I’m so thankful I get to spend time with my children for their preschool years. First, I share our curriculum choices and why we use them. Keep reading to find out how we explored the Letter F. Finally, at the bottom, we list our favorite supplies for the preschool years.
PRESCHOOL CURRICULUM
SUPPORTS AMPLE NATURE TIME
- The Peaceful Preschool – The schedule is amazing because it sets aside one day per week for field trips
- Exploring Nature with Children – This works well for my family because it is centered around being outdoors
- The Abundant Gardener – We are learning more about gardening together so this will naturally provide chances to visit gardens, plant stores, and be outside on our land
THE PEACEFUL PRESCHOOL
We currently follow the Peaceful Preschool curriculum by Jennifer Pepito and we love it! The content is full of rich literature, therefore it is a perfect fit for my book-loving family. We read through many rich, classic stories. We also complete playful projects to go with the literature theme or letter. Download Unit A for free to try it out with your littles in order to see if you like it.
The community she has created is such a beautiful resource and I’m grateful to be a part of it. Jennifer has included a wonderful preschool e-book which helps you prepare to guide your child in early learning. We have found her curriculum perfect for our homeschool preschool. The curriculum is comprised of Read Aloud, Phonics, Counting Skills, Fine Motor Skills, Large Motor Skills, Practical Life Skills, and Art Skills. Also, here is how we enjoyed the letter A unit.
LETTER F REVIEW
We began with the letter F unit and had so much fun with it! The focus books for letter F are Fish Out of Water, Jonah and the Whale story from a Children’s Bible, and Ten Little Fish. I purchased one book from Amazon and we reviewed the other books through a Read Aloud video online.
Then, we created glitter glue letters. The Peaceful Preschool recommends glitter glue in order to create the finishing touches on sensory, alphabet flashcards. We have used them with all of the letters so far. It is really one of my children’s favorite parts.
F IS FOR FISH
We added these adorable, affordable fish and flower posters to our homeschool area.
We loved the fish theme focus for the letter F. I found these adorable fish cookie cutters and my oldest son immediately got creative with them. My boys use play dough almost daily. I love the creativity they come up with while they are playing. Hands on learning is excellent for pre-writing skills.
We used organic goldfish crackers to practice simple counting. This delicious snack didn’t last too long in this house!
SENSORY WATER PLAY
Then, we pulled our fish bowl out and created some fun water play! My boys enjoyed putting their hands in the water. We read the Rainbow Fish, which I happily purchased for $7 at Barnes N Nobles. Sometimes, they include an additional children’s book for $7 with the purchase of any other children’s book. If you haven’t read this story, its about a beautiful, unique fish who doesn’t play with his friends because his pride gets the better of him. Once he starts sharing his unique beauty with others, he finds joy and many friends to play with.
SENSORY BEAD PLAY
We used our sensory blue glass vase beads to fill in our rainbow fish template. We also painted in the template with watercolors, and used glue, salt and a tiny amount of watercolors to create a salt color fish. The results were beautiful and I’m thankful my boys had so much fun.
Here was the beginning of their salt watercolor fish.
WATERCOLORING A FAMOUS PAINTING
Finally, we wrapped up the fish study by painting a famous painting “The Long Leg” by Edward Hopper. I drew an outline and my oldest son painted in the painting. My husband and I were pretty amazed at how well he painted! It is such a joy to witness our children’s skills blossoming.
RECIPE
We tried a new recipe – Fish En Papillote – and it was so delicious, nourishing and simple that we have it on regular rotation now. My boys love to help with this recipe because its so colorful. Simply add salmon or fish of your choice on a piece of parchment paper. Then, top it with lemon slices, asparagus slices, and corn. Next, bake it in the parchment paper, add fresh tomatoes and herbs when the fish is cooked.
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES AND BOOKS
FERDINAND AND HIS FLOWERS
I was blessed to grow up with many classic books in my childhood. I reintroduced one of these stories, Ferdinand with my children. If you haven’t read this story, I highly recommend it! Its is a beautiful story about a strong bull who chooses to be calm and peaceful and loves flowers and to relax under his cork tree.
There are many versions of this story, but I adore this one since the story is simple, and the illustrations are lovely.
Next, we gathered wildflowers from our yard and added them in for some color.
We also used vegetables drawings from Farm Anatomy to add into our journals in order to gather ideas of what we will be planting in our garden soon.
FLOWER ICE CUBES
I found a tutorial on making flower ice cubes with edible flowers. We had so much fun with the activity! My children helped add edible flower petals to the ice cube trays. Then, we filled them with water and froze them. It was a good lesson to be patient and wait for the finished product.
We added the ice cubes to water and had a refreshing and unique drink. They turned out beautifully! They would be really beautiful for a party.
We also matched edible flowers with the ice cubes when they were finished. Finally, we read A Reason for A Flower.
SEED BOMBS
We also created seed bombs with wildflowers. This project was simple, messy and fun. We read A Seed is Sleepy before starting the project.
All that is needed to make the seed bombs, are air dry clay, water, potting soil, and flower seeds. We are looking forward to throwing these out before a good rain!
F IS FOR FARM
We read through an adorable story Anywhere Farm, which is recommended by The Abundant Gardener curriculum we follow. We also read through a childhood book of mine, the Animals of Farmer Jones. Thankfully, my parents saved tons of my Little Golden Books. Finally, we read our Usbourne Look Inside a Farm, which is so informative and has tons of fun flaps to lift.
FIELD TRIPS
The Peaceful Preschool recommends a field trip day each week. Since our boys are at home for preschool, we have the luxury of taking many trips! We visited the Austin Aquarium and learned about fish. This was so fun because we were able to touch sting rays, sharks, birds, and iguanas!
Finally, we visited the Arnosky Flower Farm which was beautiful.
We are looking forward to returning in the Fall because their fields will be full with wildflowers.
SUPPLIES
A Reason for a Flower
A Seed is SleepyFerdinand
Farm Anatomy
The Rainbow Fish
Watercolors
Tactile Letters
Montessori Letters
Crayons
Flower Seeds
Here is how we enjoyed the letter G unit. We had so much fun with letter G and can’t wait to share the next letter with you!
