The letter “I” is an important one for preschoolers to learn. However, this letter can be tricky because, like the other vowels, “I” makes two different sounds.
You can hear the “long I” in many words your preschooler already knows – words like “smile”, “time”, and “night-night”. “Short I” also crops up in plenty of common words like “fish”, “sit”, and “tickle.”
For this letter with TWO sounds, it only makes sense to have TWO different fun activities. First up – homemade Long-I ice cream!
Whipping up a micro-batch of ice cream at home is quick, fun, and uses real ingredients you probably already have on hand. Here’s what you’ll need:
1 gallon-size plastic bag
1 sandwich-size plastic bag
1 cup half-and-half
2 Tbsp sugar
½ tsp vanilla
Ice
¼ cup salt (rock salt or kosher salt work best)
Add your half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla to the sandwich-size bag. Close it up, eliminating any air from the bag as best you can. (Make sure the bag is completely sealed – you don’t want salt getting in and ruining the ice cream!)
Place your bag of ice cream mix into the gallon-size bag. Fill the gallon-size bag about halfway with ice, then add your salt. Seal up the gallon-size bag and shake, shake, shake! After shaking for 6-8 minutes, remove the sandwich-size bag. Rinse it well with cool water to remove all the salt, then squeeze into a bowl and enjoy.
For your next batch, add a little chocolate syrup, peppermint extract, fresh fruit, or crushed candy. You could even try a dash of food coloring to create something totally unexpected. You definitely won’t find blue vanilla with strawberry and chocolate chips in any grocery store.
When your little ice cream chef is ready to move on, share the coloring page below. See how many “I” words you can find together.
The letter “g” is associated with so many fun activities and objects. One in particular that comes to mind is the guitar.
Music is a fantastic way for children of all ages, from preschool and beyond, to express themselves. Music allows children to dance, sing, and exert energy in an uplifting way. It also can help them learn new things, like memorization and motor skills.
One of the most popular musical instruments is the guitar. The guitar is a string instrument and comes in two forms: acoustic and electric. Lots of music genres use the guitar, some of these include country, punk rock, pop, metal, jazz, and more.
This letter “g” activity is a fun musical activity that allows preschoolers to be creative and make them feel like a real-life rockstar. While most of us don’t own a guitar, you might be surprised at how easy it is to make one at home with just a few items. This activity requires scissors, so please make sure a parent or guardian is available to help cut.
To make your very own shoebox guitar, you will need the following items:
1 Shoe Box
Cardboard
Rubberbands
1 Pencil
1 Pen
Scissors
Tape
Stickers (optional)
Watch this YouTube tutorial below to create your own!
If you don’t have any of the above items readily available at home, there are a few other fun activities you can do instead that involve the instrument. You can listen and sing along to popular songs that use a guitar or you can download, print, and color in the guitar illustration below.
Let us know in the comments below how your shoebox guitar turned out and what songs you played with it!
So many exciting and extraordinary words start with the letter E. For preschoolers who are starting to work with the alphabet it’s always fun to mix in new and creative activities that involve the letters of the alphabet. Today we are sharing with you fun activities to do with preschoolers that involve the letter E.
This activity requires very little mess, which also means very little clean up for you, mom. For this activity you’ll just need some colored pencils or crayons and the free to use picture for coloring.
We will be coloring a beautiful majestic elephant and a cute egg. Both of these things start with the letter E. While sharing them with your preschooler you can help them make the letter E sound and invite them to color in the picture.
Letter “E” Activities for Preschool
While things in the world may not seem so positive right now, elephants are beautiful creatures that symbolize many great things. While your kids are coloring their pictures, take this time to talk with them about elephants and how people believe they symbolize good luck, power, and wisdom – all things that are great to be reminded of.
“Eggs” are great for helping preschoolers learn the letter e because of the many related words that start with E. When it comes to eggs – you (e)at them, they give you (e)nergy and they are (e)xtra delicious. Make your egg colorful and fun! Something that really shows your personality.
Letter “E” Activities for Preschool
In the comments below, feel free to share other activities that can help preschoolers learn the letter E.
Happy early Halloween! I’m trying to keep life as on-track as possible for the girls right now. I’m 39, yes 39, weeks pregnant today. We just had so much fun decorating the fireplace! In case you don’t remember my fireplace before we white washed it, here is that post. You might notice that we added a little molding around the old thin mantle (thank you, dad).
As any mother can tell you, the only thing harder than trying to eat healthy is trying to get your kid to eat healthy. Just try giving your kid a side of broccoli for dinner: It doesn’t matter how much cheese you smother it in, odds are it will still end up going to the dog. Going through this cycle night after night can be discouraging. Luckily for you, many companies are developing tasty, healthy alternatives for food, with the promise that these items are chock full of vitamins and nutrients to help child development. Unfortunately for you, many of these so-called “healthy alternatives” are not as good for your kid as they might appear to be.
Using data fromFoodFacts.com, we examined three foods that many consider “healthy alternatives” for kids, and we debunked some of the health claims behind them.
“It says organic, so it has to be healthy.” Right? Wrong. These organic fruit snacks are widely considered healthy because they contain 0 grams of fat (any kind), sodium, and cholesterol. On top of that, they are chocked full of so much Vitamin C, they provide 340% of the recommended daily value. However, these statistics don’t tell the whole story. For starters, these 3 oz. bags of fruit snacks contain 250 calories each, a frighteningly high amount for a tiny bag of gummies. Additionally, each bag is full of 33g of sugar, more than enough to give your kids cavities and send them bouncing off the walls.
