Pin the Nose on Olaf

 I don't know about you, but the Frozen sensation has hit our house hard. My kids love listening to the songs. I know a few choice barbies that are going to find their way under the tree this Christmas. Anna and Elsa are great but, Olaf has stolen our hearts this season. 

   I am helping at my daughter's kindergarten class party this week. We decided we are going to play pin the nose on the snowman and then inspiration struck!! I know a snowman who is always loosing his nose and other body parts. Enter the game: pin the nose on Olaf!

 Isn't he adorable! I don't know who's more excited, my kindergartner or me, but I love how he turned out. Nothing like google images, butcher paper, and a good movie to watch. This little guy is about 4 feet tall. 

Here is a pdf with Olaf noses on it for the game. Each child is going to color and cut one out before we play the game. 

Thanksgiving Story Bracelet

Here is a fun and simple idea to help tell the Thanksgiving story at a young child's level and to practice colors too! Give your child the coordinated colored beads with the story and have them make a bracelet as you tell it.

Thanksgiving Story Bracelet

With this bracelet you will know

The first Thanksgiving that was long ago.

The Pilgrims set sail from far away

On the Mayflower with tall white sails.

They sailed many days across the ocean blue.

The seas were rough, but the ship came through.

At last they spotted land so green.

They were so happy they cheered and screamed.

The first year was so hard and black.

Many died and wished that they could go back.

But the Native Americans gave them a hand

And helped them survive in the strange new land.

They decided to celebrate in a special way

And that became the first Thanksgiving Day.

They prepared a feast with turkeys brown

And red cranberries that they had found.

Yellow corn that they had learned to grow

And orange pumpkin pies, don't you know!

But before they ate the turkey and dressing,

They all held hands for thankful blessings.

*This poem is not mine. It was given to us by a teacher. I take no credit for its creation. : )

Captain Band-aid to the Rescue!

     

    We all know how much a scrap or injury can rock the world of our little preschoolers. It becomes something that they tell to friends and sometimes strangers because the world needs to know of the injustice they experienced. 

   Talking about their injuries can be an important part of their healing process, but it can also help with preparation for other injuries that might occur. This is especially true when preschoolers are getting ready for their kindergarten shots. Shots can cause trepidation for our little ones, but we can help them feel comforted.

    Of course, we all know that there is a magic solution to any injury. . . captain band-aid. The band-aid possesses powers of comfort that have baffled many a mother. Just the application of it can stop tears and make any child feel brave. 

    We made captain band-aid art and told stories of a time we got hurt for an activity during letter O week. 

 

It's an easy and fun project. Each child creates a person out of a band-aid on the paper and then shares a story of when they had to get a band-aid to help them when they were hurt.  Have fun!

O is for Octopus Math

Octopuses will forever bring a smile to my face when associated with preschoolers. When I was student teaching, our lead teacher was teaching the kids about school rules. He held up a picture of an octopus and asked the kids, "Does anyone know what this is?" Of course they all yell, "I know, an octopus!" He asks again, "Does anyone know what those things (swinging his arms back and forth) on the octopus are called?" One boy raises his hand and says, "I know, I know! They're called  testicles!" Without skipping a beat and barely cracking a smile, the lead teacher said, "That's right, they're called tentacles." I will forever be impressed with how that teacher kept his cool because we sure were trying hard not to crack up in the back. We all had a good laugh over that one when class was out.  

Here's a fun math worksheet to get your tentacles on. Here's a link to print your own copy of Octopus Math.

1. Print out the papers and color. 

2. Cut out the arms. 

3. Glue 1 arm under each number and glue the correct number of sequin (suckers) on each arm.

Drawing Prompts & Squiggle Pictures

I realized the other day that a lot of the activities we do are pretty structured and I wanted to offer an activity that allowed for more creative thinking. I saw an idea to do drawing prompts which looked like fun. Then I remembered another idea to encourage creativity that I used when I was teaching third grade. We used to give the kids squiggle papers.

Drawing prompts are where you start a picture and allow the children to add details and complexity to the picture.

For example, I started this picture and posed the question, who lives in this tree?

Anya finished the picture and this is what she did. This is Lilly the squirrel who lives in a tree in the water. She's small so she can't swim, and has to stay in her tree. But, when she gets bigger she will learn how to swim like a big girl.

Squiggle pictures are  a lot of fun too. Basically you start with a squiggle or doodle on a paper and then have your kids create a picture out of the lines that are already there by adding to it. You can have the kids tell you the story about their pictures or write a story about it if they are old enough. This is an example squiggle page that I did.

Then Anya added to it and expanded the picture. I wrote her story for her. It is about a girl who is decorating her Christmas tree, but one of the ornaments is lost.

