Now I Know My ABC’s ~ Ii is for Igloo

 
 

Immi’s Gift by Karin Littlewood

Summary: Immi, and Inuit child, goes ice-fishing and finds a beautiful wooden bird. Day after day she fishes up other beautiful things and decorates her igloo with these items. Her igloo becomes a source of beauty in a white landscape and all the animals come to visit her. When it is time to move on, Immi throws her wooden bear into the fishing hole where a little boy from around the world finds it washed up on the beach. Beautiful illustrations and a sweet story.
ABC Letter Box

     
For our Letter Ii week, we went back to our ABC letter box. I hid various letters and letter Ii objects in the box while the girls searched to find them.

ABC Letter Learning Activities

 
For each letter I’ve created a handwriting/poem sheet. We read the poem together, highlight the letter Ii’s in the poem, and then finger-trace how to make the letters. Then we trace the letters with either a crayon or chunky pencil.

ABC Crafts

    
We used Magic Nuudles to make our letters and to try to build an igloo. These are biodegradable building blocks that stick together when just a little water is added. My kids would wipe the nuudle across a wet sponge and then stick it to another nuudle to make their creations. You could try to do something similar with mini-marshmallows too.

ABC Theme Activities 


 
In the story, Immi find many colorful things in her fishing hole. She uses them to decorate her igloo.

 
We used some cut-outs and fabric flowers to decorate Immi’s igloo (Download available below)

  
We did a little ice-fishing of our own. I printed out Letter Ii word cards from 1+1+1 and mounted them on index cards. Then I placed paperclips on two sides of the index cards. (The picture only shows one paper clip. I added another since my tot was having difficulty catching the cards.) My kids made their own fishing pole by adding a magnet to some yarn and tying it onto the stick.


I scattered the cards on the floor and then the kids went fishing.
 

We also made our own salt-dough necklaces (click for instructions). This was a two-day activity and the girls loved creating a necklace just like Immi.

Other Letter Ii extensions:
While reading Immi’s Gift, I would point out all the letter Ii words:
Short i: Immi, Inuit, igloo, it, in
Long i: ice, icy
This book also presents the opportunity to talk about artic/tropical  or warm/cold. We talked about things that were warm  and cold.  One day we drank a cup of hot chocolate, and the next day we went to get a scoop of ice-cream. If you wanted to add some ice-cream extensions, I have a couple of ice-cream activities that we did last summer available:



Downloads:

For each letter I will be providing several downloadable resources plus a letter planner page. You can find these resources at Spell Outloud’s HSPrintables.

Other ABC Resources:
ABC Printables from Homeschool Creations
Letter of the Week Curriculum from COAH
ABC Flashcards and More from 1+1+1=1
ABC Letter Crafts
Songs for Saplings ABC Verses

Once Upon a Book ~ Katy and the Big Snow

Katy and the Big Snow

by Virginia Lee Burton

Summary: Katy and the Big Snow is a charming story of a red crawler tractor named Katy who was very strong and could do many things including dig an entire city out from under a huge snow storm!

Bible Verse

"Be strong. therefore, and let not your hands be weak and slack, for your work shall be rewarded." 2 Chronicles 15:7

Lapbook

We downloaded our Katy and the Big Snow lapbook free from Homeschool Share! It includes a counting activity, community helper & buildings and vehicle cards. A “what is snow?” and “what is a blizzard?” mini-books and a book of different street signs. There are actually lots more you can download, we just chose these to keep it simple.

Sensory Tub

For fun, we brought in tubs of snow to play with, we added in some of our play cars and such to keep up with the transportation theme!

Snowball Snack

These are an easy no-bake snowball snack to go with our theme.

Of course my Snowman Preschool printables went with our snowy book so we brought some of those out as well:

 

Crafts

Salt City Craft: This craft was really fun and easy! Simply draw a map of your city using the glue then sprinkle salt along the glue and shake off to reveal your snowy path! You can draw in buildings after the salt is dry if you like.

