Flower Month

In conjunction with other activities, children will explore flowers.

Activity ONE -
Children will create "Muffin Flowers".
Using:
# Construction paper
# Muffin tray cup liners
# Glue
# Markers, crayons or paint
Children draw or paint flower stems and leaves on their paper. Students then glue muffin cups in the center of the flower for a 3-D effect.



Activity TWO -
Creating Tissue paper carnations -
1. First you take about 5 to 6 pieces of tissue paper squares, depending on the thickness of your desired depth of the flower.
2. Stack all sheets together one on top of the other.
3. Begin folding your paper back and forth like an accordion or a fan.
4. When complete secure in the middle with a rubber band or twist tie.
5. Now its time to peel up each sheet one at a time. Work from side to side, left to right.
6. Bring all sheets to the middle until your done.
7. If you want the flowers smaller cut the sheets down by length.
8. To make different shapes clip off the tips, only a trim. (triangle, points, wavy, square, etc..)

Tin Can Craft

Create tin can luminaries....

January Crafting with the kiddos Month...

January

1. Salt Painted Winter 

• First, we cut wavy lines for our landscape and glued them to the bottom of the blue paper.
• Then, I helped the kids paint their hands brown and make a print on the blue paper for the tree. Make sure that you hold on to a young child's wrist through this whole process to reduce the risk of getting paint everywhere :) You'll also want to have a towel or baby wipes nearby to wipe off their hands until you can get to a sink.
• Next we used the paintbrushes to paint the trunks of the trees.
• Once the trees dried, the kids used their paintbrushes to paint glue dots all over their pages to look like snowflakes.
• We then sprinkled salt onto the glue and let it dry. Once the glue dries, gently tap your page to remove the excess salt and it will leave you with a beautiful winter scene.
• Print the poem: See the pretty snowflakes, Falling from the sky, On the trees and housetops, Soft and thick they lie.

 2. Handprint Snowflake

• I painted the kids hands with blue paint using the sponge brush and helped them place their hands in different directions to create a unique snowflake design. We ended up putting more paint on their fingers a few times.
• Then, they picked glitter pens to decorate with or sprinkled their snowflakes with glitter.
• After they dried, we cut circles around them and mounted them on blue paper. Next, we hole-punched them and tied them with ribbon so they could hang in the windows. 
• On the back of each circle, I printed this poem: My handprint's like a snowflake, Unique in every way, Keep it close to your heart, I'm growing every day.

 3. Snowman Sock

• If you end up with larger socks, trim them down so the stretchy part is separate (this will be used for the snowman's hat).
•  Pour 1/2 cup of rice into the bottom of the sock. 
• Fill the sock about 3/4 full of polyester fiberfill (or until you have the desired size snowman). Securely tie off the top of the sock with a rubber band. Use a second rubber band to create the head of the snowman.
• Tie the red strip of felt around the middle rubber band to form a scarf for your snowman.
• Glue buttons down the side for the snowman.
• Cut a triangle out of orange felt for the nose and use the googly eyes to make the snowman's face.
• If you used a smaller sock, you can just fold the top of the sock over the rubber band to form the hat and glue a pom ball to the top. If you used a larger sock. you need to secure one end of the cut portion with a rubber band and then fold over the remaining side to form a separate hat. Glue a pom ball to the top of the hat
• Put the hat on the top of your snowman and use the puffy paint to create a smile.

4. Shape Snowmen

• After reading the story,  "Snowman at Night" give the kids materials to make their own snowman out of shapes:  3 white circles (2 large, 1 medium), 1 square, 1 orange triangle nose,
  2 googly eyes, 4 buttons, brown marker
• Using their materials, the kids assembled their own snowmen on blue construction paper based on what they thought a snowman would look like from the story. 

