Preschool: O is for Octopus

I am a little behind on my preschool blogging. And my cooking blogging. And just blogging in general. Life has been a little uncooperative lately. Shame on it. ;) Sometimes that happens and sometimes we just have to deal. :)

But, no fear! I am back! :) And I am super excited to share this super cute octopus craft with you! I came up with this idea a few years ago after seeing octopuses (and yes, that is the correct plural form according to Mr. Webster, see my rant about that here, as well as some other great 'Under the Sea' play ideas.)  made out of TP tubes. I knew that my kiddos wouldn't be able to cut those apart. So I made a template and copied it onto construction paper, which they can handle chopping through. To access my free printable, click here. If you want to make your own, it is fairly simple. Here is a screen shot of my PDF. You will want your paper to be set to landscape. Then make 8 vertical lines that go a little over halfway up the page. This will create 9 strips after the kiddos cut them. But don't worry, you will overlap the ones on the ends and staple them together, thus creating 8 tentacles. :) 

(You will see what I mean.)

So print it out on colored paper, or copy onto construction paper ( I usually cut my 9x12 construction paper down to 8.5x11 before running it through the copier. Running through the bypass always seems to jam the copier up, so my co-worker, Jan, told me that she cuts her paper down and sends it through the regular paper tray. Works like a charm! Wish I had known that sooner. Like 4 years ago sooner!)

The kiddos cut the lines, then added wiggly eyes and reinforcement labels (the kind you use to protect your paper hole punch outs.) as "suckers". Technically the suckers are on the wrong side, but who cares? This craft is just so darn cute. :) 

I then staple the octopuses together by overlapping the 2 end strips and stapling at the top and bottom. 

When we head to circle time, I use an Octopus Fact Sheet that I created to teach the kiddos some things about our mysterious ocean friends. The students really love it, and actually pick up on a whole lot of facts. I usually "quiz" them on it at Closing Circle or Circle Time the next day. :) I am always surprised at how much they remember. :) 

Print the free PDF of my Fact sheet here. :)

(Here is a screen shot of the printable to give you an idea)

It is a really fun and educational project. It hits the fine motor with the peeling and sticking the labels and maintaining correct scissor grip. This would make a great summer project to do with your kiddos, so pin it to your "Summer Fun" board! ;)