Supplies:

• Construction Paper
• Glue
• Salt
• Tray or cookie sheet to work on

Beaded Snowflake craft: This is super easy and fun, you can click here to see instructions on making these!

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)?

Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!

Little Books for Little Cooks ~ Snip, Snip, Snow

Tortilla Snowflakes

If you don’t have any snow outside, why not make your own yummy snowflakes to eat!

The Book Before You Cook…

Snip, Snip…Snow by Nancy Poydar

Summary: Desperately longing for it to snow, Sophie resolves to create her own snow by cutting out snowflakes. The book provides step by step instructions for making your own paper snowflakes.

When It’s Time to Cook…

You’ll need:

• flour tortillas
• butter flavored spray oil
• sugar
• confectioner’s sugar

To Make:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Microwave the tortillas for about 10-15 seconds until they are warm.
3. Fold each tortilla as if you were folding paper to make a snowflake. Use kitchen scissors to cut shapes...just like if you were using paper.
4. Unfold the tortilla and place it onto a cookie sheet lightly sprayed with oil.
5. Spray snowflake with oil and sprinkle regular sugar on top.
6. Bake the snowflake on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes until lightly browned and crisp.
7. Remove from oven and then sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar or any other edible toppings you would like.

Little Books for Little Cooks is a monthly feature that focuses on creating some edible fun with your little one.   We will share a fun book to read with your little one along with a cooking activity to do that ties in with the featured book. Sometimes there may be actual cooking involved…and sometimes just fun!

Once Upon a Book ~ A Million Snowflakes

 

 Millions of Snowflakes

by Mary McKenna Siddals

Summary:  A child delightfully discovers what happens when one snowflake falls followed by millions more.  We count with the child as he experiences the first of many snowflakes to cover his home.
 
A snowflake is a unique creation, much like our children.  One snowflake melts on your tongue and resembles God's exquisite handiwork; and millions of snowflakes create a snowman that resemble the body of Christ working together.  Snowflakes are white, reminding us of purity. The sight of puffy snowflakes blanketing the ground kindles Christmas music in our ears, thoughts of hands building a fire, and tongues tasting hot chocolate with white marshmallows.

I'm pleased to say that we recently listened to Christmas music, built a fire, and sipped hot chocolate.

But even more pleasant to me was discovering how much God actually refers to snow in the Bible!!  I discovered 25 references to snow!  One of the more vivid pictures the Bible paints of snow that we can easily share with our children is

Isaiah 1:18 which says,

"Though your sins are like scarlet,
       they shall be as white as snow;
       though they are red as crimson,
       they shall be like wool.

I would encourage you to use the object of snow to explain how Jesus takes our sins away.  As snow is beautiful, white and pure, so Jesus allows His saving work on the cross, to fall upon our hearts creating lovely clean souls.  Though snow melts and disappears – leaving a muddy mess, Jesus never stops covering our sins.  When we confess our sins and ask Him to forgive us, He brings His big holy shovel and cleans the driveway and sidewalks of our heart.  If you are blessed to receive snow where you live, go outside with your Tot and pretend to be like Jesus shoveling the pretend sidewalk of your hearts!

Bring The Snow Inside



Especially if you have multiple children, helping everyone get dressed up to go play outside can be a lot of frustration work.  Bring the snow inside.

What You’ll Need

• snow
  
• a sink or  large plastic tub
  
• toys for your child to play with
  
• imagination!

Sock Snowman

We confiscated some white athletic socks from my husband’s sock drawer much to the delight of my sons.  I loosely followed the ideas listed at Danielle’s Place for the No-Sew Sock Snowman Craft.

What You’ll Need

• a white tube sock for each child
  
• poly-fill to stuff the socks (you could also crumple up paper)
  
• 5 black pompoms and 1 orange pompom
  
• yarn or scrap fabric for a scarf and hat
  
• brown paper, 2 small twigs, or chenille wire for the arms
  
• 2 rubber bands
  
• Hot glue gun or craft glue

How  To Make

1. Have your Tot stuff the sock with poly-fill.  (I helped Mr. Me-Too with this activity by holding the sock and having balls of poly-fill ready for his hands to grab.)
   