5. Marshmallow Igloo

• With a few numbered cups and bag of miniature marshmallows, we were able to do a lot of differentiated math lessons. :
• Identifying numbers - the kids told me what numbers were on each cup
• Ordering - we put the cups in order from smallest to largest
• Counting and One-to-one Correspondence - They counted the correct number of marshmallows and put them in the cup
• Adding and Subtracting - We worked with adding piles of marshmallows together and counting to 20
• Even work in some fine motor skills by using tweezers to put the marshmallows in the cups.
• Construct an igloo using the foam cups, white frosting, & miniature marshmallows
• To prep the cups, cut a small hole for the 'door' of the igloo. 
• Put each child's cup on a paper plate to help contain the mess and gave them a few spoonfuls of frosting with spreaders. 
• Spread the frosting on their cups (some of the younger ones needed covering the whole cup) and then stuck the marshmallows on.

6. Paper towel roll penguin

• To prep for this craft, cut out 2 black oval wings, 2 orange webbed feet, one orange diamond & a white 'dome' shape for each.
• Wrap the toilet paper in black construction paper and cut out penguin pieces.
• Glue the pieces on as shown in the picture. 
• Add googly eyes and a Popsicle stick (if desired) to make a puppet.
• Can read a Penguin story while the children are working.

7. Snowman Marshmallow Painting

• First, model how to use their marshmallows to make large circles for the snowman and small circles for the snow and dragging the marshmallows across the bottom to make a snowy landscape.
• Once they dry, use the other materials to decorate snowmen, making eyes, nose, and hats.

8. Cotton Ball Snowball FIIIIIIGGGGHT!

9. Painting with Icicles (on construction paper)

10. Snowman Treat

• Place 3 snowman on a toothpick
• Use a fruit roll-up for a scarf, and edible markers to decorate

11. Create a winter sensory bin (cotton balls or packing peanuts or popcorn or icicle paper)

12. Waterless Snowman Globe

• Small paper plates, cut out the natural center of them, use one half of a resealable bag glued to the edge of the hole on the inside and cut off the extra plastic, then cut one extra plate like that and cut it in half to make the toques.
• Paint the toque, & add glitter.
• Allow to dry.
• Glue onto the snowman head and take the full plate for the backing of the snowmen, fill it with fake snow and, match toque, use glitter and glue the front of the snowman head onto the backing with tacky glue.
• Chose pompoms to go on top of the toque .
• Next glue googly eyes, and trace glue shapes on the face for the nose and the mouth.

 

Patriot's Day

My kids created these Q Tip Fireworks to celebrate Patriot’s Day BUT, they are good for any holiday or special occasion.

An easy craft for preschoolers on up for Independence Day or an important sporting event! Even younger hands can pull it off! The baby (15 months) made a cute one!

Here’s what you’ll need

• Q Tips
• Water
• Small container
• Food coloring
• Paper plate
• Black construction paper
• Glue

Here’s how you make them…1. Cut your Q Tips in various sizes. You can actually break them off pretty easily with your hands.

2.Now you will need to color you Q Tips. Put some water in a small container and add food coloring (6-8 drops is good). Dip your swabs in to the colored water and place on a paper plate. Repeat for as many colors of fireworks as you’d like.

3. If you are not doing this craft right away, or have time to prepare ahead of time, you can leave your swabs out to dry overnight. If you need them to be dry quickly you can put them in the microwave, on high for 5-6 minutes, or until they are dry.

4. On a piece of black paper glue your Q Tips in a circular pattern. For younger children it will be easier if you drawa black dot on the paper and instruct them to glue their swabs all pointing to the dot in the middle.

Make as many different fireworks as you can, make them all different colors, sizes and patterns!

Keep in mind that the more food coloring you add the more vibrant your swabs will be!

Macaroni Art

BUTTERFLY ART

What You Need:

* card-stock paper
* smallest shell noodles
* curly noodles
* medium shell noodles
* bow-tie pasta
* glue

What You Do:
The children will learn about butterflies with this lesson.
The smallest noodle is the egg of the caterpillar.
The curly noodle is the caterpillar.
The medium shell noodle is the cocoon and the bow-tie pasta is the butterfly.

