Teaching Kids About Angels

I was asked to teach our little preschool playgroup about angels today and I thought I would share our mini lesson here!

Kids LOVE angels! They have wings, they are invisible, they are warriors... what more could a kid ask for?!? So, there are plenty of angles to approach teaching kids about them. Generally, I approach teaching young kids with a less is more mentality so I chose 2 attributes to focus on and added 2 activities as always!!!

Angels are mentioned in the bible HUNDREDS of times but the verse that I think of most when I think about them is this one from Exodus 23:20

"I am sending an angel before you to keep and guard you on the way and to bring you to the place I have made ready. "

1. Angels are messengers. The best way I could think of explaining a messenger to my daughter was the example of Mailman. The Mailman brings letters from someone else to you. You can also give letters to the mailman to bring to someone else. So, an angel is like God's mailman bringing messages (letters) to you from God and where you can send your messages to go through him. (Kids love to write letters so you could choose to have them write a letter to God that their angel can see and tell God what it says.)

2. Angels are our guides. For this one I used the image of a line leader. At J's school, they have a different child that gets to be the line leader everyday and lead the group. Our angel goes "before you to guide you". I blindfolded J and had her walk around and run into a couple of things to make my point (disclaimer: no children were hurt in the teaching of this lesson. Lol!) Then I had her ask her angel for help and I pretended to be her angel and guided her around the room. The kids all thought this was pretty funny to watch. The sillier the better!

After we finished blindfolding children and letting them run into things, we prayed the Guardian Angel prayer together and they colored a guardian angel worksheet which also had the prayer on it. While they were coloring I made the point that we all have our own special guardian angels with us always. I found the worksheet here. (I cut off the bottom of the page where it asks the child to name their angel. This is a somewhat controversial topic in the Church and is generally discouraged for a variety of reasons so I wouldn't suggest using that part.)

Hope this helps!

Opposites: Part 3

For our third Opposites study we used pgs 132-143 in the Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills for Preschool.

First, we read the book Quiet, Loud by Leslie Patricelli. After, we looked for some of the items in the book to see for ourselves how quiet and loud they were! So for quiet we gathered a pillow, teddy bear, books and crayons. They are quiet indeed! And for loud, J did some screaming, burping, singing, sneezing, banging pots & pans and acting like a monkey, dog, rooster, firetruck! Phew! My ears are still ringing!

Secondly, we emptied out two bins and sorted toys that were quiet and loud. J initially wanted to sort them by hard and soft since we did that a few lessons ago, but soon saw that some soft toys were also loud if they crinkled or made sounds. 

Opposites: Part 2

For our second Opposites study we used pgs 122-131 in the Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills for Preschool.

We read the book Opposites by Sandra Boynton then we headed to the playground and practiced our opposites! I gave J the first word to demonstrate and she had to tell me the opposite and demonstrate that as well. Over the playscape/ under the playscape, down the slide/ up the slide, high on the swings/ low on the swings, Up on the monkey bars/ down from the monkey bars, heavy/ light on the see saw, run fast/ go slow, etc.

Opposites

For our first Opposites study we used pgs 113-121 in the Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills for Preschool. 

First, I emptied out two toys bins and designated one for soft toys and one for hard toys. If you are working on reading as well, you can go ahead and put "soft" and "hard" signs on your bins. Once you have your bins, let your kiddo collect things until they're sick of the game! J actually ended up doing this one for a really long time plus she made a pile in between the two bins for items that were both soft and hard! Bonus!

For our second game we basically did a Simon Says with Opposites. Go "in" the bedroom (have them go) then ask "what's the opposite of in?" "Out!" "Out" of the bedroom (have them go out). Keep going: "Under" the table/ "over" the table, find a "big" stuffed animal/ find a "little" stuffed animal, find a "loud" toy/ find a "quiet" toy, stand "up"/ sit "down", "open" the door/ "close" the door, this wash cloth is "dry"/ now get it "wet", turn lights "on"/ turn lights "off", etc. 

Long & Short

For our Long & Short study we used pgs 104- 111 in the Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills for Preschool.

First, we simply arranged pieces of paper from shortest to longest. If you want to make it a little more interesting you could use rainbow colors or slice up a picture from a magazine that will be revealed once placed in the right order.

For our next game, I put some painters tape around a tile and had J try to push the cars into the square. Depending on where it ended up, we'd say "too short" and "too far." We didn't use the word long but it was a good exercise in distance, length and fine motor skills.

Short & Tall

For our section on Short and Tall we used pgs 96-103 in the Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills for Preschool. 

We did a house-wide tour to practice spotting things that are shorter or taller than J. Doorways, counters, furniture, baby brother, toys on the floor... anything goes! Plus you'll find the occasion item that is the same size. 

Before J could eat her fruit by the foot snack she had to arrange it from shortest to tallest. A little sweet motivation never hurts!

Big, Small & Same Size

The section for Big, Small and Same Size is found on pgs 88-95 in the Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills for Preschool.

