If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may remember that O(5) receives a "
Laura Ingalls Wilder" Fun Pack each month. This "subscription" was one of her gifts from me for her 5th birthday. I wanted E(2) to receive a special fun pack for her birthday and after much thought, I decided that it would be an "ABC" Fun Pack. She's show a lot of interest in learning letters, and somehow knows "W" (and talks about "double-U!" often).
So, a couple of weeks ago, E recieved her first "ABC" fun pack. She was so excited to check the mail to find a package with her name on it. When we were opening her package, she excitedly said "This is fun!" In her package were a couple of printables from various blogs (Confessions of a Homeschooler and Homeschool Creations, I think), a growing alligator, an applesauce squeezer, notecards with activities written on them, and an "a" bag. There are tons of fun printables out there for "letter of the week" curriculums, but I really want to focus on doing more than just printables (which is kind of hard because the printables are SO cute!). So, for A, I just printed out a couple of dot painter A sheets and an A playdough sheet.
We started our 2 weeks of "A" activities by making apple playdough. E LOVED this! She loved mixing the ingredients to make the playdough and playing with it when it was warm. O also loves to play with the playdough when she gets home from Montessori school.
E is a taste tester whenever we cook, so she tasted the playdough ingredients, too. She kept saying "it's good," and she even said this after I added in the cream of tartar. She was wincing as she said it and seemed to be trying to convince herself that it really was good...so funny. She loved mixing in the red glitter, and I didn't let her taste it again after that :)
She loved touching the warm playdough...she was laughing hysterically as she did this. I'm not sure why she was laughing, but it was hilarious to watch her.
She loved using the airplane cookie cutter to make airplanes in the playdough. She made several airplanes and then put one behind another and said "this airplane behind" and then she put one in the front of the others and said "this airplane in front." It always amazes me how she understands these conceps (and others such as hot/cold/warm, big/little, wet/dry, and on and on and on) without being taught.
We cut out "A's" with the cookie cutters.
I used the playdough mat to make an A. She wasn't very interested in this. She was much more involved in making and pretending to eat an apple cake. She also really loved making "mermaid hair," which she sometimes calls "faghetti" (spaghetti).
We had a fantastic time going on a leisurely kayak ride while looking for alligators. Luckily, we didn't see any.
She enjoyed using her dot painters to paint some "A" printables.
Allie the growing alligator is loved very much! We've had her since O was 3, and this is the 3rd time we've grown her. E loves to check on her and step in her water bowl each day.
Both girls have had fun playing with the animal sensory bin. Although, they really weren't interested in the animals at all.
E loved picking apples while on our recent camping trip. She also tried apple cider for the first time...she's not a fan.
We spent 2 weeks on A since we had so many things to do that related to the letter A. E was VERY excited when I set up the easel for her to paint pictures of apples. She painted several pictures, and she also painted in a book and on the wall of the house when I wasn't looking.
I decided not to use the big easel paper since I want to put all of her paintings and printables together in a book for her once she's finished the alphabet activities.
Both girls LOVE the stories from the
Amazing Action Alphabet. E loves to shake her fist while saying "a-a-a" just like "A the angry alligator."
We made apple prints which didn't turn out that well since I somehow managed to cut the apple crookedly. The girls didn't mind, and they had a great time painting. O reminded me SO much of myself when I told her we were going to make stamps out of apples...she asked "Isn't that wasteful since we can't eat the apples?" I've never been able to bring myself to use food as stamps because it does seem so wasteful to me, but I've never mentioned that to O. I actually couldn't bear to waste an entire apple, so I cut the bottom off for us to eat before we began stamping.
E and I had so much fun making an animal collage for "A" week. She chose the pictures, I cut them out, and she glued them to her paper. She evidently likes the layered look, and she kept glueing the pictures on top of other pictures. She LOVES animals, so this was a lot of fun!
We also put together these animal puzzles. E LOVES these puzzles! They belong to my mom, but we borrowed them about a month ago because she loves them so much. She needs a good bit of help to put them together, but she does a pretty good job. We had a wonderful morning on our screened porch listening to the birds and putting these puzzles together.
So, there are our A activities. We had lots of fun, and I can't wait for "B" week (or 2 weeks). I have a long list of fun activities that I know the girls are going to love!
Oh, and I realized that E actually did learn the letter A and it's sound when I was discussing whether or not to get the Hepatitis A vaccine for E with her pediatrician...she shouted "A! a a a!" Whenever she sees an A, she excitedly calls out "A!" She really loves learning her letters! What fun!
, which is the primary reason I wanted to make this trip), but E(2) insisted that she was "Baby Carrie." There was no changing her mind, so O was "Laura," E was "Baby Carrie," and Elliott and I were "Ma and Pa." (although, we didn't dress up for our parts!) 
