My 2 1/2 year old son is desperately wanting to go to school like all of the older children he knows that just recently started their new school years. However, he's not old enough to attend a pre-school in our area, so I decided to have a little "school" for him here at home. After deciding that I wanted to stick with just the basics, I decided the best way to incorporate letters was to have a "letter of the day". I've assigned each day with a specific letter and everything we do during that day will revolve around that letter. For example, starting with letter "A" this past Tuesday, I first showed him the letter A (I got letter posters from a school supply store and hung them on the wall for his reference) and he identified it as being an A. Next, we looked at books...I have some great alphabet books that break well known items down by each letter of the alphabet...."Look and Learn- ABC" is one of my favorites (see below). We looked at and identified all of the things shown in the books that started with the letter A.
Next, we incorporated a craft with the letter A...I wanted to use something he knew pretty well, so I went with an apple. I used an apple shaped template on red paper and cut it out. I then cut out a small rectangle in brown paper and a leaf shape in green paper to be used for the stem and leaf. I also cut out a large "A" to put onto the apple so that he could associate the two together. I let him glue all of the pieces and assemble the apple. I also wanted to use people or characters that he knows well to also identify with the letter A....for this, he happens to have 2 cousins named AJ and Austin, so I printed out small pictures of them and listed their names, so that he could see that they started with A. (I let him glue the pictures onto card stock as another craft for the day)
Next was lunch, where we ate things starting with A. Now, I realize that there aren't food items for every letter in the alphabet (especially food items that a toddler will eat!!), but I did try to incorporate a few things for our letter A...he had applesauce, apricots and apple juice. I think at least having one thing with the letter helps!
After lunch, we went outside for "recess"...where we explored the outdoors looking for things that start with the letter A. This isn't an easy task, and it may not be possible for all letters, but we did end up finding an acorn and an ant for A!!! :)
After recess, we came back in and he practiced writing the letter A. While he's still a little young to be writing, he did enjoy trying to do it!! He also has an insect coloring book, so he colored a picture of ants too.
And then we finished the school day by having a snack of cookies and milk. For the cookies, I got some Earth's Best Organic Letter of the day cookies (a big "thank you" to Sesame Street who is a sponsor of Earth's Best for not only supporting organic children's food, but also making it educational!!) . They are a small crunchy cookie made to look like building blocks with different letters on them. I'm very OCD and organized, so I went through and sorted out all of the letters for each day so that I could make sure they were all ready and separated!!! :)
And that's it! Just a simple school day to get aquainted with the letter. I thought it would be much easier and less confusing for him if we stuck to only one letter per day...and it has really worked. He seems to have learned a lot about the letters from each day and retains the information reall well.
We just worked on B yesterday, and I've also included a picture of the craft for it as well. He made a boat and colored a picture of Big Bird. We also made another character reference sheet and used a picture of his cousin, BJ as well as a picture of a piece of broccoli for good measure. For lunch, we had broccoli, bananas and berry yogurt. He managed to see some birds at recess, along with playing with a balloon. And ended the day with more Earth's Best letter cookies and milk! :)
I hope this helps anyone interested in educating your toddler at home. It's an easy way to incorporate letters by still letting them do things they love!
For the warp, cut 1-inch-wide loops from the bodies of one or two tees (we found a boy's large worked best on our 33-inch hoop), removing the hem and stopping at the sleeves. Ideally these loops should all be the same color; we used two colors for clarity in our photographs. You'll need a total of 11 loops. For the weft, cut at least 50 loops from the remaining shirts. Save the unused sleeves for the basket project.
Stretch one warp loop over the hula hoop, as shown.
Add and secure a second loop, perpendicular to the first.
Repeat, filling in the spaces, until all 11 loops are in place.
Push together two warp loops at the top of the hula hoop, as shown. This creates an odd number of warp spokes in your wheel, which allows the overunder pattern of the weft to alternate with each new row.
Secure the first weft loop to the center of one of the warp spokes (we chose the doubled spoke from step 5) by wrapping it around the warp and then looping it back through itself.
Begin weaving the weft over and under the warp spokes, forming a tight spiral. For now, treat both parts of each warp spoke as a single unit, weaving over or under the two together. As you work, push the weft material toward the center of the hoop and keep it just snug. If you pull the weft tight, the rug will develop lumps or bends. When you reach the end of the piece of weft, add a new loop by threading it through the end of the first and back through itself.
When your rug is about 8 inches across, begin treating each warp spoke as two individual strips instead of a single unit, weaving over or under each strand instead of going over or under the doubled spoke. This increases the number of warp spokes, improving the structure of the project. When you get to the two warp spokes that you pushed together at the top of the loom, separate them. Treat one of the spokes as two individual strips, but continue to treat the other as a single spoke. This maintains the odd number of warp spokes.
When the rug is the size you want, but no closer than 8 inches from the edge of the hula hoop, snip open your weft loop.
Tie the ends around a warp spoke, and tuck the ends into the rug.
Tie the ends in pairs, then trim them to make a fringe or tuck them back into the rug.
