Learning Through the Days of the Year
By: Diane Flynn Keith and Fran Wisniewski
There are historic, important, and even fun and silly events to commemorate nearly every day of the year. You can use some of these dates to boost your young child's knowledge of the world in a fun and playful way. We have compiled information, books, websites, lessons, DVDs, and other resources to help you do just that in our Universal Preschool Learning Calendar.
Here is a sample of what you will find for the month of June...
Note: If your preschool-age child has older siblings at home, you may be interested in our comprehensive Homefires Learning Calendar with suggestions for every day of the year.
June Learning Calendar
1 — Flip A Coin Day! -- This tradition dates back to Julius Caesar who would take a coin and flip it to make yes-or-no decisions. The "yes" answer was represented by the "heads" side of the coin, which bore Caesar's image. Teach the kids to flip coins!
3 — National Doughnut Day -- The history of this little known holiday dates back to WWI. Salvation Army volunteers cooked home-made foods for soldiers on the front lines as a way to boost troop moral. Doughnuts were fried in oil inside the metal helmets of infantrymen. As a result, the American soldiers were commonly called doughboys.
Gimme One of THOSE!
In celebration of National Doughnut Day, some Krispy Kreme stores offer a FREE DONUT to customers. To locate a participating store near you visit the Krispy Kreme website. By the way, you can actually see the doughnut-making process at many of the Krispy Kreme stores. So, whether or not the store near you offers a free donut, take the kids to Krispy Kreme to see how donuts are made on National Doughnut Day!
If you can't get to a Krispy Kreme store, watch a video of how their donuts are made.
You'll also find some online games and puzzles, as well as coloring pages for kids at the Krispy Kreme website.
Your little ones may enjoy reading...
- "Curious George: The Donut Delivery" by H.A. and Margret Rey
- "The Donut Chef" by Bob Staake
- "Arnie, the Doughnut" by Laurie Keller
- "Who Needs Donuts?" by Mark Alan Stamaty
- "Minnie and Moo: The Case of the Missing Jelly Donut" by Denys Cazet
4 — Hug Your Cat Day -- June is "Adopt a Cat Month". Visit the kitties at your local humane society. Some animal shelters have "socialization" programs, they will allow you to pet the animals to help them become comfortable with being touched and pet by humans.
Read the book "Have You Seen My Cat?" by Eric Carle.
Watch Milo and Otis on DVD and see the remarkable tale of a cat and dog who become best friends forever. (Note to Parents: There is a live animal birth scene in this movie, so please preview to determine suitability for your young children.)
Visit the "About Cats" website designed to help kids learn all about cats. You'll find info on different breeds, fun stories about cats, coloring pages and more.
10 — Maurice Sendak's Birthday! -- Beloved children's author of "Where the Wild Things Are," was born in 1928. Watch the beautifully animated classic, "Where the Wild Things Are & 5 More Stories " by Scholastic. Your preschoolers will love it!
21 — Summer Solstice -- Today is the longest day of the year and the first day of Summer! Here are some fun ideas to welcome the summer season:
DVD:
Dora The Explorer - Summer Explorer
Book:
It's Summer! by Glaser, Linda
Websites:
27 — Paul Bunyan Day! -- This hero of American folklore was a giant lumberjack with a giant pet blue ox named, "Babe." Some of their amazing feats included:
- Starting the U.S. logging industry
- Creating the Great Lakes
- Training Carpenter Ants to do logging work.
- Creating Minnesota's 10,000 lakes.
Learn more about Paul Bunyan and Babe by enjoying the Reading Rainbow book by Steven Kellogg titled, "Paul Bunyan: 20th Anniversary Edition". Then watch the 1958 film on DVD, "American Legends."
That's just a taste of the entertaining and engaging resources that will help you boost your young child's knowledge of the world in this outstanding activity book and time-saver! Order your copy today - here's how:
New! Universal Preschool's Learning Calendar!
Fun, Easy Activities & Time-Saving Resources - Get a full 12-months of learning just for the little ones!
"If you are the parent of a preschooler - you need this calendar! It will save you hours of research and provide dozens of innovative activities, lessons, and teaching ideas that are just right for children ages 2-5!"
Have Older Children?
- Check out Homefires DVD Schooling Calendar
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