Once Upon a Book~ From Head to Toe

 

From Head to Toe

by Eric Carle

Summary:  From Head to Toe  helps you find out what your child can do!  Sure to be fun for you and your child as you go through the book wiggling, shaking, and turning your neck like animals!  Lots of action will occur from reading the pages in this colorful and classic Eric Carle book! (And you will meet a few animals along the way, too!)

Bible Verse:  For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13)  This book repeats the phrase, “I can do it.”  It might be beneficial to talk about why your child can do things . . . or that sometimes when things are hard . . . he or she can accomplish a difficult task through Jesus Christ.

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I’ll be honest, we are on Summer vacation.  We schooled until the end of July, finding it necessary to do so since we took some months weeks off in the fall with my daughter being born. 

From Head to Toe fit in rather nicely with being “on vacation.”  As a result, Gabe was able to practice doing a lot of things with his body rather than coloring, cutting or pasting – our normal school things.  I suppose you could say that Gabe “experienced” school.

And that is what I’m really trying to share with you today . . . cut loose a bit. 

So often, I want to contain my Little and make him play or “do school” a particular way . . . the way that I envision.  When sometimes, I need to take off my jean skirt and apple button and let him learn about EVERYDAY activities:

• like dusting

• hammering

• baking cookies (even you granola ladies like me. . . just go buy a tube of cookie dough; allow your Tot to cut the cookies into a reasonable size. Have him to watch them bake, if possible. Make this lesson easy on yourself!)
• sweeping
• picking up sticks
• jumping over a rope
• throwing a ball
• getting the laundry out of the dryer
• feeding the dog
• play Simon Says
• practice Red Light, Green Light
• go on a bike ride . . . practice jumping curbs or doing wheelies

So . . . here is  your excuse to read this book and forgo an activity involving scissors and glue.  Go have a life experience with your Tot!  You might end up laughing and having some fun.

But if you need a project or a printable, here are some suggestions:

• paper doll body
• body part flash cards
• take pictures of your family’s arms, legs, feet etc. and make a matching game or a photo book
• All About Me printables

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!

Qq is for Quiet

The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle

Summary: A young cricket is sad to find that he cannot make a sound. He meets up with various other insects but every time he tries to greet them, there is no sound. Paired with Eric Carle’s signature illustrations plus the fun ending, this book is one of our favorites.
ABC Ideas:

I decided to add a little fine-motor skills practice along with our letter learning. I gathered up plastic letter tiles and placed them in a muffin tin. Then I filled a small bowl up with tinted water and gave my daughter an eye-dropper.

Then we went over all the letter and numbers in the tin for review. Next I told her that she could only squirt water on the letter Q tiles. This was a new activity for her and she loved it! While she was getting the letter Q’s wet, we reviewed the sound it makes.

During the week we pulled out our playdough and rolled a bunch of letter Q’s. She used it as a magnifying glass to search for our letter Q objects (which were printed out from Homeschool Creations.)


We went over the poem and handwriting coloring sheet.
Theme Ideas:

I printed out quiet and loud cards from Homeschool Share. It was originally meant as a lapbook element, but it also works perfectly on sorting mats. We also had fun being very noisy. Then when I held up the quiet card, everyone had to be quiet.
Bible:
Jesus Tells the Storm to Be Quiet!
Mark 4:39  “He got up and ordered the wind to stop. He said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down. And it was completely calm.”

We read this story together and talked about how awesome it was that the winds and waves obeyed Jesus! Then I gave my daughter a “storm” bag.


She moved the gel/glitter filler around to find the word quiet.
Directions: Print out the word “Quiet!”  Tape it to the back of a plastic bag. Fill the bag with hair gel and glitter. Close the bag and tape it shut.
Downloads:
Letter Qq poem and handwriting page
Other ABC Resources
ABC Printables from Homeschool Creations
Letter of the Week Curriculum from COAH
ABC Flashcards and More from 1+1+1=1
ABC Letter Crafts
Songs for Saplings ABC Verses

Mommy Made Printables ~ All About Me

We are excited to share some All About Me printables for you to use with your tots as you explore together!