We arranged the food containers from bigger to smaller and then from smaller to bigger. I also used three different types of containers per set: glass, aluminum and plastic. You can talk about the differences between the containers like how glass is breakable, how you can squeeze the plastic and how you can dent the aluminum. This would be a lot of fun for hands on teaching!

Our second project we used different sized plastic cups which we again order biggest to smallest and smallest to biggest. Once finished we poured water into the smallest cup until it was full. Once it was full, we poured the water directly into the next bigger cup to show how this cup is not full from the same amount of water. You can then add more water from your water container and once that cup is full pour into the next cup and so on. Once the largest cup was full I let J pour all of the water into the small cup and see how much it overflows! You can't beat making a mess! If the weather isn't warm enough where you are, you can always set up shop in the bath tub!

Shape Review

For our Shape Review we used pgs 84-87 in the Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills for Preschool. We traced, colored and matched shapes.

For our shape review craft J made some shape monsters! I cut out multiple shapes in different sizes and colors out of left over construction paper (you could also do with felt so it's reusable) Then cut out large shapes to make up the monster body. Let your kiddo glue to their hearts content! (You could use googly eyes if you're realllllly fun.)

Secondly, we simply collected one item of each shape from around the house.

Another idea you could do is Shape Simon Says. If the weather is nice you can draw shapes in chalk on the sidewalk and do it that way or you could tape paper shapes onto the ground inside.

Learning About Diamonds

Our Diamond section was pgs 79-83 in the Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills for Preschool. We traced, colored and wrote the word diamond.

For our first project I gave J triangle stickers and asked her to figure out how to make a diamond out of them. It took her a while so I gave her a few hints as we went: use only two triangles, have them touching, have one pointing up and one down and. I also ended up drawing a diamond to help her along. I had to use some self control to not move them around for her but she was very proud once she finally get it for herself! (If you want to simplify you could just start with two larger triangles.)

Second, we made kites with Glad Press n Seal and tissue paper pieces. You could also use contact paper if you'd rather. 

Learning About Ovals

Our Oval section was pgs 72-78 in the Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills for Preschool. We traced, colored and wrote the word oval. You can also talk about how an oval only has 1 side just like a circle.

In the spirit of Halloween we had two "spooky" crafts! For our first craft I simply printed out this tree and let J made some spooky leaves with her oval fingerprints. You could obviously used reds and oranges to make it more fall themed and colorful.

Secondly, I cut out a white ovals and a bunch of black ovals and J glues them on to make a skeleton face. You could also do this on felt to make it reusable. 

Hope you all had a very Happy Halloween! 

Learning About Rectangles

Our Rectangle section was pgs 66-71 in the Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills for Preschool. We traced, colored and wrote the word rectangle as well as counted the sides and wrote the number 4. We also talked about what other shapes have four sides, specifically, squares and diamonds. 

For our first application J sorted square and rectangular stamps. Once she was finished she got to play with them, of course! 

Secondly, I had her make a rectangle using legos. She initially ended up with a square but eventually figured it out. This was a good problem solving activity. 

Finally, some graham crackers for snacks!

Learning About Triangles

Today we did pgs 60-65 in The Comprehensive Curriculum for Preschool focusing on Triangles. We practiced writing the word triangle, tracing triangles, counting their sides and writing the number 3.

For our first project I drew some black triangles on black paper and had J cut them out with craft scissor. Once she finished her triangles, J glued them on a pumpkin to make a fun, fall face!

For our last project I cut some slits in the bottom of a toilet paper roll then shaped each square into a point to make triangles. This was a really fun stamping project and was great to make the sun and flowers. We also ended up with a color blending lesson where J got to see that blue and yellow make green and purple and yellow make brown!

Learning About Squares

My daughter, J, goes to preschool two mornings a week and does the typically 4 year old curriculum of a letter a week. For the rest of the time I wanted to start a supplementary learning program at home. We finished the Big WorkBook for Preschool this summer and she really enjoyed it so we moved on to the next book in the series. We are now using the Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills: Grade Preschool. It seems to cover a lot of ground so I am going to build some very basic lesson plans around this workbook. Just thought I would share in case anyone else wanted to come along for the ride! Happy Homeschooling!

Today's lesson was on squares. We used pgs 55-59 which included tracing squares, as well as the word square, and coloring in just the squares on a page with several shapes. We added counting the sides as J traced them and also practiced writing the number 4. J also added some family portraits for your viewing pleasure... =)

For an activity, we walked around the house looking for 10 squares. A very simple, but fun application! We went from room to room and even baby C had fun following us and watching J rummage around.

For our second game, I put some painters tape around a tile and had J sweep poms poms inside the square. This is a great activity for hand eye coordination. J got a kick out of me hamming it up by saying "AH-AH" whenever she would try to cheat and use her hands. When that game got old, we switched to her sweeping one color group at a time. And now you just worked on colors!

After our games we had some square crackers as a snack and called it a day!

I hope that this can help someone out there who has an a kiddo interested in learning but maybe you don't have the time to plan things out from scratch. I am learning that lessons don't need to be too long or involved to be effective. So this is my attempt to keep it simple and fun for parents and kids alike! Enjoy!