Learning Station - Decorate the Tree

The kiddos worked together to decorate our tree with sparkly pom poms.  They took turns rolling the die, counting, and putting that many poms on the tree.  When they tree was full, they had to undecorate it the same way.

Week 2 of Christmas!

Cinnamon Stick Trees - Ornaments - The kiddos decorated their mini Christmas trees.  We also decorated our chubby trees (from paper plates).

Chubby Trees - These trees are the center part of a paper plate (the outer part will be a wreath).  The kiddos glued pom poms on them.  Cute.

Playing Games - Sorry! - I love playing games!  It can be a bit arduous to teach wee ones, but worth it.  There are so many wonderful things to learn from playing games:  turn taking, counting, cheering for others, loosing & winning....

Christmas Candy Cane Cookies - We didn't spend too much time at free play because we knew we had cookies to make and bake!  Yummers!

 I found this yummy recipe on:  this blog.

Science - Santa's Toothpaste - This was cool.  With a bit of hydrogen peroxide, dish soap and yeast, we got a fabulous oozy "toothpaste".  

 

I found this science idea on:  this blog.

Corrugated Rudolf - The kiddos worked with shapes and textures to create this cute little Rudolf.

Paper Plate Wreath - Simple, quick craft.  The older kiddos got to decorate their wreath (right), for the toddlers, I glued on the holly and berries.  Both are cute.  We used the center part of the plates for our chubby trees above.

2014 Christmas Gifts

Sharpie on Dollar Store Plates - I love doing this one.  The kiddos draw on a plate with sharpie.  I write on the back what they drew, along with the date.  Then we wrap them up for their parents for Christmas.

This was my youngest class.  I added the curly cues.

Capes - I love to make the kiddos their own superhero capes for their Christmas gift.  Every kid needs a cape (or 2 or 3).  Then the kiddos get to bring them back to preschool and use them the week we do superheroes (usually in the end of January).

This year I used donated fabric (thanks to my neighbor!) and cut simple triangle-ish shapes.  I used felt for their initial and ribbon around the neck (in a simple slip cover).  I made a loop in the ribbon on one end of the ribbon and sewed a button on the other end.

Sibling Gifts - Christmas Crocodiles - The kiddos made these cute crocodiles for their siblings, friends, parents, anybody.  I ran out of tiny googly eyes, so we made do with regular sized eyes.  The kiddos enjoyed painting them and adding bumps and teeth with a Sharpie.  The younger kiddos used watercolor paint.

Kiddo Gifts From Me - Along with their cape, the kiddos got a couple of books and a "build a straw" kit.  I gave the younger kiddos a crazy straw.

Learning Station - Wrapped Candy Canes

The kiddos practiced a bit of patience and fine motor work to get their yarn wrapped around their candy canes.  The paper we used was for this station was made last week when we used shaving cream and red food coloring to make swirly prints.

 The older kiddos added beads.

Week 1 of Christmas!

I love these two weeks before Christmas with the kiddos!  The preschool becomes Santa's workshop as they create gifts for family and friends.  There is just a busy energy and excitement as they catch on to the good feeling that comes from giving to others.  I love it!

Curly Santas - I love these!  The kiddos did a great job curling Santa's beard.

Santa Stick Ornaments - These turned out super cute!  We just painted a jumbo craft stick red (I put a bit of masking tape where the face would be).  Then the kiddos added the rest!

 

 

Science - Candy Cane Bending - We started with the question:  How can we bend a candy cane?  I thought I had them stumped, but nope, they said to put them in the oven!  (Put them in the oven at 250 degrees for 3 to 5 mins.)
Here is Ms. Sara's "S".  We found you could bend them until they started cooling, then we had to pop them back in the oven.  One kiddo twisted hers, which looked really cool.

Marbleized Candy Cane Printing - Using shaving cream, red food coloring, and peppermint extract, we created some lovely candy cane paper prints.

