Letter G is for Gambit

The two superheroes we focused on for the letter G were Gambit and Green Lantern. Bobo chose to paint this week, instead of coloring.

Green Lantern painting, Bobo age 4

He also worked on his DC sticker activity book.

Green Lantern shadow matching

In addition to working on letters each week, Bobo has also been asking for numbers. He can write 1 through 10 and loves practicing on anything he can get his hands on!

From top to bottom and left to right: Blue letter G painting, Thomas number activity, Gambit, Leprechaun craft, Pot of gold craft, Number writing, Chick craft and Green Lantern painting

His Aunt T gave him some wonderful Thomas the Train stickers and activity book for Christmas. So, I made a simple activity of placing the amount of stickers on the number square (1 to 5). We also attended a library Spring craft event with Miss Meredith. I love his little chick coming out of the egg.

Are your kids into mazes? Bobo can't get enough of mazes right now. I think he's done every one in each coloring book he has. He worked on helping Scooby-Doo catch some ghosts and ghouls in this one.

We watched a wonderful video for the big letter G. Little g is still a challenge for writing. Any ideas, tips or tricks you've used to teach it?

Sharing at Homeschool Creations.

Letter F is for Flash

Letter F is also for Ferb! Our learning board got a lot of Phineas and Ferb love. (1+1+1=1)

Flash coloring... lots of coloring.

I love the dot sheets for learning the shapes of letters, but Bobo doesn't like to use the dot painters very much. He used yellow and red finger paints this week to make a Flash inspired letter set.

Markers are another favorite medium. Look at that crazy hair! The best part of homeschool is getting to wear costumes and NOT brushing your hair.

Epsom salt tray for letter practice. I put all the letter activities we do each week in a fire box. We are still loving the tag system for learning phonics.

Letter F review. We didn't watch any youtube videos this week, but did enjoy some Phineas and Ferb episodes on Netflix.

Shared with Tuesday Tots.

D is for Daredevil

The usual suspects:

Sorting capital/lowercase magnets

Practice letter shape with Crayola monster flashcards

Color weekly superhero

Leapfrog flashcard D (for drum)

Play dough

Letter worksheets from Raising Rockstars

Honestly, I couldn't find much for Daredevil, so I also looked for Dash sheets from the Incredibles. There wasn't anything out there that I could find. Note to all you tech savvy mama's: Please make an Incredibles Preschool Pack! Instead, I chose to use the materials we already had on hand. We've used the DC sticker books in the past, but I found this Dinosaur sticker book to use this week. Bobo worked on the parts of T-Rex and the life cycle of a dinosaur.

We made dinosaurs out of Play-Doh and letter Ds.

We have a large collection of coloring and activity books, so I pulled out the How to Train Your Dragon one. The riddle activity was Bobo's favorite. 

We attempted to watch the Daredevil movie with Jennifer Garner (I just started watching Alias on Netflix!!!), but we couldn't get through it. We didn't even make it to Elektra's appearance.

Our favorite video of the week is "Dee Doodley Do" from the StoryBots.

Shared with TGIF.

Letter A books for Avengers Assemble

I've been planning on teaching the alphabet to Bobo through his favorite topic, super heroes. When I saw these books, I thought the Avengers would be a great place to begin.

We recently received this new series of books based on the television program The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. We've already seen all the episodes, so it's good review to read the books. I also had Bobo identify the letter A's as we read as he already knew the story.

Iron Man is always the Avenger Bobo chooses first. This is the story of Tony Stark as Iron Man. It has lots of action and introduces Hydra, the bad guys.

And my favorite avenger is Thor. It helps that he has the best powers on Super Hero Squad (Wii), but I also love the folk lore in his stories. I have always been an avid reader of Greek and Roman mythology. Loki is the villain of this tale.

We also read the rest of the series available. It is an enjoyable series with action and favorite characters.
Sharing with the Children's Bookshelf and Read Aloud Thursday and Read Learn Explore.

A is for Avengers Assemble

Bobo's lettter "A" learning wall. I'm playing with learning the alphabet in order. As a librarian, I have a hard time doing it any other way. Luckily the first two letters are also in his name. Anyway, A for Avengers is a perfect place to begin with interest!

Sorting capital and lowercase

Science- Alka seltzer

1/3 water + 2/3 oil + food coloring + Alka seltzer

Pre-writing letter with sensory bag

Amazing Spider-Man printing

Tag reader Letter A

Stamping- Big A vs Little a

Finger painting

All of these printables came from 1 + 1 + 1 = 1's Alphabet Printables & More page. I found the Spider-Man Letters book at the Dollar Store. We have a large collection of coloring books to pull from as well. To introduce the letter, I put on several videos from youtube. This one was Bobo's favorite.



Sharing with the Kid's Co-Op and Preschool Corner.

