Circle Time
Fingerplays and Songs
We have been enjoying some of the caterpillar/butterfly fingerplays and songs from SurLaLune Storytime. It is a great resource for themed fingerplays and songs.
Memory Verse
Our memory verse for the past two weeks was 2 Corinthians 3:18. We leaned it by listening to Songs for Saplings Track #3 called "Changed". I told Buddy that just as the caterpillar is changed into a butterfly, we are being changed by the Holy Spirit to be more like Jesus.
Storytelling
Our story was "Skip to My Lou" which I blogged about here.
Reading Aloud
I read some great blog posts last week about reading aloud. Check out The Importance of Rhyme and Making Connections.
Here are some butterfly themed books I chose from the library in addition to reading regular favorites from our own collection.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (Buddy LOVED this book!)
Waiting on Wings by Lois Ehlert
Hurry and the Monarch by Antoine O Flatharta
Butterflies!
I purchased these Butterfly Life Cycle Cards and we used Play-Doh to make each stage.
We also made the stages this way...
We started with an egg (green marble) on a leaf.
After the egg "hatched" we had a larva. (Four tiny pom-poms I sewed together.)
We used a hole punch to create lots of holes in the leaf where the larva would have eaten to grow bigger.
Buddy threaded some wooden beads onto a pipe cleaner to make our caterpillar.
He put the caterpillar into a cocoon...
And wound it up.
We placed it on the branch (formerly Easter Egg tree) in our playroom.
That night while Buddy slept, I made a felt butterfly finger puppet and replaced the caterpillar with the butterfly. I kind of felt like the tooth fairy! So when Buddy woke up, I had him go check on the caterpillar and he found the butterfly.
Creative Play
We also played our way through the various stages of butterfly development. Here Buddy is being an egg.
Hatching into a larva/caterpillar...
Eating leaves to grow big and strong...
Hiding in a cocoon/pupa...
And flying like a butterfly!
Little Man played peek-a-boo...
Art
We did a lot of painting! We painted stones for our garden...
Buddy painted a butterfly with watercolors. I didn't photograph the painting when he was through, but he did a beautiful job!
He also painted half of an egg carton to be a caterpillar. (Being a little neat freak, he insisted on wearing gloves so that he wouldn't get his hands dirty.)
Little Man had fun "painting" with water...
Handwork
Handwork is emphasized in both Waldorf and Charlotte Mason education. Buddy enjoyed doing some "embroidery" this week. The fabric is just some painters drop cloth scraps and I let him use a tapestry needle. We worked on knowing which side to go through, so to not wrap the thread around the frame, and also on making "close" stitches. He did really well and LOVED it! He begged me all day, "Mom, can I needle?"
Movement
Buddy did lots of rolling in his tunnel!
He also LOVED doing yoga using his new yoga pose cards!
Nature/Outdoors
We planted flowers and the boys helped me fill my pots with dirt.
We found a tiny egg shell in the grass!
Buddy looked at it closely through his magnifying cup...
Then we went looking for a bird's nest in our bushes and trees with Buddy's new "binoclears".
On a side note, Buddy finally wore his bandolier!
Practical Life
Buddy loves spray bottles, so I gave him a sponge and a small bottle filled with water and a drop of soap. He likes to use it to clean his play table and kitchen.
Play-based Learning Activities
Buddy traced numbers with a dry erase marker on this number printable that I laminated.
Little Man wanted to join in the fun. (The shapes printable can be found here.)
We worked on auditory discrimination with this Melissa and Doug Sound Puzzle.
Buddy worked with some of our new activities (blogged about here)...
He got creative with our number cards and asked for his number train so that he could match them up.
Little Man also enjoyed playing with the train.
And he played "in and out" and "open and close" with his clothespins and coffee container.
We had A LOT of fun learning about caterpillars and butterflies. I think this was our best theme yet! I am looking forward to the next two weeks. We are going to be learning about birds.
Always,
Amanda
