Spiders!

Here's another one of my favorite Halloween / Bug crafts!
I like to read a book about spiders before we make the craft and sometimes we do a writing piece to go along with our spider!

First, here is what you need:

Directions:
1. Trace the spider stencil onto the paper plate and cut it out.
2.  Tape the spider cut out onto a tray. Have your child paint the spider black.

3.  Have your child glue on googly eyes and cotton balls.
4.  Add string and hang it up!

Depending on the group of students that I am working with, I sometimes add a writing component with it. 

Halloween Bats!

I love Halloween and all the costumes, treats, decorations, and crafts that come with it! So... of course at our house we make lots of fun Halloween crafts.  One of my favorites is this bat!  Here is how you make it!!!




First, this is what you need:

Directions:
1.  Cut or have your child cut a moon shape from the yellow construction paper.Glue it on the large blue piece of paper.
2. Trace or have your child trace two circles using the circle stencil (To make the stencil, I just used a file folder) onto black paper using a white crayon. Cut both circles out.

3. Cut or have your child cut one of the black circles in half using a zig-zag fashion.

4. Glue the black circle on the blue paper for the bat's body.  Glue the cut circle on the bat's body for the wings.  
5.  Cut two triangles from black paper and glue them on the bat's body for ears.
6. Stick on two hole reinforces for eyes.

Miss L wanted to add lots of legs to her bat!!!
Happy Halloween!

Ocean!

Ocean!

Usually during the summer, we try get outside and play.  I try not to plan too much so we can enjoy the weather.  But we did have a week this summer where the girls were both sick.  So, to keep them occupied at home, we learned about oceans!  Miss O also won a goldfish at the county fair the week before and said we should learn about fish so here it is!!

Ocean Play

I filled two baking dishes with water and added a few squirts of blue food coloring.  Then I covered the table with old towels. I set out different ocean bath toys that we had...whales, sharks, sea horses, fish, etc.  I also gave them colored rocks that I found at the dollar store, nets from the game "Elefun" and a basket of real seashells.  We also had some boats and I gave them water squirters so they could "make it rain" in the ocean!  They had a blast for at least 45 minutes!

Ocean Animal Creatures

Next we read books about different ocean animals.  Then we made a jelly fish and sea horse.  I cut out a shape of a jellyfish and seahorse out of colored paper.  The girls added googly eyes, circle stickers and then colored a bit on the sea animals.  For the sea horse, the girls practiced their scissor skills and made little cuts along the sea horses back.  Then they helped add ribbons to the jelly fish.

Flower Sensory Table

 Despite the gloomy weather we've been having outside, inside our house it looks like spring!  We love our sensory table for the month of April....flowers!!!  Here is what I included this year...fake flowers, vases and baskets, colored rocks, tweezers, green florist foam, felt flowers, a simple poster about flower parts and a flower matching game (not pictured).  The girls are having a great time filling the baskets and vases with rocks and then making "bouquets" to give to people (or dogs)...Dixie has received many beautiful flower baskets in the last few days!!!  Next, we are thinking about visiting our local florist shop to watch real workers in action!!!  More to come about that soon!

Candy Cane Day!

This week has been candy cane week at our house!  Here are a few things we've done with candy canes:

Game
"Santa Mouse" hid candy canes all around the house for us to find!

Pretend Play on the Felt Board
 I cut candy cane shapes out of white felt and then stripes out of several different colors for the girls to make their own candy canes on the felt board!

Science
The girls poured water in a plastic cup then I gave them each a candy cane.  I had them stir and dip the candy cane in the water.  We even tried smelling and taste testing them!  After a few minutes, we noticed that the red stripes were coming off and the candy cane was almost white!  We put the cups in the middle of the table so we could work on our art craft (see below).

Miss M pouring the water into her cup.

Miss L stirring her candy cane in the water

Art
I had the girls put several candy canes into a plastic bag.  Then I gave them a plastic hammer from our pretend tool set.  I told them to hammer the candy canes into little pieces so we could have "candy cane glitter"!  I had to help them crushed them up more using a real hammer.

I had already cut a candy cane shape from white tag board.  I also added some blue painter's tape for the candy cane stripes.  The girls helped me add more painter's tape.

 Then I gave them red tempera paint mixed with white glue.  They painted the white parts of the candy cane red.

  Then we sprinkled our "candy cane glitter" on the paint.  It smelled so good!  Then we pulled the painter's tape off.  They were amazed by this part!  I think they turned out great!

Ok...then this is the best part.  They went back to the science experiment to discover that all the red stripes were off the candy cane.  They decided to paint the candy cane with their red paint to "put the red stripes back on"!!!

Gobble, Gobble!

Who's ready for Turkey Day? We are!  Here are a few fun turkey things we have been working on...

3-D Turkeys!

I cut a paper plate in half and glued a toilet paper tube in the middle of the cut plate.  The girls used orange, yellow, red and brown paint to decorate the turkey.  Then I helped them glue on eyes and a beak.  I helped them put the letters of their name in order and glued them on the back of the plate. Good practice for letter recognition!

Painting our 3-D turkeys!

Sticky Feather Turkey!

I taped clear contact paper (sticky side facing us) to our sliding door.  Then I added a large turkey cut out that I made from construction paper.  I gave the girls a tray full of craft feathers and told them that the turkey was cold and needed feathers!!!  They loved covering him up and telling me what color feathers they were using!

Turkey Sun Catchers

I cut a turkey shape out of a large piece of brown construction paper and attached it to clear contact paper.  Then the girls used orange, red and yellow squares of tissue paper to decorate the turkey's feathers.  Then we flipped it over and glued on eyes and a beak.  

Pumpkins and Storybooks Baby Shower Theme

My amazing sister and her wonderful husband are having a baby! (Just one....so they're told!  I'm the only lucky one in this generation of family members to be blessed with twins... I guess!)  My mom and I gave my sister a baby shower this past October with a Pumpkin and Storybook theme! It turned out so cute, I had to share!
Here was my inspiration....http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/storybook-baby-shower/

Here is my beautiful sister next to the main table filled storybooks and an appetizer that goes with each book!

Being a Kindergarten teacher in a previous life, I luckily had many of these books that I could put on display.  I just so happen to have the mouse stuffed animal that goes with "If you give a mouse a cookie".  Our Grandma made chocolate chip cookies to go along with this book.  

I found the cute label stickers for the appetizer signs at the dollar story and just cut a slit in mini pumpkins and gourds as holders.  

My friend Sara, donated a copy of "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" to go with the Honey Balsamic Meatballs.  We also had a large collection of "old" books.  Notice the "The Little Engine Who Could" in the picture...it was our Dad's when he was little!

My sister and I loved reading the story "Blueberries for Sal" when were up north at our cabin so my Grandma made blueberry muffins to go with that story.

Not pictured: Fruit Kabobs to go with "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".

We even had book worms that we put in pots filled with crushed Oreo cookies.

Here are the Month-by-Month oneies my sister can use to take pictures of baby in!  We used them to decorate outside!