A Week of Letter "K"

Spring weather is so hard to predict where I live. One minute it is sunny and the other minute is it snowy. So, some of my activities had to be changed due to the snow on the ground such as flying a kite. Oh well, it's life. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this week of activities and I hope you get some inspiration on how to teach your kiddos (Oh, and be sure to check out Howling Horn's Pinterest page for more great learning activities). And, I would love to hear any ideas you have!

Monday - Reading

Monkey is obsessed with keys so I just knew that the letter of the week project would have to feature keys. This idea came from, No Time For Flash Cards, and it worked out so well. Monkey loved picking out what keys to glue to the letter "k".

Then we worked on writing/tracing the letter "k". This sort of worked. Monkey would attempt to write the letter "k" out, but eventually decided coloring was a better idea. I figure as long as I keep showing him how to write letters, then someday he will want to do it too.

Tuesday - Science

Two words: car ramps. My ideas came from this great website. I made a very basic car ramp in order to explore kinetic energy with Monkey. Now, I will admit that I think Monkey only cared about watching the cars (and other vehicles) roll down the ramp, but I know he is learning to experiment because he had fun testing out different vehicles and even wanted to try out his big dump truck.

We first investigated one car and then we did two cars at the same time to see how their weight affected their speed.I explained to Monkey that kinetic energy is the energy of motion as I rolled a car down the ramp.

We even explore how kinetic energy is transferred. This was his favorite part. He loved seeing how many objects his train could knock over. I have to say that I had a lot of fun doing this experiment too!

Wednesday - Math

I would recommend this activity for older kids since it didn't go over as well as I planned. Monkey just didn't care to do it. I was a bit sad since I spent how much time getting all the materials to make kites and count the "k" shaped ribbons.

But, basically, your kiddos would count the "k" ribbons and discuss the shapes that are used to make the kite. I am hoping that when I revisit this activity with Monkey, then he will enjoy doing it. 

Thursday - Art

I decided to be brave again and create my own activity. So today we made a king's crown. It actually turned out pretty well and Monkey loved how he got to paint!

These are the supplies you want: a paper plate, paint, paint brushes, jewels, and pom poms (or whatever you want to decorate the crown with). After the paper plate is painted, I then cut the middle of the paper plate like a pie. I decided to make "6 slices". I cut down to the ridges of the paper plate and stopped. Then, I had Monkey decorate the crown anyway he wanted too. 

I think this king's crown turned out really well. 

Friday - Physical Exercise

Today, I planned to fly a kite. Monkey was SO excited to do this. But, sadly the weather for several days has been snowy and cold. We then decided to kick a ball in our yard since there were a few areas that weren't extremely muddy.

As we played with some balls, I would keep saying "K is for Kick". Monkey was extremely focused on the kicking part!

Saturday - Music

We started off our music session by watching Story Bots. Monkey loves their little alphabet videos. We ended up watching it several times. Then, we had a blast playing with a keyboard. We already had this keyboard around this house, but I don't have it out all the time. Monkey loved just tapping away at the various keys and hitting buttons to make the music sound different. I took the time to talk to Monkey about what a keyboard is and what it does.

I then just allowed Monkey to learn about the keyboard by experimenting with it. Hands-on learning is awesome. This keyboard plays some church songs, and Monkey liked listening to it while he played with his trains.

Sunday - Religion

We ended this week by learning about kings. I talked with Monkey about two different kings: King Benjamin and King Noah from The Book of Mormon. I showed pictures of the two kings and explained how King Benjamin was a righteous king who loved his people and served them while King Noah was a wicked king. I explained the importance of having righteous kings. We finished the lesson by watching the animated series of Abindai and King Noah.

Need more alphabet ideas? Then check out these posts:

Letter A   Letter B   Letter C   Letter D   Letter E   Letter F    Letter G   Letter H   Letter I   Letter  J