What Plants Need: Day 3 (Easy Preschool At Home)
After a few days discussing plants and flowers, my pre-k kiddo and I turned our attention to what plants need. He already had a pretty good idea, based on some of our earlier reading. Because of that, we spent our Day 3 ‘school’ time reviewing the basics of what plants need, while getting a fine motor workout. We had a lot of fun, and want to share our activities with you today.
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LEARNING ABOUT WHAT PLANTS NEED: WEEK 2 dAY 3
Flowers, Plants, and Seeds: Day 3 Ideas
Letter of the day:
W is for water. I created a simple free printable ‘W is for Water’ page on Twisty Noodle. My son used some of his favorite markers, which are erasable highlighters from Crayola. He colored the W with the blue end of the marker, and then used the ‘eraser’ end to make little white raindrops all over the W.
Word of the day:
Instead of working on his name, my kiddo wrote ‘water’ with 4 different writing instruments. (I grabbed that printable page from First And Kinder Blue SKies on Teachers Pay Teachers!)
Book of the day:
Sunflower House. By Eve Bunting. Illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt.
Journal prompt of the day:
My favorite seed to eat is…
Activities and play we enjoyed:
My son got some much-needed scissor skills practice with a Flower Cutting Practice page I printed. I helped him hold the paper a bit, since he still has trouble coordinating both hands to complete tasks like cutting.
I gave my son some markers (his favorite way to color!) and had him color the images for a What Plants Need printable activity. After he had colored the pictures, he traced the words. Then I took over and cut the pieces for him, and assembled the activity. My son loved ‘reading’ it to my parents, and showing them what plants need to grow.
YOU MAY NEED THESE FOR LEARNING ABOUT WHAT PLANTS NEED…
colored pencils / crayons / markers / transparent tape / pens / scissors / pencils / double sided tape / composition notebook / index cards / erasable highlighters
But PLEASE Remember…
This is what is working for us during the pandemic, for the time being. It may seem overwhelming to your family to attempt anything like this. Or if you’re like me, you may welcome a little structure in your days. It’s important for you to consider the needs, emotional health, and learning styles of your entire family, and make adjustments as needed. The goal is NEVER more stress, more comparisons, or more guilt.
Keeping the above in mind, here’s a little bit more about our process…
- We’re aiming for about an hour of ‘school-ish’ work a day. This might included coloring, painting, writing, drawing, stickers, and more. My 4 year old is used to attending UPK for two and a half hours a day, 5 days a week, so 1 hour seemed like a good starting point at home.
- I build a ton of breaks and flexibility into our days and weeks. I plan 5 days of ‘school’ each week, and we generally accomplish all the activities by stretching them out over 7 total days. Some Wednesdays, we just can’t do school. So we’ll make it up later, if we can. Again, the goal isn’t stress or pressure, so flexibility is key.
- Variety is helpful for my kiddo. His attention span is short, so most of what I plan is quick, and we change styles of learning often. You know what will work best for your own families.
- Our journal is simply a basic notebook. Every day, I provide a prompt, and my child draws a picture on a blank index card. I tape that into the notebook, and write most of the prompt. At least one or two words are written larger, in dots, so my son can trace them.
- I have a pretty well stocked supply of craft and learning materials already, and know that may not be the case for you. Be creative, be flexible, and be open to compromise! We also have a large home library for the kids, which is very helpful right now!