Feelings Tot Pack {from 1+1+1=1}

Ff is for Foot ~ Body Parts Theme {from 1+1+1=1}

All About Me {Body} {from Lawteedah}

We Are Family {from Lawteedah}

My Body {from 2 Teaching Mommies}

My Feelings {from 2 Teaching Mommies}

My Family, My Home {from 2 Teaching Mommies}

Do you have any free All About Me printables YOU have created {and share}? If so, leave a link to your blog post in the comments below!

Little Books for Little Cooks ~ OREO Frog

OREO Frog

Enjoy a fun, simple and sweet froggy treat!

The Book Before You Cook…

Growing Frogs

by Vivian French

Summary: Follow along as a young girl experiences the wonder and excitement of growing  her very own frogs!

When It’s Time to Cook…

You’ll need:

• OREOs
• small pretzels 
• green M&M’s
• peanut butter, frosting, or cream cheese

To Make: Use the peanut butter, frosting, or cream cheese to attach the pretzel legs under the OREO body and the M&M eyes onto the top of the body. Enjoy your yummy, edible OREO frog!

Little Books for Little Cooks is a monthly feature that focuses on creating some edible fun with your little one.   We will share a fun book to read with your little one along with a cooking activity to do that ties in with the featured book. Sometimes there may be actual cooking involved…and sometimes just fun!

Treats 4 Your Tot 8/13

Here are some more cool giveaways for tots/moms of tots, check them out below and let us know if you win something we told you about!!!!

• Scripture Lullabies…ends 8/20/11
• All About Spelling…ends 8/19/11
• Snap EZ Cloth Trainers…ends 8/14/11
• Go Green Pocket Diaper…ends 8/14/11
• Jumbo #s and mini fruits…ends 8/17/11
• Prince Lionheart Balance Scooter…ends 8/17/11
• VTech Baby Learning Laptop…ends 8/17/11
• Seventh Generation Diapers…ends 8/19/11
• Safety 1st Booster…ends 8/19/11

Bolded are items we personally own and love!  If you are hosting a TOT friendly giveaway you are free to leave a link in the comments section!

In My Heart ~ Revelation 7:10 & 12

Amen {Revelation 7:10 & 12} is #3 from Seeds of Praise.

Full Page Verse Printable…

Verse Mini Book {which could also be cut into mini flash cards to have kids put the verse in order}…

Copy Work Tracers {print & cursive} 

Copy Work Sheets… 

Full Verse Coloring Pages…

Seeds Family Worship printables here!

Visit the main Seeds Family Worship Printables page here.

Visit Seeds Family Worship to learn more about their ministry here!

Simple verse cards from Seeds, and also a verse memorization checklist can be found here on their site!

Once Upon a Book ~ Designed By God So I Must Be Special

Designed by God So I Must Be Special

by Bonnie Sose

Book Summary: This is a great book that shares with a child all of the wonderful things that God gave them and how He designed them to be the special person that they are!

Bible Verse: I praise you because I am fearfully, and wonderfully made! Psalm 139:14

Bible printable from 2 Teaching Mommies

Craft: Using our Education Cubes, the boys made themselves and worked on shape recognition at the same time! We used the Shape Person printable from 2 Teaching Mommies and our shape insert cards along with our cube. The boys “made” themselves by rolling shapes. As they rolled a shape, they identified the shape and if possible, they added the corresponding body part until their body was complete!

Fingerprints: The boys had lots of fun stamping their fingerprint as they used the Fingerprint Activity from Making Learning Fun.

Counting: We practiced a bit of counting and 1-1 correspondence by using our Dot Counting insert cards along with our Education Cubes. The boys rolled the cube, counted the dots and then counted the same number of body parts. Here, one of my boys is in the process of counting out five fingers!

My Body Book: We talked about their different body parts and the boys colored their My Body Book from DLTK.

Body Parts: We talked more about body parts and had a little fun identifying body parts using our Education Cubes along with the Body Parts insert cards. The boys rolled the cube and identified the body part. Then they pointed to the part on their own body and counted the part(s). Another more advanced option would be to use the Spanish Body Parts cards.

Custom Books: I found these adorable Custom Books from DLTK that the boys LOVED! We were able to customize each book and then print it out for the boys to color!

Name Stamping: The boys love stamping! So, of course, the Name Stamping from 1+1+1=1 was a huge it!

More “Name” Activities: The boys also had fun spelling their names with foam letters and letter magnets!

Snack: For a fun snack, you could make some yummy people cookies!

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!