Mid-quarantine I started doing mini preschool units with my three year old while my daughter napped. We were all going a little stir crazy and I needed some motivation to do something more intentional and creative with my son during this time.
I did this for about a month or so and it was a really great way to spend some quality time together around learning. I was finding it hard to sit down and play with my son and found that teaching him helped me to be more present. I will be sharing all of our units that we did in the coming weeks.
I would pick a topic or a place and we would spend the week learning about it. I collected books on the topic and looked on Pinterest for a few activities or crafts. The idea was originally inspired by The Momma Society, who is "traveling" once a week with her kids to a new country and sharing about it on Instagram.
Paris was our first unit and especially fun as it is a beloved city for me. I pulled out picture books that I had purchased on our trip years ago that my son had yet to find interest in. It was very special to see him learn about a place I love so much. Now we are just working on talking daddy into taking us back one day!
Here is what we did each day:
D A Y // 1
+ Read Madeline
+ Made Eiffel Tower snack with fruit
+ Ham and butter croissant sandwiches for lunch
D A Y // 2
+ Read Paris Parade (purchased in Paris)
+ Looked up online - pictures of Monet, Monet art, real pictures of water lilies
+ Watched a short YouTube video about Monet's Garden in France
+ Monet water lilies paper plate painting
+ Prepped macaron ingredients for tomorrow (let egg whites sit out for 24 hours)
When finished, I had him sit and look at our Paris books while I cleaned up.
Then at dinner time, he shared with my husband what we had learned about. And we were then able to share our favorite places we went to when we went to Paris pre-kids. It was a fun way to share some stories in a way that was applicable for our son.
D A Y // 3
+ Read All Aboard! Paris
+ Made macarons from Gourmet French Macarons and we rolled them in sprinkles!
+ Paris coloring page
Independently looked at Paris books while I cleaned up from making macarons.
D A Y // 4
+ Painted sparkling Eiffel Tower craft - found Eiffel Tower printable and then we painted with glitter paint. When dry, I cut them out and laminated (I have this laminator and love it!).
+ Read Mes P'tits DOCS Paris (purchased in Paris)
D A Y // 5
+ Read Paris Mon Imagier (purchased in Paris) and learned some French words
+ Made a Duplo Eiffel Tower
+ Floated a boat in our water fountain like children in Paris play with boats in park ponds
+ Read Paris: A Book Of Shapes
// I updated our lesson plan print out to use for all units (not just travel). Click on the image below to download!
