Summer ACTIVITIES

Dear Preschool Families,

Thank you for a wonderful school year! It was truly a privilege being your child’s teacher and working with each and every one of you. I look forward to those of you whom I will see in the future, either next school year as your child progresses to another year of preschool or in future years with your child’s sibling(s). I wanted to provide you with some fun activities to try over the summer!

• Chalk - use chalk outside to practice any of the skills we have learned this year and expand on them! Chalk can be used for many things including letter/number identification/writing, letter sounds, name writing practice, sight words, CVC words, shape identification/drawing, obstacle course (to practice movement skills), hopscotch (to practice balancing skills), etc. You can even add water guns or spray bottles to the mix! Write the letter, number, shape, word, etc. in chalk on the pavement and have your child trace over it with a water gun, spray bottle, or even a paint brush dipped in water! You can also use the water guns/spray bottles to have your child spray the letter/number/etc. when you name it to practice identification!
• Run & Find - use chalk on the pavement or pieces of paper around the house. Write down letters, numbers, shapes, or words. Have your child practice finding them as you call them out! Your child should run to the correct one and tap it or jump on it. Mix it up! Instead of calling out the letter, try calling out the sound the letter makes and see if your child can still find it.
• Shaving cream - practice writing in shaving cream! This can be a fun way to practice with letters, numbers, and shapes. You can also use it to practice name writing, writing sight words, or writing simple CVC words. If you want to take the activity outside, simply put the shaving cream in a tray!
• Pipe cleaners & beads - a simple way to practice many different skills! Stringing beads on a pipe cleaner is awesome fine motor practice! You can also use it to work on copying, extending, and creating simple patterns. You could even have your child count the beads, add/subtract beads, or describe the parts (how many of each color bead there are separately and how many that makes when put together; for instance there might be 3 red beads and 5 blue beads and together there are 8 beads total). 
• Dandelion fun - practice fine motor skills using dandelions! Here are a few ideas: stick them in an upside down colander, cardboard shape cut-outs, arrange in drawn cardboard vases, or name writing. 
• Playdough - use playdough to practice letters, numbers, shapes, words, etc. Have your child build each one out of playdough and identify it. Other materials you could use besides playdough: pipe cleaners, tooth picks, craft sticks, pencils/crayons, spaghetti, pretzel sticks, or wikki sticks. 
• Dried Beans Letter Practice - write upper and lowercase letters and dried beans and have your child match them together. 
• Sticky Note Letter Sort - write letters on sticky notes and place them around the house. Ask your child to sort the letters by type, such as: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, letters in his name, letters with straight lines, letters with curves, letters with straight lines AND curves, etc. This activity provides practice with letter identification and sorting! You could also challenge your child to place the letters in ABC order at the end.
• Letter Sensory Bags - You will need a gallon size Ziploc bag, rice, and letters. For the letters, you can use beads with letters on them, Scrabble tiles, magnetic letters, etc. Provide your child with a paper with the alphabet. Your child should circle, trace, or color each letter as he finds it until he finds all of the letters. Your child should not open the bag to find the letters. This activity could also be modified to spell your child's name, spell sight words, spell CVC words, etc. You could also try it with numbers instead of letters!
• Find Invisible Letters/Numbers/etc. - Draw letters/numbers/shapes on a piece of white paper using a white crayon. Have your child paint the paper using water color paint and the letters/numbers/shapes should appear! See if your child can identify them!
• Nature Letters - Go outside! Use items that you find outside to create different letters! This is another activity that can be modified to practice numbers, shapes, name writing, or word writing.
• Alphabet Scavenger Hunt - Go on a scavenger hunt to find every letter in the alphabet! The scavenger hunt can take place inside your house, in the car while driving, at the store, anywhere! Provide your child with a way to "check off" each letter as it is found. You could write each letter on a piece of paper or print off a paper with each letter. Your child could: circle letters, color letters, or trace letters each time one is found! If you decide to modify the activity to find objects that start with each letter, your child could place the object on top of the letter as it is found or place them on the floor in ABC order. This activity could also be modified to find shapes or numbers!
• ABC Book - Make your own ABC book! You will need 26 pieces of paper. This project does not have to be complete in one day. It could be an all summer long activity! Your child should write the upper and lowercase letter on each page (so write "Aa" on the A page and "Bb" on the B page and so on). If your child needs help writing, try writing them in yellow crayon or with a highlighter and have your child trace them. Then, cut out pictures from magazines that start with each letter and glue them on each page. 
• Stamp letters in playdough - Use letter stamps and stamp playdough! Your child can practice identifying letters, putting them in ABC order, spelling his name, spelling sight words, spelling CVC words, etc. You could also try this with number stamps! It is great fine motor practice, too.
• Stamp letters on paper - Use letter stamps to practice identifying letters, placing letters in ABC order, spelling name/words, etc. This is also great fine motor practice.
• Salt Writing - Have your child write letters/numbers/words/etc. in salt! Place the salt in a tray or dish and have your child use his finger to write the letter/number/word. You could also use sugar, sand, or spices! An advantage to using spices is that the strong smell of spices can add another sensory element to the experience!
• Paint Daubers - Use these to practice many different skills -- letters, numbers, shapes, counting, patterns, adding, subtracting, describing the parts (4 blue dots and 5 yellow dots make 9 dots all together), etc. Paint daubers also provide fine motor practice! You can find various resources online (search Google or Teacherspayteachers) with worksheets you can print for your child to use paint daubers to trace letters, numbers, etc. 
• Water gun writing - Write letters outside on the pavement or on the fence using water guns or squirt bottles. A fun way to practice letters (or numbers or shapes) and fine motor skills while staying cool this summer!
• Obstacle Course - Make an outdoor obstacle course this summer! Try to incorporate as many different types of movement as you can --jumping, balancing, going over/under/around/through/etc. If your child has siblings or friends over, turn it into a race! See who can get through the obstacle course the fastest. This is a fun way to stay active and practice different kinds of movement and following directions. 

I hope everyone has a fun-filled summer!!! 

Blessings,
​Ms. Barker