Preschool: Grape Scented Grapes!

I used:
-purple paint
-sponge
-wine cork
-an empty spice container
-grape Kool-Aid
-brown and green crayons or markers
-white paper (thicker is better)

Important things to know:
~Mixing Kool-Aid powder with paint will result in a gritty, bubbly mess. Don't ask me how I know. :)  Sprinkling it on afterward will give you the best results.

I poured purple paint into a craft cup. Then had the kids dip the cork into the purple paint then onto the sponge to remove excess paint before using it on the paper. This is important because if you use too much paint the Kool-Aid will absorb into the paint and do weird things.  ;)
Sprinkle a very small amount of the Kool-Aid powder via the spice container onto the grapes when finished. It only takes a little. It smells so yummy!

Preschool: W is for Whale in the Water

Love this little craft! It can be adapted to suit kiddos of all different ages.
 Since I have 3 and 4 year olds and we were completing this as a group, I cut out the whales for the kiddos and had them ready.  Older kiddos could certainly cut out their whales themselves.

I used this whale temple and traced them onto light gray paper.

I gave each child a half sheet of light blue construction paper, one pre-cut whale, and one third of sheet of dark blue construction paper programmed with curved line to represent waves/water.

Each student started by cutting out the "waves" and gluing them to the bottom of the light blue sheet of construction paper. Then they glued the whale to the waves. Next we added an eye and mouth and I helped them draw a  "W" in glue to represent the water shooting out of the blowhole. The last step was sprinkling blue glitter onto the "W". And there you have it! A "Whaley" cute craft! ;)

Preschool: Handprint Pumpkin Patch

For a simple little Fall fun, throw together this simple craft.

Grab:
Paper plates
Orange, green and brown paint and paint brushes
Small squares of white paper (I used card stock)

Have kiddos paint the plates orange. Help them paint their hands green all but one finger. Paint the remaining finger brown for the stem. Press onto the white paper. Cut out the handprint and staple to the top of the pumpkin plate. Viola! I hung some green yarn between to look like vines, but will use green curling ribbon in the future.

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! ;)

How To Get Your Child to Eat Veggies! (and other good-for-them things.)

I had a overwhelming amount of parents call me a miracle worker this week. 

Yes, it is true. I have a superpower. I can make your child eat their veggies! And they will like them!

****GASP!!****

"It can't be true! My child? Eating Vegetables?"

 *insert more dramatic gasps here* 

Ahh, but it is true. Not only did they eat them, they quite enjoyed them. 

You too can possess this amazing superpower! Let me teach you the secret. 

Are you ready? 

Here you go:

Let your child help in the kitchen. 

TADA! 

Don't over think it. Don't worry about a mess. (Most of us have many unnecessary messes that we clean up each day... might as well make memorable, educational messes, right?) Just provide them with the correct tools and some quick kitchen safety rules like:

 Only use things in the kitchen like knives, stoves, microwaves, peelers, etc when Mommy, Daddy or another adult is helping you. It is unsafe for kiddos to work in the kitchen alone.

Use the moments as teachable moments. Talk about kitchen tools and what they are used for.

Talk about kitchen safety. (umm... like, don't lick the cake batter bowl because raw eggs can make you sick. Parents be good examples.) ;)

Talk about the science behind things. 

Teach vocab words like: Boil, Bake, Fry, etc.

Okay, now here is the fun part. Let them dig in and learn by doing. I cannot tell you how important this is. Hands on learning by doing. So important. 

It develops:

 Cognitive skills like critical thinking and problem solving.

Science skills (solids to liquids, chemical reactions)

Fine and gross motor skills (stirring, pouring, cutting, mixing)

Math skills (measuring, counting, timing)

Learning to follow directions and trial and error.

And a love for being in the kitchen! 

Every preschool day in the month of March, my classes get to help complete a kitchen project. This week we made homemade bread ( I forgot my camera) but they measured, mixed, poured and the most fun part: kneeded the bread! Oh my were they a mess and did they have a great time! They loved, loved, loved it!

We also had a fresh veggie day. Several students were assigned to bring in particular veggies including, green bell pepper, colored bell pepper (orange, red or yellow), celery, heads of cauliflower and broccoli, cucumbers, and baby carrots. 

I set the tables up with trays for the kids to use, cutting boards, safety knives ( I got them from Pampered Chef), and tubs of water for washing the veggies. 

We read "Muncha, Muncha, Muncha" by Candice Flemming.

Then we talked about why eating veggies is important, how to prepare them, why we need to wash them, what veggies we were using and kitchen safety. 

Then I unleashed the little kiddos to get to business. (Aren't their aprons adorable?)

They cut and they cut and they washed and swished. 

We even mixed up some ranch dip with an 8 ounce container of sour cream and a packet of ranch seasoning.

