pouring and learning about volume

 

making letters with rubber bands

 

earrings for the bunny

 This basket of rubber bands is set out for our vertical geoboard. Sometimes the rubber bands become bracelets, handcuffs, or money, and sometimes they become earrings for a bunny. 

nature weaving

 

insects in the grass: a fine motor invitation

 

a colorful invitation

 First, the children all brought flowers into the classroom, then we used our senses to explore each one. We learned the words for the parts, and then we used our fingers to pull them apart! From there, the petals were added to art, mixed in with play dough, brushed across arms and faces, turned into potions, crushed into perfume, added to the water table, and SO MUCH MORE! 

they had so much fun

We took it outside! A lot of new teachers may ask, "What can I set up outside for the children?" The answer is "Pretty much anything you do inside, you can do outside." From easel painting to chalk work, to block building, to egg shell crushing, your classroom kiddos can do it all outside! Sometimes, we even take our naps outside. 
 

crushing egg shells

 

more butterfly fun with dollar store finds

This butterfly frame is the outside part  of a butterfly sign that I turned into a chalkboard. It was originally glittery pink, and now it'...not. We set it out on a table, along with a plethora of small bits to explore.

Some children designed a loose parts butterfly, some showcased their skills in symmetry, and other essentially used a one-to-one correspondence approach to their design. More blurry pics, but they show the variety of exploration in this group of three and four year olds. 

dollar store butterfly chalkboard

A little chalkboard spray paint can transform all manner of dollar store signs. This particle board butterfly being one thing. We used makeup sponges as chalk erasers, and set out the thinner chalk to really eke out those pincer grips! 

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. 
 

buggy pea soup

More spring time sensory play. This time with two bags of dried split peas, and an assortment of insects, reptiles, and amphibians (which all escaped the pea bin and made their way to the sand box..of course!)

what can we do with earrings?

A friend of mine gave me a large bag of jewelry. I took it to school and immediately took apart all the beaded bits and put them in a bead bowl. The rings, bracelets, and necklaces that were not beaded went into our classroom jewelry box for the kiddos to play with. But what to do with all the earrings?

One of the kiddos knew just what to do. This basket would be perfect. Look at that fine motor work!

Isn't it pretty? After all the earrings were snuggled onto the basket, he promptly put it in his head as hat! Ta-da!

spring water transfer

spicy activites in the house!

Last week in the classroom we read Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. Along with the usual suspects,we set out additional fine motor, math, and craft activities with a little extra spice added, like our story basket complete with a gingerbread baby, gingerbread house, and animal masks printed from Jan Brett's website. I found the gingerbread baby and house at Michael's on clearance a few years ago. They have similar items this year.

These adorable gingerbread men cookies came from Homeschool Creations. I printed them out, laminated them, then backed them with felt. I placed five ofthem on our cookie sheet, along with a spatula and set them on top of a shelf with no explanation. The children took the cookie sheet to the floor and practiced scooping them up with the spatula. All day long I was offered cookies, and at clean up I found them in the play kitchen. The cookie sheet is from an Ikea set and I only had to re-glue one felt back (so far). 

These kooky silicone dealios came from a Japanese Dollar store. I'm not even sure what they are for as they are not sturdy enough for cookie dough or rice. Either way, I pulled out coordinating pompoms and set this up to see what the kiddos would do. They very carefully filled in each gingerbread baby with matching pompoms AND they cleaned it up when they we finished. This photo is from last year, this year, I put the pompoms in a small lidded basket and the element of reveal was really fun to watch. I loved this activity! 

Oh how I love these! I got this happy set from etsy seller how we learn at home, the bowl came with a separate set from another seller. 

So simple and so cool! The mancala board was a thriftstore find and the bells came from the dollar store four years ago. The ladle came from a set of kitchen utensils I found at Tuesday Morning. Setting out the ladle and spatula (above) allowed for an introduction to new tools and vocabulary.

Another fun one from Homeschool Creations. These we for scissors practuce but I laminated them and added Dry Erase markers for line tracing. Again, I had this set up at a table with no explanation and the kiddos sat down on their own and traced the lines! Then they wiped off their lines, turned the sheets over to the blank side and drew pictures. 

I made these felt pieces two years and they are still going strong. On the tray are assorted shapes cut from felt and pieces of yarn and rik-rak. 

This is a retro candy themed matching game from eeboo. The children sort out matches, line up the squares, carry around the pieces, and pass them out as if they were real candy. I love this! 

Last, we have this wooden bead stringing activity that I found last week at Home Goods! Serendipitous! The children love this and again, the pieces end up being used in so many different ways.

classroom activities for: The Quilt

One of our favorite books that we revisit every year is The Quilt by Anne Jonas. I've had a lot of fun over the years coming up with different activities that focus on squares and/or sewing. Some are a hit and some are a miss. Last year we did a month-long study on the Women of Gee's Bend and I am kicking myself over the photos I did not take! They may be there but I cannot find them at this time. We just finished up our week of The Quilt and so while it was on my mind, I thought I would share some of the activities we have done over the years.

small quilt tiles on a grid

paper quilt at the art table

Learning Resources Parquetry Blocks

cubed desk set

paper shapes and frame

sewing notion Discovery Bottle

tiny spools of thread and laces

felt and fabric for our felt board

shape tiles and picture frame

Guidecraft Nesting Cubes

Buttons and sorting mat

Laminated Stained Glass Coloring Pages for the Light Table

CP Toys Bristle Building Cubes

how about them apples?

napkins and napkin rings

apple scented play dough and apple leaves

small acrylic apple gems and an apple ice tray

apple scented rice

wee apples and tongs

play apple pie with cinnamon scented cotton balls