Christmas Crafts for Preschool - Ornaments and Instant Christmas Trees

Glad to be back and offering more ideas for Christmas crafts for preschool.
Sorry for the time away-the flu was much more than I could have imagined!

Good to be back and having fun during this special time of year. I have received so many wonderful ideas from my readers and want to share a couple of them.

I chose these because they are ideas that even your youngest preschoolers, even toddlers, can do! Give them a try and let me know how they work out.


Ornaments
Need---clear plastic 16 oz cups, permanent markers, and for the adults who help, an oven set at 400.

Take a clear plastic cup and have children color the cup with permanent markers.
Place the cups in an oven (400 degrees), and watch the cups melt. Once they are flat, the cups can be removed.

These make a great Christmas ornament; make a hole in top for hook.

**Really nice if oven is accessible with students, so children can watch the process of the cups melting.


Easy Christmas Trees

Need--Sugar cone ice cream cones, vanilla or green frosting, multi colored rice crisp cereal.

We do a really cute craft at Christmas with my prechool class. The students make a Christmas tree using sugar cones, vanilla frosting and colored crisp cereal.

Cover the cone completely with the frosting and simply roll the cone in a pie plate full of the colored crisp cereal. Let it set for a few minutes and you haev an instant Christmas tree!!! Set aside an area on a table and
create a holiday scene.


If you like these Christmas crafts for preschool, check out the other ideas in the Preschool Planner.

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


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 Circle Time - Fishing for ???

Hello,

I am amazed at all the wonderful ideas you are all sending to me to share on the blog. This preschool circle time suggestion was sent in and I think you will find it a great resource.

Here is an idea for your preschoolers that is so versatile--it is perfect for circle time and the variations are endless. You can use this to teach colors, letters, numbers, etc. Read below for an excellent easy-to-make, low cost preschool activity that is worth its weight in gold!


Sherrin's idea is--
• photo copy pictures of fish in different coloured paper
• cut
• laminate
• put magnet on the fish
• make rods out of dowling
• tie string on the end
• add magnet to string

Aim of the game each child has a turn of catching the fish.
The teacher asks the child to catch me a red fish and they have to catch a red fish etc..... Or you could put the alphabet on the fish, or numbers etc....

The kids really love this game for circle time!



Have fun with this and enjoy your class! Keep the ideas coming in; thanks in advance!

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 Creative Activities - Jungle Animals

Hello,

I want to thank all of you who have been sending me your favorite ideas! There are so many to share with so I'll start here.

Amanda sent me this one and I'm sure it will become one of your favorites to use as well. It can be adapted in so many ways and used for years!

Theme = Jungle Animals. Knowledge and understanding of the world.

Turn your library/ book corner into a jungle animal habitat pick one animal per week. Draw or print out a set of foot/paw prints and place them on the floor. Each set of prints should lead to a visual clue. Works best with 3 - 4 clues. The last set of prints should lead to the habitat and before the big unveil you should discuss with the children which animal they think it is based on the clues they have found.

Examples are 1. Animal = Lion. Paw prints discuss is this a large animal or small animal?

Clue 1 = Relates to the country where the animal lives. So could be a map with a paw print on the country and a foot print or magnifying glass on Britain.

Clue 2 = Relates to what the lion eats could be an antelope hidden in some green shredded paper tombola style.

Clue 3 = relates to the animal appearance so this could be a lions mane or tail for the children to wear for the remainder of their search. Then on to the Lion's den.

Discuss with the children the clues they have found and get ideas from the children as to which animal it could be. End the session with a story about a Lion as this will reinforce their knowledge. Afterwards the children should be able to tell you what a lion looks like where they come from and what they eat.
This is a fabulous activity which the children never seem to tire of. Takes a fair bit of prep but can be used as part of your curriculum plans for years to come. Great cross curricular activity encourages the children to use their fine manipulative skill, gross motor skills, develop concentration, develop recall, increase knowledge and understanding of the world, co-operate with friends and you can even incorporate it into your global citizenship planning with endangered species and climate change etc.

Hope you enjoy this and can store this in your file to use over and over!

Until next time,

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 email address at the site below:

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