Painted Coffee Can Spring Flowers!

Today's fun spring themed art project was designing a flower using recycled coffee cans, a few marbles and some paint.

I first gathered my recycled coffee cans, tempura paints and a handful of marbles.

I then cut the flower template down to size, and allowed each child to choose 3 paint colors they'd like to use.

I dropped a dime-sized amount of paint on different spots of the flower.

I then told the children, "Tell your flower bye bye...when you see it next, it'll be full of color!"

We loosely folded the paper to fit in the can, tossed in 3 marbles, placed the lid over top...

...and shook our little hearts out!

After about a minute or two of pure, earth shaking rattling, we carefully pulled our flowers out of the can and laid them flat over newspaper.

We allowed them to dry over lunch and rest period.

Upon waking everyone was excited to finish his/her project!

Next, I instructed the children to take their "blue" paper and lay it in front of them so it looks like a standing "rectangle".

I then asked them to place their flower at the top of the page.

I asked questions such as,

"What does the flower need to grow?"

The children told me, "The sun!"

I asked, "What's attached to the flower, but is also stuck in the ground?"

I gave hints until they answered the "stem".

We then talked about grass and what color it was and that the sun helps the grass grow as well.

Once all the pieces were cut and glued into place, the children added their sunshine.

The Best Xylophone Ever!!!

Why? Because it's quiet. ;)

Our letter this week is Xx and coming up with projects that begin with X can be a bit difficult....but, I found one! And to my surprise, the kids really had fun coloring and assembling their very own Xylophone.

As usual, I assembled mine earlier and placed it in the middle of the table so all could view. I chose to print the template with the colored outline to help the children use the correct colors.

Once the children had all their pieces colored & cut, we loosely placed them in the same order as the example xylophone I had made.

During this time, we discussed largest to smallest and reviewed which colors go where.

Then it was time to glue! Each project that includes gluing is the children's favorite part!

During the assembly, we discussed what a xylophone was, and the letter it started with.

I continued to ask the children, "Xylophone starts with ____, but sounds like it starts with ____."

Lastly, we added the mallets. We discussed what the mallets were used for and what they weren't used for.

Such as, "A mallet is used to tap the bars on the xylophone, not used to tap our brothers or sisters." :D

When finished, I was convinced we had made the best musical instrument ever!

Pussy Willows!

A sure sign of spring is the blossom of pussy willows.

Today's art project and story was all about pussy willows.

I first looked up an easy to follow story I could read to the children along with some facts about the tree.

After answering questions about the story, I asked questions such as,

"What woke the pussy willow up?"

To begin our art project we gathered a variety of twigs from the front yard. After washing and allowing them to dry, I hot glued them to blue construction paper.





Once that was complete, I cut the ends off Q-tips and handed the children glue sticks.

We studied the original pussy willow image I printed and discussed where are blossoms would go.














This project is fun for all ages!

Our finished pussy willow "trees".

The Hokey Pokey!!

We're having a dancing fun-time at Miss Melissa's today!

We started out with our typical Alphabet Funk videos and were having so much fun dancing and singing, we added many of the songs we've already learned, including the Hokey Pokey into the mix!

Not only is this a fun dance to learn, but goes with our direction game from yesterday.

As the song instructed to "Put your left hand in..." I set the example of which was left, right, etc...

After hearing it a few times the children were getting the hang of which foot and hand was left and which was right.

A Fun Direction Game!

The learning game this week is all about directions.

I got this idea from one of my curriculum books. They suggested hand making bean bags for the children. However, since I'm no where near being a seamstress, I improvised with a stapler, construction paper and some napkins.

First, I chose 3 colorful pages, folded them over and stapled the sides closed.

I then unfolded napkins and began to crumple them up. I stuffed them inside my colorful envelope and stapled it shut.

Before beginning

we reviewed each of the colors being presented.
From oldest to youngest I allowed children to choose their favorite color game bag.

We began the game by mimicking what I did. I would say, "Put the bag above your head" and show them what to do.

