Rrrrrr, Rrrrrr, Rrrrrrrrrrrr!! Race car!!

Fun little race car...we used it for the "R" unit, but would be fun for a transportation unit, too.

OK...this craft takes a ton of prep...you first have to paint the toilet paper roll.  We painted them all blue.  Red would be a fun race car, too...

After they are dry, cut a rectangle flap in each car.  The easiest way for me to explain is going to be through pictures...so here they are:

After you have the flaps cut out, bend the flap in half and put a dollup of hot glue on one end and fold it in half.  This is the windshield.

Next...cut out the circles.  Black and white ones.  

You'll need for each car:

4 large black wheels

4 medium white wheels 

a black circle for the steering wheel

a large white circle with to put a number on

other decorations:  stars and sequins

After they were done, the hardest part was getting the kids to stop playing with them long enough to let the glue dry!!  

They were kind of time consuming, but the kids loved them!

Rainbows...

Here is a fun Rainbow craft that can be used for the weather unit or the "R" unit.  We showed the kids some pictures of a few different crafts and let them choose a couple, and they LOVED this one.

You're going to need to cut out some white clouds out of white construction paper or just out of print paper.  

Cut red, orange, yellow blue, green, and purple strips out of construction paper.

Gather a bunch of cotton balls!!!!

First...glue the strips to the back of the cloud:

After they get the strips glued on and their names written...turn the cloud over and let them glue the cotton balls onto the front of the cloud:

I think this is one of the cutest crafts we've done...and it was easy.  AND...the kids loved it.  BONUS!

"R" is for rabbit

For our unit on the letter "R" we thought it would be fun to create rabbits out of "r's."

This one takes a little prep...you're going to need:

Pink construction paper

cut outs of the letter "R"

white pipe cleaner for the whiskers

cotton balls for the tail

pink circles for the nose

White outer ears

pink inner ears

Googly eyes

Voila!!

Paper Plate Watermelon Craft

Finishing up our unit of the letter W this week...with a darling and fun watermelon craft that also works on those fine motor skills that are so important in PreK age kids.  

We just use our paper cutter to cut squares (big ones) out of green and red construction paper, and much smaller black squares for the seeds.  

And cut your paper plates in half...

First step...glue the green rind on the outer edge of the plate...

...then the red in the middle.  When done, they can glue random black seeds over the red paper.

Voila.  Really one of the cutest paper plate crafts.

W is for...walrus, whiskers and watermelon

Today we did a cute "W" project that I think turned out pretty cute.

I love to incorporate the letter into the art...it helps the kiddos to visually see what the letter looks like while they are actively learning what it sounds like.

For this project, you'll need brown, black, and white construction paper, as well as googly eyes and pipe cleaners (or fuzzy sticks...)

Cut the brown paper into a simple half oval with a flat bottom, the black into a "snout" and the white into a "W."  Cut the fuzzy sticks into the size you want to use for your whiskers.

The assembly is pretty simple and they all go home with a cute little walrus...with long whiskers!

We also did a fun worksheet..."W" is for watermelon.

Coloring is a great activity...teaches them how to properly hold a writing instrument, and helps strengthen those muscles.  It also helps them practice their small muscle coordination as they learn to color within the lines rather than just scribble.

And this worksheet also teaches them to follow directions.

The instructions at the top read:

W=black

R=red

G=green

The seeds had W's in them, the rind had G's and the rest had R's.

At the bottom we have some space for them to practice their handwriting.

They all did a great job!!  Fun worksheet to mix things up a bit.

XOXO,  Andrea

Top 10 Craft Supplies for PreK

Ever wondered which 10 supplies a preschool teacher would take with them to a deserted island?  Well, I'm gonna tell you what we can't live without!!

#10

Yarn.  In lots of colors.  We use yarn for crafts that hang, like mobiles or garlands, to practice making letters or other shapes on paper, stems for flowers, matching games, making rainbows, balls, pictures...the possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

#9

We'll just call number 9 "garbage."  Because a preschool teacher can make anything out of garbage.  Our favorites are empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls, kleenex boxes, soda bottles, milk bottles...give us your garbage, we'll give you a penguin.

