This week, your child may learn:

• Everybody has feelings.
• Feelings are not good or bad, they just are.
• It is okay to feel angry.
• It is okay to feel scared.
• It is okay to feel happy.
• It is okay to feel sad.
• It is okay to feel loving.
• It is okay if you don’t feel very loving sometimes.
• What we do with our feelings is important.
• It is not okay to hit when you are angry.
• It is not okay to bite or kick when you are angry.
• It can help to exercise when you feel angry.
• When you feel sad, you can ask for a hug.
• When you feel scared, you can ask for a hug, too.
• When we say, “you hurt someone’s feelings” we mean that you made them feel bad.
• You should say you are sorry when you hurt someone’s feelings.

Preschool Concepts

The lesson plans have started adding more “academic” concepts to the themes. This week, the lesson plans will also focus on the letter h, the number 8, the color periwinkle, and the shape octagon. For younger children, you may want to stay focused on the color blue, but once the child knows blue, it can be fun to teach him all the different shades of blue: sky blue, cornflower blue, cobalt, midnight, navy, and of course, periwinkle. There is a periwinkle crayon in boxes of 64 colors. It was always a favorite in my family, and the first crayon to be broken or lost from the box, with thistle coming in a close second.

Preschool Art Projects

Unlike other themes, there aren’t a lot of art projects that can be done for feelings. Your child will make a faces collage, and a feelings book. He will color while listening to music, and try to describe how the music makes him feel. If you have the Feelings Stamps, he can use those, marking how he feels each morning on the calendar, then you will help him make a bar graph at the end of the month as you tally up how many days he chose “happy” or “sad” faces. You can watch a movie with him, pausing periodically to discuss how the characters in the movie may be feeling, or how the movie is making your child feel.

Your child will make several blue pictures, mixing colors and overlapping them to create the delicate shade of periwinkle. He will make a large 8 with glitter and glue, to display in the calendar area. Finally, you will color different shaped pasta, and have your child either string it on yarn for a necklace, or paste it to construction paper for a collage, depending on what shapes you bought.

New Songs Page

I’ve recently added a Songs page at the top, far right of the menu bar. I’ve added links to the songs there, so you can hear them being sung by various artists and children. Not all the songs will be available, but if a song says it’s to the tune of another song, then that song will be featured. For instance, this week your child will should learn the song “If You’re Feeling Grouchy”, which has different words sung to the tune of “Did you Ever See a Lassie?” The song “Did You Ever See a Lassie?” is posted to that page, in case you either don’t know it, or remember it from your childhood. The songs “Skinamerink”, “I’ve Got That Joy” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It” are all listed there, as well. I will add songs from past and future lessons as time allows.
 

Some Children Become Angry When They are Frightened, because They Don't Understand the Difference This is My Angry Face

Five-Star Books on Emotions Teeth are Not for Biting by Elizabeth Verdick Leonardo, the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems How Do I Love You? by Marion Dane Feelings by Aliki Happy Sad Silly Mad: My World Makes Me Feel by John E. Mistchel Andrew’s Angry Words by D. Lachner When I Feel Angry by Cornelia Maude A is for Angry: An Animal and Adjective Alphabet Book by Sandra Boynton Not Afraid of Dogs by Susanna Pitzer The Berenstain Bears in the Dark by Stan Berenstain The Berenstain Bears and the Green-Eyed Monster by STan Berenstain Jamaica and Brianna by Juanita Havill Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss Brand-New Baby Blues by Kathi Appelt Feelings to Share from A to Z by Todd Snow

Quality Products for Your Preschooler (Optional)

• Moody Bear Travel Bag
• The Feelings Playing Cards
• How Am I Feeling? washable fabric chart
• Ready2Learn Giant Feelings Stamps
• Faces & Feelings Listening Lotto
• Children’s Classics – Prokofiev: Peter & the Wolf
• Fantasia/Fantasia 2000 Four-Disc Set

Periwinkle is Both a Flower and a Color

• Worksheet 1: Letter H
• Worksheet 2: What Begins with H?
• Worksheet 3: Words Beginning with H
• Octagon Worksheet 4
• Periwinkle Color Page worksheet 5
• Worksheet 6: Number 8 Trace and Color
• Worksheet 7: Number 8 Count and Color
• Worksheet 8: Number 8 Trace and Color

