A is Absolutely Amazing!

 Ants, apples, alligators and astronauts - it's time for fun while learning about the letter Aa!  When you talk, read, sing and play with your child you're helping them learn.  Preschool and kindergarten children really benefit from hands on activities like singing, finger plays, cooking, painting and more - so here are some of my favorites:

 Activity #1: Songs and rhymes for the letter A

Way Up High in an Apple Tree

Alligator, Alligator

What are they learning?  Rhyme, rhythm, vocabulary, musical pitch, and they're working finger muscles too!

Activity #2: Make applesauce

We all love food, so it's super engaging to make time to let your littles do some basic cooking activities with you!  Applesauce is a great early cooking activity because most children love it, it's a very forgiving recipe, and the steps to make it are easy enough for young children to help.

Children can learn how to cook!

 

 To make your applesauce you'll need some apples, a peeler, a butter knife (for your child) a good knife (for you), water, a potato masher, a pot and a stove... a little sugar or cinnamon is optional.  Your child can learn to peel apples by pushing the peeler away from them, to safely hold a butter knife and point the end down to cut the apples (see the picture above), and to put them into a pot.  Add a little water to cover, simmer until soft, then mash with a potato masher or immersible blender.  Add sugar and cinnamon if you want.

What are they learning?  Safe use of kitchen tools, life skills, the satisfaction of preparing their own food, and spending special time with a loved adult.  As you cut the apple you can talk about cutting it in half and into quarters - great math skills!  Did you talk about the peel, flesh, core and stem?  That's science - and so is the changing state of matter that happens when heat causes the apples to soften and change into applesauce.  As  you serve it count how many scoops you put in a bowl - and if they want more, that's coming back for seconds - ordinal numbers.

 Extend the learning fun by having your child write the letter Aa in the applesauce.  Simply put a small amount of applesauce on a plate, gently shake the plate to spread it evenly, and then let your child write in it.  If they do a great job, they get to lick their finger.  Gently shake the plate to reset, and write again!

 

Activity #3:  Hand prints

Hand prints from our little ones are something that we'll treasure forever - trust me on this one!  I had my children make their own alphabet books with hand and foot prints, by doing one each week.  I'm going to carry that over here for you, and if you can do one a week, you'll have a new favorite alphabet book!

I have the children hold out a hand for me to paint - and we talk about how the paint feels (cool, slippery, slimy, funny?) as I apply the paint.  Next we turn their hand over and place it on a paper, and I place my hand over theirs and push down firmly.  Finally, we lift their hand straight upwards so it doesn't smear everywhere.  The first few tries might be... interesting... but after a little while almost every child gets into it and masters the art of a good hand print.

For the alligator print we painted both hands, and overlapped the palms.  We used fancy scissors to cut the zig zag teeth, used a wiggle eye (wiggle eyes make everything cooler!), and added triangles for the back and tail. You are probably already really good with scissors and glue, so try to resist the urge to "help".  Children learn to use scissors by using them, and to use the right amount of glue through practice.  If they're trying, they're learning!

For the angel hand prints we paint the wings first, then make the robe when the paint for the wings is dry.  I take a photo of each child and print it out so I can trim around their face and have them add it to their angels.  

Does your little prefer an alien?  Paint just part of their hand for the print, and let them add  unusual numbers of wiggle eyes and draw on details when the paint is dry. 

What are they learning?  Scissor and glue skills, vocabulary, correlating the initial letter of words to the sound and shape of letter Aa.

 Extend the learning by adding a photo page to their alphabet book.  I like to insert the completed hand prints in a page protector and keep it in a binder.  On the facing page I add a photo of the children doing one of our activities for the letter, with a caption that includes the focus letter.  They love to "read" their books and talk about the letter and the activities, making that letter to sound connection!

Activity #4: Measuring with apples

This is a free download from my TeachersPayTeachers store. It comes with instructions, but basically you print out the pages and join the apples into a long strip.  Tape it to the wall to measure how many apples tall people and things in your house are, or let your child hold it like a ruler to measure.  Young children learn measurement with non-standard units - teacher talk for using various items to measure.

 

What are they learning?  An important concept to introduce is lining up the bottom of apple #1 with the end of the thing you're measuring.  They're practicing counting andnumber recognition -you can also use this as a number line for counting, and your children might also notice the color pattern of the apples.  Which brings us to ...

 

Activity #5 Making patterns

What are they learning?  Patterns, a very basic and essential math skill.  Picking up pompons works their finger muscles, helping their hands grow stronger - an important pre-writing skill.  Younger children may still be learning the color words, or may start counting the circles on the page.  They may ask about the question marks on the page - what question do they need to answer?  This page is included in my Apple Math Centers which is available to purchase and download.

Activity #6: Anansi the Spider! craft to follow up the book by Gerald McDermott

According to McMillan books, "Anansi the Spider is one of the great folk heroes of the world. He is a rogue, a mischief maker, and a wise, lovable creature who triumphs over larger foes."  

 

What are they learning? Folk lore from West Africa, vocabulary and story structure, and as they make their own Anansi or his sons they're cutting, pasting, creating art, and counting 8 legs.

I hope you and your little have enjoyed these activities!  For more apple activities click here, here, and here.  Find some of my favorite apple books here and see how to do a blind taste test with apples here! Join me next week for the letter Bb!