Preschool Holiday Crafts - Snowmen Votives

I have been flooded with requests for ideas for preschool holiday crafts! I will give ideas to you over then next few postings to help with this.

Crafts provide your preschoolers with so many learning opportunities. I like to personalize a craft as much as possible and use something unique to the individual.

Here is a "green" idea for a gift for mommy or daddy.


Snowmen Votive Candle Holder

Ask parents to send in their empty baby food jars. You are using recycled materials to make a gift with a personal imprint on it!

This activity is easiest to do when you have a helper, parent volunteer, etc. It also requires starting a couple of weeks depending on the size of your class.

Paint 3 fingers of each preschool child,individually, in white. (I would set this up as a center with your aide there.)
Gently press each finger on the glass and quickly pull away. The prints should be one on top of the other to resemble a snowman.

Do this with each child over the next several days.

Then make a sample one and use a permanent marker to add eyes, orange stick nose and black dots for his smile. Show this to your preschoolers and then let each child decorate their snowman. I use aides and volunteers with this part and have them do this in pairs with the aide.

Spray with an acrylic fixative.

The children now have a snowmen votive candle holder for their parents for any holiday.

You can use this poem on a gift card attached to the holder:

"These are snowmen, happy and glee,
However, they are really my fingerprints three!"

These are wonderful personalized preschool holiday crafts that your preschoolers will love making and giving.

If you like this preschool holiday craft, 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 Sensory Table Ideas - Sand, Water, & Fun

I have many recent requests for ideas for preschool sensory table ideas. I use my sensory table for so many activities for all learning centers. Here are just a few of the ways to use this key part of your classroom.

First of all, keep in mind that you can fill your table with sand, styrofoam packaging peanuts, cotton balls, water, small size gravel, etc. The sky is the limit. **Just be sure that whatever you use is age appropriate for the ages of your children.

Alphabet
Fill the table with sand. Use your letter of the week if you wish and let them take turns making the letter shape in the sand. This helps them develop visual memory, or if they don't know the shape, post it on the wall and they will need to copy the shape. This provides visual and motor input for them to learn.

Treasure Hunts
All preschoolers love a treasure hunt. Use the table to hide objects, letters, numbers, items from the theme of the week, etc. and ask them to find them. You can make this more difficult by asking them to do this with their eyes closed. Next ask them to count what they have found. Counting skills becomes so much fun.

Use this for sorting also. You can mix letters and numbers and see if they remember the differences in shapes and put them in the correct category. Hide items that are different shapes and ask if they can identify the shape--round, square, soft, hard, triangle.

Water Table
When your table is filled with water you can use it to do science experiments. Find out what kind of object floats or sinks. Mix food coloring or paints and watch the dispersion of colors. Add other types of liquid such as small drops of cooking oil to watch the reaction. Definitely make a time when you add child safe foaming soap and allow them to play in the bubbles. Just be sure the floor under the table has something non skid so if water does spill, no one slips and falls.


These are just some of the ways I use the sensory table. Send me your ideas and I will share them here.

If you like these preschool sensory table ideas, 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

Science for Preschool - Caterpillars and Butterflies

It is a fact that preschoolers are fascinated by insects and bugs. I use this curiosity to create some of my lessons for science for preschool.

Yes, some may be frightened initially but the fascination and curiosity usually takes over and they love learning about them. I find that starting with bugs such as caterpillars is the perfect and introduces them to the wonders of science and nature.

For circle time, gather together and talk about the life cycle of a butterfly--start with egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and then butterfly. You could read to them as well. I like the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle or From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman.

Magical Transformation
From caterpillar to butterfly-Give every child a paper tube to decorate any way they please. Once they have finished, glue on 2 black dots for eyes, attach a pipe cleaner antenna. Also have the eyes facing you and glue a small loop to the opposite side of the tube so they can be hung in a window.

Have the children place the tubes into plastic grocery bags to represent the chrysalis. Next cut out wings from clear contact paper and give each child a pair. Have them attach glitter and pieces of tissue paper to decorate the wings leaving a small piece of the protective paper still on the contact paper so you can peel later to attach to the tube. Peel the piece of protective paper off of the wings and attach them to the paper tubes in the bags while kids are enjoying their snacks or after they have gone home for the day.

Ask the children what they think has happened to their caterpillars from yesterday’s “Magical Transformation” activity. Let them open the paper bags and witness the magical transformation for themselves. Explain again the basics of the transition from caterpillar to butterfly.


Reasoning skills
Talk about the magical transformation of the caterpillar to the butterfly. Find out where they think the wings come from. Ask if there are any other magical transformations they can think of in nature, like acorn to tree or egg to chicken.

Art Activity
Butterfly footprints and hands mural- let the children dip their feet in shallow dishes of washable paint, and have them place footprints on a big white piece of paper and have the hand prints go the other way. Leave a bit of space between the left and right foot for the body of the butterfly. After the paint has dried, let the children decorate the footprints and hand prints to resemble butterflies with paint and markers, and display the mural in the classroom for the remainder of the week.


If you like these activities for science for preschool, 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 Children - Taking Turns

Working with preschool children requires compassion, creativity and ability to help them learn social skills. One of the more difficult things for young children to learn is HOW TO TAKE TURNS.

Try using your circle time to start a discussion on just how hard this can be. Perhaps you have a new toy for the classroom. Use this as your introduction for the toy and how everyone will get a chance to play with it.

Questions for circle time could include: What does taking turns mean?, Why do we need to take turns? and How do we decide when it is time for someone else to have a turn? Take notes on their answers and write them on the board.

Next, let the children decide how to do the following:

* determine the order in which each child gets a turn
* decide the length of each turn (perhaps counting, or playing a song)
* other things to do while waiting a turn

Last and definitely not least is to ask them how they feel when they have to wait. Ask their help in providing alternative things to do while waiting to make this easier for them.

Suggestions could be: looking at a picture book, playing with clay or play dough, or even building with blocks.

Taking turns is something we all have to do throughout life. What better time to start teaching this skill than in preschool? I believe providing them with a foundation is one of the most important jobs we have as preschool educators.

Send me your ideas and tips and I will share them here for all.

Thanks for stopping by.

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 Math Activities - Number Count Down

Hi There,

Are you looking for some new ideas for preschool math activities?

Try these suggestions to encourage counting skills, and observation skills.

Preschool children love a challenge; throw in a timer, give them a task and you have their attention for sure! Give these a try and let me know how it works for you.

Find and Count

The teacher and the children decide what they are going to be looking for and counting. This could be something that you are teaching for the day, such as a color or a shape. For example use the shape of a circle and tell the class they have 5 minutes to look around the room and point out all things with that shape.

Place a mark on the board for each item they point out, then with the class, count how many they found. This is an excellent way to encourage observation skills and teaching counting as well


The Count Down

This is something that even toddlers can do maybe with only three numbers but they can do this.

Use any objects you have in the room such as blocks, cars, toys, etc.

Give them the starting number (such as "we have 6 blocks") and then begin taking them away one at a time. Count down until there are none left. With toddlers start with 3 items, then 2 then 1. It helps to display a number chart so that they can see the numbers, read or recognize the number and help you with the count down. Fun and a good way for them to learn numbers.

Let me know how your class or children like these ideas and send me your own. It is fun to share them here for all.

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