Happy and Sad Preschool Lesson Plans on Feelings

Photo Credits:

Top: photo by Molly Pop
Upper Middle: photo by Robbie Grubbs
Lower Middle: Photo by Gerry Thomason
Periwinkle: photo by Jeff McMillian

How Children Learn

All of the great philosophers, educators, psychiatrists and caregivers of young children agree that children learn best by doing. They explore the world through their five senses. They touch, taste, see, smell, and hear everything, to gain understanding. When a child has touched, tasted, smelled, heard, and seen something long enough, then he is no longer interested in it. We adults see that as a “short attention span”. Instead, we should praise the child for having discovered so much so quickly!

Children Should be Supervised While Using Computers

Game Developers May Not Be Qualified

Preschool teachers have gone to college. They have a degree, and they have learned something about the young child. They are qualified to prepare lesson plans for your preschooler, that will be educational and beneficial. There is no such regulation for computer software developers. They do not have the qualifications to teach your child. Depending on a computer game to teach your child would be tantamount to hiring a high-school dropout to babysit. The drop-out might do an excellent job, but it is unlikely.

That said, more and more young children are using computers! Public libraries and preschools have computers available for little children. Parents and grandparents are buying laptops and computerized toys. Even gaming systems have latched onto this growing market, creating video games for the younger set. So the question no longer is “Should Young Children Use Computers,” but rather… preschoolers are already using computers, therefore, “What computer and video games are right for them?”

New Games Page Added

Exercise Oxygenates the Brain, Boosting Clearer Thinking

As a final note – keep computer usage to a minimum. Certainly, no more than fifteen minutes a day. Then have your child go outside to play, to relax his eyes, and work his muscles. You will have a healthier child for it.

Related Reading:
Kids and Computers
Backyard Sandbox

Photo Credits:
Top: photo by Oleg1975
Middle: photo by Debora Austin
Bottom: photo by Randen Pederson

• Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey
• The people cheered him, shouting “hosanna”
• Jesus and his disciples ate a last meal together
• Jesus’ friend Judas betrayed him with a kiss
• Jesus was punished, even though he did nothing wrong
• Jesus died on the cross
• His body was wrapped in linen and laid in a tomb
• The world was dark on the afternoon that Jesus died
• On Easter morning, the tomb was empty
• An angel said, “He is not here. He is risen!”
• Jesus died to take away our sins

There are many fun activities to help you teach these concepts to your child, from the Jelly Bean Prayer, to making a batch of Empty Tomb cookies. These yummy treats are sure to become a family tradition. I love how the author of Faithful Provisions relates each step of the cookie process to the Easter story. For example, there are eggs in the cookie, and eggs are the symbol of new life. We have new life in Jesus. There is vinegar in the cookie, and Jesus was made to drink vinegar on the cross.

If possible, try to make or buy a set of Resurrection Eggs. I recently discovered this learning tool, and used it with my granddaughter. It caught her attention, and helped her to learn many of the key concepts of the Passion of Christ. It is a bit much for one sitting. You might want to take several days to introduce all the eggs. But then, encourage your child to retell the Easter story to you, using the eggs as prompts. There are directions on the internet to make your own set of eggs, if you have more time than money.

I struggled to find good books for this unit. I rejected some because the cartoonish illustrations offended me. Jesus is real. He is not fiction. I felt the cartoons made Him seem like a fairy tale. I rejected the beautiful “Very First Easter” by Maier, because although the illustrations are gorgeous, the story was boring and too long for most preschoolers. I hope you’ll find a few Easter books in this list that your child will treasure for years to come. And may your family be truly blessed this Easter!

