Unconventional Painting Method for Preschool

If you feel that your classroom painting process is getting old and uninspired, try this wonderful craft idea from Deborah J. Stewart at Teach Preschool. Your students will love it!

Supplies You’ll Need
- Recycled cardboard box
- Tempera paint in assorted colors
- Craft paper
- Golf ball, ping pong ball, or other round object
- Tape

Begin by lining the bottom of the cardboard box with a sheet of white craft or drawing paper. Choose several complimentary paint colors, placing a small drop of each in the center of the paper. Add a golf ball to the box, close the flaps (and tape the to make sure the “mess” stays inside the box), and hand it off to your students to push, kick, and move around the classroom. Not only will your students have fun with this unconventional painting method, they’ll be sure to burn off their extra energies so they can focus the rest of the day! And, of course, the results will be display-worthy!

For pictures and other great information be sure to check out the rest of Stewart’s blog!

Kick box painting with toddlers

Improving Literacy & Writing With Name Practice

Imagine if you sat down with your morning cup of coffee, opened the newspaper to your favorite section, and realized that the courier had mistakenly delivered the paper in a foreign language. For preschoolers, trying to decipher written text is the same as a literate adult trying to decrypt a foreign language. A great way to reinforce letter recognition and show your preschoolers how letters work together to build words, is to practice with words they may (or may not) recognize – their names!

Anne, creator of the blog Teaching Two, suggests creating individual “name pages” where students can familiarize themselves with the letters that belong in their name, learn how these letters sound when strung together, and practice writing by tracing or copying their names.
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Thinking Outside The Box for Classroom Paint Projects

Ever get tired of stocking your art stations with plain old paint brushes and plain old paint? (Ever wonder if your students are getting bored too?) Here are some great ways to “think outside the box” when it comes to painting in your classroom!

Unique Painting Tools

• Plastic straw
• Foam brush
• Paint pipette
• Paint roller
• Sponge
• Stamp made from fresh fruits & veggies (e.g. apples, potatoes, etc.)
• Paint scraper
• Wire brush
• Feather
• Spray bottle/small water gun
• Small toy cars
• Cake decorator bag (with very thick paint!)
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Back-To-School Bee Activity & Welcome Board

Here’s a fun bee-themed activity and back-to-school welcome board idea from Sandy at Moments of Mommyhood!

Welcome Bulletin Board

• Background: Light blue bulletin board paper.
• Title: “Look Who’s Buzzing To _______________ (e.g. Kindergarten, Third Grade, etc.)! Welcome To The Hive!” or “________________ (e.g. Mrs. Hartman’s, etc.) Busy Bees!”
• Border: Brightly colored honeycomb garland or summer-themed bulletin board border.
• Decorations: 1) The Tree. Use brown and green bulletin board paper to create a fun summer tree on one side of your bulletin board. 2) The Hive. Draw and cut out a bee hive from light brown bulletin board paper or recycled card board. This should be “hung” from one of the tree branches. 3) The Extras. Add in touches of summer with fringed green bulletin board paper for grass, bird/butterfly cut outs, flowers, etc. 4) The Bees. Use your students first day creations.

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Ice Cube Trays in Fine Motor Skill Building

Preschool offers your kids and students a great opportunity to hone their fine motor skills. While most activities and exercises they complete in the typical school day have components that test these skills, Deborah J. Stewart recommends being intentional about encouraging your child or student’s fine motor skill development.

A great way to do this is with a simple activity or play station. At a small preschool table provide interested students with a plastic ice cube tray and a community bucket of small, plastic objects. In her example, Stewart used small plastic fruit counters (e.g. bananas, apples, raspberries, blueberries, grapes, etc.). While they may look to you for instruction, assure your students that the rules are theirs to make. They key is that, while they play, their focus will be on getting the small pieces of fruit into the tray compartments and back out. This is a great test of coordination, control, and focus – hallmarks of fine motor skill mastery.
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The Thumbs-Up Game for Kindergartners

Wondering what games are fun and appropriate for your kindergarten classroom? Deborah J. Stewart, early childhood education professional and Teach Preschool blogger, suggests the “Thumbs-Up” game!

How To Play

1. Ask for two or three student volunteers to come to the front of the classroom.
2. Instruct the rest of your students to remain at their desks with their heads down and one thumb up.
3. Invite your student volunteers to roam around the room, lightly tap one of their classmates on the thumb, then return to the front of the classroom. When tapped, this student, still keeping their head down, will put down their thumb. Read more

Tools for Helping Emergent Readers Master the Concepts of Print

It’s never too early to start literacy activities with your emergent readers. Amanda Morgan of the blog Not Just Cute suggests that every successful reader must first master the concepts of print. Morgan reminds us that the important concepts of print include:

1. Letters are building blocks. When combined, they make words.
2. Words have meaning; they represent objects and ideas.
3. Proper directionality includes reading from left to right and top to bottom.

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Fine Motor Skill Fun!

While most tasks your preschoolers or early ed students complete throughout the day help strengthen their motor skills, targeted practice is important too! Homeschooling mom of four and Almost Unschoolers blogger shares a great exercise that’ll do just that!

