W is for . . .

. . . whales

(Painted egg carton cup, white & blue pipe cleaners, paper tail, googly eyes)

. . . watercolors

. . . worms 

(chocolate pudding for mud, crushed oreos for dirt, and gummy worms)

O is for . . .

So I am a little behind on these posts and I need to pick up the pace a little bit. I have a goal to do two letters a week until I catch up. Wish me luck! :) 

The tricky part about that is some of these posts are going to be a little long.

 But let me tell you, this one is worth it. We did one of the coolest looking art projects we've ever done, and the big thing is that the kids did the work. Sometimes we do cool stuff, but I end up helping with part of it. For this one, I really didn't do much to help and they ended up looking awesome. You'll see as you scroll down. Trust me, it's awesome with color and texture so read on. 

O is for . . .

. . . orange olive paintings in the shape of an o.

 . . .octopus math. Click here. for a free printable. 

(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.) 

 . . . ocean art. 

I saw a tutorial for using salt to give a paper a batik fabric feel. When I looked up the tutorial it called for water color paper and liquid water colors. More power to this family for making authentic art, but we are construction paper and tempra paint kind of people over here. (Shhh, but water color paper and liquid water colors are kind of expensive to use for a preschool craft!) So I decided to try it the hard core preschool way - with construction paper and tempra paint. :) The extra cool thing about this way of painting is that each picture ends up really cool in color and texture and each one is really unique. I don't usually take pictures of every child's work, but I did in this case because they were all so cool. Check them out. 

  

Want to make your own? 

Here's What You Need:

• paper (we used construction paper, but you could also try card stock you just might have to get it a little more wet)
• tempra paint)
• water
• pipettes or droppers
• fish cut outs
• salt

Here's What We Did

1. Use a paint brush to paint your paper all over with water. Get it wet enough that it can absorb and spread colors dropped on it. 
2. Water down tempra paint in the colors you want to use. We did green, blue, and teal to give our pictures an oceany feel. 
3. Use pipettes to drop colors on the wet paper. 
4. 
5. Swirl the colors around on the paper so it covers all the white with your fingers or a brush or by tipping the paper back and forth. 
6. Blot off any excess paint with another piece of paper. 
7. Sprinkle salt over your painting and let dry. 
8. After it has dried, add cut out fish to your ocean landscape.

Pretty cool huh? 

J is for Jellyfish

Did you know that a group of jellyfish is called a smack? We learned that in the book we read during letter j week. I don't know why, but that makes me smile. A smack of jellyfish. :) It just sounds silly. 

We had a lot of fun singing a jellyfish song during letter J week.  I apologize to the parents if they had to listen to the jellyfish song constantly because I sure heard it a lot during class, even when it wasn't singing time. :) Have you ever sung the camp song A Tooty Ta?

It has become quite a favorite in our classroom with one slight change. Instead of singing "a tooty ta", we sing "a jellyfish" while making our fingers undulate like a jellyfish. Can I just interject for a second how much I love Dr. Jean? This is her preschool version of "A Tooty Ta". She makes a lot of fun preschool cds that are definitely worth a listen. We sing with her a lot in our class. 

Anyway, jellyfish . . .

We made these jellyfish like the ones we made here. This year, I spray painted them ahead of time instead of trying to paint on plastic with non-washable paints with preschoolers. Last time, I was so paranoid that the kids were going to get paint on their clothes, it took some of the fun out of the project. 

  

Each of the kids started with 3 different colors of ribbons and we worked on making an A, B, C pattern on our pieces of tape for the jellyfish tentacles. I was so excited and impressed with how well the kids made their patterns with very little help. It is so exciting to see their progress throughout the year. For a detailed instruction of how to make a jellyfish, please go here. 

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.

J is for Jellyfish

 Here is an easy and fun jellyfish craft to make. The only tricky part about this is that you have to use acrylic paint instead of washable paint. When I figured this out, I debated whether I wanted to even do it or not. Non-washable paint with preschoolers, I don't know about that. As you can see I decided to do it anyway. We did the painting in small groups and I watched them very carefully so we didn't have any accidents. I loved how they turned out and it was fun to see the kids play with them when we were all done.

Hey, bonus points to anyone who can tell me what the long hanging things on the jellyfish are called.

Here's What You Need:

• small, plastic fruit or applesauce cups
• blue curling ribbon
• blue rick-rack ribbon
• clear tape & masking tape
• yarn & needle
• blue acrylic paint
• sharp nail & hammer

Here's What You Do:

1. Paint the plastic cups on the outside with the acrylic paint. (Washable doesn't work on the plastic surface.)
2. While it is drying, work on the tentacles? (I don't know what they're called.) Measure around the inside of your cup and cut a piece of clear tape a little bigger than that length. Put the piece of tape sticky side up on your work surface. Hold the tape down with masking tape. Put your ribbons in a pattern along the tape. 
3. (Now here is where you realize what a nut I am when it comes to making things just the way I want it. I actually used a straightening iron, you know the kind you use for your hair, to make the ribbons less curly.) 
4.  Peel the masking tape off of the ends of the tape. Pick up the whole strip of tape and ribbon together. Tape the ribbons into the inside of your painted cup. You kind of have to bend it a little to work it around in a circle, but just make sure to really press down hard to stick the tape to the plastic.
5. Use the nail and hammer to poke a hole in the top of the cup.
6. Thread your needle with the yarn and poke it through the cup. Tie a knot on both ends to hang up your jellyfish. 

O is for . . .

. . . orange! We followed the same pattern as we did here to study the color orange. We mixed paint, food coloring, playdough and colored plastic. Then we used our orange paint to make some o paintings. 

 . . . olives! We used olives to make letter O paintings with orange paint. It was fun because we talked about olives before we painted with them and I let the kids try them. Of course, we put them on our fingers. I was surprised because some of the kids said they didn't like them and that is the first time I have ever met a kid who doesn't like olives. Last year we used Cheerios and I can't decide which I like better. The olives make bigger, better o's but they get squished easily.

 

. . .opposites! This year we played memory with the matches from the opposite folders from last year. After we played memory, I made the folders with my younger kids. I think it really helped them grasp the concept better.

. . . octopus! 

 

To make them, snap 2 linguine noodles in half. Slide the hotdog onto the four noodles so that it's half way on the noodles before the noodles are cooked. Cook the noodles while still on the hot dog. Add a face and enjoy!