Tower of Babel 1 Year Old Ideas

We read a version of the this story in different children's Bibles daily.  Even on our busy days when our schedule is thrown off, I try to make it a point to read to the babies.  During this story, we focused on building/construction.  We built with several types of blocks and items including cardboard blocks, foam blocks, play dough, sand, books, cups, etc.


I also focused on teaching numbers and counting 1 through 5 both in Spanish and English to reinforce how they spoke different languages
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For sensory play we tried to build bricks with sand and play dough.  J loved having sand indoors!

We built with MegaBloks.

We played outside in the sandbox!

I let them pretend to be construction workers.  I think they enjoyed the hat more than playing with the blocks.


For an art lesson, we made our own Tower out of construction paper.  They painted clouds using cotton balls.  They finger painted the green grass, and then I allowed them to glue on the bricks anywhere they wanted with as little of guidance as possible.  I used glue stick to make most of the paper sticky so that they could lay down the papers anywhere they wanted.  It took a few days to finish these.  I don't push the boys to do anything they don't want; therefore, if they get tired of doing 'work' we stop for the day and do something else.

Battle of Jericho

We begin each lesson every day reading a version from a children's Bible of the Battle of Jericho.  Then I try to have a small activity daily for reinforcement.  I also try to have a main theme for them to learn or explore.

This unit we learned about instruments to go along with blowing horns to knock wall over.  They also loved knocking over the block walls I built.
  


Along with the instrument theme, we read Pots and Pans.  They enjoyed using kitchen items to make music!




We participated in the Mommy's and Me class at the library and enjoyed playing with bells!
     
We also played with kinder music instruments that were bought at a yard sale along with other rattles.  We read "How Big is Baby Elmo" because of the part where it says he's in a band.  That is by far the boys' favorite book!



Eventually, I broke out my old keyboard and let them explore the music and keys on it.  They loved it!

The Creation Story 1 year old Themed Ideas

Creation Story Lessons:

We read the story using props: Day 1-I turned on the flashlight and waved it around the room!  I realized keeping 4 1 year olds paying attention, I had to keep them interested.  Day 2-I gave each of them a cotton ball to play with in their hands while they listened.  Day 3-They each were given a leaf to hold and observe. Day 4-They each were given a star sticker on their shirt.  Believe it or not, they enjoyed trying to figure out what that was on their shirts.  Day 5-They each were given a ocean bath toy to play with along with watching stuffed animals they flew around them.  Day 6-They played with bath toy animals and animal figurines from the zoo.  This helped tremendously when telling the story because it kept them occupied as well as near me because they wanted to know what came next!  At the end of the story, I took them outside to play and 'sort' animals that live on the land and those that live in the water.   I put the animals in the water table.   The bottom level of the table had water for the sea creatures, and the top level was dry with a 'mountain' for animals on the land.

We also sang "He's got the Whole World in His Hands" and each made a world out of his or her hands to remind them God made our world.

I also sent home an All About Me Poster, that their parents or a sibling filled out about them to remind them that they are each unique and made special by God.

Below are different ways we learned about the Creation Story: one day at a time!

We watched a Youtube video of the creation story daily as well as read different versions of the Creation Story from different children's Bibles to keep the whole story fresh for them.

Day 1: God  created light.  He separated light from darkness.  We sung the song "This Little Light of Mine." We also played with a flashlight in our play tent.  It was the perfect day for doing this because it was rainy and gloomy outside; therefore, made the light show up more!  Then, we painted light onto darkness.  (dark paper)

Day 2:  God separated the waters. God created the sky.  I allowed them to play in cotton balls for sensory play.  They then patted down the construction paper water and glued clouds down on their paper.  One simply placed their cotton balls and water after I put glue on it.  The other enjoyed pulling the cotton balls apart and dipping them in glue himself. 

Day 3: God created dry ground and plants.  First, I let the boys play in the dirt.  Great sensory play, and most boys love getting dirty! Then, I showed them how to scoop up dirt in their shovels.  It was a little bit of a challenge, but great fine motor practice.  After that, they took turns pouring the seeds into the pot.  Again, not many seeds actually made it in the pot, but it was interesting watching them try.  Last, I  poured the water into the pot.  I let the boys feel the water as I poured it in there for extra sensory play. 