Spagetti Cake Concert

MAKE-your-OWN crayons

Homemade Bath Time Soap Crayons 1 cup grated Ivory Soap 1/4 cup warm water Food Coloring Plastic Cookie cutters Mix water, soap & food coloring together in med. size bowl. Stir the crayon mixture until it begins to stiffen. Remove the mixture from the bowl and knead until it is the consistency of a very thick dough. Spoon Crayon Mixture into plastic cookie cutters or other plastic molds (playdough molds work great too!). Press down firmly. Place the plastic cookie cutters in your freezer for 10 mins or in your refrigerator for 30 mins. When firm, Pop the bath crayons out of the cookie cutters (or other molds) and allow them to air dry overnight or until hard. Homemade Bath Crayons Add food coloring and warm water, a few tablespoons at a time, to the soap shavings and mix until it forms a thick dough. You can add more water or soap shavings to get the right consistency. Once the dough is firm, you can shape it into crayons by hand or press it into candy molds. We pre-heated an oven (gasp!) to 300 degrees F., turned it off and popped in our tray. (We should have just topped with aluminum foil and sat it on our front steps). Things got goopy very slowly, so I relit the fire for a few minutes. And then things got very liquid. We scribbled them to make sure they worked, and then packaged them up for gifts for friends. We made another batch the next day and they came out even better. Here are a few tips if you want to try this yourself: Use only one brand/kind of crayon. The batch we made of only regular Crayolas melted more evenly. When you throw in the washable ones (very hard to melt) and all the freebies from dining establishments, differential melting becomes a problem as some melt to water-like consistency while other are rock hard. Also, some are more brittle (the washable ones?) and didn't make very strong Cookies for the over-active scribbler. Don't refire the oven if you are too impatient. Just wait and get over it. It'll be a character-modeling lesson for the kids. Right, the kids. 2-3 highly contrasting colors gave the best scribble. The all-shades-of-blue Cookie looked great, but was a little underwhelming when it came to performance testing. 3 full crayons are about all that you'll want in a mini-muffin tin. It looks like it will hold more, but you don't want them coming over the edge and spilling in your oven. Use a pan underneath while the Cookies are in the oven. Last hint: Hit the back-to-school sales now for supplies for Christmas crafts.

Giggling Pig Art Class

I think it is fair to say they both enjoyed our little art class at the Giggling Pig in Shelton. Although I did think it was a bit much for a ride up there, I did like the class a lot and really wish we had a place like that at home, or at least closer... Both children painted little potting plant pots, made tissue paper flowers, created hand-print place-mats and drew chalk pictures all over!

Once we did all those things, we had some pizza with our little friends. Jonathan was having a hungry day. He nearly finished a whole pizza by myself!

Katrina's little green handprints on her new place-mat.

Jonathan's handprints on his new placemat.

What's Happening in April

• Child Abuse Prevention Month
• Frog month
• Jazz Appreciation Month
• Garden Month
• Kite Month
• Poetry Month
• Soy Month

1. Holy Thursday/All Fool’s Day /Fun Day /Poetry Day
2. Good Friday /Children’s Book Day
3. Pony Express Day
4. Easter /Golden Rule Week /Ocean Week
5. 
   
6. 
   
7. Day of Hope
8. D.A.R.E. Day
9. 
   
10. Sibling Day
11. Barbershop Quartet Day /Karaoke Week
12. Licorice Day
13. Thomas Jefferson Day
14. Lawyer’s Day
15. 
    
16. High Five Day/ Pajama Day
17. Blah Day
18. Trivia Day /National Park Week/Coin week
19. 
    
20. 
    
21. Kindergarten Day
22. Earth Day
23. Jelly Bean Day
24. Talk Like Shakespeare Day
25. Arbor Day/Astronomy Day /Smell Day
26. Pie week /Playground safety week
27. Morse Code Day
28. 
    
