E is for Emotions!

E is for emotions! We read this amazing book about emotions, Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods that Make My Day by Jamie Lee Curtis. We talked about different emotions that we can feel. 

We discussed how our emotions are normal and it is okay to feel different ways. We talked about how sometimes we feel frustrated or angry and that is okay as long as we express our feelings in an appropriate way.

For our activity we made emotion balls. They are pretty much stress balls, but hopefully our little preschoolers aren't feeling too much stress so we changed it to be an emotion ball. When they are feeling overly excited and need to calm down or when they are feeling angry or when they are feeling worried, they can take their ball and squeeze it. 

Each child drew a face on theirs using a permanent marker to make it more fun. The faces do rub off as they are handled, but that's okay because it just means we can have fun and keep drawing all different kinds of faces on our ball. 

 To make one, you put play dough into a balloon and tie it in a knot. This is a great way to use up play dough that is getting a little dry and old. Then use permanent markers to draw on a face. 

Sand Art

Colored sand and contact paper make a great, easy art project for young ones. 

Here's What You Need:

• Salt shakers
• Contact paper (clear)
• Card stock paper
• Colored sand
• Masking tape

Here's What You Do:

1. Put the sand into the salt shaker and cover half of the holes to slow the pour.
2. Cut the contact paper a little bit smaller than your card stock paper.
3. Cut the middle out of a card stock leaving a 1 1/2 inch border.
4. Take the backing off of the contact paper and place it sticky side up on the table. 
5. Position the border of card stock over the contact paper and press down.
6. (If you need to store the frames before you use them, put the wax part back onto the sticky part.) 
7. Shake the colored sand over the sticky part to create your picture.