Easy Preschool Summer Crafts - Summer Fish, Mirror Images and Sculptures

I hope your summers are going well and the kids are having fun. I have a few easy preschool summer crafts to share with you.

Thanks to all my readers who are flooding me with wonderful ideas! Preschoolers love to have hands on crafts that produce immediate results they can share with their classmates and families.

Give these a try and enjoy! Please send in your ideas to share. I will post them here on the blog.

Giant Wall Fish!
Here is a summer idea for giant fish! I cut a master copy of a giant fish from tagboard and let the kids trace it onto another piece of tag board (paint paper works too) and let them decorate it. The face was painted on and a giant eye was glued on the painted face.

We then used watered down glue to "paint" the fins and covered them with glitter. Last but not least we used colored "post-its" (we hat pre-cut one side round and left the sticky side straight) as the scales. Each child has a unique fish to call their own!! We put them on our bulletin board with other sea creature and they look awesome!

Styrofoam Sculptures
Mary, I've done this idea for a few years now and some of the things my preschooler's like the best is pieces of styrofoam. I borrow golf tees left over from summer, and go through my junk drawers to find anything they can hammer or press into the packing material. I take duct tape and secure each edge and provide plastic hammers and let them go! They love it, they love the mess and they love their sculptures, they love pulling pieces in and out and rearranging. It's messy but it's preschool!

Mirror Image Paintings
Let children paint a picture, when they are finished, we put another piece of paper over painted picture and use a rolling pin over it. It creates a "mirror image". They always think this is very neat!

If you like this idea for easy preschool summer crafts, check out the other ideas in the Preschool Planner a try.


http://www.preschoolplanner.com/thefullstory.html


Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com


PS: If you would like to receive my free newsletter for more ideas for your preschool class, enter your name and address at the site below:

http://preschoolplanner.com/preschool-activities.html

Preschool Travel Games - Train Travel

With summer vacations starting I like to use preschool travel games and transportation themes in June.

Preschoolers love to pretend and what better way to to stimulate their
imagination than to take a pretend train ride.

I use circle time to talk about trains and ask about their own experiences with trains. Some children may have been on a train and others only read about them in books or seen them in videos or on television.

Train Depot Game

I often bring in a model train display to the preschool to show the preschoolers.

I set up a train depot with tickets.
The children buy tickets with fake money. The children give their ticket to my assitant, or to another child who acts as the conductor, so he/she can punch the ticket as they go in to watch the train display.

I allow them to take turns and run the train around the track.

They like to make the sound effects of a train engineer or conductor. Lots of fun here!


Crafts: Train Car

Each child will need color construction paper, large rectangle shape for the train car, 3 small rectangles for windows and two circles for wheels.

Use this activity to teach shapes, counting, and color recognition.

You can have an engine already displayed on a wall or bulletin board.
The students add their cars when they finish.

Each student starts with a piece of colored construction paper. If you have students who are able to use scissors, help them cut out rectanges and circles. If not, pre-cut these shapes for the younger ones to glue to their cars.

**(Remember that cutting can be difficult so depending on the ages of your children, you may want to precut some of the shapes or you can use stickers and labels of varying sizes. Mailing labels will make great windows.)

They can cut out a rectangle for the car (or you can help them cut.) Then, they can use several small, white rectangles to serve as the windows of the car.

Once those are glued in place, students can use two small, black circles for the wheels. When everything is glued together, students may decorate their car however they wish.

Each student makes a train car that will join with everyone else’s to make a full-length train.

If you like these preschool travel games, check out the other ideas in the Preschool Planner.

http://www.preschoolplanner.com/thefullstory.html

There are Two Editions now for the Preschool Planner: Basic or Platinum.


Send me any ideas you would like to share and I will post them on my Blog.

Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com


P.S. If you would like to receive my free newsletters for ideas for your preschool class, enter your name and address at the site below:

http://preschoolplanner.com/preschool-activities.html

Preschool Crafts for Mothers Day

Are you searching for special preschool crafts for Mothers Day? It's May 10th here in the US and I have had many requests.

I have been flooded with creative ideas from my readers worldwide and wanted to share these two simple, inexpensive ideas for you to try.


May I Tag Along

Great Mothers Day and or Fathers Day gift idea that I have done. I actually thought of this one myself :)
Cut poster board into a "tag" design (like you would for luggage).
On one side write "May I TAG along", on the other side glue a picture of the child. Punch a hole at the top and put ribbon through. Parents loved it!



Handprint Flower

Trace handprints on desired color of construction paper for the flower.
Cut handprints out
Wrap bottom of cut handprint around a green straw and tape securely so that fingers of cut handprint form the flower petals.
Cut a leaf out of green paper and wrap around middle of straw and secure with tape.
Can make a bundle of flowers and decorate small empty can with brown paper and stamps/stickers/etc and ribbon and fill with flowers & green Easter grass for a Mother’s day gift.

I hope you enjoy these ideas. They are simple, fun and your preschoolers will love them. Send me any ideas you wish to share and I will publish them for all to use.

Thanks,

Mary
marys.plans@gmail.com


PS: If you would like to receive my free newsletter for more ideas for your preschool class, enter your name and address at the site below:

http://preschoolplanner.com/preschool-activities.html

Preschool Olympic Ideas - Opening Ceremony

Hi there,

Today is quite an exciting day - 08/08/08 - Opening Day of the Olympics in Beijing China!

