L is for LOST

I have looked everywhere and can't seem to find any pictures documenting the letter L, nor a list of what we did, though I know we did it. So here's my attempt at reconstruction:

I'm pretty sure we made a lamb like this one.

I think we made some lemon bars. Not necessarily this recipe, but you can't go wrong with Martha, can you?

As for what we did...I think it was the limbo. I know! And I didn't get pictures! Sigh.

L Books

Do Lions Live on Lily Pads? by Melanie Walsh. This was a fun, colorful book with large text. There were mostly little Ls, and there weren't all that many of them, but I liked this book nonetheless.

Library Lion by Michelle Knudson. A fun, beautiful story with lots of Ls. The only downside is the text is a little long for younger readers.

Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney. Part of a series of Llama Llama books. Anotehr fun story with great illustrations, lots of Ls, and the perfect amount of text.

Little Louie Takes Off by Toby Morison. This was another book with lots of text, but there were plenty of pages with just a couple of lines (admittedly we skipped looking for Ls on the really long pages). Lots of Ls to find.

Raising Playful Tots Index

Looking for a few good websites for your toddler and/or preschooler? I came across this site the other day with 100 links to blogs for this age group. Some I am familiar with, but there are many I have yet to explore. Happy searching!

Kabobs

For our K cooking project, we made kabobs using cheese cubes, grapes, and apples. Emma isn't a big fan of fruit, but the combination with cheese made it much more appealing. They were fun to make and fun to eat!

Let's Go Fly a Kite

What better activity for K than to fly a kite? I thought it was a brilliant idea, but Emma thought otherwise. Apparently wind freaks her out. (Though we have a picture of her as an eight-month-old basking in the wind while on a boat to visit Alcatraz). Thus the stock picture from the internet instead of one of Emma blissfully flying her kite. We will have to try again someday.
PS. If you don't have a kite, now is an excellent time to buy one! I found mine at the end of the summer last year for about 2 dollars at Target.

K is for Kangaroo

For our K craft, we made a kangaroo. I found the template for it here. We kept it simple--colored the pieces, Mom cut them out, and them we both glued together.

Confessions of a Homeschooler

Several weeks ago I was reading a friend's blog, and she linked back to Confessions of a Homeschooler. I *LOVE* this blog! She has a lot of great ideas, but my favorite feature is her units for each letter, featured on a pull-down menu from the main page. Her units offer lots of free printables to download--I usually print them out on cardstock and then laminate them, either by using my Xyron or going to Lakeshore Learning, where laminating is only 29 cents per food. That way we can use them over and over again! Check out this blog--I guarantee you'll find lots of great ideas.

J Books

When I started the Alphabet project, I figured I'd have trouble with certain letters--Q, X, Y. But I wasn't prepared for the trouble with J! I only found a couple of books, and only one of those turned out worth sharing.

Jessica by Kevin Henkes. I am a Kevin Henkes fan, and as my name is Jessica and I used to have an imaginary friend (named April), I just adore this story of a girl and her imaginary friend and what happens when said girl must start kindergarten. It is a fun story and the type is great for looking for letters, though really the only Js were in the name Jessica.

Do you have any suggestions for J books?

Jump Rope

For our J activity, I taught Emma how to jump rope. Or tried, anyway. Emma was great at the jumping but her timing was off--though she didn't care much anyway. No pictures because it's kind of difficult to turn the rope and take pictures at the same time.

I have been neglecting this blog for a long time, but I have been keeping track of what we've been doing with our letters and will try to get back to regular updates. If you're still out there, thanks for reading!

Jellyfish

For our J craft project we made a jellyfish, sort of inspired by the ones here and here. We really just used what we had on hand. Emma needed some help with the assembly but she loved the finished product. It's been hanging out in her room ever since.

Jell-O

I had a hard time coming up with something to cook that started with J, so I went for an easy classic. Though would you believe we don't eat jello very often at our house and Emma had never had it? She enjoyed the stirring, but not so much the eating of it.