Five-Star Easter books:

• An Easter Gift for Me by Crystal Bowman
• The Easter Story by Patricia A. Pingry
• The Easter Story (St. Joseph Picture Books) by Jude Winkler
• The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado
• Benjamin’s Box by Melody Carlson
• J is for Jesus: An Easter Alphabet and Activity Book by Debbie Trafton O’Neal
• The Parable of the Easter Lily by Liz Curtis Higgs
• Donkey’s Easter Tale by Adele Bibb Colvin

Optional Easter Toys and Gifts

• Nail Cross Necklace
• The Greatest Adventure Stories from the Bible
• Religious 24-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle Jesus the Shepherd
• Religious 24-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle The Last Supper
• Easter Favorites CD by Cedarmont Kids
• Classics: Sunday School Songs by Cedarmont Kids
• Wikki Stix Bible Fun Kit
• Wikki Stix Alphabet Fun Cards for Learning

According to Legend, the first Easter Lily appeared at the Foot of the Cross, from the Blood of Jesus

• Number 3
• How Many Apples
• Squirrel Counting
• Easter Memory Game
• Easter Vocabulary Words
• Cross and Lilies coloring page
• Resurrection Maze
• Easter mini book
• C is for Cross letter tracer

Easter Lesson Plans for the Christian Preschooler

Photo Credits
Top: photo by Todd Anderson
Bottom: photo by Godizwithin

We Enjoy Playing in the Ice and Snow
• when it is very cold, water freezes (gets hard), making ice, snow, sleet, and icicles.
• A blizzard is when a strong wind blows for a long time during a heavy snowstorm.
• Days are shorter, and nights are longer.
• Most plants stop growing for a while.
• Some plants and trees grow all year round, and are called “evergreens”.
• Some trees lose their leaves in the winter.
• Some animals hibernate.
• Many birds fly south (migrate) for the winter.
• We wear warmer clothing in the winter.
• We enjoy playing in the ice and snow – we build snow forts, throw snow balls, skate on ice, ski on snow.

Feeding the Birds and Squirrels Will Give Your Child Many Hours of Enjoyment

In the winter, we dress warmly. It’s better for the environment to put on a layer of long underwear rather than crank up the heat on your thermostat. It may be healthier, too. It’s less of a shock going out to the cold, when you have that extra layer of insulation next to your skin. Thermal (long) underwear comes in so many attractive colors and prints! Get a dozen pair for your child and yourself, as well. Hard-to-find flannel-lined overalls fit nicely over the thermal underwear. A long-sleeved tee-shirt,then a sweatshirt completes the layers. Don’t forget wool socks for the family. Never buy synthetic socks in the winter. Synthetics do nothing to insulate, or wick away moisture. Cotton socks are okay inside, but when you are outside, if you want your feet to stay toasty warm and dry, you must go with pure wool. They can be expensive, but if you take care of your wool socks, they will last a lot longer than cotton. I’ve heard so many people complain that they just don’t like winter – but nearly everyone of them isn’t dressed appropriately for the weather. If you dress warmly, you won’t begrudge the chilly temperatures.

Dog Sledding Can Be a Great Family Sport

For answers to all your mushing questions, you can either email me, or contact: Sled Dog Central. I’ve been mushing for about ten years, so while I don’t know all the answers, I do know several places I can go to get the answers.

The worksheets for this week were all taken from First_School.
Worksheet 1
Worksheet 2
Worksheet 3
Worksheet 4
Worksheet 5
Alphabet

All of the books that are recommended for this week can be found here, if you don’t find anything suitable at your library. When I select books, they are either ones that I have read and loved, or they have a five-star rating from parents. The music and a few seasonally appropriate toys are also found here .

Lesson Plans for Winter Week

Related Reading:
Beginning Writing
Play Areas for Encouraging Creativity
Working With the Lesson Plans

Photo Credits:
Snowy Day by Mark Evans
Chubby Squirrel by Jeremy Noble
Running Sled Dogs by Lorelei Sieja

Have you ever seen someone give a rattle to a baby? What does he do with it? First, he sees it, using his sense of sight. Then he reaches for it, takes it in his hands, using his sense of touch. He shakes it, using his sense of hearing. He mouths it, using his sense of taste. And finally, he sniffs it, using his sense of smell (although few rattles have a scent). Then he throws it away. He’s done. He’s learned all that he can learn from it. And usually, the adult picks it back up and gives it to the baby again, who throws it again. That is a fun game! He will probably never play with that rattle again, other than to throw it. This is sensory play.

