Thursday, June 16, 2011

Teaching Toddlers: Noah's Ark Week

Noah’s Ark Week

18 Months+

(Note: The following activities are intended to be repeated each day for an entire week.)

Subject
Focus
Time
Activity

Bible
The story of Noah’s Ark
During breakfast
Read the story of Noah in a toddler’s Bible.  (One of our favorite children's Bibles.  It also comes in a toddler version which I'm sure is great too!)

Music
Reinforce Bible story through music.
 Soon after breakfast
Sing “Who Built the Ark?” and encourage child to follow along with hand motions.

Letter Awareness
To recognize the capital letter “A”
Morning, before nap
Write the letter A on several index cards.  Put cards in various places throughout the house.  As child finds the cards exclaim, “Wow!  You found the letter A!”  Point to A and say “A” while asking child to repeat.

As the week progresses, include the letter B on separate index cards.  When the child finds “B” say, “You found B!  Let’s go find A!”  Hold letters side by side while saying, “A, B.”  Have child point and repeat.

Practice writing A with bathtub crayons while your child is taking a bath (or with chalk when you are playing outside).  Encourage your child to point to A while saying A.

Towards the end of the week, put A and B index cards side by side.  Say, “Give Mommy A!”

Math
To recognize the difference between 1 object and 2 objects
During lunch and playtime
Give your child one piece of food in their hand.  Say, “One, you have one pea.”  Add another piece of food and say, “Two, you now have two peas!”  Stab each pea with a fork while saying, “one, two, two peas!”  Continue this procedure throughout lunchtime.

Remind your child that God put two of each kind of animal on the ark.  Get a box and pretend it is a boat.  Gather your child’s stuffed animals and allow your child to put them on the boat while counting, “one, two, one two, etc.”  You can also sing the following song sung to “The Ants Go Marching” (one of Addison’s favorites!):
The animals went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah
The animals went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah,
The lion, hippo, rhino too
All went in two by two
And the rain came pouring down, to the ground, but the boat kept them safe
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom

Towards the end of the week, encourage your toddler to get you one and two things.  For example, “Go get one ball!  GREAT!  Now go get two blocks!  VERY GOOD!!!”


Play time with a  purpose
To learn through play
Afternoon
Set up an inflatable pool or water table outside.  Let your child play with a boat as you remind him/her of the story of Noah.  Talk about Noah’s boat and all the animals that God put on it.  If you have animals that can get wet, let your toddler put them on the boat and practice the various animal noises.  Talk about how much God loves us and how he takes care of us just like he cared for Noah, the animals, and his family. 

To improve fine motor skills, give your child different sized cups and let him/her practice pouring water from one cup to another.

Note: On a cold or rainy day, these activities can be done in a bathtub.

Encourage your toddler to explore the opposites wet and dry.  Show examples of each as you have him/her repeat “wet and dry.”

Following Directions/
Obeying
To learn to recognize Mommy’s voice and obey what she says
Any time of the day
Tell your toddler that Noah listened to God and obeyed by building a big boat.  Play “Listen to Mommy and Obey” – Say, “Look at Mommy.  Listen to Mommy and obey.  RUN!!”  Then both of you run.  Say, “Listen to Mommy and obey.  STOP!”  Continue this game by having your child do various tasks such as, crawl, walk backwards, get a certain toy, etc.

Art
To express oneself creatively while interacting with water
Afternoon
With careful supervision, allow your toddler an opportunity to watercolor a rainbow.  Talk about the different colors and God’s promise to us.

On another day, print out this page.  Allow your child to color the animals with watercolors or crayons.  Cut a "boat" out of construction paper.  Put the boat on top of the animals and cut doors in the boat.  When your child opens the doors he or she sees the animals!  This is a fun activity to keep to remind your toddler about the story of Noah. (finished product looks similar to the picture on the top left-hand side of this page.)

Story time
To snuggle and read together in preparation for going to sleep
Before bed
Re-read the story of Noah (maybe from a different toddler Bible) and any other books pertaining to Noah or water.































































































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