29. Dance Day
30. Honesty Day

Rainy Day Monet

Create a "tie-dye" craft. Do the first part indoors: Grab some coffee filters and have the kids color them with markers (not washable ones), and lay them on a cookie sheet. Then put them outside in the rain and watch the colors run. Bring them inside, and after they dry, the kids can make flowers: Pinch each filter in the middle and twist, then wrap a green pipe cleaner around to make a stem.

Take your kids on a "rescue the worms" walk. (You don't have to touch 'em!) Stroll around the neighborhood and let your kids pick them up off the sidewalk and toss them back into the grass. When you're home, go to Yucky.discovery.com and search for cool info on earthworms.

Do a rainy-day Monet. Head outside with some sidewalk chalk. When it's wet, it works almost like paint!

Have a splash. Take a bunch of bath toys outdoors -- boats, buckets, cups -- and play in a puddle, or find a "stream" at the edge of the street (if you live on a safe one) and race a boat against a lightweight ball.

Make a rain catcher. If you just want to stay inside, have your child decorate a two-liter soda bottle, and measure and mark half-inches with a Sharpie. Then you cut off the top and put it outside a window where you can see it from inside. Set some fun goals: "When it gets to half an inch, we'll play a board game. When it gets to an inch, we'll make cookies..." etc.!

What's Happening in March

1. Pig Day
2. Namesake Day
3. Read Across America Day
4. National Anthem Day /Grammar Day
5. Day of Prayer
6. Newspaper Week
7. 
   
8. 
   
9. Barbie Day
   
10. Mario Day
11. Dream Day / Johnny Appleseed
12. Girl Scout Day
13. Donald Duck Day/Ear Muffs Day
14. Potato Chip Day /Wildlife Week
15. Napping Day
16. Truth Day
17. Saint Patrick’s Day
18. Incredible kid Day
19. 
    
20. Jump Day /Spring Equinox
21. End to Discrimination Day /Folk Tales/Fables Week
22. Forever Young Day /Goof-Off Day
23. Puppy Day
    
24. Chocolate-covered-raisins Day
25. Pecan Day
26. 
    
27. Country Music Day
28. Palm Sunday
29. 
    
30. Doctor Day
    

• Red Cross Month
• Music Education Month
• Craft Month
• Nutrition Month
• Vision Month
  

Patriot Day

Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle is not only one of the most beautiful birds, but is also a well recognized American symbol. This would make a great preschool or kindergarten craft for American holidays!

Ages: 3 and up



Here’s what you’ll need…• Brown, white, blue and yellow
construction paper
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Glue
• Google eye

Here’s how you make it…

1. First you will need cut trace and cut out all the shapes. You will need a brown foot and hand prints, white feathers, and a yellow beak.

2. Glue your foot print body onto a piece of blue paper. Next, glue the hand print wings on either side of the body so it looks like the Eagle is flying(as shown in the picture).

3. Glue your white feathers on the Eagles head and neck, and don’t forget to put a few on his tail! Once that is done it’s time to put on your yellow beak and eyes. If you don’t have any google eyes you can always just draw on an eye with a black marker.

You don’t have to make a flying Eagle, you may choose to do a standing up Eagle like the one in the picture.

Songs, Rhymes, Video (and other Media) for Little Ones

1 – Star Spangled Banner^; Three Pigs Rap^; Did You Ever See a Pig Wearing a Wig^; This Little Piggy; If you Give a Pig a Pancake; If you Give a Pig a Party; The Boy Who Cried Wolf; The True Story of the Three Little Pigs; Olivia*; Honesty (Barnyard Place)*; If You’ll Be Kind to Others*; Do It Cause Daddy Said So*; We Can Get Along*; Just Tell the Truth (Swart- man Quartet)*; The Calendar Song* (Busy Beavers);

