VBS Crafts: Clay Necklaces

Hello Friends!

 

Yesterday, the kids and I started a Wilderness Escape VBS program, and it was awesome!  I love watching my own children, as well as all the others, light up with joy as they listen to stories, sing songs and create crafts, all in praise of Jesus. 

 

Speaking of crafts, I am happy to be leading the Craft Room again this year!  Our first day's project was to create clay necklaces.  Considering how difficult it was for the kids to flatten out the clay, I was very happy with the creations they came up with!

 

Here is a heart with a cross, a star and an owl:

 

Aren't they cute?!

 

We talked about how the kids were molding and forming the clay into what they wanted it to be...just like how God is molding us into the kind of people he wants us to be.  When we go to church, VBS, pray and read the Bible (just for a few examples), God is molding us by placing his word on our hearts and in our minds.  One sweet girl said, "I totally get that!"  I think she pretty much made my day!!

 

 Supplies for Clay Necklaces

• clay (any color; also consider using play dough for children younger than 3rd grade)
• rolling pin
• heart, star or other shaped cookie cutters
• pony beads (assorted colors)
• ribbon or twine
• scissors
• straw (to punch hole for ribbon)

Directions

1. Warm clay or play dough in hands, then start molding and flattening it.  Use a rolling pin if you'd like.
2. Decide what shape you want your necklace to be and either form it or cut it out using a shaped cookie cutter.
3. Punch a hole toward the top of your necklace using the straw.  Be careful not to punch the hole too close to the edge.
4. Add a splash of color, pretty pattern or a cool design with the pony beads.
5. Allow to dry.  If using clay, check the package for the specific amount of time.  Play dough may take several days to fully dry out.
6. When dry, add a length of ribbon or twine, and wear with pride!

 

See ya next time!



DIY Sidewalk Chalk Paint

...And we're back!

 

It's been a looooooooooooong time since I last posted, but I'm so glad to be back to blogging!  I've saved up lots of great ideas and will hopefully, *fingers crossed*, be able to share one of them with you daily.

 

Yesterday, between our town's Fourth of July parade and the late-evening fireworks, my kids seemed to be just wandering around, looking for something to get into do.  I had seen recipes for homemade sidewalk chalk around the web, but hadn't had a chance to whip some up.  So I thought this would be the perfect opportunity, especially on a bright and sunny day!

 

The surprising part was that it was so easy and simple to make.  Don't you love recipes like that?!  Two ingredients + food color = BAM!  You're done!  Homemade sidewalk chalk paint!

 

 

Sidewalk Chalk Paint

• 2 T. corn starch
• 4 T. water
• food coloring

Directions

• Mix corn starch and water together in a muffin tin. (You could also use small bowls or whatever you have on hand.)
• Add food coloring to each "cup" in the muffin tin.
• Mixing different food colors is also a great opportunity for a lesson in color mixing.  We mixed: red + yellow = orange and red + blue = purple.

*Keep in mind that for younger kids (babies, toddlers, preschoolers), this paint is technically edible.  I'm thinking that you'll probably get a pretty disgusted look if your little one tries it though!  Please make sure to always supervise your child with activities like this.

 



Sweet Pea (my 7 year old) went straight to work, planning and painting our sidewalk.  Since it was July 4th, she decided to paint fireworks.  She noticed right away that as she painted and the paint dried, it changed to a lighter shade.  She thought it was pretty cool to watch the paint change right before her eyes!

 Pretty cool, huh?

 

 

Shortly after, Tough Guy (my 13 year old) came out to paint a message to our neighbors:

Happy 4th of July!

 

 

Yes, even the middle schooler wanted to participate.  They loved this, and it was so quick, easy and cheap to throw together.  We used chunky paint brushes for most, but Sweet Pea wanted a thinner brush for some of her details.  Painting the sidewalk "canvas" is definitely a first for us, but I'm sure we'll be doing it again and again this summer!

 

The sidewalk chalk paint dries like regular sidewalk chalk, and will wash off with rain or water.  Give it a try - your kids will love it!

 

See ya tomorrow!

 



Spring Weather: Rainy

The last couple of weeks have been a little different in our class, because we've had assessments and parent-teacher conferences.  As we wrap those up this week, things will get back to normal.  Last Friday, we continued learning about spring weather with the topic of rain.  We've certainly had our fair share of that lately!

 

We read the books:

Notice on the book Rain by Robert Kalan, he actually uses the word rain over and over to illustrate rain falling down.  This technique is used throughout the book.  It's a pretty awesome way to illustrate and provide reinforced literacy!