WMCIR: MARVELous, Simply MARVELous

All our favorite superheroes come together in one action-packed book. We've been reading this for the past month, one story per night. I waited until we finished all of them to share, though. Captain America is Bobo's favorite story. I enjoyed the illustrations and compact story with lots of variety. We were both disappointed there was no Black Widow story. "No, see she's right there," Bobo insisted after we finished the book and kept pointing emphatically at the cover. Nope, sorry.

And it's about time for Christmas books, yay! I've been reading lots of new Christmas books as they are delivered to the library. It's like Christmas everyday! Santa Knows by Cynthia Smith is about a little boy who doesn't believe in Santa. This is one of those books I didn't read before taking home and I was a little worried about where this story was going. Bobo believes in Santa wholeheartedly. I don't think I've ever told him Santa was real or not, but we've read lots of books on the topic. My little guy's fantasy was not crushed by this book, but it did spark lots of conversation. Very funny, light read.

Oh, Minerva Louise, you make me LOL every time! I recommend these books for older children, maybe five to six and up. The humor comes from the illustrations, not the words. You have to look for clues and figure out what Minerva Louise has gotten wrong. Bobo is beginning to understand these books as I walk him through the observations.

Me: "Now is that really a farmer?"

Bobo: "No, mom. It's Santa."

Me: "Oh, Minerva Louise!"

Bobo laughs maniacally... turn page and repeat.

Sharing with Read Aloud Thursday

Media Review: LarryBoy and the Bad Apple

Veggie Tales: LarryBoy and the Bad Apple written by Richard Liebmann-Smith and Mike Nawrocki with music by Kurt Heinecke

My Rating: 5 out of 5 superhero cucumbers

Recommended For Viewers of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Summary: Larryboy and the citizens of Bumblyburg are struggling with temptation in the form of vanity, video games and chocolate. The villain, Bad Apple, has every intention of taking advantage of the situation.

Review: I avoided the Veggie Tales series for a long time having been burned with other Christian shows, namely Soul Surfer. I found the idea of talking vegetables unsavory and downright silly. Then I watched one, Veggie Tales: The Lord of the Beans, and kicked myself for not giving these a chance!

Veggie Tales is a show with a message and a purpose, but it does so in a clever, witty way that is appealing to children and bearable for adults. LarryBoy is the perfect character for little guys who are interested in superheroes and comic books. LB swings from his plungers like Spider-Man and has a secret hide-out like Batman. 

He also has an enemy that combines the personality of Cat-woman with the robotic improvements of Doc Ock. The story has appeal! Plus, the music is fantastic. We were singing "The Temptation Song" the rest of the day after viewing this fun film. I've added the rest of the LarryBoy episodes the the Netflix instant queue.

Sound Bites

"Broccoli, Celery, Got to Be... Veggie Tales!"

Bad Apple: "I'm not preachin' moderation. Knock! Knock!"

Citizens: "Who's there?"

Bad Apple: "Temptation!"

Bob: "A text message?"

Larry: "It's the latest thing, cool huh?"

Tot School: Super Hero Squad

I've been following Bobo's lead in school this year. What has it led to? Lots and lots of superheroes! We've used several preschool packs I found online, Royal Baloo's and Over the Big Moon.

Matching symbols to their hero

After independent play, while I'm making breakfast, Bobo and I make our way to his room for our version of circle time. Bobo loves using the Learning Resources pocket chart for superhero matching.

Puzzles fit too!

Super hero lair

We keep the building toys in Bobo's room. He built a super hero lair and used the paper pieces from the matching game to play. NOTE: He used the paper figures for lots of play this week as his other toys were in time out for not being put away.

Writing center- pre-writing

After we play outside, Bobo works at his writing center. This time, he helped the super hero catch the bad guy with pre-writing worksheets. We use the dry-erase center, so he can do it over and over. Plus, if it's not just right, Bobo likes to start over. I can see a huge difference with his writing skills from before summer break.

Cutting & sorting

His scissor skills are still a work in progress. Thumbs up, Bobo! He's asked for the hero and villain cut and sort sheet several times.

Bobo has colored these types of sheets before. The text is written in the color each figure should be, as directions. I'm a bit behind on the blogging from being away, so he did this activity weeks ago. Today, he looked at his work and "read" the colors. Yay, those symbols are beginning to mean something!

WMCIR: Where he mashes...

"Its called the MASH. The MONSTER MASH. Its a graveyard smash!"

Bobo is crazy for Monster Mash by David Catrow. He asks for it every night, "I need the book where he mashes." The book is an illustrated representation of the song by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. I am very fond of this song, so I sang it the first couple of times. We also listened to the original song on Youtube.

I quickly discovered, it wasn't my amazing vocal skill that sold this book. It's the illustrations! After the third or fourth time we read the book, Bobo started to ask questions (as he often does). "Why is the monster trying to kiss the cat? Where is Dracula's baby? Where's the crib keeper five?" Note: It took me awhile to figure out that last question.

The large, two-page illustrations are detailed and fun. They may be scary for sensitive readers, but my little guy loves them. The lyrics, of course, are a hit. Don't wait until Halloween to check this one out!