2 – Hey Diddle Diddle; When I am Strong^; God Made All the Animals*; Baby Animals (Kid Songs)*; Baby Doolittle (Baby Einstein)*; Happy Mother’s Day*; Mothers and Babies (Sesame Street)*; Can’t Stop Rhyming Blues (Moose)*; We have mommies
(Moose)*; * Cronin, Doreen – Click Clack Moo

3 – I Saw a Leprechaun Dressed in Green^; In the Jungle^; Over in the Jungle; Marigold and the Leprechaun King*; My Lucky Day (Eric Herman)*; The Elephant Song* (Eric Herman); * Andreae, Giles – Rumble in the Jungle; * Bentley, Dawn – Who’s in the Jungle?; * Carle, Eric – Slowly, Slowly Said the Sloth; The Bare Necessities (Jungle Book)

4 - Pussy-Cat Pussy-Cat; The Laughing River^; Yellow Submarine^; * Jewell, Nancy – Five Little Kittens; * Volkmann, Roy – Curious Kittens; *Brett, Jan – The Little Red Hen; Paul Bunyan (Disney); Casey at Bat (Disney); John Henry (Disney); Johnny Appleseed (Disney);

5 - Lavender's Blue; Body Songs* (Learn); The Body Song* (Peter Weatherall); Parts of the Body* (Three Boys); Body Parts* (Sesame Street); Thank you for My Eyes*; * London, Jonathan – I See the Moon and the Moon Sees Me; * Seuss, Dr. - I Can Read With My Eyes Shut

6 – There’s a Hole; Jesus Loves Me; 7, 8, 9*(BareNaked Ladies); * Gibbons, Gail – Beacons of Light – Lighthouses; Jack Black and the Octagon (Sesame Street); Under the Sea (Disney); In the Ocean (Nubeat); Once I Caught a Fish Alive; There’s a Big Ship Sailing (threelegsomen);

7 - Humpty Dumpty; Muffin Man ;* Amery, Heather – Noah’s Ark (Usborne Bible Tales); * Pfister, Marcus – The Rainbow Fish; When I Grow Up (bcchf); Somewhere Over the Rainbow (World Children’s Choir); I Can Sing a Rainbow (Music Factory Music);

8 - Wee Willie Winkie; Twinkle Twinkle; The Liberty Bell (John Phillip Sousa); Statue of Liberty – Two Minute Tour (Travel Channel); The Statue of Liberty (Obie Leff); The Liberty Bell Song (nosredes); Dr. Teeth’s Money Song (Sesame street-Muppet Show); The Coin Song;

9 - Hickory, Dickory, Dock; If I Were a Pirate; Blackbeard, Bluebeard & Redbeard (Eric Herman)*; Presidents *(Animaniacs); Recycle Song (Noah Gomes); Think Ecologically… Reduce. Reuse. Recycle;

10 – Old McDonald; Farmer in the Dell; * Brett, Jan – Gingerbread Baby; * Numeroff, Laura J. – If you Give a Mouse a Cookie; * Crews, Donald – Freight Train; * Piper, Watty – The Little Engine That Could

11 - Little Boy Blue; Chicken Dance; I Like the Flowers (The Beat Boppers); Polliwogs’ in a Bog (Bare Naked Ladies); I Had a Little Rooster (Amy Meyers); Life’s a Treat with Shaun the Sheep (eddy dragon);

12 - The Man in the Moon; The Tale of the Sun and the Moon (Eric Herman)*; Hide and go Seek with the Moon (Eric Herman)*; Universe* (Anamaniacs); * Brown, Margaret Wise – Goodnight Moon; * Yolen, Jane – Owl Moon

13 – I Love My Family; There was an old Women who Live; I Belong to a Family* (Moose); That’s My Family* (Moose); Family* (Laurie Berkner); Five Little Ducks; The Duck Song (Bryant Oden); The Turtle Song – Jordan Wheller;

14 - See Saw Margery Daw; the Wheels on the Bus; Everywhere I go (Moose)*; * Burton, Virginia Lee – Calico the Wonder Horse;

