St. Patrick's Day Lucky Pet Rocks

Oh what cute little rocks.....for our craft today we went on a rock hunt and we each found a special rock to paint and call our "own" :) We of course had to paint them green since they are our St. Patrick's day lucky rocks!! Glued some eyes on and WA-LA! Your very own lucky pet for a lucky day. Some of our rocks had 10 eyes and some had 1. The names ranged from "Lucky", "Greeny", "Sainty", "Ironman", "Shirley" and so on............

Please go let your kids make their very own lucky pet rock, no kid should live without one - seriously!!

Happy St. Patricks Day

Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom Trees

I'm sure you all know the book "Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom" by Bill Martin Jr. I love his books! This is an activity that is done all of the time, but that's just because it's so great! Whatever activity you can link to a book is one of learning and the child will get more out of it.

I just had these extra letter tiles from when I taught the Saxon program in kindergarten. So I let the children glue them on and go to town. You could use any sort of letters, printed out, written, cut out, whatever you have on hand works great. This is a great activity for letter recogntion. I would ask the kids what letters they had on their tree and if it was ready to tip over yet? At the end of the day we read/sang the book together with our own Coconut trees!

Olympic Flags

Now I realize these are cheezy and simple, but the kids absolutley LOVED these little flags. Some kids made the American flag, and others wanted the Olympic rings. We've been talking about the rings and how when Olympics first started there were five countries, and each ring represents a different country. They are linked to represent the countries coming together.

These flags were used in the classroom to cheer on our awesome Bobsled team (we had great cheerleaders). But then I also gave them homework to go home and watch the Olympics and share with us the next day what we watched. My daughter could not watch the Olympics without her flag......she thought for some reason she NEEDED it to cheer. Great spirit - right!

Happy cheering

Valentine I love you's

There are plenty of ways to say "I Love You"......this week we are having a blast talking about all the ways we can say I love you and also how to be a friend! Today we made thise fun and simple hearts. The children were talking about who they were going to give them to, when, and even why. I have some students who just LOVE to cut and glue and others who would rather color or draw. So we had a few different variety of hearts today which is the way I like it! I love to watch a child make something his own and go with it.

With this craft we used construction paper, glue, scissors, and squares of tissue paper or crepe paper. It's fun to just pour the glue on everywhere and begin sticking the squares on. You can crumple them or stick them on straight!

Happy Valentinezing!

Happy Groundhog Day!!

So this is a simple Groundhog craft we made today...and the kids thought it was just so cool!

I had the kids cut out a head and a body, some of the kids wanted me to cut it out, and some kids went all out with arms and legs and everything - so cute!

We taped a popsicle stick onto the bottom like a puppet.

Now get your paper cup or styrofoam cup or any cup you have on hand and cut a slit in the bottom of it so your popsicle stick will come through the bottom.

Here he is - sleeping in his burrow all nice and cozy. Because a groundhog is a hibernater don't ya know!! My preschoolers sure do!

And UP he pops to find his shadow or not find it. Remember, if he sees his shadow that furball gets to go back to sleep in his warm little burrow because we have 6 more weeks of winter. If he doesn't see his shadow, that cute little groundhog gets to stay up because spring is right around the corner. As a preschool class we watched the news broadcast (on the internet) of Punxatawny Phil today. As you probably already know he SAW his shadow which means 6 more weeks of winter. The kids thought it was so cool to really see him on the news.

Some Cool Groundhog Facts...

*A groundhog is also called a woodchuck

*A groundhog sleeps through the winter - he hibernates

*A groundhog is related to a squirrel, chipmunk, and a prairie dog!

Boat creations

We make a lot of things out of "beautiful junk" or so I call it! Anything that is trash, but can be made into something GREAT is nothing like trash.

So today we made our own little boats out of my old plastic baby food containers. A few of the kids wanted to try the glass ones too, which I'm sure would float also! We went to work gluing on straws and cutting out triangles and of course decorating our "boats" with stickers and markers. I do let my kids use permanent markers often, but we discuss them every time and how important it is to be careful with them. So far, we've had minor accidents on the skin with them but nothing else - kids are so willing to listen when we explain it to them!!

