Here Comes the Sun!

K has only started to enjoy drawing in the last 6 months or so.  She still prefers to "freestyle" but occasionally draws something that is more easily recognized.  It's nice to see that preference changing as she gets closer to school age.

Handwriting Without Tears - Playing With Mat Man

Mat man is one of the preschool activities in the Handwriting Without Tears program. The song leads the child through the steps necessary to create the mat man.

I took this picture a while back, just after we got our Handwriting Without Tears program materials. K had seen the mat man done only twice before, & one of those times was last fall. The only help I gave her was to pause the CD long enough for her to get each piece in place before allowing the song to continue.

She actually had the ears & face in a better position, but bumped them when putting the other pieces in place.

She is really enjoying this program!

Handwriting practice

Right now, we're mainly working  on the Handwriting Without Tears program to teach K to learn to print.  We are trying to keep K interested & having fun.  I don't usually do handwriting worksheets, but a while back, I found this website where you can create your own handwriting worksheets.  I like the fact that you can choose your own word, colors, letter size, etc. As your child gets a little more experience at writing, you can change it so that only the starting points of each letter appears, not the whole word.  I'm going to continue to use Handwriting Without Tears, but I will also print off a few with K's name on them just for fun. Here is the link:

Handwriting Worksheets

Handwriting Without Tears

Just because I don't already have enough to do...........  LOL ! Actually, we are planning to scale back K's neurodevelopmental program a little for the summer.  If nothing else, I've at least decided not to feel guilty if we don't get it done some days & to take some extra days off to do a number of day trips with the kids to the science center, the zoo, an amusement park, & other local attractions.

I am also hoping to add in some things that K really enjoys.  We are borrowing the Handwriting Without Tears program from the school for the summer. It was recommended by both the school & K's OT. So far K just loves it & comes running when I put in the CD.  The CD contains lots of fun songs & K really enjoys doing the actions & trying to sing along.  There are chalk boards, a workbook,  play dough & all kinds of fun stuff. 

The handwriting Without Tears Program has a lot of research behind it & offers  training courses, a newsletter, & all kinds of extra help to get you started on their program.  Here is a link to their website if you would like more information:

http://www.hwtears.com/hwt

Fun with Fine Motor

We have a set of WiKki Stix laying around that we haven't used much, so we got them out yesterday.  K does not always have a really long attention span for this sort of thing, but she really seemed to enjoy these.

Of course, we started with the letter K.

Next K used the cards to print the first initial of her name.

Lastly, came the freestyle art - that's my girl.

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I think she enjoyed herself & in my opinion, that is the most important thing about early learning!