 

We took a survey and found that all but one of our students likes rain.  I definitely thought it would go the other way!  Using a picture graph like this helps the children to visualize the number of kids who do like rain versus those who don't.

Our art project was a simple umbrella made of 1/2 cupcake liner and a J-shaped pipe cleaner.  (We've also used bendy straws for the umbrella handle.)  The kids glued cotton clouds to the top of their paper, and sprinkled on raindrops with blue markers.

 

For math, the children were given number cards 1-10, and they worked together in pairs to place the numbers in the correct order.  After completing 1-10, some groups moved on to 11-20, and one pair even made it to 21-30!

 

At the end of class, we had a fabulous parent reader come in, and she read:

Mud went perfectly with our rain theme, because most kids love to play in the mud after it rains!

 

Other activities of the day included:

- writing center: tracing and coloring clouds and rain, as well as writing practice on the white boards

- playdough and easel

- housekeeping and puzzles

- block center

- letter Yy review

Spring Weather: Cloudy

Have you had enough rain yet?!

In our community, there is quite a bit of flooding, so I think it's safe to say that we've gotten our fair share for the moment!  Maybe the weather is making up for the drought we had last year?

 

On Wednesday, our class learned about cloudy weather.  We read:

I adore Eric Carle books, and this one is no different!  His stories are always very cute, easy enough for young children to understand, and his illustrations are amazing.  In this story, Little Cloud changes his shape from a regular puffy cloud to lots of other things, including a bunny and a shark.

 

For our art project, we asked the kids to fingerpaint a cloud, and they got to decide what shape their cloud would be.  This kiddo decided his cloud changed into numbers.... 

 

....while this one changed into a smiley face!  Such clever little meteorologists!

 

Since I've been assessing kids for conferences, I didn't get a chance to snap many pictures.  Our other centers of the day included:

 

- sensory: cloud dough

- easel: crayons and markers

- highlighter tracing ABC's and numbers

- housekeeping and train set

 

We also had a parent reader at the end of the day, and she read:

The kids loved this story!  We don't get to read a lot of fairytales in our class, and stories like The Three Little Pigs often become favorites of the younger crew.  They are able to remember the repetitiveness of the storyline, so that they can retell it over and over.

 

Here are some other books about clouds that your child may enjoy:

 

Next up - rainy spring weather...and we sure do have experience with that!  See ya!

Spring Weather: Windy

Spring brings lots of different types of weather, and we will be studying about three kinds this week.  Monday was all about the wind.  In Circle, we read:

We talked about the way the illustrator showed things blowing in the wind in his pictures.

 

In Centers, we:

- started assessments for Spring conferences

- completed our letter Xx activity

- practiced tracing and writing our name

- dramatic play in housekeeping

- drove cars on playmat and built with blocks

 

We also did a fun and quick science experiment with the kids.  We made a chart with 6 different objects, then asked the kids to predict whether the wind (a fan) would blow the objects off the table.  If you look at the predictions and the results, you'll see that they got most of them right.  Our brilliant little scientists are sooooo smart!

 

Tomorrow we will study all about clouds, and Friday's class will be about rain.  See ya!



Jelly Beans

Friday's class was all about jelly beans!

 

We started the day in Circle by reading:

This old lady has swallowed some crazy things this year...including a whole turkey at Thanksgiving!  The kids love this series of books, and there seems to be one for every holiday of the year.

 

We graphed a small cup of jelly beans at the math center, and talked about "least" and "most".  The children also counted the total amount of jelly beans, then of course, got to munch on them!

We also played a jelly bean roll and cover game.  The kids rolled a die, then used a jelly bean to cover the same number on their board.  This template, as well as the graph, were found at Oopsey Daisy.

 

Our other centers included:

- a listen & do activity: color the jelly beans

- playdough / dot markers at the easel

- housekeeping / jelly bean puzzle

- train & big blocks

 

I have been anxious to show the children our new butterfly garden sensory tub, but up until Friday, we hadn't had time.  They were so excited!  When I showed it to them, I heard lots of "oooh" and "wow".  Score!  I love it when they are so interested in something, and they just can't wait to play with it.  We only had a few minutes per pair of kids to play, but we will definitely have more play time this week!

 

We will complete our letter Xx study on Monday, and we will also begin letter Yy.  Can you believe we're at the end of the alphabet and the school year?!  Pre-K graduation will be here before we know it!



More Bunnies and Carrots

Our class loves bunnies!  Who doesn't?!  They're so cute and fluffy, and there's a million activities you can do with this theme.  There's no way we could fit them all into one day!

