they all saw a cat: color sorting

 

pouring and learning about volume

 

cubes on a square

 

from color sorting to feeding the birds

 

dinosaur city

 

the sand man

 

pumpkin sorting

 

and stacking, carrying, hiding, selling, eating...oh my! 

spider transfer

 

tinted apple juice liquid transfer

 

a fine motor invitation

 

Silicone ice cube trays offer up all manner of fine motor fun. They also offer up math skills such as one-to-one correspondence, color sorting, and size differentiation, They also make for a fun hat! 

it's time for our estimation jars!

There are five jars for the children to investigate. Each jar contains a set number of like items such as rubber duckies, stretchy snakes, butterflies, small pebbles, and a large mossy (faux) rock. We set this up along with a couple of clipboards and pens to encourage drawing what they see. This year around, it was more fun to stack the jars as high as they could. Either way, it's all learning!

bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish!

As a part of our artist study of Wayne Thiebaud I created a bubblegum machine matching board. The printout came from Paper and the Pea. I printed it out thinking we would use our Dot Markers on it or perhaps practice one-to-one correspondence using stickers but then I spied my markers and laminator and inspiration struck.

We have had our magnetic pompoms for a few years and use them for all sorts of projects. I pulled out matching colors (surprisingly we had no purple) and set this up to see what the kiddos would do.

Individually they will put the pompoms onto the machine every-which-way. Some of the children will color match, some of them will not. Sometimes the gumballs end up in the play kitchen. As a group we sit down and select three gumballs each and place them on their matching gumball. There are all sorts of ways to play!

classroom estimation station

 At the end of the year we wanted to study estimating and numbers with our kiddos. I went through my pinterest boards for ideas and was delighted to find this gem from No Time For Flashcards.

I teach three-year-olds who are not yet writing and decided it would be fun for them to draw what they spied in the jars. You can do a search online for a mason jar template. I do not remember where I found mine but it was from a site for personal use only.

The children made predictions, drew their prediction, counted pom poms, and then verified their answers.The following day we we added other objects to the jars such as glass jewels, small plastic insects and lizards, or beads. Our wall of estimations grew quite full. The children were super proud and returned to our Estimation Station many times over the course of two weeks.

sponge painted rainbows

We had a week of rainbows back in spring and I found this project all over pinterest. We lightened up the colors a bit and set up a table with all the materials needed. I did one demo and then let the kiddos have fun with it however they chose.

Once their printed ranbows were dry, we trimmed the white paper around the color and mounted them on colored construction paper. One of our kiddos cut his into a cloud shape and another wanted two rainbows on their paper. They chose all different colors of the rainbow for their back ground papers. I wish I had pictures of them! I thought I had...drats!

 

oh the fun that we had: colored egg play

I whipped up a set of rainbow fried eggs to go along with our reading of Green Eggs and Ham. The children color sorted, matched, and play acted with the eggs all week. It was loads of fun and they most definitely DID like their eggs without ham.

 

 

 

 

 

invitation to play: pumpkins and creepy crawleys

Four felt pumpkins and a bag of Halloween rings with the ring-parts snipped off. I set it up to see what they would do.

 

Sorting, counting and naming of colors all happened. The children also talked to each other about their favorite colors or their favorite critter. The purple bats were a top favorite.

One child pulled me over to talk about what he discovered after sorting out all the creepies. He said that there were the most spiders and that most of them were black but a lot were orange but that only one was purple. We had been working on counting, grouping, quantities, and subitizing and seeing that he was taking it all in and using it was so cool. So cool!

crepe paper banners!

This is a project I created for scrumdillydilly but I think it can easily be translated into a kid happy craft as well.

Materials:

*index cards or equal sized scrap paper

*5-6 colors of crepe paper streamers

*scissors

*glue

 

To make this kid-happy give them a smaller of piece of paper to work with. If you have a small group of children this will be even more fun as you can see what each child chooses to create. Hand out paper and scissors and set out pre-cut lengths of crepe paper (for kiddos 6 and under) and small bottles filled half-way with glue*.