As the game went on, I stopped participating and just gave direction. The other children were excellent examples for those children unsure of the instruction.

Other questions asked were:

"Put the game bag behind the rocking chair."

"Put the game bag between your knees."

"Put the game bag under the table."

As we continue this game during the week, I will be adding more colors, and turning the game into a color, number and direction game.

Questions I will add throughout the week will be,

"Put the game back next to your left leg."

"Hold the game bag in your right hand."

"For those of you with a red (or any color) game bag, hold it in front of you."

"Collect all the green game bags, how many do you have?"

I'm sure this will yield lots of fun for us this week!

My Little Bunnies

Due to the holiday weekend, some of my parents are picking up early today. To make sure everyone got to participate in arts and crafts, we kept it simple and did it earlier in the day.

Today, we made bunny ears. I searched bunny ear templates and found the perfect one for us. Next, I gave the children a choice in colors for their headbands.

Each child colored their ears, while I fitted their headbands.

Once I cut the ears out, I stapled them to the front of the bands and away my bunnies hopped.

During play time we discussed bunnies, the letter "B", we acted like bunnies and sang "5 little bunnies jumping on the bed".

Hey Chickie!

Get your children clucking up a storm with this adorable spring craft!

This project was incredibly easy to create and fun to teach!

I started with recycled tp rolls. After each child colored the body of the chick, I applied it to the roll and cut it down to size.



Next the children were asked where they thought the body parts of the chicks would go. If they were unsure, we used ourselves as examples and placed the pieces in the appropriate spots.



As we glued, I asked questions such as

"What does chick start with?"

"What color is your chicks body?"

"What color are his/her feet?"

And of course, "What sound does a chick make?"































The children spent the remainder of the afternoon, walking around the house clucking with their baby chicks.

This craft can be found at http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mchick.html.

Easter Bunny Doorhangers!

Whether you believe in the Easter Bunny or not, this is an adorable craft that children will love to color and put together!

As usual, I printed one copy of the project in color and assembled it to show the children how the end project would look.


This craft is printed on 4 separate pages. Once all the pages were colored, I placed them in one pile and cut them all out at once. This saves a bunch of time for restless little ones.

After I had all the pieces cut, I loosely placed them in the order that they'd be glued together.

With little assistance from me, the children glued the pieces of their bunnies together.

Once complete, the children picked a doorknob as their own and proudly displayed their creations until parents arrived.

This Easter project can be found here:
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/easter/mrabbitdoorknob.html

A finished masterpiece!

Spring Fever? Make EZ Birdfeeders!

It's been nearly 70 degrees here all week, which is causing all of us to come down with Spring Fever.

This week we decided to make EZ Bird feeders. I call them EZ; because you can make this with the stuff you have lying around the house.

Supplies we used were recycled tp rolls (you could use acorns as well), some spare string, a glob of peanut butter, a disposable knife and some leftover birdseed.

First, I punched two holes in the top of each tp roll. I tied a piece of string to the top. I put a glob of peanut butter on each plate with a disposable knife and away they went, eating and painting the roll with peanut butter.

Next, I filled a spot on each plate with birdseed. The children rolled their peanut butter roll in the seed, being watchful not to miss a spot.

The excess peanut butter and seed can be stuffed into the bottom of the roll and placed in the seed. You may have to help children with this part.

You'll see why I chose to use disposable knives by the looks of this photo! :) I also kept wet toweletts close by!

Once we finished the feeders, we allowed them to dry for 2 hours. When they were finished we took a walk outside and hung them on the trees in front of our front window. The children sat for a good 30 minutes waiting for the birds or squirrels to come by for their snack.

Skills Evaluation Day

It's not the easiest task to perform, but once a month I attempt to sit with each child and complete a skills evaluation chart. This way parents can track their child's progress while they're enrolled in my care.

To complete the evaluation, I pull out my flashcards and quiz the child. If they get one wrong, I simply state the correct answer and move on. Depending on the child and their skill level, the evaluation can take anywhere from 10-15 minutes.