We organized the veggies onto trays and decided to let the kiddos serve themselves snack for the first time ever. :)

I asked them to try one piece of each veggie. I also allowed them more than one helping. At first I had a lot of, " I don't like peppers." But after asking them to take a, "Thank You Bite" ( I will explain more  about that at the end of the post.) they agreed. I soon heard a chorus of kiddos exclaiming how much they actually LIKED peppers... and broccoli, and carrots, and celery and all the other veggies we had. Not one child (out of about 25) complained. Not one missed out on snack. Most had 3 and 4 helpings.  A huge success! A happy teacher! A classroom full of happy kiddos!

So let the kiddos help in the kitchen. Don't underestimate them. Be patient with them. 

It will stretch you and grow them.

A little note on "Thank You Bites"

My cousin-in-law, Lynnanne told me about these little gems. 

Have the child take one bite of whatever is in front of them to say, "Thank you" to the person who brought or prepared it. If the kids find that they like it... YAY. If not, they are allowed to throw it out. It works like a charm. No pressure. And it teaches them to be polite. I have had several parents use this at home as well. I get several emails each year thanking me for this little trick! Hope it helps you as well!

Preschool: J is for Jellyfish

I love, love, love this craft! I have the kiddos complete it during Table Time, which can get a little iffy because it does take some direction. But I have learned some tricks to make it go smoothly. I was inspired by some craft that I saw on the net long before I knew what a blog was and when pinterest did not exist. (So sorry for no shout out.)  The original idea used cupcake liners and they colored them with markers. I did that one year, but found that coffee filters worked a lot better for me and the blotters made the little jellies come alive! :)

Grab:

Blue construction paper (1 sheet per child)

Coffee filter, folded or cut in half (1 for each child)

Wiggly eyes ( I love the self adhesive ones!)

Bingo Blotters or dot painters

Double sided tape (Trust me, this works better than glue for this project)

Yarn (several strands for each kiddo).

Go:

I prepped the paper by sticking a 4-5inch piece of double stick tape to the middle of each paper. 

When kiddos came in, they stuck the yarn onto the tape, then placed the coffee filter on top. 

They decorated with bingo blotters/dot painters.

Lastly added wiggly eyes!

I love these litte Jellies! :) :) :) 

Preschool: Forest Life Discovery Box

Little boys are hard to shop for. And it does not get much easier as they turn into men. I never know what to buy my husband. I usually end up getting him socks and t-shirts. Yeah, I am so fun. :( But this year I hit it out of the park. It was kinda a make-up-for-all-the-crappy-gifts kind of present. He got a iPad. It is awesome. And I am officially the best wife ever! So that should cover me for the next few years of birthdays, anniversaries and Christmases right?

Back to gifts for little boys...
 Kristy and Kaleb are some of our best friends. Their little boy turned 4. I met him a few days after he was born. Perfect, he was, of course. ( Wow, that sounded like Yoda.) We celebrated his birthday this weekend. He had a special magic show from Uncle Bean. It was awesome. A huge Balloon octopus, balloon hats, tricks and laughs! You should click his name and check out his website. If you live in the PA, MD WV,VA area... book him! He even has a family variety show that he and his buddy, Jon do. Check out the link to Haywire on his site. Seriously! And I am not just saying all this because he is MY uncle. Or because I gave him the name Uncle Bean. ( He is my uncle and I did give him the name... but I would totally say all that stuff even if I didn't know him!) Funny and family friendly! :) So click the link people. Ok, plug over.

So food, fun, magic, family and presents! But what to get this kid? Well I made him a discovery box/Sensory box. Kids LOVE these. It borders the concept of a rice table. I promise you, at school, these are always a hit!

Here is how I made it:

I purchased A Safari North American Wildlife Toob of tiny toys from Michaels with a 40% off coupon. I also bought there Tree toob. With the coupon, it made them less than 5 bucks a toob! You can also purchase them from Amazon, but they are more pricey there.

I then bought 4 bags of dried green split peas at walmart for .78 a bag!!!

I grabbed a small bag of decorative rocks for about $2.00 at Michael's as well as a packet of water beads. These are awesome! They are super tiny. You put them in water and in a few hours they grow! They are the blue "lake" in my discovery box. They were also $2.00 and I got TONS! 

Lastly, I got a green storage bin with a lid at walmart for about 5 bucks.

The big smooth rocks are from around my pool and deck. :) I stole two! :) 

Then, just put it together! 

The kids love playing in the peas, feeling them, scooping them, occasionally dumping them on the floor.  *Messy kids are happy kids* :) 

I put the enlarged water beads (or water gems) in a small Ziploc container that has a lid. You can snap the lid on after playing is done to keep them from spilling or drying out. 

 I just love that little river otter! 

My bear caught a fish!

 Some stickers and a bow finish it up! 

The possibilities are endless! :)