I have a new favorite now! Brownie S’mores Trifle! I found this recipe on momendeavers.com. It was AWESOME! It really looked fabulous and fancy as well! It looked like I made this really complicated delicious dessert for some friends who came for dinner, when really it whipped together so fast!
It has a crunchy graham cracker brownie crust and toasted marshmallow and chocolate top! So so so good!
This is such a yummy trifle. I can’t wait to have it again! Give it a try!
Bake your brownies as directed. Make you instant chocolate pudding as directed. Once the brownies are cooled, cut them into small chunks.
Next, the whipped topping from the tub and mix it in a separate medium bowl with all of the marshmallow cream.
In a trifle dish or large bowl add about half the brownies. Then top the brownies with about half of the chocolate pudding.
Crumble about half of the graham crackers (or break into small pieces) on top of the pudding, covering it completely.
Now add half of the whipped topping/marshmallow cream mixture to the top of the graham crackers.
Repeat all three layers again (brownie, pudding, graham crackers, whipped topping mixture).
Now for the best part! Spread you mini marshmallows out on a cookie sheet (do not put tin foil down first). Broil them in the oven until they are nice and toasted brown. About 10-15 seconds. Do not even close the oven door completely or take your eyes off them for a second or they will burn, and quickly!
Let them cook and then sprinkle them on the top of the trifle. Break the Hershey's bar into squares and spread over the top of the trifle.
I try to be creative with my kids’ Valentine cards, but in all honesty, I’m not that creative. I like to think I am, so I go on Pinterest and look for Valentine’s that I could see myself doing with a 3 and 5 year old. My 3 year old has 15 in her class and my 5 year old has 23. Eek! In this case, patience is a virtue. So, I’ve searched and found what I think is the 5 easiest Valentine’s for kids.
1. I’m glad we’re in the same school. This one is cute and can easily be written! I found this one here.
2. You are Beary Special. I actually did this one with Ella last year, so it can be done. Check this one out here.
3. I mean this one might take a while, but it looks cool and doable. Who doesn’t love twinkies anyway?! Found here.
It’s true… I did not survive the holidays well. I threw in the towel and just let myself enjoy every minute of it. This means that I gained 10 lbs from all the delicious food!
One of my favorite cookies I tried this holiday were these Salted Caramel Snickerdoodles from twopeasandtheirpod.com. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the sweet and salty combination thing they have going on! So good! My kids loved them too and are now always asking me to make those “one yummy chewy caramel ones.” Good stuff!
Chewy and yummy with melted caramel in the middle!
Oh man… they are making me drool just looking at them. Dang after Christmas diet! Ha! If it weren’t for that I would be making them all over again!
Look at that sea salt sprinkled on top! Yum!
Okay, enough already. Here is the fabulous recipe! Let me know how they turn out!
Whisk flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and salt together in a medium bowl.
Cut the butter into slices and brown it by heating it slowly on low heat in a skillet pan. Whisk frequently until the butter foams and brown specks start to from on the bottom of the pan. Remove the butter from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
Combine brown butter and sugars in a mix until smooth. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Then slowly add in your dry ingredients.
Chill dough for at least 30 min in refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 350 and roll 2 Tb of dough into balls. Place a piece or two of caramel in the center of the ball and wrap the dough around it.
Roll the balls into the cinnamon/sugar mixture and place on prepared cookie sheet on parchment paper. Sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake 8 - 10 minutes and cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes until cooking is set.
I’ll be honest. I’ve been in the need of a new couch for a long time and I think I’ve finally found the one that’s perfect for me. I’ve spent a lot of time in actual retail locations from major furniture brands and different department stores but hadn’t found anything that was perfect for me. That was until I discovered the website joybird.com. They have modern furniture designs that allow for a lot of customization. Pick your color, fabric, and style and they’ll build the furniture and ship it to your home.
I’ve spent a bit too much time on their site looking through the combinations I could come up with. Did I want to go with a sky blue or a deep green. What would look best with the yellow paint I’ve been considering? What style of couch would hold up with my taller and heavier family members? But I think I have it picked. A light blue couch that looks sturdy.
I have researched joybird up and down and really like what I’ve seen on review sites. For example, the following review on Yelp:
People love Joybird furniture so much that they regularly post their photos on yelp to go along with there review. Yes, there are a few people that had some issue but the number of updated reviews that include comments on how Joybird fixed any problem a customer had was well beyond anything that comes from the other furniture websites I have been looking at.
I made the plunge and clicked the “buy” button a bit earlier tonight. I’ll be sure to share a post with my new furniture once it arrives and after I get to actually painting the room. Who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind and not use yellow. Time will tell.
Happy Halloween (a day late)! I love going with themes for my kids for Halloween. Last year, it wasn’t happening with my two year old. I was ecstatic when they all agreed to be a blind mouse. Here they are!
I just love Halloween!
In case you’re wondering where I got their costumes, their leotards are from leotard boutique dot come, sunglasses are from Children’s Place, I bought rods at A.C. Moore and spray painted them gray, mouse ears, tail and tights are from Target.
“It says organic, so it has to be healthy.” Right? Wrong. These organic fruit snacks are widely considered healthy because they contain 0 grams of fat (any kind), sodium, and cholesterol. On top of that, they are chocked full of so much Vitamin C, they provide 340% of the recommended daily value. However, these statistics don’t tell the whole story. For starters, these 3 oz. bags of fruit snacks contain 250 calories each, a frighteningly high amount for a tiny bag of gummies. Additionally, each bag is full of 33g of sugar, more than enough to give your kids cavities and send them bouncing off the walls.
