Author: S. J. Little

Plants – 3.8 – Add A Little

Posted on by S. J. Little

 

Add A Little – 3 Year Old Curriculum – Unit 8

Plants

Disclaimer: All activities require adult supervision and discretion. Read more...

Want to learn more about Add A Little Curriculum? Check out the Parent / Teacher Guide

Movement Moment

Four Sides

Supplies:

  • Posters of four general types of plants – tree, bush, flower, grass (Or 4 papers and a marker to create your own simple posters)
  • Tape (or other temporary ways to attach the posters to your wall)

Prep:

  • Clear an area for active running.
  • Attach one poster to each of the four walls of the area.

Time to Play:

  • Invite your children to join you standing at one wall of the running area.
  • Point to the different walls and invite your children to name the posters: tree, bush, flower, grass.
  • Explain that you will be giving instructions about which poster to move to and how to move.
  • Start with a few simple instructions, such as: “Run to the tree.”
  • After a few simple rounds to help understand the game, try changing it up:
    • Stomp
    • Tip-toe
    • Fly
    • Skip
    • Crawl
    • Walk slowly
    • Walk on heals
    • Walk backwards (if a small group)
  • If you have a small number of children, consider letting them take turns giving the instructions.

Art Activity

Dandelion Cutting

Supplies:

  • Yellow paper
  • Regular paper
  • Child scissors
  • A pencil or pen
  • A glue stick
  • Green crayons or pencil crayons, and other colours for finishing the picture

Prep:

  • Draw a 4.5″ or 11 cm diameter circle on each yellow paper (you could trace a roll of masking tape).
  • In the center of that circle, draw a 2″ or 5 cm circle (you could trace a paper towel roll).
  • Follow the instructions below in “Time to Create” section to make an example of the craft to show your children.

Time to Create:

  • Show your children the example of the dandelion picture you made ahead of time.
  • Show your child the yellow paper. Instruct them to cut out the large circle (and not do anything with the small one).
  • After they have cut the large circle, show them how to cut from the out side towards the center of the flower stopping at the small circle. This creates the leaves of the dandelion.
  • After they have cut the dandelion, have them glue it onto a regular paper.
  • Offer them crayons to draw a stem and leaves for their dandelion.

Five-Minute Focus

Let’s Learn Our Numbers

Numbers of the Unit

4 5 6

Number Activity

Let’s Sing

The Farmer Plants A Seed

Let’s Read

Little Acorn

Igloo Books

Let’s Sing

Christian Song

This Is The Day That The Lord Has Made

Let’s Read

BIBLE

Read the next story in the picture Bible you are working your way through. Need recommendations for a good Children’s picture Bible? Click Here

“No, Me!”

Posted on by S. J. Little

 

As he finished helping our nearly 2 year old son get ready for bed, my husband glanced at me. “You can turn the light off now.”

“Okay,” I stepped into the hallway.

“No, me!” A little voice piped up.

I halted, my hand raised to flip the switch.

My son hurried after me, still saying, “No, me! No, me!”

“Okay, you can turn the light off, then go straight back to Daddy.”

Once he’d turned the light off, my son followed my instructions to go back to Daddy.

A couple of minutes later, with both kids in their beds, my husband and I settled down in their dimly lit room for the final steps of our bedtime routine.

I started us off on the hymn we’ve been enjoying recently.

“Jesus loves even me.”

“I am so glad that our Father in heaven
Tells of His love in the Book He has given;
Wonderful things in the Bible I see,
This is the dearest, that Jesus loves me.”

“I am so glad that Jesus loves me, …” 

My son’s voice piped up, “No, me!”

We continued singing despite his insistent interruption.

“Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me.”

“No, me!”

“I am so glad that Jesus loves me.

Jesus loves even me.”

When we finished the song, I turned to my son. “You’re right that Jesus loves you. He loves Mommy and Daddy and your sister too.”

How much of this explanation he understood was hard to tell, but he calmed and waited for the next part of our bedtime routine.

Why do I bring this up? Because it got me thinking.

As someone who has sung songs about God’s love and care for years, do I still take them to heart?

Do I really believe that Jesus loves me?

When I sing “Jesus loves me,” do I pause to reflect that, yes, Jesus really does love me personally, not just generically?

Do I insert my name in place of “me”? Jesus loves S. J. Little?

Sometimes the words are so familiar that I forget to reflect on their meaning. I forget to marvel at the mystery that Jesus really does love me, right now, today, just as I am.

Now, let’s be clear, my son’s words were not all helpful.

It is not “no, me.” Rather, I ought to say, “and me,” or, as the hymn says, “even me.”

When I truly grasp that Jesus loves even me, my right response is to show someone else that Jesus loves even them.

Indeed, God’s love is for everyone. As John 3:16 puts it:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” NIV

That’s a lot of love!

