This week, we have a scavenger hunt, flying kites and a fun indoor activity! Of course, a delicious snack to make together as well! Enjoy!

Scavenger Hunt

Our first activity is a scavenger hunt! This is a great activity for all ages in the family and so simple! There are a lot of different types of scavenger hunts you can do but a favorite is the “Nature Scavenger Hunt”. You can find the template on freekidcrafts.com here. Take the kids on a walk and have them find as many of the items on the list as they can. Not only are their thinking caps on but they are spending time outdoors, BONUS!

Flying Kites

Next up is flying kites! This you need a windy day to do but such a fun activity for all ages. You can either buy yourself a kite or make one of your own! You can find instructions and materials for making your own garbage bag kite on instructable.com here. Either way the kids will have fun doing an activity that they do not get to partake in very often. Happy Flying!

Floor is Lava

For the last activity this week we have an indoor game for the kiddos. This is called “Floor is Lava”. This is as simple as pretending the floor is lava! Place pillows, blankets or any other items you can stand on around a room in your house. Play the song “The Floor is Lava” by The Kiboomers and let the kids go! The song incorporates different movements for the kids to do including dance, wiggle and crawl. Once they count down the floor becomes lava and you have to get off the floor! Play the game with your kids as they will have a blast seeing you try to balance on a pillow to avoid the LAVA!

Finally, for our snack this week we have veggie boats!

This is a fun and nutritious snack for everyone. Just a few ingredients and simple directions to create the boats.

Ingredients:

1. Cucumber
2. 2 or 3 bell peppers (color of your choosing)
3. Cherry tomatoes
4. Hummus
5. Small skewers or toothpicks

Directions:

1. Cut a cucumber in half lengthwise. Using a potato peeler, cut long thin slices for the sails. Cut these slices in half and put them on skewers/toothpicks to make them into sails.
2. Cut the bell peppers lengthwise into 2 inch thick pieces.
3. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
4. Spoon hummus onto the bell pepper bases and stick the cucumber sail into the pepper on one side.
5. Place one half of a cherry tomato on the other half of the pepper base.

Bon voyage!

Check back next week for week 3 of our Spring Kids Activities series. Until then, we hope you find encouragement and joy in God’s word:

“I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” John 16:33

Thanksgiving is a great time to really focus on teaching gratitude and how to live with a thankful heart all year round. We love these easy paper plate turkeys to help get those creative juices flowing during these cold snaps, and they are the perfect way to focus on gratitude!

The possibilities are really endless, but some of our favorite things to put on the feathers that are helpful for kids to think about include:

• Their name – Add one letter per feather, include a middle name and/or last name if you need to fill up more letters!
• What they’re thankful for – Help your child brainstorm what they are thankful for and help them write one thing out on each feather. We end our day with prayer so our little one is used to thanking God for a variety of things each night. When trying to brainstorm for these feathers, it helped her to be prompted with something like, “Remember when we say ‘Dear God, thank you for… what sorts of things are you thankful for? Let’s write them down here.”
• Family Members – These turkeys can be a great way to help kids think about their family unit. Each feather can have the name and/or role of each member of your immediate or extended family.
• Favorites – You could come up with categories and ask your child to name their favorite of each…for example, favorite animal, favorite food, favorite book, favorite song, etc. Then you can talk about how to be thankful for all of those things and praise God for His creation!

Another reason we love the paper plate turkeys, is because they are truly so easy and you likely have the majority, if not all, of the materials needed.

Materials Needed:

• White or brown paper plate
• If using a white paper plate, you’ll also want brown paint and a paintbrush.
• Yellow construction paper or foam paper (a small piece is fine, this is just for the beak)
• Construction Paper in various colors
• Scissors
• Paints and/or markers
• Craft Wiggle Eyes
• Glue

Instructions:

1. If using white paper plates, paint brown and let dry.
2. Use scissors to cut feathers out of colored construction paper.
3. Use scissors to cut small triangles out of the yellow construction paper/foam paper for the beak.
4. Using markers or paints, write on and decorate the feathers, leaving room at the bottom third of each feather to glue onto the back of the plate.
5. Fan out the feathers and add glue to the bottom third of each. Press the plate on top of the feathers.
6. Glue on the eyes and beak.

