December Fine Motor Fun!

Can you believe it is December already?!  After Thanksgiving, we dove right into holiday prep and lots of holiday activities.  This year my class seems to be weak in fine motor so I am trying to incorporate various activities each week to work on building up those little muscles.

Decorate a gingerbread man

My students love playdough!  An easy adaption to just using playdough is to have a cut out of a gingerbread man and challenge the students to make eyes, nose, mouth, buttons etc.  I love seeing what they come up with!

My original mats came from Unique learning systems last year, but I could not locate those this year.  So a quick fix was, I searched for gingerbread man and printed out a couple that I found on the internet.  I then laminated them for durability and to make cleanup easier.  You can also find some great free gingerbread house mats at PreKinders!

Making Ornaments

So this one is two-fold.  Work on fine motor and knock out a parent gift in one!  I found these cute felt ornaments at Hobby Lobby that also have a little picture frame.  We used glitter to decorate them a bit.  Instead of just shaking on the glitter, I gave each student a small pile of glitter.  They then needed to "pinch" and "sprinkle" to put the glitter on the glue. This went amazingly well with the 2 and 3 year old kiddos.

Cutting Practice

My 4/5 year old class needs major cutting help.  To help this we made presents with wrapping paper.  They each got a rectangle of white paper (we are also working on rectangles).  Next they needed to glue on wrapping paper, but first they had to cut the wrapping paper into rectangles.  Each student was given 3 strips to cut into 4 or 5 pieces.  They then used a glue sponge to glue down the pieces.

I hope this gives you a few fun ideas to help you through this busy time of year!!

Number practice with spider webs

Looking  for a fun way to practice numbers and fine motor skills while incorporating spiders?  We made this awesome spider web to do just that!

I used number dot stamps and put numbers 0 -9 in random order around a paper plate.  The students traced the numbers with a smelly marker ( using smelly markers makes the activity jump up in the level of fun) as we counted from 0 - 9.

 Next, we used hole punches (I like using this brand because they are easier for the kids to use) and the kids each punched a hole for each number.



Then we laced a piece of yarn through the 0 and taped it to the back of the plate.  We then laced through the numbers in order from 0 -9.  All of the webs looked different because I put the numbers in a different order on each plate.  After we were done, we left the sting long and hooked the spiders we made the day before to the bottom (I, of course, did not take a picture of the all of it put together).

The kids loved this activity and it gave us a lot of practice on fine motor skills, number recognition, tracing and following directions.  One suggestion I will make is that the yarn needs to be a lot longer then you would think.  I made it to short and had to tie on extra for all of the kids.

Making snow!

We do not get a lot of snow here in our little corner of Virgina so I decided to make snow with my kiddos to play with.  I had never done this before and am super excited how awesome it came out.  It was even cold!!! I was able to send each student home with a little baggie of it to show to their parents.  I made sure to include a note so the parent knew what we were up to!

Make your own snow!

Here is what you need to get started: baking soda, white shaving cream, and something to mix in (or just the table top)

To make this all we did was mix baking soda and shaving cream.  I didn't measure it, I just squirted out some shaving cream on the table.  I then add baking soda.  I kept mixing and adding until the consistency was that I could mold it. It kind of felt like playdough. 

The kids had no problem digging and getting dirty.  We were able to roll to make a tiny snowman. You could also make a container of it and hide letters in it for a sensory hide and seek. 

In case your are wondering, eventually when left out it dries us and turns into a powder.  It took about 24 hours for this to happen.  I am not sure if you left it in a closed container how long it would last. 

Clothes Pin Color Match Work Task

I was working on another literacy box similar to the ones I made when I developed the pirate hand puppet and the pirate rhyming  and made this activity to go with it.  The box I was working on was focusing on Planes and Trains with a particular focus on color words.  I dug out some of my kids Popsicle sticks (I couldn't find the colored one!  They are buried in a box somewhere.) and used  markers to color one of each.  I then made another stick that had the same color words on them.  I used the small clothespins that I found at A.C. Moore and colored three for each color.