Supplies You’ll Need
- Recycled food packaging (e.g. cereal box, cracker box, etc.)
- Sharpie marker
- Craft scissors
- Paper clip
- Magnet

Creating the Board

Begin by cutting a rectangle from your recycled food box. On a cereal or cracker box, the front or back panel works great! This will be the “game board”. Using a permanent marker, draw a looped, twirly path from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. Since the outside of the box will be littered with designs, lettering, etc. it’s best to create your maze on the inside of the panel. Be sure to label the trail’s “Start” and “Finish” points.
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Tic-Tac-Toe Ocean Style!

Tic-Tac-Toe is a staple for many early childhood classroom game shelves. Kristin of Bunny Cakes blog recommends sprucing up your game boards and playing pieces to attract those kidders because it is around the “game table” that children learn valuable social skills, critical thinking, and problem solving!

Supplies You’ll Need
- Shells
- Orange or red tempera paint
- Craft glue
- Wiggle eyes
- Modeling clay

Begin by selecting five mid-sized scallop shells, ten small cone shells, and five sand dollars or other smooth, circular shells. The smooth, circular shells should be set aside as the first set of game pieces. The scallop and cone shells will be used together to create the other five crab game pieces.
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Emergent Literacy for the Infant Classroom

Room to Grow blogger T. Wright offers a great list of activities you can complete with your infant children or students to foster important literacy concepts and connections that will lay the foundation for these skills later in life. For a full listing be sure to visit her blog – here are a few highlights!

Talk

Infants begin to understand sound and language long before they say their first word. At an early age they can distinguish speech from other sounds and even recognize the voices of the significant adults in their life. As you talk to your child or student about the world around them or describe for them the day’s activities they begin to identify and catalog the distinct sound “building blocks” of language.
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Print Making in Preschool

Allison McDonald suggests thinking outside the box when painting with your preschoolers. Paint brushes are great and allow your students to practice properly holding a writing utensil as well as strengthen fine motor skills, but introducing new tools and styles will boost creativity and help them make connections between lesson concepts and the world! One of her favorite activities is print making with unconventional tools!

Print Making

Print making is a wonderful art concept that will help you teach your students about precision and accuracy, as well as textures and relationships. As just one example of how you can incorporate printing into your curriculum, McDonald suggests having your students make prints of various cups and jars during your unit on circles.
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Preschoolers & Dry-Erase Boards

Dry erase boards aren’t just for high school anymore. Deborah J. Stewart, early childhood professional and Teach Preschool blogger, provides several ideas for incorporating these great learning tools in the preschool classroom!

Dry-Erase Options

• Large wall-mount boards. These are great for instructional use, but not ideal for interactive activities.
• Easel boards. Adjustable legs allow this board to be used for both instructional and interactive learning.
• Paper pads. Paper with dry erase surface features reusable sheets that can be mounted on walls, easels, and other clean surfaces when in use, then taken down and stored for future needs. Great for instructional learning, as well as interactive exercises.
• Lap boards. Offers an ideal solution for individual practice and interactive learning.
• Sentence strips. Provide lined options for individual printing practice and interactive exercise participation. Read more

Magnifying Glass Matching Game

Wondering how to incorporate your box of magnifying glasses into classroom activities? Cathy at The Attached Mama provides instructions for a wonderful matching game your preschoolers are sure to enjoy!

Constructing the Game Board

Download the pre-made game board and game cards from Kelly’s Kindergarten. Kelly provides three game variations; each game consists of a set of larger pictures that make up the game board and smaller pictures that should be cut apart to create game cards. For durability, use heavy card stock to print game pieces and laminate both the game board and cards.
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Jackson Pollock Inspired Splatter Painting!

It’s never too early to introduce your children or students to the beauty of fine art and the inspirational work of famous artists. Allie of No Time For Flash Cards suggests taking a field trip to an actual art museum then re-creating some of the childrens’ favorite works! An easy style to adapt to your kids’ or students’ differing ability levels is inspired by Jackson Pollock’s splatter paint.

Supplies You’ll Need
- Cardboard, heavy art paper, or canvas
- Craft paint in assorted colors
- Kid’s paint brushes

Before beginning the activity, transfer your paint into shallow containers and thin it out with a few drops of water. Also, designate an area of the classroom or schoolyard for this project, prepping the area with drop cloths or old sheets to minimize messes. In the week leading up to the craft, it may be prudent to inform parents of your project intentions so they can send a set of old clothes.
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Homemade Binoculars

Equip your children for an adventure around the house or schoolyard with these toilet paper roll binoculars! Posted by Merryn at Crafty-Crafted.com, this project is perfect for encouraging pretend play at home and school.