To some extent, one could argue that all play is sensory play. When children play with blocks, they are touching them, and they hear them if they knock over the block tower. When children paint, they may comment on how the paint smells, or how it looks when they swirl the colors together. But to narrow sensory play down a bit, sensory play is play that engages the child to explore one or more of his senses, that is not grouped into another category of play.

Earlier, I posted an article on the Seven Areas of Creative Play:

1. Dramatic Play
2. Block Play
3. Outdoor Play (also called Large Muscle play)
4. Art
5. Music
6. Books
7. Table Toys (also called Small Muscle Play, or manipulatives)

Now, I’d like to add the eighth category – Sensory Play.

Sensory play is often referred to as “messy play”.

Children can usually make a mess no matter what they are playing! But some sensory activities are inherently messy. Still, this area is critical to your child’s growth and development. You will need a bin, table, or area designated for sensory play. Day care centers usually have a sand play table, or a sand & water play table, which can double as the sensory table. At home, parents may wish to buy an inexpensive child’s splash pool – the smallest one available, 3 feet in diameter is fine. Put it on the living room carpet on top of an old shower curtain, to facilitate with clean-up. In warm weather, you can move the splash pool/sensory table out to the yard or patio.

Here is a partial list of activities for the splash pool/sensory play table. Once you get started, your own imagination will help you come up with dozens more. I hope you’ll share them with us here in the comments section beneath this post. Remember, for your child to get the most benefit from this play, you need to play with him. You need to speak with him, engage him in conversation. Ask him thoughtful questions. “How does this FEEL? How does this SMELL? Can you tell me how it SOUNDS? This is safe to taste, you may taste this. How does it TASTE? What does it look like?”

1. Sand. You can have a little sandbox inside. Sand is such a wonderful toy – it is ancient and universal. It feels cool in the morning shade, and warm in the afternoon sun. It packs better when it is damp. It washes away (erodes) in the rain. It doesn’t usually have a smell, but sometimes sand at the beach smells fishy. It feels rough. It’s fun to roll in! (outside!). When you have a little sandbox inside, the child plays differently than in the backyard sandbox. Outside he can sit in it, and push big trucks, and dig big holes. Inside, it is more fun to pour sand from a pitcher, or push little matchbox-sized construction trucks through it.
2. Water. If you run a preschool or daycare, you will want to have water play available. If you are teaching your little one at home, then he will get enough water play in the bathtub. For more information on the importance of water play, click here.