Now, take these boats home and see if they'll float!! FYI: foam sails would work best so they can actually go in water. We happened to use construction paper today.

Happy sailing!

Pinecone birdfeeders

I'm sure these are pretty self explanatory and have been being done (is that how you say that?) for years. But, nonetheless, I thought it was a great activity to do for our winter unit. We just got done talking about animals in winter last week, so we talked more about how many birds fly or migrate to warmer climates to survive the winter. But there are still many birds that stay where it is cold and eat what they need to survive. Sometimes snow can get very deep and it's hard for them to find food, so that is why these niftly little bird feeders come in handy!!

I let my kids go at this in the messy table, because after all.....it IS a mess! But they were so excited to "feed the birdies"!! Let each child have a popsicle stick and they can plop as much peanut butter as possible onto their pinecone.

As soon as it is covered with peanut butter (and believe me, this takes these little ones a little bit of time), they get to roll it in wild bird seed. I just got crushed sunflower seeds for birds from Walmart. I'm sorry about the above picture, it's kind of blurry.

Then I tie a string onto them so they can be hung from a tree for the birds to easily get at. For easy take home, I just put them in plastic ziplocks and put their names on them. Most of the kids made about 3 or 4 of these.....what a blast!!

Snowflakes

Since we are learning about Winter and how cold it is outside at our art table today we made our own snowflakes!! No two snowflakes are alike. They are all hexagonal (have 6 sides). The designs formed depend on the weather patterns in the atmosphere at the time. Snow that falls through warmer air builds up more elaborate patterns.

We used paper today, but you can also use coffee filters (easier for the younger kids) and scissors. Sit with them and let them watch as you fold a coffee filter and cut holes along the sides and from the middle. Unfold the filter slowly to reveal the "snowflake". Then, encourage them to try.

If you don't have coffee filters, here is a link on how to fold paper to make a perfect snowflake, they give some great examples. When you use paper, be prepared to fold the snowflakes for some of the children, many children will just want to experiment on their own, but others will really want it to be like a snowflake. The cutting is great motor development for these little ones and also eye-hand coordination!!

Go Away Big Green Monster Craft

This is one of my favorite books of all time, simply because it really is soooooo much fun to read and the kids all fall in love with it!! At halloween time is when I usually incorporate it, and I love to have the children come up with their own "Big Green Monsters"!!!

Some children like to make it look exactly like the books monster....and others come up with their own. I always love to see the variations.

I simply sat out paper plates, crayons and markers and various construction paper colors. You will always have to be prepared to help some children who still need help cutting out, and others will be very independant with this activity

They can glue on the various monster face parts they decide on where they want and then I like to tape a popsicle stick to it for a "Big Green Monster" puppet.

Now.....

"Go away Big Green Monster!! And don't come back!.......

Until I say so!

Ghostly Collages

Today we had such fun making our Halloween collage crafts. I chose to have the kids explore with Ghosts and Jack-o-Lanterns.

You can make these by gathering your materials first......for the pumpkin we used black and orange construction paper, glue, googly eyes. For the ghost we use anytype of heavy paper (paper bags work or construction paper), tissues, black construction paper, glue and googly eyes.

I had many kids who wanted to cut everything out themselves and many kids who needed me to help them. We ripped up the orange paper to glue on the black pumpkin cutout, and the kids kind of chose what they wanted their faces to look like.

I had a few different ideas on how to make this ghost......cotton balls......crepe paper.....but then my mind landed on tissues (that's right my house is FULL of tissues right now), we could TOTALLY utilize them (not that we don't have runny noses right now:) The tissues worked out great because it even gave the ghost more of "ghostly" look!! They were my favorite.

First Letter of a Name

For this activity I drew capital and lowercase letters of each of the child's first letter of their name. Names are so great to use for young children because it's usually the first letters they recognize and have some type of ownership to. This is a great activity to discuss capital and lowercase letters, which one we use for the first letter of their name, etc. What are the similarities and differences?

The children were able to color, place stickers on, and cut out their letters. This is great small motor practice plus they really get an idea of how their letter is formed and what it looks like.

I love to watch young children cut! Their motor skills are still developing and you can actually see them think as they make their scissors go around!