Scissors-ready children can fold their streamer lengths in half and give them some fringe, older children may be able to scallop if the wish and younger children can leave their streamers as-is. Once they are ready for glueing, hand them their glue bottles (glue sticks will work as well if you prefer) and let them get to work. 

 

If you would like to demonstrate how it is done, begin a discussion using a finished flag and ask the children how they think it was created. You can point out how to work from the bottom up if you really wish for your child to create this specific style but if you leave them alone to create they may surprise you even more. By discussing the project, you are giving your children a dialogue rich in vocabulary and problem solving. You can discuss color theory as well by pointing out a rainbow patter or asking the children to use cool or warm colors. Kick it up a notch and see if the children can create an ABABAB or ABCABCABC pattern in their layering. 

 

Using scissors and squeezing glue bottles promotes both fine and large motor skills as well as self-control. There are all sorts of educational aspects to creating arts and crafts with children. It really is my favorite part of making art with children. All that process makes me very happy. After each child's flag has dried, you can flip them over and trim any excess bits that hang over the edges. Don't trim if your child insists they wish them to remain that way. Hang them along a length of ribbon or string with clothespins and throw an impromptu fiesta complete with cupcakes! 

 

 

 *as a preschool teacher and early childhood art teacher I have found that some children cannot resist squeezing out an entire bottle of glue. If you hand them a small mini bottle such as this or this that is only filled halfway, you can control the gluey-mess a smidge and teach your child a little about control by saying "This is your bottle of glue. When it is empty, it is empty and that will be all the glue for this project." This works most of the time but sometimes there are a few freak outs. When that happens we acknolwedge the child's disappointment and invite them to problem-solve their own solution without giving refilling the glue bottle. After a few rounds they begin to learn more control over the amount of glue they use. Some children however do not seem perplexed over the lack of glue and simply wish to continue squeezing.

make a beaded garland

Here is another fun project using beads of all sorts. You can get all developmental and work on patternng with your child or you can hand them a tray full of fun and a shoelace and let them get to work while you answer emails, cook dinner, chat with a friend. Make sure your kiddo is old enough to know not to eat the beads before you begin! The DIY can be found at scrumdillydilly. Thank you! 

make beaded valentine bracelets

This easy peasy bracelet activity works your child's fine motor skills and amps up their math readiness when you add in sorting, patterns, and sequencing. All that is needed is pipe cleaners and pony beads. 

Pony beads can be found at your local craft store. If you shop near Valentine's Day you can find presorted packs in traditional Valentine's Day colors. 

Dump your beads onto a tray and hand your child an egg carton or muffin tin and see if they can sort their beads by color. Color sorting is a nifty tool to practice color recognition, size differences. By practicing sorting, children are developing new mathematical skills and is a precursor to abstract thought which indicates reading readiness. 

Once their beads are sorted, you can hand your child a pipe cleaner and let them add beads at will or you can sit back and discuss patterns with your child and have them arrange 8-10 beads in a pattern on the work surface in front of them before beading. Creating simple patterns that follow the ABAB rule set your child up for organizational thinking, also an important math skill.

Once your child adds their beads, loop into a circle and twist ends until they do not show and place on wrist. These easy bracelets make for super cute Valentine's. Add a tag and give away, super easy! 

use your noodle

 While the idea of purchasing a long tube of styrofoam gives me a bit of an eek out, I do have to say that the product is quite adaptable for the preschool and kiddo world. From car washes to garlands to light sabres the possibilities just keep astounding!

I picked up two noodles from the dollar store plus two jump ropes. Sliced 'em up with a not so great serrated knife and dumped them into a pair of tubs. The jump ropes were unknotted then tied to one noodle-bead each/ The frayed ends were given a once-over with an open flame and set to cool.

I set the whole she-bang outside for the kiddos and watched. There was some great hand-eye co-ordination going on as the toddlers attempted to thread (and horde, we have a young one who LOVES blue) beads onto the rope along with math as patterns and sequencing happened. Science appeared as some of the beads made their way to the water table...they float! And dramatic play ensued as the older tots turned the two ropes into ENORMOUS fancy necklaces.

This took me all of 15 minutes to prep so what are ya waiting for, it is pool noodle season don't ya know?