Monday, December 31, 2012

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Exciting New Years Ideas


New Years activities can be simple, fun, and exciting, or complex and unusual!  Here are a few ideas from this last year that would be a lot of fun tonight or tomorrow:  We had tons of fun doing them earlier, and children love to repeat favorite activities!  Have a wonderful and safe New Years, and I'll see you in 2013!!






























 







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Friday, December 28, 2012

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Snowman FREEBIES!!



January is a wonderful time to use snowman-themed activities, so I thought I'd share a small collection of Snowman FREEBIES with you today!!  Just click on the picture to go to the source--these are all free!!


 Hiding Snowmen Number Puzzle from Preschool Powol Packets:



Snowman File Folder Game from Preschool Powol Packets:



Interactive Snowman Mini Book from Playing With Words 365:


The Snowman Needs Buttons from "The Kids Place" Home Daycare:


Snowman Preschool Pack from Living Life Intentionally:

Just click on the pictures above to download any of the files you like...they're all free!!



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Monday, December 24, 2012

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Merry Christmas!!


May your week be filled with happiness and love!!



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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

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Instant Cloud in a Bottle Demonstration


Snow, anyone?  We have relatives that are shoveling snow as I type, but this afternoon, we played outside in  shorts and t-shirts!  Snow, rain, and clouds are all fun topics for preschoolers, and this quick and easy demonstration helps them see how clouds are full of water!


Simple Supplies:

  • clear, glass bottle or jar (mason jars work great)
  • small pot of boiling water (small pots boil faster!)
  • tongs or a hot pad


Easy How-To:

1- Make sure your pot has boiling water and that your children are at a safe distance.  Show them the empty jar and talk about how they can see straight through it.

2- Use a hot pad or tongs to tip the jar upside down about a foot above the boiling water.  Water will collect inside the jar and along the walls.

3- Show your children the cloud and let them watch as it dissipates!

You can also discuss how frozen water makes snow, how water can evaporate from many places to form clouds in the air, how water molecules "stick" to each other forming larger clouds, and how sometimes the water gets too "heavy" and rains or snows down!

It's hard to photograph a "cloud," even if it is in a jar or bottle, but this picture should give you an idea of what to expect.  It is much easier to see the water collecting in real life than in a picture!



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Thursday, December 13, 2012

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Cottonball Snowman Preschool Craft


Snow is such a fun winter theme...especially when you live somewhere that doesn't have any!! These cotton ball / pom pom snowmen (and snowman scenes!) are super easy to make and give your child a ton of creative freedom.  I love projects where they decide the final design, and the product actually tells about its creator!  Here's the easy How To:

Simple Supplies:
  • construction paper
  • contact paper (optional)
  • school glue
  • markers
  • cotton balls
  • pom poms

Easy How To:

1- Cut snowman shapes out of your contact paper and glue them onto the construction paper.  Let your child lift the "cover" off the contact paper to reveal the sticky snowman shape.  If you don't use contact paper, smear school glue in the shape of a snowman onto your child's page.



2- Let your child create his or her own snowman (or snow scene!) by sticking pom poms and cotton balls to the contact paper.  Show them how to stretch the cotton ball to make more snow and allow them to smear glue onto their construction paper if they need to.  This is, after all, your child's masterpiece!


3- Provide markers (or any other supplies you want) for embellishments.  My daughter needed a red marker because she was making a "Santa Snowman!"

4- We let the younger kids join in too (they loved it, by the way), and these were our final results:






Happy Educating,
Carla!
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Monday, December 10, 2012

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How to Make a 6-Sided Snowflake!!



Snowflakes in nature have six sides, and luckily folding a 6-sided snowflake is very easy!  The trick is all in how you fold it before you cut.  Here's a step by step in pictures and then (because I like you all so much), I have a little video that shows the whole process (of how to make a 6-sided snowflake) in under three minutes!  

Making these snowflakes is loads of fun to do with a preschool snow theme or a preschool winter theme. I've even made them with teenagers who had just as much fun as the little kids!

Anyway, here's the quick and easy:

How to Make a 6-Sided Snowflake


1.  Start with a square piece of paper.

2.  Fold your square into a triangle.


3.  Fold your triangle into a smaller triangle.


4.  Fold your smaller triangle into thirds.



5.  Cut through all the layers of paper at an angle close to that drawn in orange.


 6.  Throw away the top half.


7.  Cut fun designs out of the bottom half.  You can see what I did in orange.



8.  Carefully unfold and display your masterpiece!


Here's the entire process (how to make a 6 sided snowflake) in under three minutes:


Here's a few tips if you're doing this with young children:

1- Start out with at least an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper.  You want their little fingers to have plenty of room to cut!

2- Cutting and folding are great activities to strengthen those fine motor skills, but you may want to pre-fold the paper for them.  What will take you about 30 seconds could easily take them several minutes and be very frustrating.

3- Remember to use safety scissors!

4- A little snowflake science is a lot of fun!  In nature, snowflakes have six sides.  No two snowflakes are exactly the same.  Just like ice, when snow melts, it makes water.

5- Remember to make some with the kiddos...you'll have just as much fun as them!!




Happy Educating,
Carla

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Friday, December 7, 2012

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Easy Christmas Ornament Preschool Craft




When we began this Christmas preschool craft, we were just going to be making candy canes, and that's exactly what some kids did.  Others made even more beaded ornament shapes!  This is the perfect preschooler Christmas activity--they can do it just for fun and you can use it to review colors, talk about shapes, strengthen their eye-hand coordination and improve fine muscle skills!  And when they're done, they have some fabulous little ornaments to display!!



Simple Supplies:
  • pipe cleaners
  • beads
  • optional: small needle nosed pliers

Easy How-To:

1- Cut the pipe cleaners in half with scissors.  This brings the project down to most young children's attention level.

2- Optional: Sort the beads by color into trays.  I use muffin tins.  This lets children practice sorting and review color names.


3- Let your children choose their first bead.  Bend the pipe cleaner around the bead so it doesn't roll off.  Small needle nosed pliers may be helpful for this.

4- Let your children continue to fill the bead up, using any design they choose or following a pattern! 

5- If your children are making candy canes, bend the pipe cleaner around their last bead.  If they are making circles, twist the two pipe cleaner ends together.


6- Hang up and display their art!!

Note: My 2-year old also loved this project.  If you choose to do this with younger children, make sure you watch them closely so they don't eat any beads.  If your child usually eats small objects, you may want to let him color a paper candy cane instead. 




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