Letter V crafts and activities

Boy, it seems like forever since I have posted about the alphabet! Today we are focusing on the Letter V.

The first word that comes into my mind when I think of V is violin. First-School.com also thinks violin is a great V word. They offer a Violin Theme page as well as ideas for Vulture, Volcano, Valentine, and more. Try their Vegetable Basket craft, Letter V Activity worksheet and Printable Materials, and Letter V Mini Book.

Another V word is vegetable. At Preschool Express by Jean Warren, the "V" Activities page includes instructions for a Vegetable Guess game, a Vegetable Poster craft, V Snacks (raw vegetables, vanilla ice cream, and more), the original "Don't Forget Your Vegetables" song, and many other activities to help you teach the letter V.

Here are some other sites that offer free resources for teaching the letter V.

• Visit Everything Preschool for V Songs, Art, Books, Games, Science, Coloring Pages, and More (anything that does not fit into the other categories). They have a great variety of ideas for you.
• About.com's Homeschooling page offers Fun with the Alphabet. Their V theme includes AlphaSongs Lyrics and Activities, Recipes, Crafts (including cute Veggie Tales puppets), Activities, Coloring Pages, Letter Writing, and Letter Sounds.
  

clip art courtesy of fotosearch.com

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Letter U crafts and activities

For the next letter of the alphabet, there are many fun choices for helping your child learn.

• DLTK's Growing Together offers a Letter U Activities page where you will find a Little Critter Paper Doll that includes templates for 5 outfits: beach, Wild West, pajamas, pirates, and rain (where he holds an umbrella). Also featured are the Unicorn Toilet Paper Roll craft, Letter U coloring pages, and Letter U Songs and Rhymes. Another page is dedicated to Short Vowel U Activities.
• First-School offers a Alphabet Letter U page that features printable materials, U is for Umbrella Activities, Letter U Animal Coloring Pages, and the nursery rhyme Rain, Rain, Go Away.
• Enchanted Learning's Letter U Activities Page offers a Letter U Printout, a Match U Words activity, a Circle U Words activity page, and a Words That Start with U printable activity book.

clip art of letter U courtesy of fotosearch.com

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Letter O crafts and activities

Thanks to my friend, Karen (of Thrifty Mommy fame), I will be posting links to crafts and activities for each letter of the alphabet. (I'm starting with O because that is the letter she will be doing next.) Use these ideas to help as you teach or reinforce the alphabet.

• Danielle's Place has instructions for making bird crafts, including one owl made from pine cones and one made from real feathers. ( Scroll down quite a way to find these.)
• First-School has individual pages dedicated to Octopus Theme Preschool Activities and Crafts, Owl Theme Preschool Activities and Crafts, and Letter O Coloring Pages, Worksheet, and Posters.
  
• Also from First-School comes this ostrich coloring page, otter craft, and ox paper bag puppet craft.
• Mrs. Jones' Room offers an original song "Ten Little O's in the Ocean" sung to the tune of "Ten Little Indians.' An audio player is included at the top so you can hear the tune. She also has a Letter Oo page which includes lesson ideas, activities, songs and poems, and 2 sing-alongs.

Letter O clipart courtesy of fotosearch.com

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Write a letter

This activity works well for a preschooler/kindergartner who can write at least enough letters to be coached to write words.

With the advent of e-mail, cell phones, and other technology, corresponding via handwritten letters is fast becoming a lost art. Children seem to love sending letters as well as receiving them, and this is a good way for them to practice writing, courtesy, and correspondence. Purchase or make some special stationery for your child's use. Let your child write a short letter, offering help as needed. My sister bought Curious George stationery and stickers from the $1 section at Target, and they also have a larger Curious George stationery set for $9.95 (see photo at right). For added fun, allow your child to place the stamp on the envelope and put it in the mail.

photo of stationery set courtesy of Target.com

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Dollar Tree Stores deals

"Dollar stores" abound in our town as I am sure they do in yours. While there are plenty of low-quality goods to avoid purchasing at all costs, you can also find great bargains. Our Dollar Tree offers workbooks and flash cards for preschool through 3rd grade. My oldest daughter fell in love with the Winnie-the-Pooh, Disney Princess, and Barbie Doll workbooks. There are also Bob the Builder books and flash cards for the boys, and although I can't remember the exact character, I know there are other popular-with-boys character workbooks. My daughter is currently working in the Winnie-the-Pooh Colors and Shapes, ABC's, and 1-2-3's books. If I were to purchase these workbooks elsewhere, I would certainly pay at least $4 per book, four times what I pay at Dollar Tree.

Where do you like to go to find bargains on educational materials?

photo courtesy of National Guardian Security Services

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Cursive writing tip

My sister home schools her children and posted a tip about how her preschool-age daughter accidentally found a way to have better control when writing in cursive.

As a side note, here is an informative and educational article explaining why little children should learn to write in cursive before they learn to write in print. I have seen this concept applied in school, and it really does work. No child needs to suffer because of a lack of handwriting skills. Even boys can have beautiful handwriting!

photo courtesy of fotosearch.com

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