Tots and Me... Growing Up Together: Littles Learning Link Up: February 21, 2017

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Littles Learning Link Up: February 21, 2017 - Shape Penguin in the Snow Craft

Each month you will find:

A seasonal round-up (toward the beginning of the month)
A guest post featuring crafts, activities, tips, snack ideas or other early childhood topics. (toward the end of the month)
Posts where I share what I have been up to with my preschoolers and/or early elementary children (including occasional highlight posts where I share how we used ideas that have been linked up here on Littles Learning Link Up).

Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme. Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up.

I hope you will continue to share your wonderful posts, and I hope you will find something new to try with your child(ren).

It would be great for everyone to stop by and visit the other linked-up posts as well. Check them out, leave some comments, pin those that interest you. Let's make this a real party and socialize with each other.

What have we been up to?

We took last week off, enjoying Valentine's Day and Harold birthday. We started back in with school yesterday, better organized than I have been in a while. We will finish our study of Norway this week, and then we will move on to France. We are now in the middle of reading the book Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan, which is based on actual events in Norway during the German occupation in 1940. We started our Fox unit with MFW-K. Fox actually is the unit for the letter X, not F, as we are making sure to learn the /ks/ sound for x. This gives us a chance to work on ending sounds, which Hannah has also been doing in her Language Arts curriculum we are reviewing, as she has been asked to find rhyming words in poems.

Moving on to co-op, I decided we would make some Shape Penguins. I made these with my children several years ago, but I never devoted a post just to the penguins. They were a part of our Week-in-Review post for the letter P. This book would pair well with the book, Baby Penguin Learn Shapes With Me. I don't actually have this book anymore, as it was destroyed, but we loved this board book. Each page focuses on one shape, and if I am not mistaken the story is told in rhyme. I really miss this book.

Anyway, here is the Shape Penguin in the Snow Craft we made:

This is a fairly simple craft, with easy-to-find supplies.

You will need:

Black construction paper

White construction paper

Light Blue construction paper

Orange construction paper

White paint

Paintbrush

Q-Tips

Wiggly eyes

Glue stick

White school glue

Metal Paper Fasteners

The shapes needed for this craft are:

Black oval

White circle

Orange stars (2)

Orange triangle

Black rectangles (2)

These can easily be drawn, but I did create a printable to make it even easier. All you have to do is cut out the shape in the color needed.

To make the Shape Penguin Craft:

First I had the children paint a snowy habitat. They used the brush for the snow and ice the penguin would be standing on, then they used the Q-tips to dab on some falling snow.

While the paint dried, we assembled the penguins.

We used the glue stick to attach the circle to the bottom of the oval.

Then the stars are attached to the very bottom for feet, and the triangle is placed point-down above the circle (with part of it overlapping the top of the circle)

The wiggly eyes are attached with a couple of drops of white glue.

We then helped the children attach the rectangle wings/flippers with the metal paper fasteners. Harold was able to do some himself, and a couple of the other children tried. I pushed the fastener through the wing first, then through the side of the oval.

When everything was dry, the penguins were glued to the snowy habitat.

Let's take a look at that review schedule:

My review for Times Alive from Times Tables the Fun Way went live a couple of weeks ago. Hannah is still using (and loving) her Language Arts Curriculum from Eclectic Foundations. That review will be posted the beginning of March. We also received two new Circle C Stepping Stones books written by Susan K. Marlow. Tabitha and Amelia will be reading these books, and the review will be posted in mid-March. We are also reviewing Joseph: The Canada Goose, which is a storybook and art lesson book from How Great Thou Art Publications. This review will be shared on the Old Schoolhouse Magazine site.

Some Things I would like to share with you:

For more penguiny ideas, here is my Penguins Galore! Plus... post from several years ago.

Here is another shape craft I posted a while ago. The Panda Bear Shape Craft {with Free Printable}.

Don't miss my giveaway for the children's book

Plenty of Love to Go Around

(US only, Ends 2/22)

I am trying to line up guest posts for 2017. If you would be interested writing a guest post for Littles Learning Link Up one of these months, please leave a comment or contact me via my contact info on my About Me page. I will need to have your email address so I can contact you. I am looking for posts that have to do with young children: crafts, activities, foods/snacks, tips, or other ideas. I am open to suggestions.

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there were 7 wonderful posts linked up. I will be picking one randomly selected post to share, plus the top clicked-on post.

Don't forget to stop by other posts that are linked up. See what catches your eye, stop by, pin the post to a relevant board, and perhaps leave a comment to let the author of the blog know you have been by for a visit. I know I appreciate others commenting and letting me know they have read my posts, so I am sure others do too.

This week's randomly selected post is:

Shecki from Greatly Blessed shared Our Week Learning About Birds.

And here is this week's top clicked on post.

Amanda from Sicily's Heart & Home shared How to Cater to Your Children's Learning Styles.

Join the Party!

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your young children? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on one of my relevant boards, and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up.

Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our school time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your child, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Monday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized. Please take the time to visit some of the other wonderful posts linked up.