Hand skeletons

This project turned out so cute, we were super happy with it when we were done.

You know how sometimes you think something is going to go over really well, and when you do it with the kids, they just really have no interest in it?  Yeah, well this was definitely NOT one of those!

We were studying X...but I'm thinking this would also be fun to do as a Halloween project, or as a basic unit on bones.

The best part is that we all have black construction paper and q-tips in our house.  

Depending on the ages of the kids you are doing this with, you can either trace their hand on a black sheet of paper or let them do this step.  I'm thinking it could be fun to use a foot, or draw a basic outline of a body on a paper and do the foot bones or a whole body skeleton.

Then use glue to put the q-tips on to look like the bones.

It's not super anatomically correct ;), but IS super cute.

End of School Party...BASEBALL THEME!

On the last day of school, we throw a fun outdoor and baseball themed party.  

We have a large water slide bounce house set up and the kids wear their swimsuits and we spend most of the day playing outside.

At the end of the day, parents come back and we show off a few of the things we've learned during the year, sing "Take me out tot he Ballgame"...then have hot dogs and popcorn...

But my favorite part of the day was this t-shirt...as all-American as baseball!!  It would also be a fun 4th of July craft to do with  your kids!

We gave each of the kids a bag with Big League Chew and peanuts and their t-shirt as party favors.

LOVE!  See you next fall!

Mother's Day Handprint Memory Book...and brunch!

We have an annual Mother's Day Brunch where we invite the moms to come for a little breakfast at the beginning of the school day.  We have breakfast casserole and sweet treats, but the best part, next to the kids singing a Mother's Day song to them, is the handprint memory book we work on all year and present to them.

We put the pages in page protectors and then in 3-ring binders:

LOVE the question-answer page.  It's so funny to hear the things kids say!!

We also scatter pictures of the kids with their friends and doing activities at school throughout the book...but I wanted to show you the handprints we did...one for each month.

SEPTEMBER:  a box of crayons

OCTOBER:   a spider, complete with web, and a memory of their costume.

NOVEMBER:  a turkey, and their favorite Thanksgiving food.

DECEMBER:  Rudolf, and their favorite Christmas gift.

JANUARY:  a penguin

FEBRUARY:  a heart-felt handprint

MARCH:  an Easter chick

APRIL:  a rainstorm

MAY:  flowers...(of course!  May flowers always follow the rain!!)

And an end of year reminder that your sweet kiddos are the gold at the end of your rainbow!

A few of the brunch pictures from this year:

Happy Mother's Day!!

Valentine's Day Hand Print T-shirt

This week we will have our PreK Valentine's Day Party...YAY!!

Here's a sneak-peek at my favorite craft we do that day...

This sweet hand print is made by sticking a small heart sticker on the t-shirt and then after painting the kiddo's hand red...place it over the heart and voila!!  Sweetest hand print ever.

We are also making this cute "Blowing you kisses" favor for each of the kids, too.  

You can download the topper really easily HERE.

Who doesn't love bubbles and chocolate??

Getting Excited for "Under the Sea..."

Under the Sea is one of our favorite units...and we are gearing up for a fun one!!  Here are a few of our past projects. 

Look for some more ideas in coming weeks...

XOXO, Andrea

Christmas Party!!

Parties are our favorite...and Christmas is no exception.

We help the kids make their own Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer hand print t-shirt.  Using wash-proof acrylic paint, paint their palm light brown and their fingers dark brown.  Add dark brown or black eyes and a red nose.

For fun, we send them home with a bag of Reindeer Noses...8 Whoppers and a red gumball!

And who doesn't like a craft you can eat?

This year, we made Christmas trees.

You'll need a sugar cone for each one, green frosting, and candy for the "ornaments." 

We use craft sticks as "knives" for the kids to spread the frosting on the cone.  When the frosting is all on, cover it with little candies.  

Had to share one of my favorite parts of the day...the kiddos played with the Nativity Little People during centers.  Here's a picture of Lightening McQueen catching a ride with a camel to meet the baby Jesus.

We have a present exchange with the kids to end the day...so they all go home with a gift from a friend. 

Merry Christmas!

Give Thanks!! :)

So much to be grateful for when you have a class full of cuties at Thanksgiving!!

We start out with our Thanksgiving t-shirt...a TURKEY, of course!!  Dark brown palm and thumb, red, orange, yellow and green fingers.  Add a red wattle and orange beak and feet...all in laundry proof acrylic paints.  I love anything handprints...they grow up way too fast!

The kids always like to play BINGO and Thanksgiving is no exception...

We got ours here but you can Google Thanksgiving Bingo Cards and choose from others.

And then our parents join us for a Thanksgiving feast, complete with all the fixin's.

We have so much to be grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween Party!!

Love a good Halloween Party!!

One of the keepsakes that we love to make for the kiddos is a hand-print t-shirt.  For this year's Halloween Party we did spiders.

I LOVED the way they turned out.

We always fold the shirts and put a piece of paper in between the two sides of the shirt so that the paint doesn't seep through to the back.  Also, be sure to use a laundry proof paint...one that won't wash off or out in the laundry.  We use acrylic.  We drew the "web" on with a sharpie, and used a red acrylic paint to dot the eyes on.

We also have each of the kids bring a treat to share with their classmates, so each kid goes home with a treat from each of their classmates.  They all bring a trick or treat bag and we divide them out!

Of course we give them some treats, too...Pumpkin and Ghost poop.  (Preschoolers think poop is hilarious!)

So fun to eat the scary food!  We had Mummy Cupcakes and Hot Dog Mummies.  Yum!

Four year olds are also getting good at playing games and Bingo is a favorite.  A couple of years ago we downloaded this Bingo Game from Jamie @ The Crafting Chicks.

They can use Skittles, M-n-M's, cereal, or marshmallows as markers for the game.  And they love to eat the treats at the end!

Happy Halloween!  Have fun with your little ones!

Kissing Frogs

There is absolutely nothing cuter or sweeter than the hand print of a child.  As a mother of three teenagers who all have hands bigger than mine, I would give anything if I could just go back and hold those sweet little hands, one more time.

Next best thing?

Hand prints.

We do lots of them.

For this one, we drew a lily pad and a little flower on each sheet of paper.

Then we painted each cute, pudgy hand with green paint...which is easier said than done.  

And care-ful-ly place an upside down print on the lily pad.

We added green paint on the top of the palm, and when it was all dried, we glued on some googly eyes and sharpied a big smile.

"F" is for frog.