D is for Dogs

• DIY Dog bone manipulatives
1. I bought a box of dog bone treats at the Dollar Tree. At home I sprayed each of them with a clear coat spray paint (mainly to keep the kids from eating them, but also to keep them cleaner. I didnt want them crumbling or have our hands smell like dog treats!)
2. After they dried, on 26 of them I wrote one letters of the alphabet on each bone with a sharpie. I also kept a bunch blank for math and counting.
• OPTIONS: you could paint them different colors, not just clear.
• Write numbers, shapes, or specific letters on the bones (vowels, just D’s and d’s), etc.)

• Dog Bone Letter match
• With our alphabet of dog bones, we matched them to lettered dog bones on paper
• (you could also simply write the alphabet on a piece of paper and have them match the letters on the bones to the letters on the paper).

• Dog Bone Alphabet sort
• We also put the dog bones in order of the alphabet.
• Then sang the ABCs while pointing to each letter on the bones.

• Tally Counting Dogs
• On a piece of paper, have your preschooler write DOGS at the top. Put the paper on a clipboard (or hard cover book).
• Go on a walk around your neighborhood, and count the dogs your see.
• As you count them, use the tally system for counting. Teach your preschooler/s when they get to 5, they use one line to cross out the other 4 tallies.
• When your walk is over, count the tallies and write the total at the bottom.

• Dog Bone Math
• With a veggie tray (aka: sorting tray) and the blank dog bone treats, I wrote out numbers, tallies or simple equations and the answer in dog bones would go in the tray.

• DIY Plastic Dog Manipulatives
• At the Dollar Tree I found some packs of plastic cats and dogs (yes, they come together…save the cats for C week!). I pulled out the spray paint and painted each one a different color.
• Let them dry, then use in sensory bins, with the next activity (Go, Dog, Go!) or any pretend play!

• Read Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman
         Lots of fun to be had with this book!
• Use the spray painted dog manipulative toys from above, an updated colored tree and dog printable, and the book, particulary the page that says, “A red dog on a blue tree. A blue dog on a red tree. A green dog on a yellow tree.”
• Options:
• Copy the book and have your preschool put a red dog on the blue tree, a blue dog on the red tree, and a green dog on a yellow tree.
• Tell your preschooler which dogs go in which tree.
• Match the color of dog to the color of tree.
• Have your preschool put any dog on any tree and have them tell you what color dog is on what color tree.
• Roll two dice (with colors, not numbers). One is the dog color die, and the other is the tree color die. After they roll, put that color dog on that color tree.

• “Go, Dog, Go!” Opposites
• I scanned the book and printed out cards of the opposite things the book talks about.
• ie: Up & Down, In & Out, Dark & Light, etc
• Play memory style to match the opposites
• Hold up a card and have your preschooler tell you what it is and what the opposite it (or find the opposite card).

• Read “Dog’s Colorful Day” by Emma Dodd
• I cant remember where I found these printables (google search "Dog's Colorful Day Preschool activities" and I'm sure you will find it! Let me know if you do!!)
• You will need glue sticks, scissors, and dot stampers (or crayons/markers).

• Dog Suncatcher
• This is hit and miss at the Dollar Tree, but if you find a dog suncatcher, it is a great activity to talk about primary and secondary colors (as it only comes with primary colors).

**For more Dog activities click HERE, for more Letter D preschool ideas click HERE**

A is for Alligators and Animals

• Book: There’s an Alligator Under my Bed by Mercer Mayer

• Animal Print Alphabet
1. I found these stickers at the dollar store and printed a traceable alphabet page.
2. After tracing the alphabet, match the animal print ABC stickers to the letters on the paper.
3. Cut them out, then glue them in order.
   ***Lots of repetitive alphabet exposure!

• Animal stamps
1. Play with animal stamps (we have THESE).
2. Write numbers on the top of a piece of paper (or use magnent numbers like we did) and have your preschooler stamp and count that many animals underneath.
3. Start a pattern with animal stamps, have them continue it.

• Sing ‘5 Little Monkeys’ – see THIS post!

A is for Animals

• Sing SILLY “Old Macdonald Had a Farm” … a silly spin on the traditional song.
  1. Sing a few verses of the regular “Old Macdonald” song.
  2. Open “My Little Animal Book” and let the kids choose any animal for Old Macdonald’s farm. Repeat several times. My kids thought this was hilarious Book available here.
     • You might growl for a lion
     • Make fins for a fish
     • Hop for a kangaroo
     • Chomp for an alligator

• Read “Fifteen Animals!” by Sandra Boynton … this is a fun, quick and catchy animal book. Available here.

• Read “Animal Opposites” by Petr Horacek … I LOVE this new book. It is creative and simple and colorful. Most of the pages have a fold-out or pop-up and every page illustrates an opposite. Available here.
  1. Point out the letters on the cover. Name the letters.
  2. If you’re working on colors, ask the kids to name or point to certain colors.
  3. Can the kids name the animals on the cover?
  4. ACT OUT the opposite pages as you read! My kids were giggling and having so much fun with this. It’s especially fun when Mom gets up to do it with them
     • S-L-O-W snail … FAST cheetah
     • STILL sloth … bOuNcY kangaroo
     • quiet rabbit … LOUD LION!