DLTK-Kids

I come up with a lot of the ideas for activities for each letter on my own, but when I'm stumped I turn to DLTK-Kids. It is a HUGE clearning house of ideas for crafts, activities, coloring pages, you name it. It is convenitently organzied with categories such as: ABCs (the one I use the most, obviously), Animals, Bible, Holidays, and others. It's also a great source for birthday party ideas. Check it out!

I Books

Insectlopedia by Douglas Florian. This book contained different poems about bugs, which is kind of cool, but not necessarily for the alphabet project. The text was also quite long.

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. We've had this one for a while, and it's a cute, classic board book.

I Hear by Rachel Isadora. This book was about the different sounds a child is likely to hear--from birds in the morning to a lullaby at night. It was lovely, and I want to add it to our home library. Though it is not currenly on Amazon, it is worth seeking out. It is *perfect* for learning letters: short sentences, a simple font, a big font siz

I Can Do It Myself by Diane Adams. Is there a more appropriate book title for a precocious toddler? In addition to the cute topic, there were lots of Is.

(We all scream for) Ice Cream!

What better summer/letter I treat than ice cream??? Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures, but we made lime sherbert in our ice cream maker with a basic recipe from the booklet that came with the ice cream maker. Though if you don't have an ice cream maker, you can try this recipe. I think we're going to try it sometime just for fun.

Ice Cube Painting

For our I project, we "painted" with ice cubes. All you need is a box or pan, paper, ice cubes, and a colored powder. The original directions we found called for powdered tempera paint (which I didn't have and didn't want to buy), but you can also subsitute Kool-Aid or Jell-O. We used red Kool-Aid. Simply put the paper in a cardbord box or pan (we used a 13x9" cake pan), sprinkle some powder on the paper, and place an ice cube in the pan. While the ice melts, rotate or swirl the box to create a pattern on the paper.

This was easy and fun. We will probably do it again for a fun, low-mess summer activity.

Igloo

For our I craft project, we made an igloo. The original inspiration for the project came from here, but we modified ours a bit. Okay, a lot. I was a bit lazy and didn't want to craft with sugar cubes, so we worked with paper. It turned out okay. I outlined our paper "bricks" in black after we were done so you could tell what it was, but if I were to do this again I think I would draw the outline *first* and then "build" the igloo inside it. Emma had fun with the glue, though.

H Books

But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton. Yes, it's some more love for Sandra Boynton. Who can resist her quirky sense of humor or distinctive illustrations?

Hush! A Thai Lullaby, by Mingfong Ho. This is a sweet bedtime story that also made a great H book. We loved it so much we have added it to our bedtime repertoire.

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. This book is a classic, and each time I read it I fondly remember why. Who doesn't want their own purple crayon? As a bonus, this book had just the right amount of text for picking out Hs, and the font was large and easy-to-read for toddler eyes.

The Little Red Hen by Lucinda McQueen. Another classic folktale that also makes an excellent H book. Emma has especially loved this one, and though we actually completed H a couple of weeks ago, she keeps requesting it, so we keep reading it. How could I not encourage a story where those that don't help in the household chores don't reap the reward?

Honey Florentines

I don't have a picture to prove it, but we did make these H-for-honey cookies. The recipe is from Martha Stewart's Cookie book.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
pinch of course salt

1. Preheat oven to 375*. Melt butter, brown sugar, and honey in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Transfer to a bowl. Whisk in flour and salt until smooth.
2. Working quickly, drop 1/2 teaspoons of batter onto large baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing at least 3 inches apart. Bake cookies until they spread and turn golden brown, about 6 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Carefully remove cookies from sheets with your fingers. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days.

These made thin, lacy cookies with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. Emma dumped the ingredients (measured by me) into the pan, and I even let her stir the batter in the saucepan since it was on low heat.

Hula Hoop

What better activity for H than to hula hoop? It also made for a nice excuse to get a fun (and cheap) summer toy. Emma wasn't quite coordinated enough to spin it around her waist, but we made up our own games with it, such as placing the hoop on the ground and jumping in and out of it.

H is for Hat

What could be better for an H craft than a new hat? I took the easy route and bought a foam visor from the craft store for $1. Then we stuck on a foam letter H, some stickers, sequins, and colored it a bit. Easy and quite fashionable--at least to a two-year-old.