This is a perfect time to talk about the Olympics and how important they are to everyone worldwide.

Children love ceremonies and parades and I suggest you try the following ideas to introduce these games and the tradition of the TORCH.

Introduce the concept of the Olympic torch, the importance of the torch run, how it always starts in Greece, etc. Show videos from previous Olympic opening ceremonies including the lighting of the torch.

Craft- Making Torches

Materials- paper towel rolls, tissue paper (red, yellow and orange), paint, glue, markers, foil, wrapping paper

Give each child one paper towel roll and a few pieces of tissue paper. Have them rip or cut the tissue paper into long strips and glue the strips inside one edge of the paper towel roll. Decorate the tube by either painting it or covering it with foil or wrapping paper.

Opening Ceremonies - using the torches from the craft to perform a torch relay run throughout the school or schoolyard. Put all the torches together in the same place to mark the opening of the Games.


Let me know how you like the ideas and also send me yours to share on the blog.

You can reach me at marys.plans@gmail.com

Until next time,

Mary

P.S. If you like these ideas be sure to check out my Preschool Lesson Plans:

http://www.preschoolplanner.com/thefullstory.html

Preschool Valentine Craft

Hi there,

It's hard to believe but Valentine's Day is only a few weeks away. It is never too early to start planning. Try the following ideas for your party this year.

I like to provide time for my kids to prepare their own valentine specials for their friends and family.

Here are a few simple ideas that are great for all the age ranges you may have from the youngest on up.


NO-BAKE CINNAMON SHAPES
(Start these a few days or weeks before your holiday celebration so that they have time to dry well.)

1 cup ground cinnamon, 3/4 cup applesauce

Blend cinnamon and applesauce in mixing bowl. Stir until a stiff dough forms.

Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters.

Air-dry several days on a wire rack, turning occasionally.


Tips: To make sweet-smelling holiday ornaments, poke a hole at the top of the

shape, lace string through the hole and tie a loop for hanging.


Heart Paintings & Jazzy Glue!

Need: oak tag or construction paper.
Heart Cookie cutters, all sizes,
Paint brushes
Kool-aid mix

A creative way to jazz up plain old white glue and make a new way to paint is to add kool-aid packets of various flavors( colors) into approximately 1/4 cup of glue. Mix thoroughly with paint brushes and amazing colors come through.

Show your children how to trace the cookie cutter onto construction paper.

Have them decorate their shapes with glue, glitter, crayons, or paint.

This smells great and when it is dry it is glossy. A wonderful sensory activity!

I hope you enjoy these ideas and can plan for a fun Valentine's Day celebration with your kids.

I welcome your suggestions at any time and will share them with all of my readers. Just send them to me at marys.plans@gmail.com.

Until next time,

Mary


P.S.: If you would like to receive my free newsletters for ideas for your preschool class, enter your name and address at the site below:


http://preschoolplanner.com/preschool-activities.html

Preschool Craft - Reading Center

Hello Everyone,

I'm BACK! Ready to share more ideas for preschool crafts with you.

Sorry for the absence but I too am one of the "sandwich generation" and had to quickly depart to take care of an aging parent. All is well again and I can catch up with my readers.

I receive so many wonderful ideas from around the world that I would like to share. This one is so timely, a "green" idea for recycling, creative and just so much fun.

Heather sent this idea to create an "Igloo Reading Village".

Igloo Reading Village

Need: 200 1 gallon milk jugs--ask parents for these--free is great!!
Glue--(hot glue is quickest but care must be taken)

My class has made an igloo. We made an IGLOO out of more than 200 1 gallon milk jugs.

We use it as a reading center. How cool is this! I bet you will have lots of eager readers in this center.

Art Work for the Walls:

Coconut Snowman

Need: Paper, chalk, paste or glue, coconut, raisins.

Directions: Draw outline of a snowman on black paper with chalk. Spread paste over snowman. Sprinkle shredded coconut over the paste. Use raisins for eyes, mouth, buttons!

These are just a couple of ideas that show imagination knows no bounds!

I hope you can use these. Send me your ideas and I will be sure to share them here.

Mary

PS: If you would like to receive my free newsletters for more ideas for your preschool class, enter your name and address at the site below:

http://preschoolplanner.com/preschool-activities.html

Preschool Crafts

Hi There!

I've been away awhile but actively working on organizing my volumes of ideas for preschool. No easy chore but definitely fun and worthwhile.

Here is a simple but delightful activity for preschoolers from 2-5.

All children love stickers...they are provide time for creativity, quiet time, encourage fine motor skills and so much more.

Here's a way to have them make their own stickers.

Home-Made Stickers

Need: Pictures cut from magazines
Different colors of paper cut into shapes
(depending on ages and abilities, the kids can cut their own shapes)
Jell-O, any flavor
Water

The preparation of the Jello-O glue is for the teacher to prepare. Mix 1 tablespoon of jello to 2 tablespoons of boiling water. Stir until dissolved.

Allow to cool to lukewarm. Let the children paint the BACK of the pictures or precut paper with the jello. Allow to dry, painted side up.

After the paint has dried, they can lick and stick their stickers to paper--added benefit is that they taste good too! Their art work is truly their own and smell great too.

Try this and let me know how this works for you.

Send me any ideas you have and I'll share those too (with due credit, of course)!

Mary