Spring Window Mosaics

Need a little spring decoration......perfect!!!

Get some crayons, a cheese grater, wax paper, and a hot iron. It's so fun to watch the crayons melt and mix colors under the wax paper.

Just grate some bright spring colors of crayons, have your child sprinkle it onto their waxed paper. Fold the wax paper in half and run the iron over it. They can cut out their own decoration or you can draw a spring object for them to cut out.

In preschool we simply cut out flowers. Some of them ended up looking like clouds, but you get the idea.

Hang them up in your window and let the sun shine through and brighten up your house!!

Spring Trinket Holders

It's so fun to make containers that can hold special trinkets, especially in the spring time when it's organizing time!! From jewelry, rocks, money, flowers, candles.....pretty much anything that will fit in it.....these are great and fun to make. Save yourself up some glass babyfood jars. You'll need some spring colors of tissue paper or crepe paper cut into squares, and then some starch (found in the laundry aisle).

Now just paint the starch over the tissue pieces all over the jar, let it dry, and you've got yourself a GREAT spring trinket holder!! How exciting!!

St. Patricks Day Lucky Shamrocks

For St. Patricks Day today we made lucky shamrocks out of crepe paper. We talked a lot about luck and what it means. We went on a treasure hunt looking for gold rocks and got pretty "lucky"!! We did all sorts of things having to do with GREEN!!

For our shamrocks, I simply cut out a shape of a 4-leaf clover and had green crepe paper cut in squares set out. The children chose to put them on collage style or twisting the squares around a pencil and sticking them on.....the results were very creative!

Policeman hats and badges

What a better way to act like being a policeman then with some policeman wearing gear! There were a lot of hats and badges made and then being worn and role playing the life of a policeman.

From jail, speeding tickets, and helping lost kids.....our classroom was busy as the the life of a policeman!

This is the House that Jack Built

Our new unit is all about Careers - "Workers, Tools, and Uniforms". Today we got to learn all about Construction workers and Painters. I love teaching all about the types of things kids can do when they grow up. In the end, they usually want to be EVERYTHING!!

We painted houses at our Art Table and we got to build our own houses out of popsicle sticks at the Cut and Color Table. This was a great experience for the kids to give them a little more understanding of what Construction workers and painters might do, plus develop a few skills while they are at it!

Snacky Necklaces

When we were learning about our Grain Group, I put out multi-grain cheerios for the children to make Snacky Necklaces. These cheerios are not only whole grain (which goes great with our unit), but they are different colors with big holes. The children really enjoyed putting these neclaces together and snacking on them throughout the day!!

Patterns were seen and don't forget that small motor development which is so important for young children!

Beading it Pretty

What a better way to develop small motor skills then beading!! I found these great beads at Hobby Lobby and thought they would go great with our Valentine's theme!!

Once I got them home I noticed that the holes were VERY tiny.

So I set out some larger beads for the students who don't quite have those motor skills developed well enough.

I'm sure that one of the worst feelings for a child is FRUSTRATION! I especially don't want any child to get frustrated when it comes to developing or learning......so why not help them out a bit.

The children LOVED the beads, and I was surprised at how many children tried it and worked REALLY hard to make these little beads work. What GREAT eye-hand-coordination!!

We also had some great math going on too.....check out the red/white pattern figured out all by herself!!

I'm a proud teacher!!

Painting it a Valentine!

This week we've had a great time painting hearts for Valentines day!

On Tuesday we started out with basic paint brushes and of course, had a ball!

On Wednesday, I added a variety of paint brushes to spice it up a bit. Circled sponges, flat sponges, thick brushes, skinny brushes, etc. Kids LOVE painting, and as long as you keep it interesting, they will do it. Everytime I have a painting activity, I have at least one student stay there for most of Choice Time, painting as many things as he/she can!!

If you don't know what to do with ALL of these hearts that your child takes home......

You can make a heart mobile and hang it in a special place for all to see.

Or you can simply hang them up ALL over your house or kitchen or windows, or where ever you would like. If you are like my two daughters....I have a million and I can't break their hearts by throwing them away!

Besides, I LOVE how great they look and the time they have spent on them!!