Brainstorm in Bloom: Zany Letter Z (Alphabet Wall)

Friday, January 3, 2014

Zany Letter Z (Alphabet Wall)

My boys love animals so Z was a hit with zebras and zoos! My sister just got back from Africa and it was her birthday so I called my mom all excited that I had her cake covered. I had bought a zebra cake for our letter Z snack but thought it would be a bit much for the boys and I to eat the whole thing so the timing was perfect for sharing!

We also had fun with zig zags. Zigs zags were fun to do crayon rubbings over and also great cutting practice. We tried some zipper printing but it did not work out so well – we had plenty to do anyhow!

p.s. This is our last letter for the Alphabet Wall! It has been so much fun for the boys and I! Let us know what you liked.

For the rest of the Alphabet, go HERE!

Enjoy this
Zany Z
for (Seedlings ~ preschool age)...

What we did for the Zany Letter Z?...

Alphabet Wall:
*Zig Zags ~ I bought some rick rack ribbon (or zig zags as we called it) and cut them in to pieces. The boys glued these to our Z!

Books:

*Read Zack the Lazy Zebra (Alpha Tales book) and The XYZ Book (Bob Book Pre-Reader)

*Read some Zoo books Zoo by Gail Gibbons, 1 Zany Zoo by Lori Degman, Zoo Poo by Richard Morgan and Put Me in the Zoo by Robert Lopshire (one of our favorites!)

*Read some Zebra books ~ Greedy Zebra by Mwenye Hadithi, Zeely Zebra by Barbara Derubertis and Zebra's Hiccups by David McKee

Art/Crafts:

*Zig Zag rubbing ~ Use hot glue (adult) to make zig zags on paper or cardboard. Kiddos then put a piece of paper on top and a crayon on it’s side to rub and watch the zig zags appear! I think I will make an alphabet set of these too!

*Pin the Stripes on the Zebra ~ For this I printed out this zebra outline from Kids Craft Weekly (they had a couple cool ways to paint the zebra also). The kiddos and I cut out the black stripes together. Then we covered the zebra with glue from a glue stick. Next I put a blindfold on them (although not necessary and I’m pretty sure they peeked). They then took the stripes and placed them on the zebra. When it was dried I cut around the outline of the zebra and put it on colored paper. This was fun!

Activities:

*Zig Zag cutting ~ Save some junk mail or envelopes and draw zig zags on it. Then have your little one cut along the zig zags. If they are older they can draw their own zig zags to cut.

*Zoo Memory ~ I printed this zoo memory game from Nuttin' But Preschool. Just cut out and put face down and play. If your kiddo is young or hasn’t played memory you should start with 4-5 matches and then work your way up by adding more cards.


Free Printable from Nuttin' But Preschool

*Zoo Sounds ~ We played this with the Zoo Memory cards. When we got a match we also had to make the sound!

Letter Formation:
*Z w/ Paint bag

*Z w/ Pipe cleaners

Music and Movement:

*Going to the Zoo ~ Watch and sing along to this song on You Tube!

Snack:

*Zebra Cake ~ I also saw zebra cookies at the store if you didn’t want to make a whole cake! Although a cake would be a great celebration for the last letter!

*Build a Zoo ~ The boys also made a zoo with pudding (dirt and to hold the zoo walls up, graham crackers (zoo walls), and animal crackers (for the zoo animals of course).