• Do ‘A’ journal page … we use a primary composition book.
  1. Write ‘Aa’ on a new page. Practice a few more AAA’s and aaa’s.
  2. I show my 4-year-old the word “ANIMAL” on the cover of one of our books and she copies the letters onto her journal page.
  3. Add animal stickers (or draw pictures).

• Animal Hunt & Write … this was probably my 4-year-old’s favorite activity. We played it four times, taking turns hiding and finding.
  1. I used the “baby animal match” game available for FREE from 1+1+1=1. Just download and print here.
  2. Leave the adult animal attached to the animal name.
  3. Cut apart the animal babies and have your preschooler glue them to a piece of paper. Clip the paper onto a clipboard.
  4. Hide the adult animal & animal names together around the house. We hid the animals all over our backyard!
  5. Have your preschooler find each animal and copy the animal name next to the matching animal on their paper.
  6. The thrill of the hunt and the fun of copying the letters made this a very fun activity … over and over

• Animal photo matching game … this was a great game matching our toy animals to real-life photos.
• Use “My Big Animal Book” and “My Little Animal Book”. Available here and here. These books contain wonderful real-life animal photos.
• TIP: You could also print out several real-life photos or save them from magazines.
• Match several TOOB-type animals to the real-life photos in the book.

  Wild Animals

  Ocean Animals

  Pets

  Farm Animals

• Play with animals in model magic
1. We used green and brown model magic. I got ours at Michaels. Available here in a variety of colors.
2. Make prints with the animals.
3. Pretend the animals are climbing green model magic trees or sleeping in brown model magic caves.
4. Or squish as many animals as you can into one big lump.
5. We ended up getting the googly eyes out and making snakes and monsters with 100 eyeballs

• Animal Graphing Game
1. Print the “Baby Animal Graphing” game and dice from the Baby Animals Printable Pack from 1+1+1=1.
2. Cut out the dice, fold and glue together.
3. Roll the animal dice and mark the graph.
4. My 4-year-old wants to write her numbers, so she practiced those. You could also mark with an ‘X’ or color in the box.

• Animals Cracker Snack
1. Open a box of animal crackers.
2. Name the animals, make the animal sounds or act them out.
3. Sort the animals into piles.
4. Enjoy an animal cracker snack!

A is for Animals {Noah’s Ark}

We actually did 1½ weeks of letter A this year. And we spent two days on A is for Animals with different books.

• Read “Noah's Ark” by Anne Wilson … this is a great book. The colors are bright and bold. The scripture story of Noah and the ark is told simply and accurately. We had fun looking at all of the different animals too! The rainbow at the end is my favorite part.
  1. Ask your preschooler to find the letter A’s on the cover.
  2. Look at the animals together and name them. Talk about the colors.

• Read “On Noah's Ark” by Jan Brett … another great option for today. I grabbed this book from the library because of the amazing animal illustrations. The story is simple and there are so many animals to look at.
  1. As you read through the pages, see if you can find each animal’s match. Noah took two animals of every kind. Count “1-2” as you find them.

• Animal Match Game … since we’re talking a lot about animal matches and “two of every kind,” this game was perfect.
  1. Print out this great Animal Matching Game from 1+1+1=1 on cardstock.
  2. OPTIONAL: Print A’s on the back of the pages so you can’t see through Here is a PDF of the page I used:
  3. Laminate and cut out the cards. I use this laminator and love it!
  4. Look at the cards together, so your preschooler can recognize the mom & baby matches.
  5. Lay the cards out on the floor, upside-down.
  6. Take turns turning over two cards at a time. If you found a match, keep it. If not, turn them back over and it’s the other person’s turn.

• Animal Grow Capsules … my 3-year-old was SO excited to do these. Find them at the dollar store or Michaels. If you’re doing this activity with up to 12 kids, I’d recommend getting your grow capsules (a 12-pack) on Amazon, here. 
  1. Fill a bowl with warm water.
  2. Place a few capsules (or, if you’re my daughter, all of them) into the water.
  3. Push them around, dunk them and watch.
  4. Once the animals come out of the capsules, squeeze out the water and match them to the silhouette on the back of the package.

• Color Noah’s Ark … I’ve seen this idea in a few different places, so I’m not sure where the original idea came from. This takes a little prep, but I love it!
  1. Cut out a simple boat shape from two paper plates (see photo above). I just penciled it, then used an exacto knife on a cutting board to easily cut it out.
  2. I draw the bottom of the ark and the circle windows. The rest is up to my preschooler
  3. Show them how to draw a rainbow on the “handle”.
  4. Color the water. We added fish this time.
  5. Color the ark.
  6. Staple both paper plates together, all the way around, forming a little pouch.

• Animal Crackers, Two by Two.
  1. Spread several animal crackers or cookies out on the table.
     • NOTE: I found these at our local grocery store. 
  2. Have the kids look and find several animal matches.
  3. When they find a match, have them “load” the animals into their ark.
  4. Eat them for a snack