Learning Station - Counting

Learning Station - Play Dough Numbers and Counting Beans - The kiddos used play dough to form the shape of the numbers in the puzzle, then they counted out the correct number of beans and pressed them into the dough.  I got this fabulous puzzle for free at a garage sale this weekend.  It was free because she couldn't find the puzzle numbers.  Cool huh!

Here are a couple of my fours at work:

 Here are a couple of my threes at work:

Art Table - Wasbi Scrapbook Tape

I have gone a bit crazy with buying this fun scrapbooking tape.  So I decided to go through my stash and share some less favorite rolls with the preschoolers...

The kiddos LOVE it!  They taped and taped and taped...

May 2013 - One of my fours used the tape to create a rainbow...

Birthday Cupcakes

This week is my birthday, so of course I had to share cupcakes with the kiddos.  I made these silly party hats and stuck them on the cupcakes.  The kiddos enjoyed the hats as finger puppets.

My inspiration for the cupcake party hats came from Pinterest, of course.  Here is the blog.

Earth Day - Glue Rainstorm

To help us celebrate Earth Day this week, we made these glue rainstorms.  The kiddos cut out their umbrellas (I pulled out scrapbook paper) and then they created an Elmer's glue rainstorm.  The two pictured above are freshly after the storm.  I'm curious to see how the storm looks once the raindrops have dried.

Earth Day - Nature Mobile

Today my fours made nature mobiles.

We went for a walk and gathered a big-ish stick and then various nature bits to hang from it.

We painted our sticks and once they dried, I tied the kiddo's nature bits to it.

Nice and simple, but lots of fun.

Earth Day - I "heart" the earth!

Happy Earth Day Today!

This week we are learning with nature to celebrate Earth Day.

I traced the kiddos hand on a folded piece of construction paper, making sure to have their thumb and pointy finger over the fold.  That way when we opened it up, their hands formed a heart.  So dang cute!

I gave the kiddos blue and green crayons to decorate their earth.

I saw this idea on this blog.

In circle time today, we talked about things that make the earth happy (picking up trash, growing things, etc.) and things that make the earth sad (littering, hurting plants, etc.)  As the kiddos gave their ideas, I drew them on a white board.

Monsters - Eyeball Headbands

I found headbands at the dollar store.

We twisted the pipe cleaners around the headbands, then twisted the pipe cleaners tightly around large pom poms.  Finally we glued googly eyes on the pom poms.

A great way to add eyeballs to my preschool monsters this week!

Monsters - Monster Lids

Today we made these cute monster lids.  I have been saving lids of various sizes and colors just for this week.  We used craft foam for the monster bits and of course googly eyes.

I found this cute idea on this website.

Monsters - Yarn Monsters

Today my threes made yarn monsters.

 First I had them cut yarn bits.

Then they dipped them in watered down Elmer's glue.

Finally they placed them in a muffin tin to be dried in the oven (200 degrees for about an hour).



This was a fun, easy craft that my threes really enjoyed.  One of my boys was less then thrilled about getting his hands messy, but eventually allowed two fingers to get gooey.


See the blog I got this idea from:  here.

Monsters - Growing Hand

I saw this fun idea on the blog "All For The Boys", check it out here.

The kiddos got to decorate a latex glove with sharpies, then we "grew" it by using baking soda and vinegar.

Monsters - Yarn, All Tied Up!

Today with our monster play the boys wanted to be able to tie themselves or each other up, so I pulled out the yarn and let them at it.  They merrily spent most of the morning playing this way.  It was fun to watch them get all tangled, cut the yarn off, then tangle up again.  Ha ha.

Clasroom Tree - Spring

I finally got around to adding a bit of spring to our classroom tree. 

In this part of the country we are just barely getting buds on the trees.  I am excited to put leaves on soon!

Monsters - Tissue Box Feet

I think I spotted this idea on pinterest back in the fall.  I started saving tissue boxes with the help of preschool parents and boy am I glad we did.  This activity was a hit.

The kiddos were so funny.  They were not interested at all in decorating their monster feet, they just wanted to wear them and get to monster-ing!  They also wanted to take them home immediately (wearing them out to the car).  Perhaps when they bring them back tomorrow, we'll do some decorating.  The claws are just sponges I found at the dollar store.

Note:  These monster feet are very slippery on the carpet.  I think next time I'll run some lines of hot glue across the bottoms to give the kiddos some traction.

 

Monsters - Bread Tags

I saw this idea somewhere and started saving bread tags. 

 

I'm so glad I did, my fours LOVED this.  They were funny though, I thought they would love using the googly eyes, but instead they just wanted to draw the faces with the sharpies I had pulled out for embelishing their monsters.  Such a cute, quick and easy craft!

Monsters - Origami

This week we are learning with monsters. 

I saw this great idea on pinterest to do monster origami, the kiddos loved it!  Check out this blog for great instructions.

 Above: Here are 2 monsters I made.  Below:  One of my fours was interested in learning how to do the folding, he did just great.

Below left:   I showed the kiddos how their monsters could munch on the corner of books.  Below right:  I showed the kiddos how to make their monster mouth open and shut by squeezing its cheeks.

 

Ocean - Shell Painting

The kiddos painted shells with water colors.  They turned out really pretty. 

I just bought cheapy white shells at Walmart.

Ocean - 3-D Whales

Today we made these fabulous whales.  They took a bit of prep work, but they were totally worth it. So very cute!  I found the idea on this blog.

 

Ocean - Learning Station - Alphabet Shells

Learning Station - Alphabet Shells - The kiddos were to dig through the dyed rice and find shells with the matching upper and lower case letters.

Alphabet Chase

This is one of my kiddos favorite alphabet recognition games.  Made better today by finally being able to do it outside.

We use our big alphabet puzzle and then a second set of wooden alphabet letters.  The kiddos scattered the letters around the yard, then pulled a letter from the puzzle and ran out to find it's match.  Once they find it's match, they run back and show me, then pull the next letter from the puzzle and set off again.

Ocean - Shark Bite

To make these shark mouths, I gently folded a stiff paper plate in half and cut a zig zag.

The kiddos added eyes (and sometimes a nose) and then they swam around the classroom, looking for a bite to eat!  (Below)  The boys particularly enjoyed this. 

They found they could swim better by looking through the teeth.

Ocean - tp roll octopus

For a quick ocean craft today, the kiddos each made a tp octopus.

Earlier in the class day, a few of the kiddos painted the tubes.  Then after snack we worked on them.

The kiddos (my fours) snipped the bottom of the tp roll to create the arms for their octopus.  We tried to keep it to just 8 arms.

Then they glued on googley eyes and were done.  Well, a few kiddos added a smile.

Super cute and quick.