Sibling Gifts - Christmas Crocodiles - Aren't they cute!  I always like to have something the kiddos can make for their siblings and family members.  This year I chose clothes pin crocodiles.  Super easy, inexpensive (so they can make tons), and really cute!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Ornaments - These turned out super cute!  I saw these on this blog.

Tissue Wreaths - The kiddos scrunched a square of tissue paper, then glued it to their wreath (cut and painted cereal box).  This is one of my favorite ornaments to make.

 

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments - Mmm, they smell so good!  (I'm drying them in the oven right now.)  The kiddos helped mix the ingredients (1 cup applesauce & 1+ cup cinnamon), then we rolled it out and cut our shapes.  A few kiddos wanted to taste the dough, they weren't impressed.  Ha.

 

Our Class Christmas Tree - It's looking fabulous, isn't it!

Learning Station - Measuring with Candy Canes

We worked together on this one.   

First we measured how tall each kiddo is in candy canes:  they were each 7 or 8 candy canes tall.

Then the kiddos chose what to measure.  I had them draw a picture of what they were measuring first, then measure it and write the number on the page.

 

Learning Station - Name in Lights

The kiddos found their letters and spelled their name in Christmas lights.

Learning Station - Color Bear Match

The kiddos matched colors with the counting bears.  They also just enjoyed playing with the bears.

Going on a Bear Hunt - All Week!

This week we are learning about bears and hibernation.  Our letter of the week is Z, as in the sound a bear makes while snoring in its cave.  The book we are using this week is:




Christmas Advent - Santa's Beard - The kiddos put together these cute Santas with really long beards.  Each day the kiddos are to cut off part of Santa's beard.  Great cutting practice and number recognition (with the day's date). 

 Once their Santa was created, they got to cut off the 1 for today, December 1!

Going on a Bear Hunt - We created our own maps that coincide with the book we are learning with this week. 

 We read the story following our maps with Fisher Price People.

Then we decided to use them for our own hunt.  We went through the swishy grass, the river, the mud, the forest, snow storm and finally ended up at the bear cave...

Aaaaah!  They all ran away!  Then we went on the hunt again.  After a few goes, our bear had some treats for us (gummy bears).  Yum!

Circle Time - Our teddy bears helped us with our jobs.

Soap Box Caves - The kiddos enjoyed camouflaging these little caves for their fancy teddy bears. 

I have been saving Dial soap boxes and today I found their purpose!  They made wonderful caves.

 Here are a few finished caves.

Teddy Bear Picnic - Next we enjoyed our picnic.   We ate what bears would eat for snack:  fish (goldfish crackers), berries (fruit loops), apples, teddy grahams.

Fluffy Polar Bears - We talked about the bears of the north.  How they have webs between their toes so they can swim in the water and how their skin is black under their white fur to help them be warm in the sunshine. 

We made our polar bears fluffy by mixing shaving cream and Elmer's glue together.  The bear's ears are those flat, circle facial cotton pads from the Dollar Store.

Science - Dissolving Bears - We decided to see which would dissolve faster:  a teddy graham or a gummy bear!  The kiddos made wonderful observations about the differences between the two, then we popped them in some water and watched.

We found that the teddy grahams started to break apart almost immediately.  Also, they floated, while the gummy bears sank.  After some time we saw that the gummy bears had lots of tiny bubbles all over them.

When it was time to head home, our teddy grahams were pretty mushy, but our gummy bears looked the same.  For better or worse, we are going to continue our experiment all weekend.  On Monday we'll see if the gummy bears changed at all.

Science - Continuation of Dissolving Bears - Our bears sat in water all weekend.  When the kiddos arrived, we noticed that the gummy bears were way bigger than they used to be.  Interestingly our teddy grahams looked about the same.  We nudged them with a stick and they fell apart easily.  Then we nudged the gummy bears and they too came apart.  Weird!

Cup Bear Cave - We made bears who can hide in their cave.  The bear is glued on a craft stick so he can be scootched into and out of the cave.  The stick pokes out the bottom of the cup.  I saw this idea on:  this blog.

Hibernating Bear - One last bear project.  The kiddos got to decide what season it was outside their bear's cave and paint it.