When you are writing the story, make sure to write exactly what they say. Don't edit or change words because part of the charm is "hearing" them tell you about it every time you read the page.

It's pretty fun to see where their imagination can take them!

If you want some premade squiggle pages that you can just print out, you can download them here. 
When you click on the link, there are a lot of ads on the page. You want to click the small grey download button right beneath the box that says view document. You will need to sign in to download the paper. You can sign up for a free 4shared account or use your social media outlet to download. Please leave a message below if you have any problems or questions. 

We're back & we've moved!

 For those of you out there who have noticed an absence of Chipman's Corner Preschool, I appreciate it. I love blogging and teaching, but I needed to take a break for a while. I don't always get personal on here, but I think it is important to sometimes talk about your struggles in order to heal and to maybe help someone else who can relate. I haven't been blogging on this website or on our family blog since the last time I posted on here because I was really struggling with postpartum depression. It's hard to talk about, because I sometimes feel like admitting it makes me less capable. I know now that this is not the truth at all. Talking about it helps with healing. I realize that there are seasons to everyone's life. Sometimes we feel on top of the world while other times we want to hide under a rock. And during those times that are especially hard, when we feel especially insignificant, it is okay to stop and take care of yourself. It's okay to step back from some of the things you were doing (like blogging) to make sure that you are okay. Maybe someday you can pick those things up again and maybe you won't, but the important thing is that you keep going even when you don't want to. When I teach and I'm having a hard day personally, I can't tell the kids, I'm sad, I don't want to be here. You can't quit on them, so you "fake it til you make it." I've been faking it for a while now, but I think I might be starting to feel like I might make it again.

During this time I have been really inspired and uplifted hearing about other mom's struggles with the same thing. I never realized how many women there are that go through this extremely hard ordeal.  It is so nice to see that they made it through and it gives me hope that I will too. I am feeling much better these days, but I don't think I'm 100% out of the woods yet. One of the things that really started to help me heal was to look back over the pictures on this blog and on our family blog. It helped me to remember the kids who I love and the fun things that we have done together. I hope that we can do many more fun things together.

Especially since we are at a new location! Yes, during this already trying time, my husband got a new job, we sold our house, moved to a different state and bought a new house. The move was a nightmare to say the least. There was a huge gap of time between when we sold our old house and were able to move into the new one. Imagine a family of 6 living in a one bedroom hotel room for weeks. Yikes! But, we are getting settled and I am happy to report that we still live on a corner! I am so excited that our preschool name will stay. I will keep posting things we have done and I hope that you will keep visiting and finding fun things to do with your sweet preschoolers!

N is for Noodle Necklace

 

Noodle necklace - fun for all ages! Take some noodles, dye them fun colors and make a necklace!

Here's the Recipe we used to dye our noodles:

What You Need:

• rubbing alcohol
• noodles
• ziplock bags (cheap bags will leak, I speak from experience)
• food coloring

What You Do:

1. Add noodles to bag.
2. Add 1/8 c alcohol for every 1/2 c noodles.
3. Add food coloring until you get the desired color.
4. Shake bags a bunch.
5. If needed, add more food coloring.
6. Dry overnight, spread out on a paper towel

M is for Maraca

I found this fun idea on pinterest (where else right?). It has been a favorite around our house all week and it was so easy! I think I might need to make a class set for when I start doing classes again. These would also be great for singing time at church!

All you do is fill an Easter egg with something small and hard (beads, beans, rice, etc.). Then sandwich it with two plastic spoons and wrap in fun duct tape. Awesome!

Dr. Seuss Math

 One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

For older kids - work on patterns

For younger kids - work on colors, matching, and counting

Dr. Seuss & Read Across America

 March 2nd is Dr. Seuss's birthday and National Read Across America Day. It is a day devoted to encouraging literacy and reading in honor of one of our nation's most beloved authors. We will be celebrating by doing Dr. Seuss activities this week and hanging out at our local library this Saturday. If you are looking for some good Dr. Seuss activities to do, here are some we've done in the past.

10 Apples Up on Top

Cat in the Hat hats

The Lorax plant holders (from Little Birdie Secrets)

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish venn diagram

Green Eggs and Ham

Cat in the Hat bow ties

We plan on spending the day reading in lots of fun places and in lots of fun ways. I hope you will participate this year!

M is for Magnet Math

We love exploring with magnets - seeing what sticks and what doesn't, talking about why some metal things work and some don't, talking about why some things that don't seem metal (i.e. pipe cleaners) but still stick, etc. 

This year we also added a little bit of math to our magnet fun. I cut up pipe cleaners into little pieces. Then, the girls tried to see how many they could get to stick on. After, we counted how many pipe cleaners were stuck to our magnet. It was good for practicing counting to high numbers.