  

I had both my 3 year old and my 6 year old try it out.  The loved it and both were able to complete the task.  This task works on fine motor skills, matching, and reading color words.  You could differentiate a bit more by using larger clothes pins and Popsicle sticks. 

Ladybug craft & Happy Summer!!!

Hi Everyone!!!  I am not lost.... just been a bit crazy around here.  My husband and I decided to buy our first home.  Yay!!! That has been stressful, but exciting at the same time. I also have been continuing to work on my Master's degree.







Then at the end of April some not nice person (I will not use the words I want to use as sensitive eyes may be reading) had the odasity to  drive into our school parking lot in the middle of the afternoon and break out my car window to steal my purse.  This person then when to Walmart and spent close to $1,000 on my debit card.  It took a week to get the window fixed and all of the financial stuff was just a huge hassle.




















   
In spite of the whole window fiasco and other stresses, my students and I ended the year with lots of fun.  We did a unit on bugs and my 2 year old group (Who are now all 3!) made ladybugs out of paper plates.  We took this opportunity to talk about circles (plate, eyes, dots, head), colors (red & black) and work fine motor skills (peeling the stickers to put on the dots, using the hole punch, & adding the legs and antennas).  I just love the way they came out! To make the bugs, we used:

• small red paper plates
•  black circle stickers
•  black pipe cleaners
• google eyes
• circle made out of contruction paper (We used a die cut to make the circle)

I have a lot more to share from this school year that I have not had the opportunity to write about.  Is there anything specific that you would like to hear about from my classroom?

Ocean activities!

 One unit we in in my preschool class at the end of the year was a water unit. We spent some time focusing on the ocean since we live so close to the water. While I was out for a meeting I had the students work with the substitute to make jelly fish. I just love the way they came out. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the process, but I do have a picture of the final product. To make them we simply cut a paper plate in half and colored half. Next the students counted out 10 tentacles from crepe paper. The students then glued the tentacles on. I retrospect I probably would have had the kids cut the plates themselves and use a stapler to add the tentacles. That way we could add some extra fine motor practice in.

 Also as part of our ocean studies we looked at seashells. I put them on a teacher's cafeteria tray (Shhh!! Don't tell!)and the kids used oversized magnifying glasses to explore them. This activity was a HIT! I left it out for a few the remainder of the week so that they could continue to explore during free time.

 Another activity we did that the kids really enjoyed was pretend to be turtles. We did this by crawling around on all fours while having a "shell" balanced on our backs. Our check was a carpet sample that I use to make places to sit in the class room.

Coffee Filter Butterflies

We are knee deep in our insect unit.  Last week we made coffee filter butterflies and they came out super cute.  The best part is that they are an easy, fun craft that works on fine motor skills,

To make these cute butterflies you will need a coffee filter, washable markers, black pipe cleaners (really any color will work) and a spray bottle and water.  We also had a tray (old cafeteria trays) to put our coffee filters on to contain the water.

First the students colored on the filters with the markers.  I stressed to them just to use different colors and not worry about drawing specific designs.  That was so hard foursome of them!  After they finished decorating I used a permanent marker to write their names on the filter.  Next we put it on the tray and the kids used the spray bottle to wet it download. We then left our butterflies to dry,the next day, I took a black pipecleaners, bundled up the coffee filter in the middle and hooked the pipe cleaner around them.  These butterflies were the perfect addition to our window and hopefully will help spring show up!  

Golf ball painting: Making Valentine's Day Cards

My class is participating in a Valentine Exchange with classes from around the United States and Austraila. I was trying to find a way to make 25 Valentines with a class of 6 students and decided Golf Ball painting would be so much fun!

It is really super easy.  We use box tops from from cases of paper and add whatever it is we are painting(in this case it was hearts).  We then add two golf balls and some paint.  The kids maneuver the box top to roll around the goofballs and paint the paper.  The design is so neat because it has a textured look.  

Only thing to watch for is flailing hands as we had some hit a box just right and paint covered golf balls went flying through the air.

