Preschool Thanksgiving Craft - Pumpkin Pie Play Dough

Hello,

I don't want to slight our friend the turkey at this time of year but I am always looking for fresh ideas for a preschool Thanksgiving craft.


One of my subscribers, Celia, sent in this wonderful recipe for PUMPKIN PIE PLAY DOUGH. Once you make this, the children come up with some very creative ideas. It's fun to listen to the conversations as well when they describe their creations!


Pumpkin Pie Play Dough

What You Need:

5 ½ cups of flour
1 container (1 ½ oz) pumpkin pie spice
2 cups of salt
Orange food coloring(one part red, two parts yellow)
8 Teaspoons cream of tartar
¾ cup oil
4 Cups water

What You Do:

* Mix all ingredients together
* Cook and stir over medium heat until lumps disappear
* Knead the dough on a floured surface until it is smooth
* Store in an airtight container


Let the imaginations and conversations lead your day with this activity.

Enjoy,

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 Circle Time

Are you looking for ideas for preschool circle time? I want to pass along some ideas that have been sent to me recently. They are simple, effective and fun! What could be better than that?


From Linda…
Magic Carpet Squares
For circle time to get the children to stay in one spot we use carpet samples. They each choose one when circle time starts and they are to keep their bottom on the carpet square until circle time is over. We then put all carpet samples in a box until next time. Stores that are discontinuing carpet samples will gladly give them away.

From Theresa...
Song for Circle Time:

TO LEARN EACH OTHERS NAME. WE SING THERE WAS A MAN WHO HAD A DOG AND BINGO WAS HIS NAME-O. WE SAY THERE WAS A GIRL HER NAME WAS TAMMY AND TAMMY WAS HER NAME-O(BUT TAMMY IS NOT HER NAME IT’S REALLY THERESA.) SO THE CHILDREN WILL SCREAM NO ITS THERESA. AND WE CONTINUE THE SONG. THEY LOVE IT. ITS OUR SONG AFTER GOOD MORNING. THIS IS HOW WE LEARN EACH OTHER NAME.

THERE WAS A GIRL HER NAME IS THERESA AND THERESA WAS HER NAMEO. THERESA, THERESA, THERESA,THERESA, THERESA, THERESA AND THERESA WAS HER NAME-O. ALWAYS USE ANOTHER NAME FOR CHILD THAT. (LIKE TAMMY WITH A T- FOR THERESA WITH A T)


I hope you enjoy getting these ideas to use with your preschoolers. If you have ideas to share, send them along and I'll post them here for all of us to use and enjoy.

Thanks,

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

Fall Art Activities for Preschool

November is here and the scenery here in the states can be drab. Try using
these fall art activities for preschool to brighten up your classroom with your preschoolers help.

They love being part of the process and seeing their efforts so proudly displayed in the classroom.

One of my subscribers sent in her idea on how to decorate the room. I have included one of the activities from my lesson plans for the Chain of Gratitude.


From Lucy…Harvest Decorations
We celebrate the harvest in our school and decorate our room to look like a market place. I really enjoy doing paper Mache with the children. We use balloons in various sizes and paint them different colors to represent fruit and vegetables.


Group: Chain of Gratitude
Have students cut one-inch strips of fall-colored construction paper. On each strip, have them tell you what to write for something they are grateful for. Everyone’s strips should be looped into circles and combined, forming a chain of gratitude. It can be hung at the front of the room as a reminder that we always have something to be grateful for.


Try these preschool art activities and remember if you have ideas to share, send them along and I'll post them here for all of us to use and enjoy.

Thanks,

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

Halloween Crafts for Preschool

Happy Halloween to you all!

Are you looking for Halloween crafts for preschool? Here is an idea for a preschool craft that I have used over the years that are easy to do even for your younger ones and all ages enjoy making them!

I've included a preschool sorting activity as well which readily engages their interest. You can have them look for Halloween related pictures in magazines, coupon advertisements, etc. They can cut or tear them out depending on ability and use these for the sorting material.


Individual: Gobbly Ghosts
Give students a small square of white fabric and a small baggie with beans in it. Students should collect all the beans in one small corner of the baggie and cover the baggie with the white fabric. The beans will become the ghost’s head and the rest of the fabric should hang down like its body. Use ribbon to tie around the ghost’s head. Then, decorate its face with either markers or glue on googly eyes from the craft store.