I also painted their hands and made a flower out of their handprints.
Day 4: God created the sun, moon, and stars. I put glue stick glue on the moon and sun and let them place anywhere on paper.  Then, I let them stick silver stars all around.  Then we had calendar time.  We sung "Days of the Week" and "Months of the Year."  I then let them have fun with calendar and Velcro pieces!  Great for their fine motors!
 

Day 5: God created the fish of the sea and the birds in the sky!  I saw on Pinterest a Sunday school class that taught their toddlers using baskets of items for each lesson.  I thought that was a great idea because it teaches the boys how to put their toys up.  I try to only get out one bucket of toys at a time.  For this day, I used his bath toys that were ducks, dolphins, fish, frogs, etc.  The boys loved being able to play with these little guys! Then, I also got out my bird puppet.  J loved sticking his hand in his mouth as I made him talk.  I then allowed them to play with the bird puppet when it was time to play with the other 'creatures' of the sea and sky!  Last, the boys enjoyed feather painting.  My mom had a bag of white craft feathers that worked perfect for this.  I had to do this activity one at a time because 1 year olds love to stick things in their mouth still.  While I had one at the table working, the other was playing with the stuffed animals and box toys.  Last, the boys enjoyed playing in blue whip cream!  They were finding the fish in the sea!

Day 6: God created animals!  The boys enjoyed playing with the animal puzzles and box of bath toy animals.  Although they struggled putting the animals on correctly, it was great practice reviewing their animal names and sounds.  One puzzle even made the sounds of the animals as we placed the puzzle piece on the board correctly!  They also loved all the stuffed animals.  J loves giving hugs to all the animals! The last thing they did was tried to paint an animal using foam stamps.  They didn't turn out the best, but the boys had fun pushing down on the stamp after picking out the animal they wanted to paint.  We also read stories about animals and visited the zoo!

Land animal sensory play

We ended the week by making the following book:
 

We also focused on the letter A and apples for the creation story.  I wanted them to learn about fruit and the forbidden fruit as well.  We discussed and tried several different types of fruits for snack, but focused on apples since they started with the letter Aa.



Painting with an apple...They had troubles gripping the apple so I decided to add a plastic baby's knife so they had something to grip on to as they painted.  It worked much better.  I love how J studied what he was painting with after the first stamp.  (picture on left)

The Life Cycle of a Caterpillar

Math:  

• Play the Very Hungry Caterpillar game  
• Sort and make a pattern with pom poms to make a caterpillar  

Science:

• Read Clifford magazine and other stories about caterpillars and butterflies.

Art:

• Life Cycle of a Caterpillar:  Using your pinkie print, make an egg.  Then, with your fingers make a caterpillar. Next, make use your thumbprint to make a cocoon.  And last use your pointer finger to make a butterfly. 

Writing:

•  Write each stage in the life cycle of a butterfly next to the picture of each: egg, caterpillar, cocoon, butterfly
• Decorate a butterfly and write words inside of it to describe it. 

Reading:

• Make a Lift-the-Flap Life Cycle book of a butterfly.  (Copied from Scholastic Clifford Magazine)

Reusing and Recycling Old Classroom Items

Being a teacher, especially in the private school system is little pay; therefore, I look for cheap and inexpensive items I have lying around my classroom when doing art projects.

Below are just a few of the ways we use old items in our classroom:

Item #1:
 Play Dough Lids:  These are great for holding paint and Elmer's school glue.  Anytime we are painting or gluing we pour the glue or paints into a lid and allow the students to use paint brushes or q-tips to put it onto their paper. Less mess is always best!

Item #2:
Play Dough Containers: These are great for holding water when the students are painting with watercolors.  We sit them next to our sink, and they help themselves to a container and water. 

Item #3:
Plastic Water or Coke Bottle Lids:  We use these for everything when it comes to reviewing or practicing our numbers, letters, sounds, sight words, etc.  Write a letter on each lid, and you have letter, sound and word practice.  The more lids, the more letters! Or write a number on a lid and use for math practice.  You can also use for adding, subtracting, etc. A few of the games we used them for are on the following link:  http://mrsguniqueideas.blogspot.com/2012/07/i-love-water-bottle-caps.html

Item #4:
Paintbrushes from Watercolors:  I am always loking for paint brushes.  Even when you toss the old watercolor paints, keep the brushes! You never know when you will need them.  However if you can't find one, old markers work great as paintbrushes as well as a paper towel.  We've used both before at home.

Item #5:
Plastic Disposable Plates: They work like dry erase boards and are much cheaper!