Library Time

Before a trip to the library, the caregiver can have a conversation with the children about something they're interested in (firetrucks? tae kwon do? plants? pirate stories?). Once at the library, the caregiver can help the children use the computers to find age-appropriate books on the topics, both fiction and nonfiction. Though I have my doubts about whether children growing up now will ever have to know how to really use a library, it's still a good skill if in principle only, to know how to take an interest and use resources to learn more about it/enjoy it more fully.

Bookmaking

The caregiver can help the children write and illustrate their own stories using several bookmaking methods, from stapling together construction paper, to more elaborate experiments in pop up books. Some possible prompts:

-Who are the members of my family?
-What do I do to get ready for school?
-What would I do if I could fly?
-What would I do if I were a puppy?

This can be a good opportunity to discuss what "fiction" and "nonfiction" mean. The caregiver will also encourage the children to read their books out loud to one another (with help, if needed) and talk about how we take care of books, by handling them nicely and keeping them on a shelf.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Salad

In The Very Hungry Caterpillar, as we know, the caterpillar eats through a lot of different foods before he turns into a butterfly. His Monday through Friday foods are, conveniently enough, all fruits, and could make a good fruit salad together. After and while reading the book, the caregiver and the children can practice counting, reading comprehension, and kitchen skills using the following fruits:
-1 apple
-2 pears
-3 plums (perhaps dried prunes)
-4 strawberries
-5 oranges (maybe clementines or another tiny citrus)

While the caregiver does the cutting, the children can sort and compare piles of the cut fruit, making more than/less than comparisons. It can also be interesting to discuss what happens the last day when the caterpillar eats a lot of junk food (hint: he gets a stomach ache) and how he felt better (he ate some leaves) and what happened after he ate all his healthy foods (he grew up and turned into a butterfly).

A little bit of lemon juice on the fruit will help keep it from turning brown while stored in the fridge, so it should keep for at least a day. If the kids eat the fruit salad again the next day, it can be a good opportunity to review the story.

Letter of the Day

Going from A to Z, have a letter for each day. Get some big label stickers and draw large, clear letters on them, giving five to each child. Throughout your time with the child, help them find and point out things that being with the Letter of the Day, and, if it's appropriate for the object, put the sticker on it. It can also be useful to write out the name of the object. If the children are in a disposition where competition will be helpful instead of hurtful (this can depend on the day, their moods, and the distance between their letter-recognizing skills), it can be a contest to see who can get rid of their stickers the fastest. However, when one child is significantly older, he or she will probably "win" every day, which can make a competition frustrating, so this activity might best be used non-competitively.