 

On Monday, we read the first Knuffle Bunny book by Mo Willems.  I told the kids that we would finish the series by reading the next two books, which is exactly what we did on Wednesday.  They really got into these books!  I think they're great, because the stories are simple, and when you have all three books, the kids can make comparisons between them.  We read this one during Circle:

In the first book, Trixie is a toddler who loses Knuffle Bunny at the laundromat, and by the second book, she is in pre-k and her bunny gets mixed up with a classmate's bunny, that is *almost* exactly like Trixie's.

 

At the math center, the kids used foam bunnies to make AB patterns (blue, pink, blue, pink or pink, blue, pink, blue)...

 

...and they also matched mini carrots 1-12 onto the number line.  We have been focusing on number recognition, and the children are getting lots of good practice matching and being able to pick out the correct number that we ask them to find.

 For our art project, we created Knuffle Bunny in the washing machine!  (This is from the first story.)  It's hard to tell from the picture, but the plate that has the circle cut out has plastic wrap over it, to make it look like the window in the washer.  Knuffle Bunny took a bath and got all nice and squeaky clean!

 

Feed the Bunny was very popular yesterday!  We asked the kids to pick some carrots from the carrot patch to feed to the bunny.  They enjoyed petting and feeding the bunny, and re-planting the carrots in the patch.  We even had a giant carrot for the bunny to nibble on!

 

At the writing center, there were 3 carrot "eggs", each one containing a different word - bunny, carrot and hop.  The kids were asked to copy each word on a blank sheet of paper, and they did an outstanding job!  Do I expect them to be able to read these words, or to copy them correctly?  No.  This center was mainly a fun activity, designed to encourage the children to write and draw, which helps to strengthen their fine motor muscles.  They will need them when they go to big kid school!

 

Most of the kids painted carrots at the easel, and their paintings are amazing!  Please take a moment to check them out in the hallway.  This is just a sampling, and you can see that all four of these masterpieces are unique.  Keep in mind that this really is amazing, especially since they didn't have a sample to look at.  We just encouraged them to visualize a carrot in their heads, and this is what they came up with.  Fantastic!

 

At the end of class, we read:

In the third book, Trixie misplaces Knuffle Bunny on an airplane, and decides that she'll be ok without him.  This one is really heartwarming, and I always tear up a little at the end.  You should really check out this series at the library or bookstore.  You will love it as much as your kids!

 

Hop on over to Pigeon Presents! for more Knuffle Bunny activities, printables, puzzles and even a video!  Then check out Go Mo for an online Knuffle Bunny baggage claim game.  Have fun!



Bunnies and Carrots

We had a great time learning about bunnies on Monday!  In Circle, we read a Scholastic reader called Hello, Bunny!, in which we learned that a baby bunny is called a kitten.  Who knew?!

 

Our centers included:

- art: listening/following directions bunny & carrot activity

- writing names on chalk clipboards

- bunny games: mini bowling, barrel of bunnies, real-life bunny picture puzzle

 

At the math center, the kids were given bunny picks (used for cupcakes, found at Wal-Mart).  They were asked to put the bunnies in the playdough grass in order, 1-12.

 

We also introduced new sensory tubs with cloud dough.  Have you heard of this?  It's really cool, and very easy to make!  I found the recipe at Inner Child Fun, and there are a bunch of other ones out there.  This stuff is super soft and it just feels nice to squish it in your hands!

 

At the end of class, we read:

This is the first in a series of three books by Mo Willems, and it is great!  Not only is it a cute story, but the pictures and art are very cool - drawings are integrated with real-life photos.  If you have a chance, check this series out at the library!

 

Tomorrow, the kids will be introduced to another new sensory bin in the block room - the butterfly garden.

 

This tub includes:

- birdseed as its base

- mini purple daisies (artificial)

- pink and yellow butterflies

- artificial leaves

- two plastic potted flowers

- wooden spoons and plastic bowls

 

 

I can't wait for them to try this out!  I think they're going to like it.  It was hard enough for me to keep my own hands out of it!  See you tomorrow!



Easter Egg Hunt

Are you having a super fun Spring Break?!

We decided to stay in town, get some things repaired (joy!), and just do fun things in the city.  We're having fun, except we can't stray too far from home - we have a couple of sick boys here!  Whatever you decided to do, I hope you're having a fun {and healthy} time!

 

On Wednesday before Spring Break, our pre-k'ers had an Easter celebration.  In Circle, we read:

(Because of the snow day on Monday and no school due to Good Friday, we did not start a new Letter of the Week.)

 

We decorated our little Charlie Brown tree with glittery Easter egg ornaments.  It was hard for the kids to push the ribbon onto the branches, but we had two very patient big kid helpers to assist them!