#8

Pipe cleaners, or as the manufacturer calls them...fuzzy sticks.

We use these to string beads to practice small motor coordination, as antennas on bugs, legs on centipedes, ears on Frankenstein, whatever...

#7

Craft Sticks.  They come in plain and in colored.  Use them as frosting spreaders for cookies and other yummy craft ideas, glue spreaders, puppet handles, mask handles, to stack in a building game, to make a frame, Christmas tree ornaments, fans, airplane wings, puzzles, etc...

#6

Warm Fuzzies or Pom Poms, or whatever you want to call them.  These have endless possibilities.  Besides being used as a great classroom management tool (as in letting the kids collect them in a jar when you "catch" them obeying rules), they also make a great addition to lots of crafts that just require a little (or a lot) of extra fuzziness.  They can be a nose on a reindeer, hair on a clown, a rainbow, a worm, a snowman...just Google "pom pom crafts" and you can find all kinds of uses.

#5

Ahhh, Sequins.  Sequins add that little bit of sparkle to any project.  Ornaments on trees.  Scales on fish.  Jewels on a crown.  Or just to glue on a letter, or a number, or a coloring sheet.  Sequins make any ordinary project extraordinary, and kids love them.

#4

The Googly Eyes.

Every single craft that has eyes needs these.  That is all.

#3

Paper plates/bowls/cups and COFFEE FILTERS.

  A paper plate or bowl can be made into any number or things.  Animals, masks, puppets, baskets...again, Google "paper plate crafts."   Search this blog.  TONS can be done or created with them.  Not to mention the practical uses...to hold the pieces of paper, googly eyes, etc for a project, or to put paint on for hand prints.  Cups are used to hold water for water colors, drinks for snacks, frosting for cookies.  

And coffee filters are used on a daily basis in our preschool to hold treats.  But you can make butterflies, watercolor projects, flowers, pumpkins, angels, snowflakes, turkeys, tie dye hearts...just always have coffee filters.  You won't be sorry.

#2

Construction Paper.  LOTS of it.

You can do ANYTHING with Construction Paper.

#1

Tacky Glue.

School glue and glue sticks are fine, but if you really want stuff to stick and stay and dry fast, you have to have TACKY GLUE.  Buy it in bulk.  Tons of it.  There are very few days that Janette and I do not use Tacky Glue.  Store it with the lid on upside down in a paper cup, then it's already by the tip and you just have to squeeze.

Best glue ever.

If I was going to add a #11 and #12, I'd add cotton balls and beads.  For obvious reasons.  And hopefully your artillery includes watercolors, markers and crayons.

What are your favorite supplies?  Have we missed something we should really have??

XOXO,  Andrea

Valentine's Party!

Today was our Valentine's Day Party in pre-k!

The craft I love the most of any we do is hand prints.

Can you imagine having a bunch of these and making a t-shirt quilt for your kiddo with his hand prints all over it??

To make these shirts, we fold each shirt with a piece of paper in between the front and back of the shirt so that the paint doesn't leak through to the backside of the shirt.  That also gives us a place to write the kiddos names.  Place a small heart on the shirt, where the middle of the palm is going to sit, and paint their cute, chubby little hand red.  (We use acrylic paint so that it will be permanent.)

Center their hand over the heart and push...make sure that you press hard enough to get complete coverage.

Lift the hand directly up...and VOILA!  Cute hand print!

Leave the heart on the shirt until the paint is dry so it doesn't leak under the edges.

And when you remove the heart...you have this!  Precious!

We printed off the "Blowing you Kisses" topper HERE...

And we bought the little bottles of bubble at the dollar store in packs of 6 (they were the wedding bubbles.)

We made good use of our construction paper and cut out a bunch of red and pink hearts...

...and the kids glued them onto white lunch sacks to make a simple Valentine's Box.

At the end of the day...parents came and we played a game of Valentine Bingo.  We got the free download from Jamie over at 

The Crafting Chicks.

Finally (whew!) each kiddo decorated their own heart shaped cookie (from Costco) with pink frosting (spread with craft sticks) and topped with conversation hearts.

Now I'm ready to go fall into a sugar coma!  

Happy Valentine's Day, y'all!

XOXOX, Andrea