If they're beyond the point of the basic set of questions, I add my own and mark "yes" or "no".

For example, I'm currently working with a child on the more advanced shapes, such as sphere, cylinder, etc...because those aren't listed on the evaluation sheet, I simply add them.

If you're interested in evaluating your child or considering adding this to your program, I'm sure you will can find a free print out on any given preschool website. Mine was included in a curriculum package I purchased.

Yummy! Jellybean Counting Game

While at the supermarket last night I noticed bags of jellybeans on sale. I thought of the fun counting and color games I could play with the kids using jellybeans.

I decided to start on a beginner level with the kids to get them used to the game and to make sure the children still learning to count and recognize numbers would be involved without feeling frustrated.

First I filled clean, recycled yogurt cups with the appropriate number of jellybeans. I sorted them by color and wrote a number along with the coordinating color on an index card.

Children were given a clean, recycled fruit cup to collect their jellybeans.

I started the game by calling out the number and color of their first jellybean. One at a time, the children counted out the number and color of the jellybean I had called out.

We continued this through the number 5, giving each child a total of 15 colored jellybeans.

After each child collected their jellybeans, they were asked to lay them on a napkin and count each one out. When they changed a color, I’d ask them, “What color is that jellybean?” If they didn’t know the answer, the other children were happy to help!

For more advanced preschoolers, you can combine the appropriate number of jellybeans into one dish and ask them to collect different amounts in different colors until the dish is empty.

If you don’t want to use jellybeans, this game can also be played with Lego’s.

Alphabet Funk

I learned with my son that the more fun the song, the more likely kids are to retain it and learn it.

The following are two of my favorite alphabet song You Tube videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKfCyoNCUkM

If you're a fan of the Disney Channel then you've probably seen this. I've saved it in my favorites on You Tube for the kids. We have a hand clapping, foot stomping good time when we sing this version!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX4WfD13nCw

Alphabet Books

Trying to teach a preschooler who has no interest in learning his or her ABC's can be a bit frustrating, however finding fun and inventive ways to do it can make the time seem more like play time instead of quiet classroom time.

I've used the alphabet books from First-School since I started my preschool program in September. Not only do they have plenty of free worksheets you can print, but these great alphabet books.

First, I print off each page of the book. On Tuesdays I present the book to the children during our preschool time. Each child is instructed as to how to write the letter, and given instructions to color each picture listed. We review each word as they begin to color.

As the children color their pictures, I begin to cut out the pages of the book. As a class, we put the pictures in front of ourselves and call out the first picture.

For example, I say, "Umpire. Umpire begins with?"

The class states, "U. Umpire starts with U."

Once the books are complete, I staple the edge and present each child with their book.

The parents have raved about how much their children love showing off their weekly books.

To print free letter books, visit: http://www.first-school.ws/theme/alphabetp6.htm.

Paper Plate Alphabet Match

I was on the lookout for a game my little ones could play to help recognize the letters of the alphabet when I came upon this idea.

I grabbed a handful of heavy-duty paper plates, divided them into 8 sections and wrote each letter twice. I printed off a page full of arrows and attached 2 to each plate with a small brad.

I gave children a plate and told them to match up the letters. For those with preschoolers who already know and recognize their letters, this game seems to be a bit mundane. However, for those who don’t recognize the letters on the plate it’s a great way for them to play and learn.

Foam Alphabet Letters

We have fun using our foam letters to play a matching game.




First I lay out the letters and numbers. This is the search pile for the children.

I keep the other half of the puzzle next to me.

Next, I call out a child's name and the letter or number they need to find to fit in the puzzle piece.

When the child brings back the correct piece, he/she completes his puzzle piece and their turn is over.

When a child brings back the incorrect piece, I ask them to see if it fits. The child returns to the letter pile to find the correct piece.

This is a game the kids ask to play several times a week.

When we're not "officially" playing the game, I find the children playing the game with their own rules. :)