In Centers, we...

- painted with foam brushes

- sculpted with playdough

- decorated our Easter bags with stamps and stickers, then stuffed them with green, shredded paper

- played the Bunny and Egg ABC file folder game

- played in the sandbox and housekeeping

 

We also worked in pairs to match up patterned plastic eggs.

 

What holiday would it be in our class if we didn't somehow incorporate a science experiment?!  For this one, we used marshmallow Peeps.  As you can see in the picture, the one on the left is what we started with - a normal-sized, pink Peep.  We placed it in the microwave for 10 seconds, and repeated this 3 or 4 times.  It's hard to tell, but on the right, our Peep grew!  The heat expanded the marshmallow to 2 or 3 times its original size.  The kids LOVED this experiment, and our big kid helpers pretty much conducted the whole thing!

 

Toward the end of class, we had our egg hunt.  Since the grass outside was still wet, we decided to just have it in the Block Room, and I think the kids were fine with that.  (As long as they got some eggs, I don't think it mattered where their hunt was located!)

 

We also read an adorable story, complete with tiny animal figures hidden inside its thick, board book style pages:

 

I hope you all had a joyous Easter, filled with happy family celebrations!  We went to church, and then back home for a quiet family brunch.  We played a game of hot/cold with the kids, to find their Easter baskets.  The Easter bunny is running out of good places to hide their baskets at our house!  He may have to use a litte more creativity next year...

 

Enjoy the rest of your Spring Break!  See you on Monday!

10 {Snowy} Day Activities Round-Up

Ok, first of all, is this crazy weather, or what?!  Here we are at the end of March, and we've gotten about 5 inches of snow, with more falling as I type.  Last year at this time, we were experiencing 80 degree temperatures, and enjoying the beginning of a no-jacket, warmer-than-usual spring.  This is complete madness, I tell you!

 

Whew.  Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I'd like to share some fun, inside activities that you can do with your kid using materials you probably already have at home.  (Because we don't need to make a special trip to get craft supplies in this mess!)

 

Today (Monday) is a snow day for our class, and your kiddo will probably want to play in the snow a little bit.  So you'll indulge, then warm them up with hot chocolate, a snuggly blanket and some tv.  You might play Barbies or Legos and watch a movie, but then what?!  At my house, my daughter isn't satisfied with tv.  She'd rather be doing something hands-on.  Are your kiddos like that?

 

Here are some fun things to do while it's freezing outside!

 

At breakfast or lunch, give your kid some magic milk!  No, this isn't just for St. Patrick's Day.  You could use your child's favorite color or something with a springtime feel - yellow or orange, maybe?  Details on this super-easy, yet super-exciting trick are over at Feels Like Home.

 

Hop over to Make and Takes for an adorable bunny craft made out of plastic Easter eggs.  So cute!

 

Make an Easter card or two (or three!) for out-of-town relatives, neighbors or friends.  Inner Child Fun shares the details for this quick and easy craft.  No inkpads?  No problem!  Washable markers work just as well when "painted" on little fingers!

 

Kids Activities Blog shows how to make this festive pencil-stamped Easter egg.  Again, I think markers would work for this just as well as an inkpad.

 

Got some of those marshmallowy peeps hangin' around your house?  Do some easy science experiments with them!  Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas gives the deets on this activity, as well as a few experiments with eggs.

 

Make these adorable bunny ears with your kid using construction paper, glue, scissors and a stapler or tape.  This and other sweet Easter activities, crafts and printables are over at Kaboose.

 

Isn't this little bunny family too cute?!  I think this would be a good one for my own family to try at home!  I love it!  Head over to iVillage to check it out!

 

DLTK supplies a printable template and instructions for how to make this "egg-cellent" wreath, just in time for Easter!

 

Practice letter recognition with this idea from No Time for Flash Cards.  If you don't have letter magnets, just write letters on a piece of paper, cut them apart, and stuff them into the eggs!

 

Oh. my. goodness.  You have got to go over to Creativity in Progress to find out how she made plastic Easter eggs into these darling little tea cups!  And seriously - what child, boy or girl, doesn't like a tea party?!  Craft up a few of these, grab a blanket and some stuffies, and have a seat on the floor for some some good ol' pretend play with your little one!

 

If you still need more ideas for keeping your kid occupied, because let's face it, we may be inside for a couple days, check out Inner Child Fun's 50 Ways to Keep Kids Entertained During a Blizzard.

 

Whatever you decide to do today, have fun, giggle a lot, and enjoy this day with your child.  Hug them, kiss them, and make sure they know just how special they are to you!

 

See you soon!