Alphabet Bingo, Mr. Playdough heads and Color Sorting with Tweezers

Today was the first day of "home school" for Austin and Lucas. Lucas will be going to 4k next year at our {beloved} preschool but Austin will start 1st grade with me. I wanted to take this summer and work on things with both boys and have fun while doing.

There is no schedule this summer. I have some things I really want to accomplish like phonics for Austin and some basic stuff for Lucas.  I actually did have to bribe both boys with a fun game and candy treat IF they did their papers in their workbooks.

Austin's was phonics and Lucas' was pre-writing. Don't ever underestimate the power of a sticker! After the boys finished their papers, I let each of them put stickers at the top of their papers. You would have thought I gave them a jewel or something. They were so excited.

{let me sidetrack...} Home School does not have to be expensive. It really doesn't. I am doing an "eclectic" style home school. I pick and choose curriculum from different sources. I don't have a boxed set of books. I think activities and books/school work are equally important in our education that we are doing. I also frequent the Dollar Store, the thrift store and the dollar sections at any store. I find a ton of cool things. I have found math blocks, a human body 3D book, children's books, bingo markers, clocks...etc. Don't think home school has to cost you a fortune. It does not.

{back to my original post}  Before I started "school" I went online to find a printable Alphabet Bingo worksheet. I found them here.  I printed the Uppercase letters and the Lowercase letters. I wrote uppercase letters A-Z on note cards. Each boy got their own markers and I held up the letter, I had them say it out loud and then find it.  Lucas was really good and seeing the letter and matching it up to the one on his paper.  Austin knew what the letters were and could easily find them on his paper. I think held up the uppercase letters and had the boys find the lowercase letters on their bingo cards. Both boys got a BINGO and candy... another thing to never underestimate...bribery with candy. {shame}

I have read a few blogs on the idea of an "invitation to play". I have done it a few times in the past and I figured today would be good to do it considering I have a ton of stuff I need to get done around here before someone bulldozes my house or condemns it.  When the boys went out to play while I picked up, I decided an invitation to play was in order.

Mr. Playdough Head invitation to play

What you need:
Playdough
Mr. Potatoe head parts (minus the body)
We also had some Cootie parts
imagination

They dove right in (after they washed their hands) Why are boys so nasty and dirty when they come in from being outside?? If there is ONE mud speckle on the ground, they are going to dig in it, stomp it and quite possibly eat it. {but I digress}

One thing that totally rocks my little one's socks is sharp metal objects.  It doesn't matter if it's a butter knife, a screwdriver...or tweezers...obviously those things are no no's for little ones so he never gets to touch them unless he's being supervised.  He almost jumped out of his skin when he saw this next activity. It incorporates sharp metal things, color sorting and fine motor skills...{this activity was specifically set out for him}

We have a ton of "bits" and we have a huge coffee can that we call our "bit can".  Austin and Lucas love to go to the "bit can" and just look in it, touch everything, dump everything.... We use our bit can quite a bit. See the catapults in the picture below? We get the "ammo" from the bit can. We use it for crafts...etc. {You get the idea of the bit can... I can stop going on about it}
I pulled out our bit can and asked them if they could sort these bits into their own little spots on the ice cube tray.

COLOR SORTING WITH TWEEZERS
All you need is:
colored pom poms, beads, pipe cleaners, little rocks, crumbled scraps of paper...anything smallish and colorful
tweezers (chop sticks, fingers or anything else that they can grasp/pick up will work)
ice cube trays

 I learned something about Austin today. He's extremely OCD. Every little thing had a spot according to shade of color, the way it felt or what he had to use to pick it up. {rocks had their own spot because he had to use his fingers to pick it up, crumbled paper had it's own spot because it felt scratchy and went to "scratchy jail".

 Lucas enjoyed doing this too. He doesn't quite get the "shade" idea just yet, but he did sort blues, yellows, greens, purples etc.

Enjoy!
Crystin