S is for . . .

. . . silly scissors

. . . shape bingo. I used the cards found at Preschool Mom. Thank you for the free printable!

. . . star connect the dots.

. . . sewing.

. . . skipping.

. . . strawberries.

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Man, this week was the week of cutting a million things out. Between my kid's Valentines Day cards, my daughter's science fair board, and cutting things out for preschool my Cricut earned it's keep this week! I sure am grateful for that handy little machine. My little man (who's two) loves helping me push the buttons and peel things off the mat. After this week, he knows which button makes it cut and which unloads the paper because we cut so many things! At least my helper is super cute. :)This is my cute helper and his handsome daddy trying out a backpack before a camping trip. (Brandon wasn't going on the trip, my husband was just testing to see how it felt with the weight in it.)

Anyway, I digress. . . Valentine's day preschool stuff. Here are a few of the projects we did for Valentine's Day.

Heart Wreath

We used a paper plate and different sized paper hearts to decorate it. We added a ribbon with a stapler to hang it from before we glued the hearts on. 

Love Bug Valentine Holders

We slightly altered the love bug this year. We used a paper plate and half plate stapled together to make a pocket. We used Valentine stickers to decorate the pocket. 

We cut a 4 inch circle for the head and added heart antennae, googly eyes and drew on a mouth. We used velum scrapbook paper for the wings instead of tissue paper. And we left off putting on the legs. It gave it a cleaner look and made things a little more simple to make. This does have a lot of steps so make sure you plan enough time to make it. We broke it up and did part, then read stories or did other things then came back to finish.   

Shark Valentines! 

We didn't do this in class, but I had such a blast making and playing with these sharks, that I had to post it! These were the Valentines that my cute little helper, from above made to give to friends. Since he's so young, I made them for him and I kind of had a blast. They are attached to a clothes pin so you can make them talk. Am I a huge nerd that I spent the whole night last night using these sharks to say goofy things to my husband while we watched American Idol? They are pretty much my new favorite thing. 

Here's What you Do:

Print the template from Family Fun and cut each side. (It's linked below)

Trace onto card stock and cut out as many as needed. 

Add an eye. 

Glue half of the template to each side of a clothes pin. (We used a glue gun.) 

Bend one half slightly out so the halves don't hit each other as the clothespin opens and closes. 

Make your shark say something funny as you test it out!

I got the idea from family fun. The link is here and the template is under February 2015. Here's what their professional version looks like. :)

Happy Valentines Day!

Grocery Shopping with Kids

I don't know about you, but grocery shopping is not my favorite time of the week. I am in love with those car carts that hold multiple children - greatest idea ever! However, the store we frequent doesn't have them. :( Hence, our shopping trip success greatly depends on what kind of mood my preschooler is in since she usually walks next to the cart while my toddler rides.

So, to make things a little more smooth, I hired my own personal shopper. She's really cute and is about 3 feet tall and she likes to call me mom. 

I made a list of what we are going to buy and then we looked in the weekly ad for our store to find pictures of some of the items. My personal shopper cut out the pictures and glued them onto a paper. While we were shopping, she looked for the items we needed. Then she crossed them off when we put them in the cart. 

It was a win - win. We talked about numbers and letters while we shopped. She had fun looking on the shelves for the things we needed. My preschooler was more engaged and I was able to take something mundane and turn it into a game where we were playing together and she was learning. Plus she was focused on the things on her list instead of asking for the hundred other things she usually wants and asks for during the trip. Instead, I just asked her if it was on the list. When it wasn't, she was okay with that.  So the next time you have to go shopping with your kids, just hire your own personal shopper to help get the job done!

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

S is for Star

To start our study on outer space, we learned how to draw stars. I made five points on a black paper and labeled them a through e.

Before the kids connected the dots, I showed them how to draw a star  a bunch of times. We practiced saying which direction our hand should move with each line we made. Then, the kids each choose a chalk color to draw their own star with and they connected the dots and colored in their own star.

We sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and I taught the kids the star wishing rhyme: 

Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight.

I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.

We also made shooting stars that turned out to be a big hit with the kids. 

I was surprised at how much the kids loved them because they were so simple to make.

Here's What You Need:

• Sticky backed glitter foam paper (I found it in packs at Walmart)
• Dowels
• Gold ribbon

Here's What You Do:

1. Cut out two stars from the foam paper. My stars were 3.5 inches in diameter. (I ended up cutting the stars out for the kids because it was a challenge for my kids to cut it out by themselves.)
2. Cut 3 lengths of gold ribbon. Mine were 6 inches. 
3. Put the 3 ribbons on one side of the sticky foam. Put the dowel in the middle.
4. Sandwich the other star on top of the ribbon and dowel.

Shooting Space Ships

Coolest activity ever! We made space ships that actually shoot up into the air using plastic cups and rubber bands. 

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . .

Blast off!

Miranda was so patient with me because it took a lot of tries before I got a shot of her rocket in the air. So sorry for the funny faces, but as we say at our house, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." 

I sincerely, recommend you try this activity because it is so much fun. When I made them and tried them out the night before, I had fun playing with them too. : )

Here's the rocket outline I made for this activity. Feel free to use it if you want.

Here's What You Need:

• two plastic cups (they have to be the same size)
• two rubber bands (thin rubber bands don't work as well unless you use a drill)
• tape
• scissors or a drill (if you have one)
• rocket outlines
• crayons

Here's What You Do:

1. In one of the cups, cut 4 equally spaced slits on the top of the cup about a 1/2 inch long. Put a piece of tape at the top of the slit to prevent it from getting bigger. OR if you have a drill - Drill 4 small holes  equally spaced apart around the cup. This works much better because then the rubber bands don't slip out of the bottom.
2. Cut one of the rubber bands and slip it into two opposite slits. Tie a knot on each end. (It should be fairly tight.) Repeat with the other rubber band. (You can see what it looks like in the picture above of the rocket flying.)
3. Print out the rocket outlines. Color and cut out. 
4. Tape rocket outlines to the rubber band cup. Pull the rocket cup down over the other cup and let fly!

I got the idea from familyfun.go.com.

S is for . . .

. . . silly scissors!
Here's Trevor making a silly face while using our silly scissors.

. . . snow! I was so excited to find a snow machine that was in perfect condition at a garage sale this year. I wanted to do this last year, but couldn't. We read the book Clementine's Wardrobe by Kate Spohn

and talked about what kinds of clothes we wear in the snow.

Then we read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

and made our own snow.
 

. . . skipping. We read the book Ready, Set, Skip by Jane O'Connor

about a little girl who can do lots of things, but she just can't skip. Then we learned how to skip using a step, hop pattern.