In my last letter sounds post, [t] is for tiger and tweezers, I wrote about my dislike of cleaning up craft activities involving sequins. Ha ha. I’ve found an equally elusive material that’s possibly even harder to clean up – hundreds and thousands!

This week, we’re learning about the letter [a]. We started off rainbow writing the letter [a].

We used Texta Silk Crayons. They’re really fun. They are of similar consistency as window crayons – think rich oil pastels but washable.

These silk crayons could be also be changed to water colours with a wet brush. Going over the letter shape of [a] with a wet brush provided more chances for N & M to practise the shape of the letter [a].

 We then made some chocolate fairy apples as part of our introduction to the sound [a].

We used delicious fuji apples.

N & M placed chocolate melts into a microwaveable bowl. They practised counting orally to ten and learnt about matching each number word to one, and only one object when counting – (a most tricky lesson to master).

A quick minute or two in the microwave and we had yummy melted chocolate. I placed a skewer in the middle of the apple to help them move the apple around more easily. Using a teaspoon, they spread the melted chocolate over the apples. So far, the mess was very manageable.

Enter the hundreds and thousands. They poured it over the melted chocolate and those little things bounce everywhere!

Do the pretty colours of the hundreds and thousands make the mess worth while? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. N&M are convinced that the sugary goodness of the hundreds and thousands are worth while.

Presenting our chocolate fairy apples.

We sliced them up (most of the chocolate bits fell off the apple at this stage), and N&M gobbled them up.

Simple ideas for introducing [a]

Show children a written lower case [a]

  • Model the mouth movement and sound[a]
  • Visually connect the picture/word “apple” with the letter sound [a].
  • Kinaesthetically simulate biting an apple. Open mouth and place open hand close to mouth as if biting an apple.
N&M: 3 years 5 months

Lessons Learnt Journal

For more teaching letter sound ideas see Lessons Learnt Journal Letter Sounds.
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About the author

Pauline Pauline LessonsLearntJournal is all about life with kids. On Lessons Learnt Journal you'll find activities for children: play, maths games, handwriting, reading as well as parenting confessions. Pauline is a Christian, Wife, Mother of 4, Primary School Teacher. When not blogging, she may be found virtually hoarding on Pinterest, trying to decide which Instagram filter to apply, or compulsively refreshing her Facebook feed. Most days you'll find her chasing her kids and that much needed nap.

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14 Responses to [a] is for chocolate fairy apple

  1. These silk crayons look amazing. Are you homeschooling or are your children preschoolers? Thanks for linking up at Today at Play with these great ideas.

  2. I know I should be interested in the tiger… but you toffee apple has got my attention. It looks DELICIOUS! Yum.

    Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

  3. Beth says:

    I’ve never heard of those silk crayons – i am going to have to check them out. The apple looks DEliCIOus!! Thanks for linking up at TGIF! See you next week,
    Beth =-)

  4. Thank you for sharing at Crafty Moms Share this week! I’m with Beth as never having heard of silk crayons. I will definitely have to check them out.

  5. April says:

    Your chocolate fairy apples look delicious! The silk crayons sound like fun, I will have to find a set! Fun post!

  6. [...] on Nov 16, 2011 in Featured, Work | 0 comments During our [a] is for chocolate fairy apple activity, I discovered that involving the taste buds of my children is an easy way to engage them [...]

  7. Aimee says:

    Great round up of ideas! Looks like fun ;-) Thank you for sharing your ideas with us on The Sunday Showcase

  8. [...] for more ideas to teach letter sound ideas? [m] is for mixing the wonderfully sweet [a] is for chocolate fairy apple [s] is for stars [e] is for [...]

  9. [...] for more ideas to teach letter sound ideas? Check out our: [m] is for mixing the wonderfully sweet [a] is for chocolate fairy apple [s] is for stars [e] is for [...]

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