Girl Playing in Rice
3. Rice. Rice can be an interesting change from sand. It won’t make a sand castle, but it does pour nicely through a toy pitcher. It will make the wheels spin on a water wheel toy. It is fun to smoosh your hands in, scoop it, dump it, rearrange it… and it vacuums up better than sand. Pour about 30 pounds of clean, dry white rice into your splash pool. Add some measuring cups and spoons, toy dishes, small cars, etc. Your child will enjoy this for an entire week, I’m sure! By then you’ll be sick of vacuuming up the rice. Put it away, but save it to bring it back out on a rainy day when you really need to keep your child amused. You can add more to this by coloring the rice. Read how to do that here.
4. Fall leaves. In the fall, bring in a bag full of autumn leaves. Add whatever is available in your area. Add small sticks, acorns, nuts, pinecones, small branches of pine boughs, etc. Your child may just touch things, smell them, lick them (ick!), etc. Or he may want to bring his toy cars to the table, and build forts for toy plastic animals. Let him explore the textures of these natural items. When you are about to empty this sensory activity, press the leaves for a future art project.
5. Winter snow. Bring in a bucket full of snow. Let your child touch it and taste it. Smell it. Look at it closely. Use a magnifying glass. Put some in a glass and watch it melt. Dump small plastic penguins or whales in the snow, and let child play. Give him a pair of mittens and let him build a small snow fort for toy people. Talk about cold, hot, soft, hard, and other descriptive words.
6. Spring Flowers. Bring in a bucket of potting soil. Let child play in that. Add a bit of water, let him play in the mud. Let him play with small garden tools, or with his construction trucks again. When the mud play is over, then plant some bean seeds in the sensory table. Soak the beans overnight in water before you plant them – to speed up germination. Beans grow fast, and are easy to see. You and your child can pull up a bean plant every couple of days to examine the changes (plant plenty of seeds!). At first, the bean shell swells and splits. Then you can see a tiny bean plant folded up inside the seed! Then you’ll see the root shoot out, and then a stem with leaves. It never gets old. If you’re tired of the muddy splash pool, you can move the surviving bean seeds to paper cups or pots. Wash out the splash pool in the yard with a hose, for the next activity.
7. Bubbles. Best done outside! Mix warm water, dish detergent, and a bit of glycerin into your splash pool. Put your child in a swim suit, and set him outside with various bubble-blowing wands or toys. Supervise! Children can drown in an inch of water. Bubbles are great for sensory play. If you use scented dish soap, your bubble stuff will smell nice. Bubbles can have all the colors of the rainbow in them. They feel slippery. They taste soapy. Can you catch one without popping it?
8. Ooblech. This is very, very messy! But great fun for kids of all ages. You might want to mix this in a smaller area than the splash pool/sensory table. You could sit your child at a picnic table OUTSIDE, and give him a cookie sheet or cake pan half-full of oobleck. For more fun, read Dr. Seuss’s classic tale of Bartholomew and the Oobleck first. Oobleck is made with cornstarch and water. For more specific directions, click here.
9. Ice. While you really have to wait for winter to do the snow activity, thanks to freezers, you can do ice any time. It might be more fun to do it on the hot days in summer. Dump clumps of ice in the sensory table. Let child touch them, lick them, sniff them, and explore them. Then, child could drop droplets of colored water on the ice to create patterns or mix colors. Child could also shake salt on the ice to see what happens. (The ice starts to melt). You can extend this activity by placing tiny plastic toys in an ice cube tray, filling it with water and freezing them. The child can play explorer, or paleontologist, by extracting the toys from the ice with a toy mallet.
10. Packing Peanuts. Also, very messy! But right after Christmas you may have an excess of these terribly non-earth friendly styrofoam pieces laying around. Dump them all in the splash pool/sensory table, and let your child’s imagination run wild. He can pretend it is snow. Dress up in mittens and a hat and scarf, and sit in the “snow” to look at picture books, like Alvin Tresselt’s classic, “The Mitten”.
11. Put left-over wrapping paper in the sensory table. Children can rip it, cut it, make collages out of it. They can pretend to wrap up their toys in it. They will have almost as much fun with the left-over wrappings as they have with their Christmas toys.
12. Coffee grounds. Save your coffee grounds for several weeks. Set them out daily to dry, then put them in a bag to save them. When you have enough, put them in the sensory table. Coffee grounds have a different texture and a pleasant smell. Children will play in it like sand.
13. Seashells. You’re lucky if you live by the sea and can get a good supply of these for free. Otherwise, craft stores now stock them. Try to get a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. You can scatter just seashells, or put sand in the bottom of the table and scatter the shells on top of the sand.
14. Oatmeal. Plain, raw, uncooked, oatmeal. Can be poured, scooped, measured, or moved around with toy trucks. Shakes off clothing well, and vacuums up almost as well as rice. One mom I met kept a huge oatmeal “sandbox” in her spare bedroom for her two young sons.

