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

Number Matching Game

Today we played an extra-fun numbers matching game...we used hearts because of Valentine's Day...but we plan on using them over and over, because we LOVE numbers!  :)

First, cut out the hearts by folding construction paper in half and using our staple method to cut them evenly.  We cut 12...but are going to add more, up to 20 for now, and then maybe up to 30.

Cut the hearts in half:

Pick your numbers out, as well as stickers for the picture part of it.

Put the numbers on the right side of the heart, and the number amount of stickers on the other side.

We laminated them, so they'll last!

We sat in a circle and gave each kiddo one of the left side of the heart...they needed to count the objects and know how many there were...then, when it was their turn, they chose the corresponding number and put the heart together.

This is great for visual learners who need to see to learn...and also a great way for them to associate an amount with a number.

The kids loved this fun game!!  :)

Valentine "Love Bug" and Yummy KISS cookie recipe

Today we started off the new week with a new letter...V...and it's even more fun that V is for Valentine.

In circle time this morning, while we were talking about the words that we know that start with "v..." violin, vest, van, vulture, vampire...when one of the kiddos came up with soap.  No, sorry bud, soap doesn't start with "V."  His response?  Yes, we have a bottle and it's a vampire and it's "hanitizer" soap.  Well, when you put it that way, who can argue???

So...here is a step by step of today's Valentine, a LOVE BUG complete with a v-shaped mouth.

First, gather your red and pink construction paper, red or pink pipe cleaners, big googly eyes and glue.  We printed a handwriting practice sheet to glue it to that said "V is for Valentine."

Fold a few pieces of red paper in half, draw a half-heart on one side.

Use our awesome trick and staple around the edges so you can cut it out without slippage.

Do the same thing with the pink paper to cut out the "V" shapped mouths.

Now cut out small pink and red hearts, for the nose and the hearts at the end of the antenna.  

Assembly...glue on the large red heart, the mouth, nose and googly eyes, then the antenna and end with the hearts at the end of the antenna.

Pretty darn cute...and the kids loved them and were all so excited to give their moms a Valentine!

And as an added bonus?  It was baking day today, so we made peanut butter cookies and topped each one with a Kiss!

You can get the super yummy and easy peanut butter cookie recipe HERE on Janette's cooking blog.

Enjoy!!  :)

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??