Monday — U is for Unicorn
- Writing Practice: write uppercase U and lowercase u. I got this great worksheet from K5 Learning:
- Book: Alex Villan’s Unicorns Are the Worst is such a great book! Funny and cute, this story is told by the goblin, who grumbles about his new unicorn neighbors. He points out how great goblins are, but that unicorns get all of the attention, declaring that the unicorns are the worst! When a dragon threatens the goblin, the goblin learns that unicorns are pretty awesome after all.
My son saw this book on Amazon and wanted it so bad. I was skeptical about it (I’m ashamed to say that I judged a book by it’s cover). I bought it from Amazon without previewing it from the library first. My son counted down until its arrival and as soon as it was delivered, my son and I had to sit on the floor, in front our our front door, and read this book! It was hilarious — we both laughed-out-loud through the book. We loved it so much that we bought a copy for a cousin and one for a friend.
Check your library for Unicorns are the Worst, or you can buy it on Amazon here.
- Craft: U is for Unicorn construction paper craft — supplies need are construction in multiple colors, scissors, glue stick, googly eyes, and a marker.
First, cut out a large U shape from a piece of paper. From the same color paper, cut out 2 triangle ears, and a face.
Cut strips of paper for the mane and tail. Cut out a horn.
Glue your letter U to a piece of paper, and then glue on all of the unicorn’s parts.
Add googly eyes and draw a mouth and nostrils.
My son loved making this craft. We took his picture holding up his craft letter U worksheet, so that he could show off his hard work to his grandparents!
- Song: We made up our own lyrics to the tune of One Little, Two Little, Three Little Fingers.
One little, two little, three little unicorns;
four little, five little, six little unicorns;
seven little, eight little, nine little unicorns;
ten little unicorns prancing.
We held up a finger for each unicorn and then when we had all ten up, we wiggled our fingers for the “prancing.”
Tuesday —
- STEM: Umbrella Measuring — grab your preschooler’s umbrella and lay it on a flat surface (we used the floor). Now get some toys to measure the umbrella with — we used cars and Mega Bloks.
Starting from the bottom of the umbrella, my son put his toy cars end-to-end until he reached the top of the umbrella. Then he did the same thing with his Mega Bloks.
After he was done laying out his toys, he counted how many Mega Bloks he used (13) and how many cars he used (7). Then I asked him which one he used the most of, Mega Bloks or cars? This took some thinking on his part and I had to use different wording, asking if “13 is more than 7?” And then I asked which he used least of for measuring his umbrella.
- Air Writing: Ask your child to hold up a hand and trace letter shapes with their finger in the air. I was skeptical of this at first, but my son really got into it and I found him air writing his letters all on his own.
Wednesday — U is for Umbrella
- Writing Practice: write uppercase U. I got this worksheet from AtoZteacherstuff.com — they let you customize worksheets like this one:
- Book: read Ella’s Umbrellas by Jennifer Lloyd. This story is about a little girl named Ella, whose umbrella collection has gotten so numerous, that it is taking over the family’s home. Aunt Stella wants to come for a visit, but will there be room with all of those umbrellas? Mom says it’s time to get rid of umbrellas, but Ella does not want to part with any of them. A rain storm prompts Ella to share her umbrella collection with others, and she learns the joy of sharing with those in need. This story is beautifully illustrated and has a sweet ending that preschoolers will enjoy.
Check your local library for this book, or you can purchase it on Amazon here. To help with the costs of the website, I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program. So if you click on one of my links and buy one of the books, then I get a small percentage of the sale.
- Craft: Paper Plate Umbrella — supplies needed are 1 paper plate, scissors, glue, and stamps.
My son enjoys using his stamps and I thought it would be fun for him to decorate his umbrella craft with his stamps.
First, cut your paper plate in half. Keep one piece for the umbrella canopy. Cut out a handle from other piece of paper plate. Glue your handle to the umbrella canopy.
My son went wild with his stamps! He mixed up animals with smiley faces, and shapes. And at times he stamped so many in the same spot, it looked like paint. He had a blast! Something so simple turned out to be a lot of fun for him.
- Song time: the Laurie Berkner Band has an umbrella song. Watch it on YouTube and sing along!
Thursday —
- Salt Tray Writing: cover the bottom of a shallow tray or pie tin with table salt. Your child can take one finger to trace letter shapes in the salt.
Worksheet: find and circle all of the U letters.
Friday — U is for Underwear
- Writing Practice: write lowercase u. I got this worksheet from AtoZteacherstuff.com — they let you customize worksheets for your preschooler.
- Books: We read Aliens Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and The Underpants Zoo by Brian Sendelbach. If your preschooler is fascinated by underwear and loves super silly books, then these are the books for you!
Using silly, rhyming text, Aliens Love Underpants explains that aliens come to planet Earth is search of underwear! So you had better check your undies for aliens before you put them on 😛
Check your library for this one, or you can buy it on Amazon here.
The Underpants Zoo was always a hit with my library preschool storytime group! They would giggle the whole way through and we had to stop reading multiple times so the kids could talk about the pictures (an anteater with ants in its underpants — whaaaaat?!?!?). My son loves this book too and he really enjoys pouring over the silly pictures. Check your library for this one, or you can buy the paperback on Amazon here.
And since preschoolers seem to really like underwear books, there is also a new book by Jory John called Something’s Wrong: a bear, a hare, and some underwear. In this funny picture book, Jeff the bear is the only one wearing underwear, much to the puzzlement of the other animals. Jeff feels like something is wrong, but he can’t figure out what. When Jeff starts to feel self-conscious and embarrassed about being seeing in his underwear, his friend, Anders the rabbit, comes to his aid and soon all of the forest animals are running around in their undies!
Jory John is a popular author so I would imagine that your library will have this book. You can also purchase it on Amazon here.
- Craft: Polka Dot Underwear — my son asked how we were going to make an underwear craft and I was at a loss for ideas. Since he liked stamping the umbrella craft, I wanted to do more stamping, but not repeat the same craft. Then I remembered bubble wrap stamping!
Supplies needed are a piece of thick white paper (I used card stock, but construction paper should work), scissors, bubble wrap, washable paint, and a paintbrush. Optional supplies include a paper plate to use a pallet, large paper grocery bags to protect your surface from paint, and baby wipes to quickly get paint off of fingers.
To begin, cut an underwear shape out of the white paper. To make it easier on myself, I cut a simple shorts/boxer style.
Then cut a small rectangular out of the bubble wrap. Your preschooler will use this to stamp the polka dots on the underwear.
Next, I placed a large paper bag under the craft to protect our table from paint. We used 2 different shades of blue to decorate the undies.
Pour some paint on your paper plate and let your preschooler paint the air bubbles on the bubble wrap.
Once coated with paint, your preschooler can stamp the bubble wrap into the undies.
Repeat painting the bubble wrap and stamping until the underwear is covered in polka dots.
Let your project dry before showing it off 😀
- Song: sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Undies! I heard other libraries were substituting the word undies for toes in their songs and it sounded fun, so I decided to try it. My kid loved it! He started giggling when I asked him if he wanted to sing it with me.
Here’s how it goes:
Head, shoulders, knees and undies
Knees and undies
Head, shoulders, knees and undies
Knees and undies
And eyes, and ears, and mouth, and nose
Head, shoulders, knees and undies
Knees and undies.
Head, shoulders, knees and undies
Knees and undies
Head, shoulders, knees and undies
Knees and undies
And eyes, and ears, and mouth, and nose
Head, shoulders, knees and undies
Knees and undies.