Sorting Skills
Have the class gather around and lay out different pictures or items associated with Halloween, such as ghosts, mummies, pumpkins, black cats, and witches. Ask students to arrange the items in different piles, putting all the similar items together. Your items can look slightly different so students have to decide which things are most similar.

Send me any special ideas you may have and I'll share them here with my readers.

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 address at the site below:

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

Manners Activities for Preschool - Magic Words

Preschool is an excellent place to teach and reinforce basic social skills. Here are ideas for manner activities for preschool that are easy to do and maintain throughout the year. You will be helping them form a solid foundation that will stay with your students for life.

All preschoolers love to feel powerful. Teaching them these "magic words" and letting them know that using these words will have a special magical effect on the people around them and even give them the ability to influence grown-ups is essential at this age!


Magic Words

Here are the "magic words" to teach your preschoolers:

1. Please - Makes grown-ups more willing to help or to give them what they want.
2. Thank You - This pleases grown-ups by letting them know that your preschooler likes what they have given her or done for her. It could even make them even more willing to do more favors in the future.
3. Excuse Me - These words allow the preschooler to the attention of an adult who might not be paying attention to them. Second it has the power to get someone to move out of the way if a path is blocked.
4. I'm Sorry - The most magical words there are since they have the power to fix hurt feelings or misunderstandings whether they happened intentionally or by accident.

Now--you can ask your students for times when they have used these words already--at home, with friends, relatives or even strangers. Ask them if they remember how the other person responded to these Magic words. Talking about these times and even have them act them out pretend situations with each other will encourage them to use these words more and more. These words will give them the power they are striving for.

Let the imaginations and conversations lead your day with this activity.

If you have ideas to share, send them along and I'll post them here for all of us to use and enjoy.

Enjoy,

Thanks,

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 Math Lesson Plans - Animal Sound Number Game

Are you looking for some fun ways to teach your 3 & 4 year olds how to count?
Two of my subscribers sent me these preschool math lesson plans. Give these a try with your kids and let me know how it goes for you.


Animal Sound Number Game

From Geraldine…
Invite the children to sit in a circ le. Explain to the children that they
are going to count in order but, instead of saying the number out loud, each
child should choose an animal sound and make the appropriate number of noises to represent that number name. For example, the first child barks once the second child miaows twice, the third child grunts three times and so on, up to five The sixth child chooses a new animal sound to re-start the counting process, beginning at one again. Suggest they use their fingers to count out the sounds.


Swing Set Math

From Michele…
I have two groups at the day care where I teach. For the pre-K kids when I push them on the swings, I can push two kids when I stand in the middle, we do our ABC's with each push, Mary shouts out 'a' John, 'b'. etc.With the younger group of 4 year olds, I do the same thing only counting to 10 with each push. The kids love it. I all so have them count down from 10 - it really enforces the numbers for them.


If you have ideas to share, send them along and I'll post them here for all of us to use and enjoy.

Thanks,

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 Curriculum Activities - Fine Motor Skills Activity

Special thanks to Deanna, one of my readers, who sent me one of her favorite preschool curriculum activities.

I find that this age group loves any lesson or activity that involves using
their hands or bodies and mastering their abilities to do things themselves.
Deanna has tapped into this and come up with a delightful and effective way
to help them with fine motor skills and counting. How great is that!

Fine Motor Skills Activity

From Deanna…I like to do a lot of fine motor style activities with my three and four year olds....of course, you can incorporate many skills along the way as you do
so. When doing a unit on Farm Animals, I give the kids various large prints of farms animals (depending upon which animal we are working on that day),
and then they "cover" their animal with objects, by first counting out 10
objects to use, and then making that same amount of 'dots' of glue in
different spots on the animals body. They then proceed to place the object
upon the glue.

For example, for the Sheep....we use "cotton balls" to cover the
body....therefore counting to ten several different times. (for four year
olds, 20 is more challenging); for the Horse...we use brown construction
paper, and make the activity into a "tearing" project; for the Pig...we use
our thumbs dipped in pink paint to push and press to make thumb prints to
cover the body, again counting along the way; for the Cow...the three year
olds work on cutting out pre-drawn circles, and then gluing then onto the
cows body, but for the four year olds, they are cutting out their own version
of circle to glue to the cows body; and for the Chicken...we use "feathers"
and get to count and glue again.

The children always love to use their hands in projects, so they have
always appeared to love this!


If you have ideas to share, send them along and I'll post them here for all
of us to use and enjoy.

Thanks,

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