Dude in a Dugout

This could be "D" Day....as in the day I Decide if we will make it through all the letters! HA! Noah's level of excitement doesn't quite compare to Myla's 2 years ago. She would come hopping down the stairs every morning asking what letter and activity we were going to do that day. Noah- could care less. Today Myla ran straight to the kitchen and grabbed the whiteboard and said...."Ok, mom it's D day so "D" is for dog, dig, doll, etc. etc" and wrote it on the board. 

She spelled everything on her own too. ;) When I complimented her she said, "Mom, they ARE my word wall words...I should know them." Yes, of course. She also drew some pictures on there because she thought maybe that would help Noah remember the letters better. Yeah, maybe. 

She loves to be a helper. Here she is helping Noah find the "D" on his "Dunk It" shirt. 

The kids left for camp and I was home alone. Oh, all the things I could get done around the house!! But instead, I was going for a last ditch effort with this letter of the day thing, and decided to make a DUGOUT!

Out of an old box. 

Surely a cardboard box dugout would be fun and exciting!

This was easy and took me a whole 10 minutes to make, ok...maybe 20. I started by cutting one of the longer flaps in half so I could use it for the little gate at the bottom.

I decided I liked the other side of the box to show so I flipped it around just before I taped it. I also taped up the sides using heavy duty packing tape. 

Added "D" is for Dugout and drew a little bench. Kinda sorta. Gotta use your imagination here. 

I printed off some baseballs, made a HOME TEAM sign and glued them on the top. 

Then I thought, if you make a kid a Dugout, he's gonna want to play baseball. So I made some bases. But I put letters on them: A is First Base, B is 2nd, C is 3rd and D is home plate! The letters we have learned so far. 

When I brought them home from camp, they immediately saw it and wanted to play in it. 

Darling dude in a dugout

 Then it was time to play BASEBALL! This surprisingly held the kids attention for a whole 30 minutes! It was fun!

Batter Up!

3rd Baseman is ready!

 Relaxing in the dugout.

Noah MeGown up at the plate

Dusting off home plate

Taking a break to take off shoes

All smiles :)

I also had the kids run to the Bases that I would call out. I would call them out by Letter. "Myla go to B, Noah go to C." The kids had to run to that base before I tagged them out with the ball. This is where N didn't want to play. Because it involved him having to know the letters on the bases. :( He did play a few rounds with my help but lost interest pretty quickly. He loves playing until I have him think about letters. Bummer. Oh well, Myla and I had fun!

After baseball we moved on to our next D activity. 

Digging for Ds!

I filled a bucket with a big box of cheerios and buried some different items....

All the D items that are buried!

Can't even tell there is anything in there. :) I left one D out so Noah would know what he was digging for.  I had the objects that began with D in there more for Myla but she ended up saying it was too easy. :)

I had them take turns digging. 

 Dog!

 Duck!

 Dump Truck!

 Dinosaur!

 D sticker

 Once we got everything out, I had them sort them into D things and Not D things. 

(This is where Noah lost interest but he stuck with it, after I told him I would shoot baskets with him afterwards)

All Done!

I had a few other things in mind but I could tell N was done. He was off to go play some more baseball.  And we had to shoot those baskets like I promised. He still beats me every time. 

Found this cutie hanging out in his dugout.

Not sure how many letters we will make it through but all I know is these kids are "D" Best!!

I plan to do E day tomorrow then take a break myself. 

In the dugout, maybe. 

With some wine. 

Definitely with some wine. 

We will review the letters A-E over the weekend and then I'll decide if we will continue or not. Definitely don't want to push it on him...just need to be creative to find ways to keep it interesting for him. Aw, boys!!!