Charity and the JAMband have won awards and acclaim for their cds. Now you can get a free song download each month.
This month's free song is The Bird. You can download the song and also print the song sheet.
This month's song is a dreamy reflection on the cyclical nature of day and night, dark and light, sunrise and sunset -- and a reminder that there's a little dawn bird singing in each of our hearts, showing us the way to the morning. It's called The Bird. We hope it sings to you!
While you're at Charity and the JAMband's site, be sure to listen to other songs and watch some of their videos. Your little ones will be dancing and singing in no time.
I'm hoping that next month's free download is Peanut Butter and Jam. Which song would you like to download?
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Free Song of the Month
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Did You Ever See a Red Bird?
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Color Hokey-Pokey
You put blue in, You take blue out,
You put blue in, and you shake it all about.
You do the hokey-pokey and you turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about!
Repeat, naming a different color each time.
Try this: To make the song/game a little more interesting, find some objects with the colors you're singing about. Give one to each student and let them use the object when it's their turn. If you're at home with your child, then you can get them to help you find the object with the color and then sing about the color.
Color Song
My daughter came home from preschool today with this song. I figured I'd better post it before I lose the paper.
Tune: I've Been Working on the Railroad
Red is the color for an apple to eat.
Red is the color for cherries, too.
Red is the color for strawberries,
I like red, don't you?
Blue is the color for the big blue sky.
Blue is the color for baby things, too.
Blue is the color of my sister's eyes,
I like blue, don't you?
Yellow is the color for the great big sun.
Yellow is the color for lemonade, too.
Yellow is the color of a baby chick,
I like yellow, don't you?
Green is the color for the leaves on the trees.
Green is the color for the green peas, too.
Green is the color of a watermelon,
I like green, don't you?
Orange is the color for oranges.
Orange is the color for carrots, too.
Orange is the color of a jack-o-lantern,
I like orange, don't you?
Purple is the color for a bunch of grapes.
Purple is the color for grape juice, too.
Purple is the color for a violet,
I like purple, don't you?
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Joyful Heart Tunes
We love, We love,
because, because
He first loved us
He first loved us
I John 4:19, I John 4:19
Monday, June 4, 2007
Letter X crafts and activities
We are nearing the end of the alphabet, but since I started in the middle, we are actually only about halfway through this series. *smile*
The letter X is, to me, one of the more difficult letters in our alphabet. I mean, what X letters can you think of other than xylophone, x-ray, and xenophobia? (I bet I caught your attention with that last word, didn't I?)
As usual, you can find wonderful "X" resources over at First School, Apples4theTeacher, Preschool Express by Jean Warren, and DLTK's Growing Together. Here are a few sites that are new to me and offered several X activities and ideas.
- Brightly Beaming Resources was by far the best site I encountered. The Letter X page offers ideas for Language Arts, Music, Snacks, Bible Story/Character Traits, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art, Games, and even a Field Trip. Take the time to browse through the Brightly Beaming Curriculum - a free online curriculum for infants through children age 8. I like this site so well I am adding it to my sidebar!
- Everything Preschool offers X Songs, Art (make an X-ray or a treasure map where X marks the spot), Games (remember Tic Tac Toe?), Science (look at real X-Rays), Coloring Pages, and More.
- Just Preschool Themes.com offers good general suggestions for teaching the alphabet (make letters out of sandpaper and play-doh). Their letter X file is rather small, not surprisingly. As I said, this is a tough letter; however, they offer plenty of ideas for other letters.
- A to Z Kids' Stuff Alphabet Letter X page contains links for Letter X Patterns, three coloring pages, and ideas for X art and games.
- A to Z Teacher's Stuff offers this easy yet fun X Relay for preschoolers.
Monday, April 9, 2007
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
Monday, February 5, 2007
Celebrating President's Day
Unsure of the origins of Presidents' Day, I ran a search and found a very helpful site, InfoPlease, which gave very interesting and in-depth information. According to a portion of their information, the third Monday in February (this year it's the 19th) is the Federal holiday known as Washington's Birthday and was created to celebrate only George Washington's birthday, which is actually February 22. InfoPlease went on to state that whether you celebrate President's Day or Washington's Birthday may depend on where you live. Washington's Birthday is a federal holiday, but states are not obliged to observe such holidays. Consequently, while the majority of states celebrate Washington's Birthday, there are about a dozen that celebrate President's Day, and several more celebrate Lincoln's Birthday as a separate holiday.
