If you need to know anything about me it’s that I LOVE a theme. I decorate for every holiday (seriously). So when we’re able to have a theme for homeschool, I’m 100% there!
We did a themed homeschool curriculum during March full of Leprechauns and clovers and rainbows! It was so much fun!
So when spring came and with Ostara coming up soon I, of course, had to make another themed curriculum!
(If you’ve not gotten your Activity Packet they’re live now with three options: Sprouts ~2-4yo, Seedlings ~4-7yo, and a free option)
My two kiddos have very differing styles when it comes to school!
My oldest is very “type a.” Things are just so and everything has a reason and a method and you must do it a certain way. She very much enjoys school and learning and doing all of the things! She’s our engineer! She also enjoys doing arts and crafts so she loved every page of the activity packet. There’s a nice mix of creativity and “stem” type activities!
My youngest on the other hand has to be in the mood and just because he’s in the mood now doesn’t mean he’ll be in the mood 3 minutes from now. He’d also rather do things with his hands (like dig in the dirt, play with dough, paint, etc). He more so enjoyed the puzzles and the matching. He likes figuring things out and creating!
With that said, he still enjoyed doing some of the crafts that involved colouring and creating.
The good thing about the packets is we’ll have them forever and we can come back to activities that we missed or didn’t get to.
One of the kiddos favourite activities was the Jelly Bean Graph. What kiddo doesn’t love candy (well, mine for the most part don’t like candies). I printed off the sheets for them and gave them a handful of jelly beans and let them graph them by colour. This helped with organizing, colour identification, and counting. After they graphed them I did let them eat a few and we saved the rest for later.
One of my oldest’s favourite activities was the Bunny Creator. It was the first time we’d done an activity like this! She liked seeing all of the options and choosing which option hers was based on her shirt colour or hair colour etc. Her bunny ended up being super cute! On top of that, my youngest seeing her do it made him want to make one. I didn’t add the Bunny Creator to the Sprouts option (his age) because it really is A LOT to expect of that age. Even he got bored of it, but we *had* to finish it otherwise he was upset!
They both ended up super cute!
My personal favourites are the keepsakes. Anything that uses their little handprints or feet prints is my absolute favourite!
Of course I love seeing them learn “school” type of things too! I get so amazed with how smart they are when they do these more traditional worksheets like parts of speech and shape matching/identifying.
One of our other favourites was the bunny and carrot matching! I thought they were extremely adorable and my youngest, again, loves figuring things out! He sat and did them by himself multiple times! It’s a really good quiet time activity!
Another good activity for kiddos that brings awareness to themselves and the world around them was the “I’m beautiful because” and the “I’m gathering good things.” It is a little tough for kids to think critically about themselves and the world, but those two activities are always done with me and I help them think about things they could write down or add to the list! I never give them the answers, but I offer suggestions like “what’s something about the way you look that you really like?” Or “where’s a place you want to go or have gone that you really have liked or would like to go?”
I feel when homeschooling (schooling in general to be honest) open ended questions like that are necessary. It helps kiddos learn how to think critically and arrive at a conclusion on their own without just being fed someone else’s opinion.
Finally, I have to admit I adore the bookmark craft/activity. My oldest loves reading and is always losing her page so the bookmarks are helpful for that! They also make great gifts! I use one my oldest made for the last packet (leprechauns and Snake day) and it makes me smile every time I see it! They would be great to give friends, family, siblings, or just to keep for themselves!
I hope you all make sure to grab your Ostara / Spring Activity Packet today and make sure to tag OakbornAcademy in all of your creations! I’d love to see them!!
[…] I said in my Ostara/Spring post, I love a theme. I love making things special for the kids! Nothing was ever really special when I […]