On a Friday we have a time when all five children are doing school together. I use the term school loosely due to the age differences, however the older one’s are still learning. They learn their needs come secondary to their little sisters. They learn to put aside their wishes for a couple of hours and invest into the lives of their younger siblings. They learn to teach, to be patient, to love (sometimes when it’s hard). I know all three children have expressed a wish to home school in the future so this is good preparation for their own children. For the past year we have had a Thomas the Tank themed Friday. We’ll be due a change in September, so I’ve been collecting resources for a possible Mr Men theme:
Over the past few weeks I have been testing everything out to see if Mr Men were likely to hold the little one’s attention every Friday for a year. They will. We’ve had lots of fun with them and I have plenty of ideas how to extend the whole theme over a year.
For more book themed ideas see:
Our mornings started with some Mr Men themed Playdough. I love my husband so much. He knew I was planning Mr Men and he went on to Ebay and managed to bid successfully on some vintage Mr Men cutters, which will be used for play dough as well as biscuit making and pizza making. I so appreciate having a husband who supports us so much that he feels it is important enough to go searching for cookie cutters!!
After chores were finished and the play dough put away, using the cutters I cut some Mr Men shapes from Tortillas and let the children decorate them with icing pens:
The children did lots of tray activities. As B2 doesn’t nap until after lunch she now joins in:
Here’s a few pictures of the crafts in action and the resulting art work:
I had the children make up some Mr Men pizzas to go in their muffin tins. I got this idea from a great blogs for fun food, Bento Days when she did a pizza bar muffin tin meal:
These were popped into the oven and then onto their muffin tins:
Not my best effort it has to be said. I thought it would be so easy given how straight forward the Mr Men shapes actually are, but I found it quite difficult to replicate them successfully in the cakes and the jelly. Oh, well, maybe I’ll get better as the year progresses!
For more muffin tin ideas see:
After lunch I read them a few books and tuck B2 into bed for a nap whilst A4 had her quiet time for an hour. During quiet time she listens to a CD, in this case a Mr Men one:
and played with her Mr Men quiet time basket:
Inside there are books, coloured wax strips, cuddly toys, mini models, a box of Mr Men dominoes, a colouring in book, and the puppets we made are housed in the case the DVDs came in:
Once they are up and out of bed/quiet time, they are all allowed to watch an episode of Mr Men on the TV.
By September, I hope to have made some Little Misses costumes for them to wear each Friday. I also want to make some felt play scenes with felt cut outs of well-known Mr Men and Little Misses characters and maybe a printing set. We’ll see. All I know is that I’ll probably have more fun making everything than they will playing with it!
For more great ideas of activities to do with your pre-schoolers and toddlers:
