butterfly fine motor fun

I found this butterfly placemat at the dollar store. It was a bright pink, so I spray painted it black and set it out with a variety of other colorful felt pieces. The photo is blurry, but it works. The older children (and often their even older siblings) will set about to create a symmetrical design, while the younger children take a more is more approach to the whole thing. You can also do this by cutting out a butterfly from felt. I liked the placemat as it was much larger and more sturdy than the felt I had at home. 
 

our felt christmas trees

This tree is a place mat from either Target, The Dollar Tree, or Michael's...I cannot remember where. The ornaments are from Michael's and had sticky backs. The children worked their fine motor skills peeling off the backs. We had the tree out for two weeks and it got a lot of play. Some children decorated it by themselves while others worked together on a plan.

I wish I had a picture of the tree with all the buttons on it. The classroom was super busy, it's pretty astounding I got as many photos as I did during the week. Each child had a different technique with the buttons. Some dumped them on top or put one button on each point while others only put the red buttons on, or very carefully filled in each tree. Yay for felt trees!