Letter of the Week - H

Again, I was surprised how many fun theme-days I could think of for this letter. I had already chosen the ones I'll show you in this post, but after I had everything ready for the week, I kept coming up with more ideas. Saving them for the future. Hoping to remember them. Day One: We decorated our letter this week by taking away, not by adding. I brought out my hole-punch, and we covered our H very well....he had lots of fun! Here is our completed H. I happened to spy this book at the public library a few weeks ago, and snatched it up, then saved it until we got to this week. It is by Beverly Cleary, who I loved reading in elementary school. I didn't know she had done an alphabet book before. This alphabet book takes us through all the sounds one might find on a quaint little farm while you are out with your friends. Coincidentally, my seven-year-old and I are currently reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle by the same author.

Day Two: H is for Hat

*Made a hat. I remember seeing children wearing newspaper sailor hats on television when I was growing up and wanting, and wanting, to know how they did that. It turns out that they are incredibly quick and easy. As in, he hardly needed any guidance to make this. And it only required half a sheet of newspaper to do it. Here are the instructions I used.

*Finding books about hats is very easy too. We read The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, The Cat in the Hat, and What a Hat.

*We played an online game where you get to design silly hats.

*We played our own hat game. I went to our dress up clothes and chose some of the hats that were most identifiable, and brought them upstairs. (there were 8 of them.) I put them all out in a line on the couch and then we took turns being 'it.' One player got to choose a hat, and the other player had to close their eyes. Player 1 put the hat on the other person's head and gave them three clues, and they had to guess what hat they had on. After making their guess, they got to open their eyes and look in the big mirror that is just opposite our couch. There was lots of laughing in this game.

These are the pictures of my favourites.

Cat in the Hat. (examples of clues for this hat could be: a character in a book wears it, it is tall, and it only has two colours)

Viking Helmet. (clues: It makes you look fierce, it is supposed to protect you in battle, and they wore them in a movie)

Mickey Ears. (clues: we got this hat on a holiday, they make you look like someone else, and they have circles on top)

Fire Chief Hat. (clues: real heroes wear this hat, it protects you, and it is red)

The other hats we used were a witch's hat, a pirate hat, a graduation cap, and a big flouncy fancy hat.

Day Three: H is for Helicopter

*I found this helicopter matching activity here.

*We read this book, which was a cute little story, and Tonka: Working Hard With The Rescue Helicopter, which showed all the important work that helicopters can do.

*We made this paper helicopter craft. Part 1 here, part 2 here.

*I also found this dot to dot, but didn't give it to him because it was a little too easy. If your kids are younger, it would be fine.

*We played with our toy helicopters in the playroom.

Day Four: H is for Horse

(This day was a little tricky, since I did C is for Cowboy, and I didn't want to repeat the same activities - like playing horseshoes!)

*We played with our Buckaroo game. You have to load all the supplies onto the pack saddle without making it buck and drop all your stuff.

*I gave him horsey back rides in the living room, which he thought was wildly entertaining.

*We watched this funny little clip

*We read Goofy and the Miller, and Appaloosa Zebra; a Horse Lover's Alphabet.

*We sang, "Pony Boy," and "Lady's Ride A Horse Like This," and in the car we listened to "Horsey, Horsey" by Sharon, Lois, and Bram.

*Yes, we road on Flash on our Cowboy day, but without the costume, it is really much more about the horse, don't you think?