Brainstorm in Bloom: Super Letter S (Alphabet Wall)

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Super Letter S (Alphabet Wall)

Using seeds for the “S” is perfect during the fall with all of the squash seeds and flowers that have gone to seed. Even if you do "S" during another time of year you can always buy some seeds at a garden store or even just pick up a bag of sunflower or pumpkin seeds at the grocery or quick stop. Take time to explore the seeds and discuss how amazing it is that plants grow from such little things.

We also had fun with sponge painting, sink vs. float, salt and spiders.

For the rest of the Alphabet, go HERE!

Enjoy this
Super S
for (Seedlings ~ preschool age)...

What we did for the Super Letter S?...

Alphabet Wall:
*Gathered seeds and glued them ~ A week or so prior to doing our “S” we scooped seeds out of pumpkins, spaghetti squash and gourds. After they dried we then took those seeds as well as some from some old seed packets and sorted them by size. The kiddos then glued them on their “S”.

Books:

*Read When Seal’s Silly Sandwich (Alpha Tales book) and The STU Book (Bob Book Pre-Reader)

* Read a couple seed books ~ A Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds by Jean Richards – a great book and The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

* Read some spider books ~ The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle, Diary of a Spider by Dorren Cronin, The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Lorianne Siomades and From Egg to Spider by Anita Ganeri

Art/Crafts:

*Salt name ~ Use glue to write name (if kiddo can’t do this, you can either do it for them or write their name in pencil for them to trace with glue). Then they sprinkle salt on the glue before it dries. When it is dry they can run their fingers over the letters.

Optional ~ When everything is dry the kiddos can add drops of watered down food color (or watercolors) onto the top of the salt. My boys love doing this!

*Sponge painting ~ Just cut up some sponges into different sizes and shapes and let the kiddos paint! You can also buy pre-cut sponges for painting.

*Spider hats ~ When I saw these hats from Fantastic Fun and Learning I just knew we had to make them. So cute and fun!

*Sun prints ~ I remember these when I was a kid and still love them as an adult. You can order the sun print paper online or you can get it at Hobby Lobby. Just follow the directions on the package for beautiful prints.We have also done Sun Print Snowmen - instructions here!

Activities:

*Seed sort – I gave the kids a pile of seeds (4 types) and had them sort them on their plate. We also took a handful and lined them up from smallest to largest. We then used these seeds for our S on our alphabet wall.

*Grow a Seed in a Ziplock – The boys each planted a different type of seed in a ziplock to see which one germinates the quickest. This is easy - just fold a paper towel to fit in the bottom of a ziplock. Then wet it and put it to the bottom of the ziplock. Lastly, put a few seeds on top of the paper towel about an inch from the bottom of the bag, close the bag and tape it to a window. Check it every day to see when it starts to sprout!

*Sink vs. Float – We gathered up some items to test sink vs. float and then we filled the bath. The boys would predict whether the items would sink or float and then we would test them. We have also done this in the water table.

Letter Formation:

*S with sidewalk chalk

*S in salt

Music and Movement:

*Itsy Bitsy Spider ~ A classic song with hand motions that every kid should know!

Snack:

*String cheese and Seaweed ~ My boys love eating seaweed (I find the smell quite disgusting) so they can gobble down a ton. You can buy it at most grocery stores (we get ours at Costco). You could also eat Strawberry Shortcake if seaweed isn't your thing. :)