There you have it! Easy as that! You can make a whole family of turkeys and display them proudly all November as a reminder for all the things you’re family is thankful for.

Interested in more kids craft ideas? Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest using the link below!

There’s no one right way to do a “letter of the week”. Some people like to focus on one letter for the entire week, some just focus on one letter for one particular day. Some introduce the letters in alphabetical order, others bounce around. One person may do both upper and lower case letters, another only upper. You get the picture…the possibilities are endless. The point is, you want to choose activities that are appropriate for the age and developmental level of your kiddo and that your child will connect with.

Here are 5 days worth of Letter of the Week activities to help you get started. Remember that you can pick and choose different activities based on your kid’s interests, and you can mix up the order to fit your schedule!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest for more letter of the week ideas and all things early childhood education, teaching/parenting, and more.

Day 1 – Coloring Page

When we started Googling letter of the day coloring pages, we found a lot of great options! Unfortunately, just about all of them were tucked away behind an email list sign-up. No one wants to sign up for more e-newsletter spam just to get some coloring pages! So we decided to make our own, and make it SUPER EASY for you to download. Seriously, just click the button below:

A letter of the week coloring page is great for children to practice their fine motor skills and identify objects. It can also get them brainstorming ideas of things to be on the look for later in the week (see the day 3’s scavenger hunt).

Day 2 – Letter craft

Let your child get crafty and create something from the letter of the week! The great thing about this one is that the possibilities are truly endless. You can use materials you already have at home and let your child’s imagination run wild. If you’d like specific craft ideas, check out our Pinterest page or get started with this simple apple craft.

You will need:

• Red, brown and green construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue or tape
• Crayons, markers, paint, glitter pens, stickers, etc (whatever you want to use to decorate!)

Simply cut out, assemble, and decorate! 

Day 3 – Letter scavenger hunt

This is such a fun way to continue talking about your letter of the week and practicing the various sounds that letter makes, all while getting some energy out! Search around your house or go explore the great outdoors, and find as many things as you can that start with the letter of the week. Collect the items that you can, take pictures or what you can’t. Display your objects on a tray or a keep in a box for the week. Make a digital photo album of the pictures you took! Practice naming the objects and talking about the sound the letter says.

Day 4 – Sensory bag letter practice

There are so many different options to make a sensory bag. Fill a gallon size zip-lock bag with (not too much of) one of the following:

• Shaving cream and food coloring
• Colored body wash gel (you can find some sparkly stuff at the dollar store!)
• Sprinkles
• A flour, water, and food coloring mixture

Set out an example of the letter of the week for your child to look at and let them practice “writing” it on the sensory bag using their finger or a q-tip.

Day 5 – Letter of the week story time

There’s no shortage of great books that emphasize each letter. Be sure to follow us on Pinterest for great book ideas as we find them for each letter. Pick a book, or better yet, a different book for each day of the week, read it together with your child and talk about how the letter shows up, what the letter/words look like, and what sounds the letter makes.

If your little one doesn’t seem to have the attention span for long, wordy books, take a picture walk and talk about what you both see instead of reading it word for word. You can still pick out the letter as it shows up in prominent words throughout the text.

Some great A-book options include:

• Amazing Airplanes by Tony Mitton and Ant Parker
• Zack’s Alligator  by Shirley Mozelle
• The Lady with the Alligator Purse by Nadine Bernard Westcott
• Hey, Little Ant by Phillip M. Hoose

Whether your child is new to making sounds, or already a budding wordsmith, there are fun letter of the week activities for children of all ages! It’s always a great day to get your kids excited about letters, sounds, words and language!

Do you have other favorite letter of the week activities that you/your child absolutely love? Share them with us in the comments below or tag us in them on Social Media!