?

Another big hit this week was this simple funneling activity. We used three different sizes of funnels (from the dollar store) and three different containers filled with "robot parts" (washers, nuts and plastic anchors). Adrian had to try and see which funnel went with which part. You see, prior to presenting this activity, I made sure the washers would go down only one funnel for example. He had to find out which. Then he was handed the nuts and had to see which funnel would fit them and so on. He did the work several times, enjoying seeing the items go down the tube.

Name that Robot - Calling all Letters - A phonetic activity

After Adrian mentioned the nuts & bolts looked like robots, I just had to do a follow up activity. :) I just thought we could name them! Using our Leapfrog magnetic letters, I called out phonetically the letters composing the name of each. I had told Adrian that each robot would have a three letter name and here they are are!

Magnetic versus non-magnetic robot parts

What better week than this week to break out a magnetism activity? It's always well loved. I put out a few items that could pertain to robots and Adrian tested them each with his wand separating the magnetic ones from the non-magnetic ones. He then proceeded to find more magnetic items throughout the house...

Robot Oil - Filling a small container with an eyedropper

Adrian still likes transfer activities but they are getting quite easy for him. I mean, he is 4.5 years old. So, I thought I'd put out this one with small contact lens cases and eyedroppers and their bottles. I introduced them as robot oil. I explained we had to find out which color the oil was by dropping a few droplets into each compartment so each robot could be given the right oil. He loved the idea. His execution was perfect.

Preparing to rub the oil on the robots with a cotton pad - Fill & "empty"

After finishing the filling, we transferred again using a syringe. This was tougher. The syringe had to be filled and then the "oil" had to be dropped on the pad that would be "rubbed on the robot parts needing care". 

Reading and Matching Shapes & Paperclipping activity

Homeschool Creations's free package contains quite a few cute files. This was one of them. I cut the shape name cards and cut the robot cards as well and then came the work. First, Adrian had to "read" the shape cards. He can't quite read yet but by reading the first letter phonetically, he was able to read the shape name and thus match each shape card with the right robot. Then, he paperclipped them all. It was his first time paperclipping and I am not sure if it was because of the type of paperclips but it was difficult for him. I thought these oversized plastic ones would work great for a first time but maybe I was wrong. I might have to give a try to the good old metal ones! :)

Today, I'm linking up to:

and No Time for Flashcards

Robots Week for Preschoolers - Part 1

Welcome back to me! :) It sure has been a loooong time since I posted, hasn't it? Missed me much? Well, you know, with the holidays and all, I just had to take a breather and embrace the season with the family. That being said, I might not have posted them but we did do a few activities in regards with Christmas. Will I post them? I guess not. I feel like it's been more than a while since we wrapped up the season so... let's just skip to our next theme: robots!

My version of robot playdough - inspiration for Adrian's robot playdough below

Now I was a bit apprehensive when I sat down to create an entire week worth of robot school materials. My son, for one, isn't into robots. I don't personally know much about robots either but I was wanting to use this theme as a way to expand his knowledge and have him develop an interest in other subjects. Robots, it seems, is something little kids like. As it turns out, robot week was my all time favorite so far and I believe it was one of Adrian's as well (nothing will ever beat Trains and Angry Birds week). Without any further introduction, here is a sample of what we did last week-part 1.

Robot Playdough

Children in general love modeling dough and clay. Play dough is usually my go-to because it's easy to set up and easy to clean up. Unfortunately, my son usually doesn't quite know what to do with the dough and gets bored quickly because he finds himself doing the same things over and over again. For robot week, I set out some "robot parts" (washers, nuts, plastic anchors, pipe cleaners) and decided to model along. Although I had mentioned we were going to make robots out of playdough, Adrian's imagination and excitement really flourished after he saw me make one of my robots. Then, he set off to work and made robots based on mine (which were based on Counting Coconuts' ideas). It was the first time he really created anything with a modeling compound so it made me proud and it made him happy. 

Changing batteries

Do robots run on batteries? Well, many do. Although CloudB's Twilight Turtle isn't a robot, it needed its batteries replaced (how timely!) and so we practiced changing the batteries so we'd be ready when a robot would need our help. I personally unscrewed the door and then showed Adrian how to pop out a battery and how to insert one in observing the polarity. The other 2 batteries were to be popped out and popped back in by him. A nice practical life activity.

Isolating The Letter "R/r"

Adrian loves manipulatives so whenever I use worksheets, I try my best to match them up with tangibles; not just markers. Here, a printable from Homeschool Creations's free package and a container filled with washers to be put on all the "r" and "R" found on the page. Quite easy  for my big boy but how fun!

Assembling Nuts & Bolts

A great practical life activity for improving dexterity. I demonstrated how to disassemble these and how to put these back together. Each part was also identified. At first, Adrian wasn't so quick but he eventually learned to "spin" the nuts instead of screwing them little by little and such. Adrian liked to think that these constituted a family of robots! :)

Measuring Robot Height

Our first time using a tape measure. This activity was so well liked that I am thinking of buying a child-size tape measure for Adrian. Cloth tape works well for now but it's not very sturdy; just lightweight. I was agreeably surprised by Adrian's use of the tape; he knew how to read it intuitively and how to to use it. Anyhow, the activity was quite simple; Adrian had to measure the height of each robot with the tape measure and then put the number corresponding to its height. Standing in for robot were three of my Russian dolls wrapped in tin foil.

Stay tuned for more Robot activities!