You can find  Valentine Freebies here!

Dinosaur unit (Freebie!!)

We did so many cool things during our dinosaur unit!  The kids really loved reading  all of the dinosaur books,  playing with plastic dinosaurs in the block area, walking like dinosaurs, and learning our dinosaur song.  We used this dinosaur song to practice pointing to words, identifying our letters (we circled them with a dry erase marker) and to introduce a craft we did with a baby dinosaur hatching out of an egg.  

I had the egg project from a few years ago , but it was hand drawn.  I decided to redraw it (Yes, I drew it all by myself!!! That is so exciting to me!!) on the computer. My kids loved singing the song that goes to the tune of "I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee".  One of my students has never been a tracker or reader (just not there developmentally yet) and he jumped right in with the song and was the best at tracking.  I could have been more proud!


Since I took all of the time to create this craftivity, I though it would be a great thing to share!  So here you go!  Click on the picture or here to download this craftivity for free!!  I would love to know if you have any cool activities that you do for a dinosaur unit.

I am linking this post up over at Teaching Blog Addict's Freebie Friday!!

Alphabet review

B received these neat Melissa and Doug flash cards for Christmas and I just had to share them!  They are called Melissa & Doug Water Wow Activity Book - Alphabet  After looking at Amazon, I realized there a bunch of them and right now they are an add one (in other words cheap if you are buying something else).
There are Numbers, Animals, and Vehicles in addition to the alphabet cards.

The cards come with a ring to store them on and a little case for the water pen that also hooks to the ring.  To use the cards you fill the pen with water and "paint" on the cards to reveal the picture and trace the letter.  When the card dries you can do it again!  I think this would be a great activity to use in preschool or with K-2 kids to review their alphabet.  Once B outgrows these flash cards they will definitely be moving to my classroom.

Harvest Hoedown

A preschool tradition has always been the annual Harvest Hoedown.  My partner in crime (aka the other preschool teacher)  and I decided that we would continue this tradition this year.  We went for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving because we were not starting a new unit due to the short week and we just thought it would be a fun stress free activity for the kids and parents to enjoy,

We had 9 stations set up.  The parents and kids were able to go to each station at their own pace.  We circulated and helped wherever needed.  The paras worked with the kids who did not have parents there.  The kids all started by readings book in my classroom ('Twas the night before Thanksgiving) and then went very the the other room for snack (our rooms are connected by the bathroom).  After snack they started stations.

We had pumpkin seed planting.

Corn Shucking (which was really getting corn off the cob).  This was a favorite as the kernels kept flying all over!

Fall I Spy (There was a poster that had pictures of all the things they needed to find.  This was a great sensory experience for some of my kiddos)

Turkey Cutting (These two handsome men are my husband and 4 year old son)

Fall Noodle Necklaces

T-shirt sponge painting 

Fall Investigate (The kids used magnifying glasses to check out leaves, sticks, etc)

We also had a play dough station and a coloring station.  I really was amazed at how smoothly everything went.  Our next "event" is the Christmas musical.  Do you do anything special in your classroom to invite the parents in?

There was an Old Lady who swallowed some leaves

I love all of the Little Old Lady books.  Back in October we read
 There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves!.   I saw this idea on pinterest from Teach Them To Fly and decided that it would be fun to do with my students.   I could not find a shirt and pants pattern that I liked so, I drew my own.  If you would like a copy of it, just leave me a comment and I will scan and email it to you.

 The students colored each piece and cut out the pants on their own.  I helped with the shirt if needed (this had A LOT of fine motor practice).  I used a die cut for the pumpkin head.  I used PowerPoint to remove the backgrounds from photos of my students to have just their faces.  Then I printed and cut out their faces and attached to the scarecrow bodies.  The other preschool teacher did not add the photos to the pumpkins.  I think both came out really cute (although my son says mine scares him and his friends when they walk past my classroom)!

I also used this cute activity from Make Learning Fun to help with story retelling!