Today, as I take a moment to reflect on the truth that Jesus loves even me, may I respond by seeking to share that immeasurable love with someone else, because Jesus loves them too.

 


Construction Site – 3.7 – Add A Little

Posted on by S. J. Little

 

Add A Little – 3 Year Old Curriculum – Unit 7

Construction Site

Disclaimer: All activities require adult supervision and discretion. Read more...

Want to learn more about Add A Little Curriculum? Check out the Parent / Teacher Guide

Movement Moment

Fill the Dump Truck

Supplies:

  • An empty laundry basket
  • Lots of balls – consider light plastic balls or create temporary soft balls by rolling up fuzzy socks. (Alternatively, use small foam blocks, etc.)

Prep:

  • Clear an area for active play.
  • Pull all the balls in the laundry basket.

Time to Play:

  • Gather your children around. Explain that you are going to pretend the laundry basket is a dump truck, and all the kids are excavators (diggers) or front-end loaders.
  • Dump the balls on the floor and join your children in moving and sounding like machines as they scoop the balls back into the “dump truck”.

Art Activity

Cut Out a Digger

Supplies:

Prep:

  • Print one digger colouring sheet per child

Time to Create:

  • Show your child the digger colouring sheet. Especially show them the black circle around the digger. Explain that they will use scissors to cut on this black circle.
  • Remind your child to hold the scissors and paper with thumbs up.
  • Give your child the paper and scissors.
  • Supervise and encourage your child as they cut around the circle. It doesn’t need to be perfect.
  • After they have cut all the way around the circle, take away the scissors and give your child crayons, etc. to colour the digger.

Note to parent/teacher: Using scissors is a great way to strengthen fine motor skills. Most children are mature enough to use scissors with supervision at 3 years old. For more tips regarding teaching scissor skills to preschoolers, check out my post: Scissors and Preschoolers

Five-Minute Focus

Let’s Learn the Numbers

Numbers of the Unit

1 2 3

Number Activity

  • Supplies: Lego or other building blocks
  • Time to Learn:
    • Using the Lego or blocks, create a 2D model of numbers 1, 2, and 3.
    • Give your child the blocks and encourage them to create the numbers themselves. They may copy how you did it, or do it their own way.

  • For other letter teaching techniques, visit: https://sjlittle.ca/preschool/teaching-the-abcs-at-circle-time/

Let’s Sing

Johnny Works With One Hammer

Let’s Read

Little Excavator

By: Anna Dewdney

Let’s Sing

Christian Song

The Wiseman Built His House on the Rock

Let’s Read

BIBLE

Read the next story in the picture Bible you are working your way through. Need recommendations for a good Children’s picture Bible? Click Here

Covered Over

Posted on by S. J. Little

 

“Mommy, I want to write a list.” My daughter announced as she placed a paper on the kitchen table.

“What sort of list?” I asked.

“A list for the babysitter.”

One of her favorite games recently has been “babysitter game,” where she pretends to babysit her dolls, her little brother, or sometimes, me. This game was largely inspired by the book “Amelia Bedelia and the Baby.”

“Okay. Do you want me to write it so you can copy the words?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Okay.” I fetched a small whiteboard and a dry-erase pen. “What do you want to say on your list?”

She paused to think.

“Take bath. Go for walk. Eat snack. Make supper.”

I recorded her words on the whiteboard. “There you go. Would you like a pencil to write the list with?”

I heard the beginnings of frustration coming from my 1 year old in the living room.

“No, I’ll use a marker.”

“Okay. Have fun.”

I headed for the living room, grateful that she would be busy for a few minutes while I helped my younger child.

Several minutes later, a cry of despair erupted from the kitchen.

By this time, my husband was busy in the kitchen where my daughter sat. I heard him ask if she needed help.

Through tears, she explained that she had mixed up the lines. Her list read, “Eat snack. Make snack.”

Because she’d written it in marker, there was no way to erase it. After all that hard work copying my writing, she’d have to start all over again. 

“I have an idea,” my husband replied calmly.

He fetched a new sheet of paper, scissors, and a glue stick.

After a quick measurement of the mistaken word, he cut the paper to size and glued it over my daughter’s mistake.

She brightened instantly. “Now I can try again!”

She carefully copied the word “supper” onto the paper.

Joyfully, she hurried to the living room to show me.

“Look, Mommy. I wrote the wrong thing, but Daddy gave me a second chance.”

“Excellent,” I enthused.

The next day, my daughter approached me. “Mommy, you write a list.”

I looked up from what I was doing. “What sort of list?”

“A babysitting list, but write one thing wrong,” she said.

“Why should I write something wrong?” I asked.

“Because I’m pretending to be the mommy and you are the kid. If you write something wrong I can give you a second chance.”

“I see. Like Daddy did yesterday?”

“Yes.” She had a twinkle in her eye.

Fetching a paper and a marker, I wrote a similar list to what she had made yesterday.