Love Bug Valentine

 I can't take credit for this cutie but, I just had to share. Anya made these at the library story time. The rest of the day she would show us her love bug and ask, "Will you be my Valentine?" Too cute.

It's pretty easy - heart shape, black paper head, googly eyes and heart stickers.

L is for Letter

We did a letter walk for letter L week. I wrote the alphabet around the edges of a plate and we walked around trying to find all the letters. When we found a letter, we folded it down and tore it off. (It was a styrofoam plate.)

Thank you to Whatdidudo2day for the fun idea!

L is for Library

The library is a great place to encourage a love of reading. Libraries usually let kids get their own library card at age 4 or 5. Plus, many have great story times and activities for preschoolers. For letter L week, Anya was really excited to go and get her first library card!

We read this fun book - Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen - before we went. 

 

It is about a lion who wants to go to the library. It discusses rules of the library in a fun story with great pictures. This book is really great for making inferences. Inferences are when you figure something out without the story telling you. For example, the lion walks away slowly with his head down. You figure out that the lion is sad.

We hope you'll have as much fun exploring your library as we do!

K is for Kangaroo

I made this kangaroo pouch for letter K week. Anya absolutely loves it. She wore it all day and it is still a staple in her dress up wardrobe. Yes, it did involve sewing, but don't stop reading! I promise, it is a no fuss project. It seriously too me 10 minutes to cut and sew this bad boy. If the sewing machine and you are not the best of friends, you can still do this. So, please stick with me and I promise, it will all turn out okay! Just make sure to read the whole post before you write this project off.

For anyone who can sew a straight stitch on a sewing machine or can hand stitch, Here's What You Do:

1. Cut out two identical pouch shaped pieces from brown felt. 
2. (Optional) Cut out a letter K from a different colored felt.
3. Cut two long pieces of ribbon.
4. Sew the letter K onto the right side of one of the pieces of felt.
5. Stack pouch, ribbon, pouch with right sides of the fabric together and the longest parts of each ribbon inside the stack.                                                                        
6. Sew a 1/2 inch border around all sides except the top.
7. Flip right side out.

If you don't want to sew, you could do the same thing with cardstock and glue or a stapler. Happy hopping!

L is for Lion

 Who needs to wait for Halloween to dress up like a lion? Here's a fun deviation from the paper plate lion heads we did last year. Instead of using a paper plate, use a picture of the child. 

Now that's one cute lion!

Here's What You Need:

• 1 X 6 orange strips
• large photo of the child's face
• glue
• scissors
• markers
• construction paper

Here's What You Do:

1. Cut out the child's face and glue it onto the construction paper. For younger lions, draw a circle around the face to give them a guide where to glue the paper strips.
2. Glue the orange paper strips around the face by only putting glue at one end of the strip.
3. Draw a lion nose a whiskers. 
4. Use scissors to carefully curl the strips like you would curling ribbon. 

** Update: If you curl the paper around a pencil instead of with scissors, it gives a more coiffed look like the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz. I like it much better. 

J is for Jumprope

For any of you out there who was once an 8 year old, or has an 8 year old at home, this post is for you because it is a walk down memory lane!

 

 We had fun jump-roping for letter J week. 

Now sometimes, preschoolers aren't the most coordinated group. So instead of doing over the head jump roping, I just swung it back and forth and Anya jumped over it. The rope never got much higher than her knees.

We had fun singing jump rope songs . . . Cinderella, dressed in yella, went upstairs to kiss a fella . . . It was so much fun to try to remember the ones I used to sing in elementary school. Oh the memories!

We had fun counting how many times she could jump over the rope. 

Then we ended with the jump rope snake game. Put the rope on the ground and wiggle it like a snake and try to jump over it without it touching you. 

If you are a solo act (like me) without someone to hold the other end of the rope, just tie it to a table leg and then you only need one person to turn the rope.

Hat Pictograph

 We made these hat pictographs to tell a little bit about ourselves. Each hat was colored in a special way to tell about the person who colored it.

The hat color is their favorite color.
The number of sequins is how old they are.
The pom pom tells their gender.
The bottom part of the hat is colored in a certain pattern to tell about their favorite food.
For a free printable of this paper, go here.

I don't know if you noticed, but our picture is being held up by our fun airplane art holder.

Shape Snowman and 3-D Snow Paint

 We practiced our shape names and used those shapes to make a snowman. Then we used some "snow" paint to give our picture a 3-D effect. 

Creating the snowman is pretty self explanatory  - shapes (3 circles, 4 ovals, triangle, square, rectangle, & scarf shape), buttons, googly eyes. 

To make the 3-D "snow" paint, mix equal parts of shaving cream and white glue. We used cotton balls to apply it so it was kind of bumpy, you can also use a paintbrush