Our other must-read for this week is the Amazing Spider-Man Storybook Collection from Marvel. We've read several of these stories before, but there are some we've never seen. I like that they are all available in one place and I only need to check-out one book for a month's worth of reading. Bobo likes that it has Spider-Man, Venom and the Green Goblin. 

Bobo and I are always looking for new books. Leave a comment with some of your favorites. Happy reading!

I'm linking up at Hope is the Word.

Tot School: Superhero Part 2

Month: January
Theme: Superheroes

I have not been taking as many photos. Instead, I've chosen to engage more in my child's play. Sometimes, I do not even take my camera. The result has been magnificent. We jump from activity to activity, and my little boy always has a smile on his loving face. I'll still be sharing our activities, but it will be from the "before" perspective. Remember, though, when following your child's lead, the invitation is only the beginning.

Tot Trays
 

From left to right and top to bottom: "V" is for villain magnet poms, Cut and Paste, Counting Cards, Color by Number, Patterns and Pre-writing If that seems like a lot of Pre-school activities, it is! I do not usually include so many paper activities, but Bobo asked for them.

I kept some of the trays we didn't get to the first time. Again, from left to right and top to bottom: "V" is for villain magnet poms, Batman transfer with hanger clips, Counting cards, Color by number hero, Sticker City, Pre-writing hero to car. Please see my original Superhero post to get the location of the print materials.  

Where it led?

Bobo has been fascinated with rainbows and mixing colors lately. School and tot trays often lead to colors.

He used a paint brush to finish his color by number page.
 

Cutting and pasting the bad guys/good guy page led to an imaginary battle frozen on paper.
 

The sticker sheet also led to a battle. We talked about where the words should go and matched those to the action unfolding.

If I don't mention play dough in a post, do not be fooled! Everything leads to play dough. Bobo loves to paint himself and he just discovered, he can turn different colors with the aid of play dough.

Becoming the black spiderman.

The whole superhero theme led to a ton of imaginative play and physical activity. I have been the Black Cat, Spiderman girl, Superman girl, Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Mom-ra (take on villain from Thundercats) for the past month. We didn't have a field trip for this theme, but we had a blast staying home.

Books: Superhero

Month: January
Theme: Superheroes

Children have a great interest for superheroes at my library, so it hasn't been difficult to find books on this topic. It has been somewhat harder to find books at the correct age level for Bobo, who is 3. We have been getting more superhero picture books in lately. I attribute this to all the superhero movies that have been released in the past year. Superheroes are everywhere.


Bobo loves the Green Lantern. Yes, I did let him watch the movie with Ryan Reynolds (who is my pretend husband). He fell asleep 10 minutes into it. He must have gotten something out of the movie, though, because he wanted the GL playhouse and figure for Christmas. I couldn't find any easy books about GL, so I checked out a chapter book. It didn't hold his interest. There weren't enough pictures to even take a picture walk with this one. We'll try again in a few years.

We could take a picture walk with The Flash: Ice and Flame by Jane B. Mason. Bobo is fascinated with fire and ice, so that helped hold his attention longer. We often pretend to be Spider-man and His Amazing Friends. I play the part of Firestar, while Bobo is Iceman. These are his two favorite powers.


The Incredibles is another favorite at our house. We like the idea of the super family. I was disappointed with this book because it was the book of the movie. I expected a new story about Dash.


Robin is beginning to overshadow Batman. My little brothers were the same way. It must be that Robin is closer to their age. Maybe it's just his witty jokes. This book was great!


If you're looking for a superhero who isn't from the DC or Marvel world. This new picture book is a wonderful alternative. It is a funny story about a superhero called Awesome Man who is plagued by villains like his annoying sister.

I have to divulge one disclaimer before the long list of books for the month. Daddy reads the graphic novels to Bobo. I haven't read many graphic novels, so I have a hard time deciphering the action and dialogue in a continuous flow. Once you've read lots of these, it will become second-nature and you can share them with your soon-to-be independent readers. Daddy does a wonderful job of narrating these books.

More Superhero Books:
Spider-Man: Spider-Man Versus the Scorpion by Susan Hill
Spider-Man: Spider-Man versus Hydro-Man by Susan Hill
The Batman: Jam Packed Action
The Incredibles: Truth and Consequences by Landry Q. Walker
Super Friends: Going Bananas by Ben Harper
Batman Classic: Starro and Stripes Forever: With Superman and Wonder Woman by Gina Vivinetto
The Dark Knight: Batman Versus the Joker by N.T. Raymond
The Dark Knight: Batman Saves the Day by Jennifer Frantz
Spider-Man: Dust-Up in Aisle Seven! by Fred Van Lente
Spider-Man: Fashion Victims! by Fred Van Lente
The Invincible Iron Man: An Origin Story by Rich Thomas
First Look and Find: Marvel Spider-Man & Friends

Have a super time sharing some of these books!