Shaving Cream and Glue Snowman Projects

In case you can't tell, this mixture is one of our favorites to use at school. We love the sensory texture, the smell, and the end results too.

We all made snowman with it, depending on the group, we had them make free form, or we gave them a shape to "paint" in the younger classes. On another BLOG posting, I showed the process on a paper plate to make a snowman face. It is great because you can add things to embellish the art and the glue makes it stick. When it dries it has a puffy texture.
The recipe is simple: mix two parts shaving cream and one part glue (like Elmers) and have fun. The amounts don't have to be exact, some of the teachers use half glue, half shaving cream. You could also use twigs and small stones to make the snowman.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, January 9, 2012

We played outside again today- it was a little windy and a bit colder than we expected, but it was wonderful to get some fresh air and run around outside. It looks like we will get at least one more day outside before colder air and snow are expected.

Stay & Play:
We read "When will it snow?" by Kathryn Whit

We made mesh prints for art. We stapled fruit mesh onto boards and painted over them, then pressed paper onto the top to make a print.

We did "Underneath the broomstick" , mitten rhymes, and some sing a long songs for music.

We did a clothespin mitten match game.



Willow Room: MWF

We asked the children today about things that start with the letter A.

We read "Alphabet Mystery" by Audrey Wood
We did the weather and days of the week at our 2nd circle

We made snowflake paintings today by dipping thread spool ends in white glitter paint and pressing them onto paper.


At the easel we had large snowflake shapes to decorate our room.

We sang "I like my hat" and we used paper plates as our hats, we also did the alphabet letter sounds song using letter cards.

We have rice in our sensory table and we brought in big foam colored blocks for building.


Maple Room:

We read "Diamond in the snow" by Jonathan Emmett

We did icicle painting- we used watered down white glitter paint and dripped it down a slant board with blue paper on it; then we sprinkled glitter on it. It looks like glimmering icicles.

We had watercolors at the easel.

We did the January song, A-A-A alphabet sounds song, Everybody clap your hands

We did letter K activities.



Oak Room- Pre - K class

We read "The mitten " by Jan Brett and The missing mitten

We cut out mitten shapes but left them connected. We used an eye dropper to add a few drops of paint to one side, folded the mitten over and pressed on it to make a matching print.

We sang "Come and get a mitten" "Cat lost his mittens (a felt board rhyme) and 10 little mittens.

We introduced the letter O today.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Monday, September 12, 2011

We played outside today. The weather was beautiful, but remember in the fall the weather changes quickly, so send a sweater or jacket on cooler days.

Willow Room- MWF class

Today was the first full day for the children in the Willow Room and they did so good! They are learning the routines and getting to know the teachers and their classmates. we follow the same routine every day so the children always know what to expect.

We had our first morning circle time today and we sang the Good Morning song. We read the story "Cllifford's First School Day by Norman Bridwell. During our 2nd circle we sang a song about the weather and a song about the days of the week.

For our art today, we used little sponges and we painted using the primary colors, (red, yellow, blue).

We had Magnetic letters at our easel today.

We had music time at the end of the morning and we did a few calming songs, "put your finger on...", Tommy Thumb, and Brown Bear.

We had pink play dough in the room- we make our own (see BLOG post for March 5, 2011 for recipe or ask me for a copy).

We have packing peanuts in our sensory table.

Maple Room-

We read "The Kissing Hand" by Audry Penn. We finger painted with red and blue paint and made hand prints to go along with our story.

We sang The September song, Months of the Yer song, Jump, Jim, Joe, and Hands are for Clapping.

We do the calendar and talk about the days of the week each day in class. We also talk about the weather and we make a graph of the weather which we use for comparisons.

The children in the Maple room love the free art table, they take any of the materials and make whatever they want. Especially popular is the colored glue.

We make our own colored glue....you can too.
Take a bottle of school glue and an old marker that is dried out. Either drop the whole marker in the glue bottle or pull the tip of the marker out of the plastic base and drop it in the glue bottle. Leave it a few days and the glue will be that color.

We have beans in our sensory table, with scoops, cups, spoons, and shovels.

Oak Room- Pre-K class

We read "If you take a mouse to school" by Laura Numeroff

We painted apple shapes with puffy paint to decorate our room.

We sang 5 little apples, There's a dog in school", and The Silly dance contest.

We started our letter of the week today. We began with the letter "A". We did a chart of words that begin with the letter A. These are words the children can think of that start with the letter "A", not words they need to learn at all.

