Healthy Bodies Week In a Glance - M is 36m & R is 16m

This week was all about keeping our bodies healthy and the professionals that help.  Instead of breaking things up the way I usually do (different types of activities on different days, ie. crafts on Monday, preschool skills on Tuesday, etc.), I did a different "theme" each day.

Monday - Doctors
We used several pieces from the Doctors & Nurses Preschool Pack from Homeschool Creations, including the Shadow Matching, Size Sequencing, Doctor & Nurse Puzzle, and Memory Game.

We played the Cover the BooBoo game from 2 Teaching Mommies using dot bandaids.

We read My Friend the Doctor.
We did some pretend play using a baby doll, medical accessories from M's vet toy, and a white dr. coat (one of my husbands white work shirts).

M played with our Dr. Potato Head

Tuesday - Dentists & Dental Health
We found a gold mine of activities at the Colgate website!  Most of these are take from the Educators-->Teachers tab, but many are on the Parents-->Family Activities page as well.

Fill in the Letter, Help Dr. Bunny Fill His Bag (patterns), Dr. Rabbit & the Plaque Monster Connect the Dots,

We set up Dr. Brushwell's Brushing Chart (Pg 4 of Bright Smile Today Family Take-home) and the B is for Brushing poster in the bathroom to help us keep track of brushing often and correctly.

We also used the Toothbrush Shape Match from 2 Teaching Mommies.

We read:
 The Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist
ABC Dentist
Healthy Kids: Taking Care of Your Teeth (I paraphrased ALOT in this one).

Wednesday - Nutrition
We learned about our food groups and the difference between Always Foods and Sometimes Foods with the help of this food pyramid.  M was quite surprised and dismayed that many of her favorite foods were on the Sometimes Foods list!

We did a few of the activities at this neat website, including the Count the Fruit, and Letter Leadoff.

We sorted clipart images of foods that I printed off into the various food groups and then between sometimes and always foods.  I got the idea here.

Thursday - Exercise & Physical Activity
We learned that we have to move around and play alot in order to keep our bodies healthy and to keep our bones strong.  This is a great article if you are looking for ideas on how to stay positive when talking about exercise with young children.

We played the Curious George Monkey Moves game.  Both kids had a blast dancing and moving around!

It was a pretty busy day, so that's pretty much all we fit in, but I'm in the process of working on a new schedule for them, and I'm definitely planning on making sure we do a PE type activity every day!

Friday - Germs
We read the book, Germs are Not for Sharing.

We watched a few Sesame Street videos about washing our hands and sneezing into our elbow.  I found most of them at this link.

We learned the washing hands song.  M usually sticks her hand in the water for like 20 seconds, so hopefully this will help!

That's all for this week!  Next week we will be doing an "Around Town" theme so stay tuned!

We'll be linking up to Preschool Corner as well as Tot School.  Visit their websites to find some more great learning activities!

Library Corner - Pink & Princess Books

A few weeks ago we did a Pink Princess Theme for M's birthday, but most of the books we wanted at the library had already been checked out.  They finally came in and M has been reading them nonstop for the past couple of weeks!
Not all Princesses Dress in Pink by Jane Yolen & Heidi Stemple - What a fantastic book!  It is great to have a princess book that shows them being REAL girls and having fun despite their sparkly crowns.  This is a MUST read for any little girl that loves princesses!

Pink Me Up by Charise Mericle Harper - I think this was my second favorite book of the bunch.  Excited for a Pink Girls Picnic, a little girl is quite dismayed to hear that her mommy is sick and her daddy is taking her instead.  Do boys wear pink?  I LOVE this book and how the daddy steps up to the challenge of taking his little girl to an all pink event.

Ponyella by Laura Numeroff and Nate Evans - A twist on Cinderella, a pony is sold to a new mean owner who already has two very mean horses.  Complete with a Fairy Godmare and a happy ending, this was a book M and I both enjoyed!

Pinkalicious by Victoria & Elizabeth Kann - I think this is the first time I have ever written a completely negative review.  Do NOT read this book to your little girl.  It is awful!  The little girl tantrums and acts like a brat the entire time, and ends up turning pink from eating too many cupcakes.  She is told she must eat green healthy things in order to return to normal but as she does so, talks about how disgusting everything is.  The moral is to obey your parents, but it is such a tiny part of the book that it is completely overshadowed by her bad behavior and negative attitude towards healthy food.  It is definitely not worth reading to an impressionable three year old!

Some other books we read this week:

This post is being linked up to What My Child is Reading at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns and Kid Konnection at Booking Mama
Disclosure: The links for the books are connected through Amazon Associates and I may earn a small revenue if you click through and purchase any book listed.

St. Patrick's Day Week in a Glance - M is 36 Months & R is 15 Months

What a busy week!  My hubby, who is a teacher, was off for Spring Break this week so I was able to spend a little extra time printing, laminating, and planning than usual.  We squeezed tons of fun St. Patrick's day themed activities in!

Preschool Skills
Shamrock Size Sorting from Oopsey Daisy.

We did the Leprechaun Race Game, size sorting, patterns, and counting cards from Musings of Me.

Shamrock File Folder Game

Lucky Charms Marshmallow Graphing - I can't find the link to the graph that I used, but 2 Teaching Mommies has a great one that I had intended to use but then couldn't find for some reason.  Can I mention how hilarious this was for me?  My kids don't eat cereal often (they are egg lovers), and when they do it is something simple like Cheerios.  Cereal with colors are pretty much outlawed in this house, so M was AMAZED at the Lucky Charms and could NOT concentrate on the activity.  She was so busy trying to stuff those marshmallows in her mouth!  Lucky for her, I'm not evil and I let her eat the ones we were working with when we were finished.

Shamrock Slap - I basically printed off a set of letters and numbers up to 20.  M didn't really "get" the shamrock part of the game but we used the cards to practice beginning letter sounds (she's already an ace at identifying both upper and lowercase letters) and to work on numbers 10-20 (she can count to 100 with a little help, but she isn't very good at recognizing numbers past 10).

Activities
St. Patrick's Day Memory - I printed and laminated a double set of 9 St. Patrick's Day themed images.  I put one set out upside down, and one set to the side and she matched them all up.

Motor Skills
M colored a St. Patrick's day themed coloring page.  I consider this motor skills because she's not fantastic at it (due to lack of practived admitedly) and she has a weird grip.

Shamrock lacing card

Messy Play
M enjoyed playing with green playdough.

Field Trip
We went to the zoo with some friends and the kids had a great time looking at all the animals.

We also did quite a few fun activities during our St. Patrick's Day Family Night.

That's all for this week!  Next week we will be doing a Healthy Bodies unit, so stay tuned for that!

We'll be linking up to Preschool Corner as well as Tot School.  Visit their websites to find some more great learning activities!