  1. Read book
  2. Bath
  3. Eat snack
  4. Nap

(If she was going to be the mommy and have me pretend to be the kid, I may as well add some extra reading practice for her and a chance for me to lie down.)

Instead of writing “Bath” I wrote “Book” again.

“Oh no. I wrote the wrong thing.” I showed her my paper. “It was supposed to say ‘Bath’ here.”

“That’s okay,” she bubbled over with excitement. “I can give you another chance.”

“Thank you,” I replied, then handed her the scissors and glue.

She cut out a piece of paper and glued it over my wrong word.

“There. Now you can fix it.”

I wrote “Bath” on top of the glued on paper.

“Thank you for giving me a second chance. That’s like what Daddy did for you yesterday.”

She nodded.

I then steered the conversation to Jesus.

When I do wrong things – when I sin – He covers over my sins and lets me try again.

He can do this because He died on the cross for me. He has already paid the price for the wrongdoing.

It’s not that there are no consequences for my sins – my daughter’s list still had the obvious patch on it – but God forgives the death penalty I deserve every time I sin against Him.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 CSB

He offers me a second chance.

My job is to confess my sins and ask for His forgiveness.

If my daughter had simply hidden her list with the mistake on it, my husband would not have had the opportunity to cover over her mistake. She also had to allow him to do the gluing on of the paper. She could have resisted that.

In the coming weeks, as I celebrate Easter, I want to pause to remember and thank God for His great mercy towards us.

Through His death, He has covered over my sins and given me a second chance.

He is worthy of my praise.

Easter / Spring Animals – 3.E – Add A Little

Posted on by S. J. Little

 

Add A Little – 3 Year Old Curriculum – Unit E

Easter / Spring Animals

Disclaimer: All activities require adult supervision and discretion. Read more...

Want to learn more about Add A Little Curriculum? Check out the Parent / Teacher Guide

Movement Moment

Move Like Spring Animals

Supplies:

  • Plastic Easter Eggs (alternatively use other small containers or put all the papers in one larger opaque container or bag, etc.)
  • A basket to hold all the eggs
  • Paper
  • Pen
  • Scissors

Prep:

  • Write the following on a piece of paper:
    1. Jump like a frog
    2. Skip like a lamb
    3. Run like a foal
    4. Tip toe like a mouse
    5. Fly like a robin
    6. Pounce like a kitten
    7. Buzz like a bee
    8. Flutter like a butterfly
    9. Hop like a bunny
    10. Roll like a piglet in mud
    11. Waddle like a duckling
    12. Peck like a chick
    13. Prance like a calf
    14. Dig like a mole
  • Cut the sheet of paper so that each action is on its own small paper.
  • Put one action in each egg.
  • Clear an area for active play.

Time to Play:

  • Invite your children to gather round. Show them the basket of eggs.
  • Explain that each egg has something inside it. You will take turns opening the eggs. When an egg is opened, you will read the action and then do it together.
  • Have fun and be energetic!

Art Activity

Sponge Sheep Painting

Supplies:

  • A sponge, or other painting tool
  • White paint
  • Black paint (or black marker)
  • Small container for black paint
  • Plate or other container for white paint that fits the sponge
  • Green paper (or other medium coloured paper) Alternatively, use white paper and a different colour of paint.
  • Optional: googly eyes

Prep:

  • Consider using half a sheet of paper per child.
  • Pour a small amount of paint into each container.
  • If possible, create an example picture.

Time to Create:

  • Invite your children to the table. Explain that you will be painting lambs today. Show them the example picture you made.
  • Encourage your child to dip the sponge into the white paint and paint a fluffy body for their sheep on their paper.
  • If using black paint for the head and legs, let the children paint them now.
  • If using black marker for the head and legs, wait until the painting has dried, then allow your child to draw the head and legs.

Five-Minute Focus

Let’s Learn the ABCs

Letters of the Unit

  • WXYZ

Letter Activity:

  • Supplies: 4 Popsicle sticks per person

Time to Learn:

  • Give each child 4 popsicle sticks, and take 4 for yourself.
  • Model how to lay the popsicle sticks on the floor or table in the shape of a “W”.
  • Encourage your child to copy with their own popsicle sticks.
  • Repeat with letters “X”, “Y”, and “Z”.

  • For other letter teaching techniques, visit: https://sjlittle.ca/preschool/teaching-the-abcs-at-circle-time/

Let’s Sing

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Let’s Read

Curious George Colors Eggs

Author: H. A. Rey

An engaging tale of dyeing eggs with no Easter Bunny or religious content.

Let’s Sing

Christian Song

Jesus Chose At Easter Time
Words by S. J. Little

View the lyrics here: https://sjlittle.ca/preschool/jesus-chose-at-easter-time/

Let’s Read

CHRISTIAN BOOK

The First Easter Day

Author: Jill Roman Lord
Illustrator: Kimberley Barnes