Letter D: D is for Dog

Ivan eating his "dog food" out of a dish.

For Letter Day this week, I had D. One of Ivan's favorite things to do lately is to pretend to be an animal. Usually he's a frog, kitten, or rooster, but I thought for D day, he might get a kick out of being a dog. I was right.

I started the day off by explaining to the kids that dogs are smart animals, and have lots of different things that they can do. I told them about seeing-eye dogs, and dogs that rescue people. Then I showed them a clip of a sled-dog race.

After that I had them pretend to be dogs. They barked for me, and stuck out their tongues. I gave them each a little bowl full of coco puffs, and a little bowl full of water, and put them on the floor so they could eat like dogs.

Next, I told them that dogs really like to go for walks. We all walked to the park, and I let them play on the play ground for a little bit. Just before we left, I taught them how to fetch balls. I threw some wiffle balls out into the soccer field, and they chased them down and brought them back to me. They loved it.

When we got home, I told them that some dogs like to do tricks. I asked them to sit, roll over, play dead, and shake. If they did it, I gave them a little doggy treat (Teddy Graham).

We also colored a picture of a dog standing next to a letter D. It was a pretty low key letter day, but I think the kids enjoyed it and had fun using their imaginations to pretend to be dogs.