We have a new sensory material called clean sand. It is not scratchy like sand, but will hold a shape for a short amount of time. It is bright purple and has some fun properties.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Friday, May 13, 2011

We have had a couple of warm days and today started out nice and warm, but the temperatures dropped about 10:00 a.m. so it was a little cool on the playground. The children ran around and had fun anyway.

BLOG INFORMATION: They had trouble with the BLOG site on Thursday, so I didn't get to write about Thursday's activities, I am going to skip to Friday.

Willow Room: MWF class:

We read the story "The Rainbow Fish" by Marcus Pfister. We talked about the letter "V" and asked if anyone has a "V" in their name? Three children do!

For art today, we made "mini oceans". We added blue hair gel to a baggie, then put in some little plastic fish and glitter. We taped it shut and it was our pretend ocean.

You can also make an ocean in a bottle. Add some water, blue food color and some mineral oil. Tape the top on tight, (Or glue it one) and when you tip the bottle back and forth it will look like waves in an ocean. The oil and water don't mix.

We planted our Radish seeds today. We gave our grassy heads haircuts.

We did a lady bug rhyme and color song for music today.

Maple Room: MWF

We read "The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle

We planted grass today and the children love doing science experiments, so when they ask questions, or wonder about something, we try to jump on that "teachable moment" to follow up. Today, we put dirt, grass seed and water in a cup and put in on a sunny window sill to grow. One of the children asked what would happen if we put it int he dark, another asked what if we didn't give it any water, and another child asked what if we gave it sugar water. So we made three more cups of grass seed.
1. Dirt, grass seed, water, and put in the dark cabinet.
2. Dirt, grass seed, NO Water, and put it on the window sill
3. Dirt, Grass seed, and sugar water and put it on the window sill.
We will see what happens!

If your child asks a question like "What if..., what will happen....etc. See if you can do an experiment to find out. Good science words. PREDICT, OBSERVE, RECORD RESULTS, TALK ABOUT RESULTS.

We had tulip shape stencils and rollers at the easel.

We had soapy water in the water table with cups, water wheels, sieves, and scoops.

We played a small group game using numbers.

We practiced writing the letter Z and words the children thought of that start with the start with the letter Z, zoo, zebra, zipper, zucchini.

We sang The May song, Sticky Bubble Gum, and Bumble bee

Oak Room:

We read "Clifford's Spring Clean up and Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors both by Norman Bridwell.

We painted with dish pot scrubber. We love to paint with unusual objects.

We had out a patterning board game, and a some nursery rhyme sequencing cards. They had to put the cards in the correct order.

We did "Ready set, let's dance", (do the swim, the pony, twist) and a circus balloon's
color rhyme- each child will brought one balloon up the board for the clown.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Wednesday, May 11, 2011

We played outside again today in the playground.

Willow Room- MWF class:


We read "Baby Bird's First Nest" by Frank Asch
We asked the children if they ever saw a real bird's nest?

We made our own bird's nest using paper coffee filters, strawberry baskets, yarn, cotton, wood strips, and crinkly paper. We made a "mud" mixture using brown paint, glue and salt.

We did an alphabet rhyme (marching around the alphabet), and two little blackbirds today for music.

We cut the "hair" (grass) on our grass heads. Our luna moth is out, it is so pretty. We will let it go later this week.


Maple Room:

We did the story of the carrot seed, and we added a prop at the end where we pulled out a giant carrot. The kids loved it. Later we acted out the story of the Farmer and the carrot where, the farmer tries to pull the carrot out and he can't, so he gets his wife to pull with him, and they can't and they keep adding farm animals to help. The children had fun pretending and acting out pulling out the carrot.

We used the fun back rollers with primary colors on large paper to paint with today. We had tulip shapes with glitter paint at the easel.

We sang " The May song", we did a lady bug color game, we sang a song about the Insects in the garden. We did some letter Z activities and a beginning letter sounds game using the letters M-R.

We had water in the water table and the kids used foil, and styrofoam cups to make boats.

Oak Room:

We read "The tiny seed" by Eric Carle

We decorated house shapes and we planted grass in an empty 1/2 gallon juice container cut low. It will be the front lawn to our houses.

We had rainbow colors at the easel.

We did a fun action song, called "Sammy" by Hap Palmer and we did some bean bag balancing actions to music.

We did an alphabet sorting board- pictures that started with each letter were put into the corresponding letter pocket. A good followup to our finishing learning the letter sounds to the alphabet.

We had the estimating jar out today too, how many animals are in the jar?


We had a busy, busy day.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Tuesday, May 10, 2011 Luna Moth opened

WOW!, We went from cool, to HOT! But we sure enjoyed playing outside and having fun in the warmth today!

Willow Room: T/TH

Just when we thought our Luna Moth would never come out of it's cocoon.....it came out today and we got to see it happen. It was so cool, the moth breaks open a little hole in the end of the cocoon and then it pops out the end. Then it picked up the cocoon in it's legs and spun it around. When it comes out, it does not look like it is OK. It is all shriveled up and white looking. But after a few minutes, it dries out, turns a beautiful shade of green and moves to the top of the cage. We were very excited to see this happen.

We planted grass seed in cups last week and we already have tall grass "hair" on our grass heads. We used scissors to cut the grass today.

We did the story of the Giant carrot today using props. The children loved seeing the big big carrot appear.

We did a 5 little kites song too.

We used fun, finger stampers to make a picture today. We also had carrots at the easel to paint with today, we used red and yellow paint to make orange like the carrot.

We did "Herman the Worm", "Bubble Gum", "Counting Beehive" songs and finger plays for music today.


Oak Room: Pre-kindergarten room

We read a new book by Anna Dewdney called "Grumpy Gloria. She is the same author who wrote the Llama llama books the kids like so much.

We also read "Signs of spring" by Justine Korman

We painted flower pictures using the bottoms of empty plastic pop bottles. We fill them with water to give them a little weight and the children dip them in paint and press them down on the paper to make a print. A great way to use a found object or a way to reuse something that would be recycled.

We did the "Bean bag boogie" and "pass the bean bag" for music today.

We did some numbers puzzles about the numbers 7,8,9,10.

Cardboard Stove for Creative Play

Children love pretend play; and they like to do what mommy or daddy is doing. My grandson always wanted to cook and he loved playing with play dough, so my daughter made this pretend stove using a small box, some red paper, two jar tops, some string and a marker. He would make play dough food creations and cook them on the top or put them in the oven. She poked a hole through the jar top to push the string through so the knobs even turn. This didn't cost anything and gave him weeks of fun.

We make a similar thing at school by using a pizza box covered in foil and pretending it is a pizza oven. We attach a cardboard circle to a paint stir stick for the paddle they use to get the pizza in and out of the oven. You can add more props, by making pretend pizza out of felt, dough cheese, sausage, mushrooms, any toppings you like. I put the play dough recipe we use at school on an earlier post. This is a great way to reuse things that would end up being recycled or in the garbage.

Everyone knows kids love boxes, they make great pretend spaces; with just a little embellishment, they can even add more excitement to their play.

Trinity Preschool Activities for Thursday, April 28, 2011

Oak Room:

We read "No roses for Harry" by Gene Zion

We made flower pictures. We used a cardboard tube with slits cut in it dipped in paint, so it looks like flower petals. We added other things to embellish the picture. The children dipped Q-tips in green paint to make grass, and we glued on mini muffin papers, and pom poms to be the center of the flowers.

We had rubber band design boards out, bead stringing, and bristle blocks.

We did a color rhyme- each child holds a flower and "Two little blackbirds"

We played a small group game - rhyming words.


Willow Room: T/TH class

We read "Let's paint a rainbow" by Eric Carle

We used watercolors on doilies, we will make something special out of them.

We had chalk and stencils at the easel.

We are practicing our songs for Mother's Day at music.

Four of our butterflies just opened! We were all very excited. We are still waiting for our moth and the rest of our butterflies to open up. We put flowers and sugar water in with the butterflies for some food.

Water Play Fun for Children

Children love water, it is soothing, has fun properties and it is messy. All things kids like! Whether in the bath tub, a kitchen sink, or just a tub of water on the floor, kids love water and the mess it can make. So grab some towels in advance, and let them enjoy the mess.

SAFETY!

• Always supervise water play- children can drown in water only inch deep! Also watch with young children that they don't drink the dirty, soapy water, little ones put everything in their mouths!
• Never give kids glass items to play with in water or any sharp objects.

• Make sure you have plenty of towels to keep area kind of dry. Prevents slipping on wet floors too. When they play in the sink, put towels behind the faucet too.
• If they play at the sink, have them stand on a kitchen chair or a step stool. Being able to reach to the bottom of the sink is important.
• NOW THE FUN BEGINS!
  
• Soap bubbles always add a level of fun to water play, start out with plain water, later add bubbles to add more interest. If they are playing with water in a clear tub, add a few drops of food coloring to change it up too.
• You don't need to buy expensive water toys, you can find or make your own.
  
• Scoops from laundry detergent, drink mixes, etc are great toys. Also laundry soap bottle lids, empty dish soap bottles with the pull up pop tops, empty syrup bottles, ketchup bottles, any clear plastic empty clean bottle is great fun.
  
• Kitchen utensils, like a whisk, colander, plastic measuring cups, plastic dishes, any kitchen utensil that won't get hurt in the water, and won't hurt your child is perfect. They love playing with "grown up utensils"
  
• Dolls, any plastic kids toys that water cannot get inside of are all great. Children love to wash dishes, clean their toys, give their dolls a bath, etc. Give them a small washcloth and a clear space to put washed items.
• Adult only part... Use use a drill with a small bit to make holes in the empty plastic bottles you have saved. When your child adds the water, it will come out of the holes too (try this too....put water in the bottle, put the cap back on and see what happens- then remove the top). Drill a hole in the lid of other bottles.
• Cook up some noodles and add them to the water.
• One toy that is fun and inexpensive to buy is a water wheel, children love watching the wheel spin as they pour water in the top. (Works well with sand, or rice later too.)
• When it is warm outside, put a tub of water on the ground and continue the fun outdoors, they will add mud, leaves, grass and anything else they can find though, so don't let them bring your good kitchen utensils outside, this is the perfect place for recycled toys. I also like to give the kids old pie tins so they can make mud pies outside too.
• If you are somewhere you can set the hose up on a light trickle, they will have fun rinsing things off, adding water, and seeing what happens then. A water can can be used instead of a hose.
  
• Another fun thing with water outside is to let your child have an old rag and soapy water and they can wash off outside toys, trikes, climbers, etc.

Water can be fun, loud, or soothing. If your child has sensory issues, water can calm down a fussy or hyper child too. Try different temperatures of water, see what your child prefers, warm or cool. On a hot day, add some ice cubes and watch what happens. Freeze a big bowl of water into a block of ice and add it to the water- both in winter and in summer, see what happens. Hide a plastic toy in the water before you freeze it and it will appear as the ice melts.

I hope these ideas will get you started on the hours of fun water play can provide! You can also create some "teachable moments" about properties of water, all while having fun withe your child. Join in the water fun too.

Sensory ideas

We have sand tables inside our classrooms and outside in our playground, but we only have sand outside in the ones in our playground; the sand is too damaging to our floors, so inside we use other sensory materials in our sandbox.

A few pictures of some of the items we use are found here....

We use:

• Packing peanuts- both the dis solvable and non- dis solvable kind.
• Ground up plastic
• Ground corn meal
• Beans
• Rice
• Water
• Snow
• Cut up paper (also including scissors to cut it up)
• Bows
• Corn starch and water -
  
• Water
• nature items
  
• any fun, safe items we can find

Add scoops, laundry caps, funnels, spoons, magnifying glasses, and other items to enhance the fun.

Art Idea # 6- Painting materials- found objects

We love to paint at school, and paint is a great medium for children to use. We use found objects to paint with, you don't have to buy a lot of supplies to make fun painting experiences.

Here are a few ideas: Paint on scrap paper, the inside of cereal boxes, old newspaper.

1. Cut sponges into shapes and dip in paint to make prints.

2. We use sponges also as a base, put a little paint onto a sponge with some water and soap- then press objects onto the sponge and make prints. What can you use?....an empty spool, a cork, a fork, we use all kinds of kitchen utensils to make cool prints.

3. Get some old kitchen items from a thrift store- rolling pins, whisks, etc. Just look at things and see what you think it could work for, either with paint or play dough.

4. We also get items from the dollar stores, (back massagers make cool prints on paper and a fun noise), but again look at the things they have there and think about whether it will work for an art project.

5. Eye droppers, thin the paint and let your child drip paint onto paper, fold it over and see what happens.

We use washable paint, but we still add a few drops of soap to make it wash out easier. You can get small bottles of assorted colors for pretty cheap at any Walmart, Target, Meijers, KMart, etc.

Always supervise children with paint. Next time I will post some ideas to do with paint.

Recycled Art Ideas #1 - Don't throw it away!

Don't just throw things away without thinking about how your child might use it for a "creation". Here are just some materials that can be used again for art: A few ideas to get you thinking too!

Cereal boxes: Break them open and use the blank inside cardboard for many things, a more study surface for a clay creation, material for painting, an adult can cut it into shapes and children can use it for a stencil.

Egg cartons: Cut the carton apart and use the individual cups as flowers, poke a hole, add a pipe cleaner, and paint it. Make a whole garden. Take half of the carton, and make a caterpillar. Paint it and add google eyes and pipe cleaner antenna.
You can also cut the egg carton into 3 sections of four and add paint with small brushes. This makes clean up easier too, just toss when finished. You can make homemade paint too (or buy some). Cut up the egg carton and let your child glue the sections onto the cereal box for a sculpture. Use craft glue for extra holding power.

Toilet paper, paper towel tubes, or wrapping paper tubes:
Cut them into little sections and let children create a sculpture with them (again, use your cereal box as a base). Cut slits an inch up one end and bend that portion out. Dip in paint and it makes cool designs. Cut up and down zip zags into it and use it with sand as a tool to make designs.
Children also have fun playing with the tubs and small cars, they can angle them and see how far the car rolls.

Before you throw it away, think about how you can make something out of it first.


More ideas to come........

Art Idea # 5 Home made Play dough and usage ideas

Basic Cooked Play Dough Recipe and play ideas

We did not create this recipe, most of the preschools I know use this recipe though because it is the best. I have no idea who originally created it or I would give them credit!

Keep it stored in an airtight container and it will last for at least a month. Some people store in it the refrigerator and that is probably a good idea, especially if it isn't played with all the time. We use this play dough every day in the classroom, it sits out on a table for at least an hour each day, is played with by many children and it lasts about a month.

Cooked Play Dough (Our basic playdough)

1 cup flour

¼ cup salt

2 Tablespoons Cream of tarter (important)

1 cup water

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Food color

Put all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, 2-4 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. When mixture pulls from side of pan and forms a ball in the center, remove pan from heat. Allow to cool a few minutes. Remove play dough and knead until smooth (will still be quite warm). Store in an airtight container.

Instead of food coloring, you can substitute a non sweetened package of koolaid to the pan before you start cooking the play dough, it will add a wonderful smell and color; but watch with young children as they may try to eat the play dough. There is nothing in this play dough that can harm a child, but it is best not to let children think it is OK to taste art materials in general.

This dough is soft and pliable and works great to help develop the fine motor skills children need to be able to hold a pencil, and scissors and have control of those muscles.

You do not need fancy play dough tools, raid your kitchen for fun, safe things to use with the play dough. I like to give the children a place mat (a fun kid design makes it special) to use as a work area. This helps children understand that the play dough stays here, and makes it feel special. Play dough should always be used in the same format, especially with young children, do not just leave it out for them to get into any time they want or you will find play dough stuck to your furniture, shoes, etc. Make it special to be allowed to use the play dough.

Toddlers: Play dough is great for toddlers, but either have them in their high chair and be nearby to supervise or join them in the fun of creating with play dough.

MATERIALS:

cookie cutters

rolling pin

plastic knife

straws, cut into pieces

melon baller

any non sharp kitchen utensil, (wooden spoon, rubber spatula, egg separator, etc.)

birthday candles, Popsicle sticks, clean rocks,

As you can see the ideas for things to add are pretty limitless, just make sure they are safe and clean.

IDEAS:

Roll play dough into balls, stack them, cut them with the knife (make two halves, cut into thirds- math idea)

Roll play dough between your palms to make a long snake and form it into shapes, cut it into pieces, make alphabet letters out of it.

Learning to write names: some children have difficulty forming the letters with a pencil or crayon. Form the letters of their name with play dough (have them do it too) and often this helps give them a concrete connection to the letters in their name. It is amazing how many times they can then write the letters with more ease.

Play dough is an amazing substance, and I prefer this type to store bought as it is more pliable, softer and fun to create.

Special note: cream of tarter is a little expensive (it is in the spice section of the grocery store). You can use a little less, but w/o it the play dough does not have the same consistency.

ENJOY!

Art idea - rubber band painting

It is easy to create painting materials by adding rubber bands to objects you have at home.

You can use an old shirt on backwards as a smock. Cut off the sleeves if they are too long.

Cut a thick rubber band and tape one end of it to the top of a pencil. Dip the rubber band in paint and move it across the paper. We add soap to the paint to make it easier to wash out of clothes.

Wrap rubber bands around a ball and roll it on paper to make designs. You can also roll it in a box back and forth with your child.