During our "K is for King" unit, we talked not only about kings but also about princes/princesses, knights, and castles. One of our favorite things was using the puppets in this free preschool pack to make up our own adventure stories.
Learning the Letters
We did a lot of nursery rhymes during our "K is for King" unit, so in addition to practicing the sound of the letter "K" we worked on the pre-reading skills of rhyming. Here are some of the rhyming games I played with the kids:
- Fix the word. I would say something and use the wrong word. My kids would have to think of the correct word that rhymed and fix it for me. i.e., I would say, I am stirring the cake mix with a moon." And they would have to tell me which word was wrong (moon) and which rhyming word would fix the sentence (spoon). Kids love hearing silly sentences and hearing grown-ups say things wrong, so they enjoyed this game.
- Think of as many rhyming words as you can (even if they are silly). I would say a word, and the kids would have to think of as many words as they could that would rhyme with that. Silly words are just as acceptable as real words--as long as they rhyme! i.e., I would say, "Can you think of words that rhyme with king?" And they would say "sing, ring, ling, zing, etc.
- Rhyming books. For my 4-year-old beginning reader, we made rhyming books. He colored pictures of words that rhymed such as cat/mat/bat/etc. and we stapled these pictures into books. He loves making books and then reading those books he has created himself.
Books
The Prince Won't Go to Bed!
by Dayle Ann Dodds
by Dayle Ann Dodds
My boys loved this charming story about a prince who is putting off his bedtime.
by Uri Shulevitz
This story has a lot of repetition, and my boys are at an age in which they love repetition in stories because they can anticipate the story and sometimes participate in reciting words in the story.
We didn't have a picture book for this story, but the kids have an audio CD with children's stories, one of which is "The Emperor's New Clothes." So we listened to that story.
Math Activities
We had fun trying to build castles out of sugar cubes (it was harder than you might think!), and along the way, we did some hands-on math, counting and adding the sugar cubes. It was also a good activity to teach my kids some basic concepts about geometry such as the difference between a square and a cube.
History
I showed my boys some pictures of actual castles. We own a nonfiction book about castles that was too wordy for them, but we looked at pictures from the book together and I read some of the captions to my boys.
Crafts
We did our letter K unit at a busy time, so we kept the crafting to a minimum. Our craft was making and decorating our own crowns. I used construction paper to cut out a crown shape for each of my boys. Then I helped them decorate their crowns with glitter glue. If I had more time for crafts, I also love this knight's shield and this "K is for King" letter craft from No Time for Flashcards. Also be sure to check out this castle Valentine's box that Andrea posted earlier. That would be a great craft to adapt for a "K is for King" unit.
Snack Time
My kids loved King's Hawaiian Rolls. They are so sweet and delicious. My kids will devour them plain, but when we want more of a meal, we love making these simple ham and swiss melts using these rolls (Thanks to my friend Janitsy for this recipe):
Ingredients:
1 dozen Hawaiian rolls
12 slices of ham
12 slices of swiss cheese
1 stick of butter* (I sometimes use less than this)
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t. garlic salt
12 slices of ham
12 slices of swiss cheese
1 stick of butter* (I sometimes use less than this)
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t. garlic salt
Instructions:
Put a slice of cheese and a slice of ham in the middle of each roll. Place each sandwich in a casserole dish. Melt butter and mix it with Worcestershire sauce and garlic salt. Pour mixture over sandwiches. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Serve warm. You can also prep the rolls ahead of time and refrigerate them overnight before baking them. Either way, they are so simple and delicious!
Games and Songs
For a fun game time, played the printable board game in the Knight Preschool Pack.
For music time, there are a lot of classic rhymes and songs feature kings/royalty. Here are a few we did.
"The Grand Old Duke of York
(We march along with the words to this song, reaching our hand up when the soldiers are up and reaching down when the word "down" is used.)
The Grand old Duke of York he had ten thousand men
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again.
When they were up, they were up
And when they were down, they were down
And when they were only halfway up
They were neither up nor down.
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again.
When they were up, they were up
And when they were down, they were down
And when they were only halfway up
They were neither up nor down.
"Sing a Song of Sixpence"
Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye.
Four and twenty blackbirds,
Baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing;
Wasn't that a dainty dish,
To set before the king?
The king was in his counting house,
Counting out his money;
The queen was in the parlour,
Eating bread and honey.
The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes;
When down came a blackbird
And pecked off her nose.
"Humpty Dumpty"
(We also act this one out, falling over when Humpty Dumpty falls off the wall)
Humpty Dumpty
Sat on a Wall
Humpty Dumpty
Had a Great Fall
All the King's Horses
And All the King's Men
Couldn't Put Humpty
Together Again
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