15 – Under the Sea; Hobby Horse; Beside the Seaside (Moose)*; My Bunny Lies Over the Ocean (online); Fireflies (Owl City Music); On Eagles Wings (online audio); Fly with Me (Jonas Brothers); Seven Days a Week Song (with dance); Children of the Ocean (Bro Rahman Rajan);

16 – The Ants’ Go Marching; You’re a Grand Old Flag; Ants in Your Pants (Eric Herman)*; * Carle, Eric – The Very Hungry Caterpillar; There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly; Critter Comrades (Moose-Noggin); How’s the Weather, ding-a-ling; Weather Song (Peter Weatherall);

17 - Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary; Dancing Through the Seasons; Believe in Spring (Moose)*; Seasons Song (Peter Weatherall); Abby Changes Seasons (Sesame Street); Guess the Seasons (Sesame Street); Five Senses (Rajshri); Five Senses (HI-5);

18 - Baa Baa Black Sheep; Seasons Song;* Shaw, Nancy – Sheep in a Jeep; Boundin’ Song (online - Cars); A Slippery Fish (with gestures); Letter Mailing – a Beginner’s Guide; How to Mail a Letter – Fundamental Junkie; Sheep Counting; The Farm Animal Song (Peter Weatherall);

19 - Jack and Jill; America; Sid the Seed (Daniel Pagan); Pippi Longstocking Theme Song; Do Your Ears Hang Low?; My Mom Told me Not to Put Fish in my Ears (mardgrin); The Elephant Lullaby (Moving Box); Five Busy Bees; I’m Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee;

20 - Rub-a-Dub-Dub; It’s a Small World; Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow; The Worm Song (Cowboy Joe); Inch Worm (Classic Sesame street); Insects 5 (Mccintoch); Sail Away; Ladybug Song (Frank Leto); Ladybug Ladybug; Counting to 10 for Young Children (online); Children Counting to 100 (online); The Shape Song; Don’t Ever Go with Strangers;

21 – Little Bunny Foo Foo; The Cowboy Song; Dance Like an Animal (Eric Herman)*; * Brown, Margaret Wise – The Runaway Bunny; * McBratney, Sam – Guess How Much I Love You; * Potter, Beatrix – The Tale of Peter Rabbit; The Hop* (Prudence); A Cowboy Needs a Horse (Disney); If I Were an Animal (Patty Shukla);

22 - The North Wind Doth Blow; Barney’s I Love You Song; It’s Raining* (Busy Beavers); Go Fish – the Mom Song; The Five Food Groups (awriziki); Plants Need Clean Air & Sunshine (Laurie Berkner); Rain, Rain Go Away!;

23 - Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater; Say-Say My Playmate; Silly Sally the Clown-Who Let the Clowns Out; Pancakes (Eric Herman)*; The Gummi Bear Song*; That’s What Friends are For; Be Kind to Your Web-footed Friends;

24 – Old Mother Hubbard; What Time is it; Snow Day (Eric Herman)*; Warm and Fuzzy (Moose)*; Time * (Animaniacs); * Keats, Ezra Jack – The Snowy Day; * McKie, Roy and P.D. Eastman – Snow;* Bridwell, Norman – Clifford the Big Red Dog; * Capucilli, Alyssa Satin – Biscuit; * Eastman, P.D. – Go, Dog. Go!; * Zion, Gene – Harry the Dirty Dog; * Eastman, P.D. – Big Dog Little Dog;

25 – Give the World a Hug; Jailhouse Rock; Music Makes Me* (Moose); Time for Friends (online); Flower Time (David Oska); Telling Time with Zoid Stan; Hokey Pokey;

26 - Jack Be Nimble; God’s Special Angel; There are Ten in the bed; Forgiveness Song; Walk Like an Animal (Eric Herman);

27 - Old King Cole; Animal Train Song; Transportation Song (Peter Weatherall); Vehicles and Transportation (ELF Star); Phonics for Babies – Please & Thank-yous;