# A1 has her last two teeth coming through, and spent most of the week crying day and night.  These last two are taking their time and teething is always a HUGE issue for A1.  We are all exhausted from being woken so many times at night.  A1 therefore did not do much this week, bar cuddling and crying, and so there are almost no photos of her.  Teeth, please come!

TOPIC: DOGS

This year I want to be a little less haphazard about my two little one’s activities.   A4 will continue to have her one hour school with me doing Mathusee Primer and Jolly Phonics.  I want to be more  purposeful about the fun school I do with the two little girls.  To this end I’ve created a Preschool Adventure Box and a written frame-work with which to organise my planning of the short units I do with them.  Each week the two youngest are given a preschool adventure work box full of lots of exciting activities for them to do throughout the week.  They are allowed to have a quick look through to build up their excitement for the week ahead:

Read alouds and go along books

   

Factual books

   

For more book themed ideas see:

Each morning I put out some play dough at their table with a photocopied sheet of the cover of the book we are studying.  They both really enjoy play dough and having different themed cutters and molds each week keeps it fresh and exciting.

Dress up and drama

• This week we reused their bear costumes from a couple of weeks age, added a pin on tail and face painted a doggy face on them.  This was a big treat only to be done in the afternoon (near to bath time!):

• Little world tub – I put together a small tub of the animals mentioned in Angus Lost and popped it into A4’s quiet time box so she could play act the story out:

• I also managed to get my hands on some cuddly toys – dogs, cats and the like from our local charity shop for 20p each.  They all went into her quiet time box with the books:

Trays

A few pictures of them doing the trays:

Our Classification Cards

I was hoping that when we read about the fox A4 would tell me it wasn’t a dog but a fox.  I know my little girl well for that is exactly what she did say!  I was then able to explain that a fox comes from the canine or dog family of animals.  I was then able to reinforce this learning by going through the cards with her (which she adores!) and have her put to one side any animals she felt came from the canine family.

Games or Group activities:

• animal dominoes

• Playing with the soft toy dogs.  This was totally impromptu, unplanned by me play, which they were at, on and off, all day:

Printables

http://homeschoolcreations.com/AngusLostPrintables.html

Snacks

• serve doggy kibble (mixed cereal) in doggy dish:

• dog shaped tortilla pizza

I cut out a dog face using a pair of scissors:

 

• digestive biscuits carved into bone or dog shapes with cheese slices:

• We did make bone shaped banana muffins in our new muffin tin (at least that’s what I thought it was), unfortunately, when we put it in the oven for the muffins to cook the tin melted!  Obviously it wasn’t made for actually baking the muffins!

For more adventures with kids in the kitchen:

Special A4 and Mummy activity

One of T11’s chores is to feed and water the animals.  For the past year A4 has tagged along with him, helping out if she could.  He felt she was ready to take over this chore and I agreed.  A4 has made her bed everyday, without me having to remind her once and she has done it perfectly.  She has shown responsibility in the small things so she is ready and eager for more.  I made a set of cards for her, illustrating the chores she was to do each morning after breakfast.  As we were doing a unit on dogs this was the ideal opportunity to teach her to care for her our lab, Oscar:

DVDs

 

Our special themed tea

This week I simply did a doggy themed muffin tin which they ate whilst watching their DVD:

I made a doggy shaped beef pie, using carrots for his eyes and mouth; I cut paw shaped carrots which I served with peas and sweetcorn; I cut out bone shaped potato and fried lightly;  she had a glass of goats milk in a baby food jar and I made a terrier dog from white and dark chocolate with fudge bits mixed in and popped it into a snow bed of marshmallow fluff!  The tiny pies went down a treat with all my children so I can see those cropping up in muffin tins again.

For more muffin tin ideas:

It was a tricky week this week because B1 was struggling with pain for most of it (and let us know of this fact in no uncertain terms!) but we still managed to get bits and pieces done.  Anything I had planned but didn’t use I will keep for another day so no biggy!

For more ideas on activities to do with your tots and preschoolers:

Before Five in a Row Linky

For more ideas from B4FIAR:

For lots more crafty ideas: