Monday, March 28, 2011

Letter Parties


Around September or October (it's been so long now I don't remember) my daughter and I started having a letter party every Friday. I have wanted to do this for a while but put it off until last fall when the weather started to turn cold.

This is how they work:

My daughter is the planner of each party. She gets to decide how we are going to celebrate each letter--although I sometimes offer suggestions.

We have a little notebook where we list what we are going to do for each party. She decided that she wanted to go in alphabetical order so we started with the letter A.

For our A party we:
(remember these are all her own ideas)
Watched the movie Aristocats
Made mini caramel Apples
Played pin the tail on the Alligator

We keep each party simple so that they are doable each week and we don't get burned out. I'm proud to say that we've been consistent at having a party each week since we started except for during the holidays.

We take a moment each Monday to plan our party so when I'm out and about during the week running errands I can pick up everything, if anything, that we need for our party.

It's fun to have a party to look forward to at the end of each week. We have our parties each Friday afternoon while my son is napping. They usually involve a movie--because my daughter is the planner. This is also one of the reasons I waited until winter to start our letter parties. Sometimes curling up and watching a movie is the best way to spend a cold winter afternoon.


Some parties are more elaborate than others.
For example, for the letter P we:
Wore Pink
Had Pizza and Pears for lunch
Watched the movie Peter Pan and ate Popcorn
Played in the Playroom
Practiced writing her last name (since it starts with the letter P)


And then others have been ultra simple. For the letter N, my daughter's friend (whose name starts with the letter N) was coming over to play that day so I suggested that maybe playing with her friend could count as our N party. She agreed.


My favorite party was the letter F.  For this one we:
Read all our Fancy Nancy books
Dressed up Fancy and had a tea party
Went to Wendy's and had Frosties


My daughter says her favorite party was the letter S (probably because it's one of the most recent letters we've celebrated and it's fresh in her mind).  To celebrate S we:
Made Strawberry jam (this one I threw in since I needed to get this done before all my strawberries went bad)
Used Scissors to cut Shapes
Made Snickerdoodles (Dad's favorite) for an after lunch Snack
Watched the movie Stewart Little

These parties have been a great learning experience--although they weren't necessarily meant to be so. I simply thought they would be something fun to do during the cold winter months, but it has kept my daughter constantly thinking about words and the letters they start with.  I've been impressed with the things she's come up with to celebrate each letter and she has so much fun being in charge of planning her party each week.  And if she ever thinks of something she wants to do for a letter that is weeks away we simply write it down in our little notebook so we wouldn't forget.

We are now on the letter V and we should finish up the alphabet right around the time spring hits and we're ready to start playing outside (it doesn't happen until May around here). Once we finish our letter parties my daughter wants to have a letter celebration. I think it's a great idea . . . as long as she's willing to plan it.


43 comments:

  1. Cute, Cute Cute idea! Wow you are the best mom!

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  2. I LOVE that she does all the planning! She must be part Fisher :)

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  3. Love that she does all of the planning! I bet she gets the most learning from that.

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  4. Cute! I hope to see you link it up this week on Made by Little Hands Monday!
    Have a great day!
    Michelle
    www.delicateconstruction.blogspot.com

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  5. I really love this idea. Thank you for sharing it! I think maybe we'll try it out this summer, when it's 120 degrees outside and we're looking for things to do inside!

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  6. What a great Idea!
    Stopping by from delicate construction!
    check out my post sometime!
    http://chasingmynoah.blogspot.com/2011/03/n-is-for-noah.html

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  7. LOVE this! They are learning without even knowing it!

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  8. I found your linky over at delicateCONSTRUCTION.

    This is such an awesome idea! We're working on learning our letters, and I've been trying to think of more ways to get my 4 year old interested in letters.

    Really neat idea! Thanks for sharing!

    My Blog: Child's Play - Where Learning Happens

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  9. This is such a great idea! My 4-year-old would love to have letter parties. We will definitely be doing this! Thanks for sharing! I stopped by from Tip Junkie's Tip Me Tuesday.
    ~B

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  10. What a great idea! Found you via tip junkie's link party. :)

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  11. What a great idea. We are just finishing up our weekly letter themes (we're on Xx now.) We're going to focus on some other themes during the spring/summer but I'm saving this idea for fall.

