Our Homespun Haven: Preschool: Letter G, Gardens, and Creation Story (Part 1)

This week we didn't get to do as much "Mommy School" as I had anticipated, but I had planned on doing this theme for two weeks anyway. So next week we will just continue with additional activities! We are continuing through God's Little Explorer's Curriculum. And we are still loving it!

Letter: Gg

Theme: Garden

Biblical Story: Creation

We are developing a rhythm for our Mommy School. I often start while the kids are eating a meal, which this next week I am going to do at breakfast every day. We pray and then I share the Bible story for the week, which was the Creation story this week. We focus on and talk more about whichever creation day for that day. I used a few different Bible's to change it up a bit, and used Christian Preschools Printables mini-book creation printables to add a creation day picture each day. Then Littlemiss did an art project for the creation day we were studying. We sang "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" A LOT! And reviewed our Bible memory verse for the week (pictured below and from RRSPreschool Letter G printables). Although it doesn't directly relate to creation or gardens, this verse is a command from God to GO and share the gospel! We also talked a lot about patience in relation to a gardener waiting for his plants to grow. I referred to it throughout the week, since patience is one of those character building things that has to be learned through practice.

We then either go directly upstairs to do her Learning Center or do it later. Extension activities and themed play activities are typically in the afternoons. Still finding our rhythm for preschool this year.

We hit up our local library for books and hit the jackpot! Apparently there are tons of books on gardening for kids.

Some of our favorite books for the week. Claude Monet is the artist for the month, so we've read the children's book about him, "The Magical Garden of Claude Monet" almost every night. Can't wait to create a Monet inspired piece next week.

A few things collected around the house that begin with the letter "G".... gorrilla, giraffe, Groovy Girl, goldfish, gold coin, green crayon, goat.

Learning Center:

The printables for our learning center are from Homeschool Creations Garden Preschool Pack.

Matching beginning letter sounds with the corresponding letters. We used seeds to mark the letters.

Tracing lines and working on those fine motor skills. She doesn't have much patience for coloring, so we are working on this specifically.

She really concentrated for the first one to trace the dotted line!

There are a handful of games to play with these numbered cabbages. Unfortunately I did not take pictures of us playing with them, you can't see the picture of the shovel. We counted them, and laid them out one by one. Then we played a game where I hid the shovel under a cabbage and had Littlemiss find it and name the number it was hiding under. So great for number recognition.

Working on her cutting skills. She really persevered through this activity and her frustration. We had to do it over a few days, but she still completed it!

Gardening Activities:

We looked at some seeds with a magnifying glass and Littlemiss described what she saw. I wrote down her describing words on the paper we were observing on.

I had this Root Viewer root vegetable planter for a while, but hadn't found the right time until this week to use it.

Packing the beakers with dirt.

BooBoo climbed on top of the table (as always) and joined in!

After one week. Pretty incredible!

Creation Day 1- Light & Dark:

The finished product for the picture for this day is shown later. I took a lot of pictures of her doing her learning center, pictured before, for this day.

Creation Day 2- Water & Sky:

Tearing and cutting up paper to represent the water and sky, and gluing on sparkle gems. Exercising those fine motor skills!

Creation Day 3- Plants, Trees, & Land

We watered our plants together a lot this week. I only captured this one picture of BooBoo running wildly with my watering can. Because monitoring two kids with full watering cans, while watering myself makes it close to impossible to actually take a picture :)

We planted radish and carrot seeds in our front porch pots a few months ago. So fun to watch them grow!

Collecting things for Creation Day 3 collage.

Creation Day 3 collage using elements from our front yard and some blue paint. The beautiful picture in The Jesus Storybook Bible open for inspiration. Definitely one of the most beautifully illustrated children's Bible's I've seen.