2. Tie the end of the sock with string or a rubber band.
   
3. Help your Tot create balls of snow by sliding rubber bands down the sock to form a head and a body, thus dividing the sock into thirds.
   
4. Allow your Tot to decorate the sock snowman with the left over supplies.  To make the chenille wire arms, I formed a “Y” and Mr. Me-Too his brother poked the wire through the sock. Be very careful if you are using a hot glue gun to attach the pompom balls, as it can burn little fingers and mom fingers!
   
5. To make the hat, simply wrap a piece of fabric around the top of the snowman, turn fabric up to create a fake hem, and glue the multiple layers of fabric to each other and the sock.  Tie the top of the hat to resemble a pompom or simply glue another pompom on top!

Build Mobile Snowmen

I don’t have any fancy software to create patterns.  So if I want to create something, I Google it or I simply create my own crude pattern by hand.  Various circle shapes around the house worked well for reusable templates.

What You’ll Need

• white card stock paper
  
• scrap construction paper for hats, mittens, etc. (Even snowmen need accessories!)
  
• clear tape (cleaner than glue!)

How To Make

• Trace and have your child cut out the various sizes of circles.
  
• Have your Tot tape the snowman together, trying to have them pick three different sizes of circles and tape them in order of smallest to largest.
  
• Allow your child to decorate the snowman.  I also made hats for them to tape on.

 

And lastly, we made snowflakes.  OK . . . I made snowflakes.  We pretended that they were falling from the sky, just as in the book.



I have done this game before, except with feathers for a Tot School post.

How To Play

1. Make paper snowflakes.
   
2. Grab a handful of your snowflakes and stand on a chair.
   
3. Have your children use a scarf or a hat to catch the snowflakes as they come falling, falling, down.
   
4. Be prepared for giggles!

 

(Oh, and please forgive the mess!  This is what happens when I do school instead of clean the house!)

Chalk Snowflake Rubbings

If you still have energy after all of these activities, finish the day off by doing snowflake rubbings with either a crayon or chalk.



What You’ll Need

1. Chalk
   
2. Newsprint or thin paper
   
3. paper snowflakes
   
4. patience

How To Make

1. Place leftover paper snowflakes under newsprint or thin paper.
   
2. Help your child hold the chalk horizontally, and rub the chalk over the bumpy paper surface.
   
3. You should see a snowflake pattern emerge!

Wow!  That was a fun first Once Upon A Book for us!  Enjoy!  And just so you know, actually so that you don’t feel overwhelmed . . . we didn’t do all of these projects in one day!

P.S. If you would like to play a snowflake matching game with your Tot be sure to print two of these patterns found over at PreKinders!

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!

Little Books for Little Cooks ~ Penguin Snack

Little Books for Little Cooks is a bi-monthly feature that focuses on creating some edible fun with your little one.   We will share a fun book to read with your little one along with a cooking activity to do that ties in with the featured book. Sometimes there may be actual cooking involved…and sometimes just fun!

Penguins 123

by Kevin Schafer

Summary: Cute rhyming book all about penguins..."One little penguin alone in the snow, somehow it always knows which way to go." 

Depending on the age of your child, they may need more help to put them together, but they won’t need any help eating them! After reading the book together, have fun putting together these tasty little penguins!



You’ll Need:

• English Muffins {I used whole wheat}
• a carrot
• cream cheese
• sliced black olives

To Make:

1. Slice the carrot and cut two small triangles in two pieces for the feet. Save one of the triangle pieces to use as a beak.
2. Separate and toast the English muffin. Once toasted, cut the each side of one half of the muffin to create two wings for your penguin.
3. Spread cream cheese on the belly of your penguin and lay it on a plate. Arrange the wings next to your penguin.
4. Add the carrot beak and feet as well as an olive slice for an eye.

Hope you enjoy this cooking activity with your little one! To see more featured books and activities, click here!