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  12. What a fun idea! Thanks for sharing!

    Kerri

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  13. what a super and creative idea - love your ideas :)

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  14. I like this idea a lot!! I am making your quiet book that you have on here and I am having a difficult time getting the patterns to print 8x11 size. Every time I click to download, it doesn't download big enough. Could you give me a tip or email me the patterns in a different format or something? shellbell71@gmail.com
    Thanks,
    Shelley

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  15. That is a really cute idea. We might try a letter party each week of the school holidays! Thanks for the idea.

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  16. Love this idea - so cute!

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  17. Great idea! We love themes-so fun that your daughter got to be the planner!

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  18. Love this idea! It's kind of what we do on a weekly basis. Planning activities around a central letter. It's so fun to go through the week and notice where the letter pops up, too. But I love the idea of making it a weekly "party." Thanks for the inspiration!

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  19. Cute idea! Thanks for linking up to Mad Skills Monday!

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  20. Oh how fabulous! What a great way to encourage the joy of learning!! Love how let her decide where to start and that she decided to start with A.

    Thank you for linking up to Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

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  21. ADORABLE - love this idea! Thanks for sharing! I think I will save this gem for next year so that it goes with all our at home themes!

    new follower from Tot Tuesdays

    Bernadette
    http://momto2poshlildivas.blogspot.com

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  22. What a great idea! :) My oldest daughter is 3 and LOVES letters, I think she would really enjoy planning special letter parties! Thanks for sharing! :)

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  23. this is such a good idea!! I am going to have to remember this for when I have kids! Thanks so much for linking up @ Handmade Tuesdays!!

    www.ladybug-blessings.com

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  24. I love that you make learning fun for your daughter. What a great idea. Thanks so much for sharing.

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  25. Saw you on Fingerprints on the Fridge.

    A letter party is a great idea! When I worked in a PreK we did a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom party. Think Hawaiian themed and we read the book, you could dress up, etc.

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  26. Such simple but brilliant ideas! I have found you via Red Ted Art who suggested you might like to link over at the Resouce Centre. It is a resource for teachers who really need some ideas! http://t.co/3L9nBUJ

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  27. Such a cute idea, and what a great memory she is going to have throughout her life! I think I need to start doing this with my daughter!

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  28. What a wonderful idea! You show that it's doable, too. Thanks.

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  29. This is a great idea! AND I am so excited that you posted it now because where I live it's just about to get too HOT to go outside...we have the opposite problem you do! So I couldn't be happier about a plan to keep us busy inside in the AC!

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  30. I LOVE this idea!! We've been doing a letter a week, but it's been getting a little stale. I can't wait to switch things up this week - I'm sure my little boy will love it! Thanks so much for the inspiration :)

    ps - I'm your newest follower :)

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  31. Love this! My little man may be too small, but I think my nephews and I could start doing this!

    Would love for you to share on my new link party!

    http://allthingsfee.blogspot.com/2011/04/want-to-party.html

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  32. very fun--you're making great memories for your daughter-love that!

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  33. Awwww.. I just LOVE this! We have Friday Movie Night with the kids, but this sounds so much more fun!

    Thanks for linking this project up with For the Kids Fridays! I appreciate you stopping by, and hope to have you back for this week's party! I'll be posting it later tonight.

    :)rachel at SunScholars.blogspot.com

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  34. Did I mention I featured this in this week's link party? Stop by and grab an A++ button!!

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  35. Love this idea - and would love to have you write a guest post like this if you're interested for Imagination Soup. http://imaginationsoup.net

    Melissa :)

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  36. Maybe this is an over share, but I kind of don't care -- my niece had a "P" party when she, er, biologically became a woman. They had pizza and popcorn and wore pajamas etc. It was a funny way to make her a little more relaxed about the WORST P of all: puberty.

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  37. Totally stealing this idea- thank you so much for posting it!!

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