Having passed on that interesting bit of trivia, here are some ideas for celebrating President's Day.
- Preschool Rainbow offers a Preschool Holiday Art and Craft Activities page which includes three activities related to President's Day. One is especially simple: let the child use different coins to create pencil rubbings. Discuss the president pictured on the coin.
- Perpetual Preschool has many activities for President's Day including a fun yet simple coin toss game (intended to celebrate Lincoln's Birthday but could modify for Washington's birthday or President's Day). The President's Day Art page includes ideas for making wigs, painting cherry trees, creating Lincoln cabins using 8 oz. milk cartons and a penny, and creating simple silhouettes.
- Enchanted Learning, a site I had not previously visited, features a Activities, Worksheets, and Crafts for President's Day page that is chock full of useful ideas such as their easy-to-make Lincoln's Hat craft, George Washington, I Can... A Printable Book, Abraham Lincoln: A Printable Book, Washington Monument printout, and Mt. Rushmore printout.
- Preschool Express by Jean Warren offers a President's Day Theme page which includes ideas for art, counting, movement, science, music, and snack time.
- Apples 4 the Teacher offers seven printable George Washington short stories and twelve printable Abraham Lincoln short stories.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Letter P crafts and activities
Here are links to activities, crafts, and work sheets to aid you as you teach the letter P.
- Mrs. Jones' Room is an excellent resource for kindergarten ideas. She has a Letter P page which has activities, songs and poems, and 3 sing-along songs.
- Preschool Express by Jean Warren is another great source for fun activities and
educational ideas. Her "P" activities page includes art, games, language, science, cooking projects, and songs and rhymes emphasizing that letter. - Alphabet Soup has a free printable alphabet coloring book. Each page features a letter from the alphabet and includes pictures of several objects that begin with the letter. You do have to print each page individually. (Click on the photo of the coloring page at the right to go to the page where you can print it.)
- Activity Village has a page full of ideas for alphabet games and number games using their Alphabet and Alphabet and Number Strips. They have a LOT of fun activities that your kids will enjoy.
- First-school also features a page for Alphabet Letter P preschool activities and crafts. I particularly like the following crafts from their site: Panda Paper Bag Puppet (circles theme), Hearts Penguin Craft (includes printable accessories for Valentine's Day and Christmas/Winter), and Pumpkin Theme Crafts.
- DLTK's Growing Together has a fun craft: a Styrofoam (air)Plane. Templates are included for both the cargo and jet plane versions.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
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.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Automobile activities
Riding in the car with children need not be a trial of endurance; instead, it can be a fun and an educational time by taking the opportunity to play some family travel games for the road. Here are a few ideas to keep your children occupied.
- If your child recognizes letters, have him watch for those letters while looking out the window. Play a variation of "I Spy."
- The same idea works well with colors and numbers. You can even play along yourself to help your child recognize colors, numbers, and letters.
- Sing a silly song: "Old MacDonald" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" are two of my
children's favorites along with "Bicycle Built for Two" and "Surrey with the Fringe on Top." (Aren't those last two a blast from the long-forgotten past? My children learned them from the Veggie Tales Sing-Alongs: On the Road with Bob and Larry CD, and when I researched to find the links to the lyrics I discovered that the Veggie Tales CD features abbreviated versions of both songs.) NOTE: Please do not take these comments as an unqualified endorsement of the Veggie Tales products. - Bring books for reading and quiet entertainment.
- Purchase some of their favorite stories on CD. This is another activity that keeps the children quiet. My children love the Alice in Wonderland audio book I purchased at Dollar Tree. I want to get the Peter Pan audio book as well. My oldest girl was given a CD/book set of one of the Curious George books.
photo of Veggie Tales CD cover courtesy of BigIdea.com
clipart courtesy of fotosearch.com
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
10 Favorite Bible songs for children
Singing is a great activity that all kids seem to enjoy. My children love to sing little Sunday School choruses. Here are their top 10 favorites.
- I'm in the Lord's Army
- The B-I-B-L-E
- Deep and Wide
- Wide, Wide As the Ocean
- I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy
- Jesus Loves Me
- Jesus Loves the Little Children
- Behold, Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock, Knock, Knock
- Oh, Be Careful Little Eyes
- Only a Boy Named David (the lyrics provided are slightly different from the version we sing)