Legos Stimulate Creativity, While Helping to Develop Small Motor Control
15. Legos. You need to be the judge if your child is ready for small LEGOS yet. Younger children can use DUPLOS. Sometime between the age of three and four, many children are ready to play with the smaller legos. If you dump an assortment in the sensory table, they can build and build, and not have to pick up! An alternative, is to let your child play with legos on a sheet. Then when it is time to clean up, you lift up the four corners of the sheet, and put everything into a box together. Little legos are so much fun, but very boring to pick up. You could actually make a lego mat, by cutting the sheet into a circle, sewing 1″ rings around the edge, and threading a cord through the rings. Then just pull the drawstring together at clean-up time.
16. Shredded paper. This is very interesting to play in, but also very messy. Little paper shreds stick with static electricity to your hair, clothes, and carpet. You’ll want to vacuum up your child when he’s through! I hid mini candy canes in shredded paper for a Christmas time activity at my preschool.
17. Dried corn. This is great for indoor play, especially for younger toddlers. It sweeps up better than it vacuums. You can get huge sacks of dried corn at feed stores for about $5.00. Some pet supply stores in the cities will also stock dried corn. After your child has scooped it, measured it, poured it, patted it, sniffed it, tasted it (ick), and you no longer want it in your house, then you can take it to a park to feed it to the ducks. Corn is a bit more nutritious for them than chunks of stale white bread.
18. Easter grass. This is a good seasonal activity. Let your child play with the Easter grass. He can bury plastic Easter eggs in it, or small toys. Let him glue it to construction paper at art time. It comes in many colors and textures. Some are very shiny and pretty. Some now are edible.
19. Nuts. Put an assortment of nuts in their shells in the sensory table. (Watch out for signs of a nut allergy in your child! One in one-hundred children are allergic to nuts. Some nut allergies are life-threatening.) Talk about the textures of the different nuts. How do they smell? Some are smooth, some are rough. Some are small, some are quite large. Get a nut cracker, and sit with your child as you crack open some nuts and taste them. Put the cracked nut shells back in the sensory table. Play with them until you are bored with them, or until you’ve eaten them all! Then glue some nut shells on cardboard in a mosaic, and clean up the sensory table for the next activity.
20. Pudding. Mix up a package of instant pudding, and let your child “fingerpaint” with it. You might want to put this in a smaller container, rather than the splash pool, unless you run a day care and plan to mix up several boxes. This is one sensory activity where you can encourage tasting! Have children wash their hands before playing there.
21. Coins. Supervise! A child can swallow a penny, and get copper poisoning. Dump your change jar into a bowl with rubbing alcohol to clean them somewhat. Money can carry many germs. Then, dump the clean, dry coins into the sensory table. Talk about colors, shapes, sizes, textures, etc. Let children sort the coins. Put the silver ones here, the copper ones here…
22. Magnets and paper clips. Dump several large boxes of plain paper clips into the sensory table. Add some large magnets. Let children explore, discover how magnets will push against each other, or pull together. How many paper clips can each magnet lift? Try adding other metal items to the sensory table. Will the magnets lift pop cans? Toy cars? Pennies?
23. Play dough. You can make quantities of home-made playdough. Add different scents to it – put vanilla in one batch and color it brown. Substitute Banana flavoring for the vanilla in the next batch, and color it yellow. Put peppermint flavoring in a third batch and color it red or green. Put almond flavoring in a batch, and chose a color to color it . You can put grape Kool-aid powder in another batch, skipping the vanilla (use plain kool-aid, not the kind with sugar in it.). Put all the colors of playdough out at once, and all the playdough toys. Let your child smell them, taste them, mush them around and mix them together. Cover the playdough up in air-tight containers when not in use. Add cookie cutters, rolling pins, and other playdough toys as needed.
    
24. Dry instant mashed potatoes. Start with the dry mashed potato flakes. Have your child experience that. Then slowly add some warm water and moosh that around. Add more warm water, and moosh. Can add warm, colored water – green on St. Patrick’s Day, orange for Halloween, etc. Add enough warm water until all the flakes are moistened, and potatoes are thick and warm and mushy. Continue to play, taste, mush, mix, and explore. Can hide clean, small toys in the mush. Can play with ice cream scoops and toy doll dishes. When done, dump the mush in the garbage and hose off the pool outside.

These are just a few of the hundreds of ideas you can use in your sensory play area. Next, you can try combining them. Add glitter to your sand table. Hide coins in the dry corn. Float ice in your water table.

Anything you see that might have an interesting smell, texture, taste, sound, or is visually stimulating, can have potential for the sensory table, if you deem it to be safe for children.

Have fun! Your child will.

Some materials for Sensory Play:

Related Reading:
Sensory Play
Sight lesson plans
Sound lesson plans
Taste lesson plans
Touch lesson plans

Photo Credits:
Baby with Rattle: by Ian Watson
Girl Playing in Rice: by Grandma Musher
Boy with Legos: by Mads Boedker