Supplies You’ll Need
- 2 empty toilet paper rolls
- Black tempera paint
- Aluminum foil
- School craft glue
- Spring clothespin
- Black heavyweight construction paper
- Black cord or yarn
- Colored cellophane (optional)
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Encountering New Concepts in Art

You don’t have to put in a lot of time and effort to provide your students with a new art experience. As Jean, creator of The Artful Parent blog, suggests, simply cut a hole in the day’s art paper, provide an abundance of graphic art tools, and observe the new techniques, art processes, and progression that takes place! She proposes beginning with a single, centered hole, then introducing an off-centered hole, several small holes, or a smattering of different sized holes. Once your students have become tired of circles appeal to their imagination and artistic creativity through squares, triangles, and the other shapes!
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Ping Pong Ball Obstacle Course & Track

Many moms and teachers save craft items they think they’ll use at the time, then find they have an overflowing art cabinet at the end of the year full of mismatched recyclables and art bits. Michelle, creator of the blog Scribbit, offers a great project that will clean out your supply of extra craft rolls!

The supply list is simple. All you need are the empty wrapping paper, paper towel, and toilet paper rolls you’ve stashed away, kid scissors, adhesive-backed magnet strips, and ping pong balls. With these simple supplies in hand you’re ready to create a fantastic ping pong ball obstacle course and race track!
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Digging For Treasure Frozen in Ice

Looking for a fun summer activity for your home or classroom? You won’t have to look further than your freezer! Amy, creator of the blog entitled Let’s Explore, shares how to make a frosty treasure hunt!

Supplies You’ll Need
- Tupperware or plastic bucket (a gallon ice cream bucket would work great)
- Water
- TREASURE! (play gems, small plastic toys, sea shells, coins, etc.)

To prepare for the activity, place the collected treasure in your plastic container, add water, and freeze. Amy suggests freezing the objects in layers so that there is treasure throughout. For small classes, a large block of ice is ideal. Students will learn to work together, but still have enough “treasure” to go around. For large classes, consider dividing students into groups and making small ice treasures for each group.
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Dandelions & Art

Dandelions. An ugly eyesore or the key to a beautiful creation? The latter, according to Lisa at the 5 Orange Potatoes blog!

Supplies You’ll Need
- Dandelions
- Black construction paper
- Crayola® oil pastels
- School glue (watered down)

First, take your students on a walk around the schoolyard instructing them to pick three or four dandelions. Note: The time frame for this project is important as the dandelion petals must already be replaced by the ‘fluffy’ white seedlings. Once everyone has collected their art materials, return to a preselected spot outside to begin creating! Note: Since the dandelion seeds cannot be completely controlled, this project is best completed outside where errant seeds can blow in the wind (and not onto bookshelves or other classroom fixtures!).
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Beach-Themed Preschool Activities

A great way to infuse summer into your preschool lessons is with beach-themed literature, games, and activities.

“Who Lives in the Ocean?” Matching Game

Search online for colorful pictures of sea life. You’ll need about 20 different pairs so brainstorm before you hit the net. Animals you may wish to include:

• Rainbow Fish
• Octopus
• Squid
• Jellyfish
• Star Fish
• Sea Horse
• Shark
• Whale
• Clam
• Sea Turtle
• Coral

And the list could go on and on. Print the pictures onto 3″ x 5″ pieces of card stock and laminate them to protect against wear and tear. Not only will your students learn about the different creatures that live in the ocean, they’ll be testing their working memory as they try to make matches during the game. If you don’t have the time to make your own card game, you could also purchase a pre-made set of cards.
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Spin Art Fun!

Paint Cut Paste blog creator recently posted a wonderful project that combines vibrant color and fine/gross motor skills. What is it? Spin art! While she and her daughter used a spinner machine to create fantastic prints, rest assured, this project can be completed without ‘expensive’ tools.

Supplies You’ll Need
- Cheap salad spinner
- Card stock
- Craft paint in assorted colors
- Pencil
- Kids craft scissors

Before beginning the project, remove the plastic basket from your inexpensive salad spinner and trace the bottom onto a piece of card stock. Photocopy this pattern onto assorted colors of card stock and cut them out. A stack of these prefabricated papers should be placed at each ‘spinning station’.
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Independence Day Odds and Ends

Searching through the archives of projects, posts, and inspiration, I realized that there were several 4th of July crafts I didn’t have a chance to publish before the holiday. In case you’d like to plan ahead for next year, or use these crafts for another patriotic holiday or purpose, I decided to compile them in a short post for your perusal.

CHILDHOOD MAGIC: Star Lantern Tutorial

Feedback for this craft is usually great, although I wouldn’t expect it to be a hit with young children. The directions can be somewhat tedious to follow making these star lanterns a bit more challenging, but the end product is superb for household decoration, cookout props, and much more!

Casa Camacho: Handprint Fireworks…!

If you’re looking for a project that appeals to all ages, these handprint fireworks are sure to do the trick! The directions are simple, you only need five items, and the finished product looks great tacked to the wall, hung from the ceiling, or strung together to create a festive garland!
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Confetti Popper Rockets For The Fourth

These confetti popper rockets from Brenda Ponnay at Alphamom are sure to be a hit at your 4th of July celebrations this year! Not only do they provide festive decorations, they’re interactive, safe, and fun for the kids!

Supplies You’ll Need
- Recycled toilet paper or paper towel rolls
- Patriotic crafting paper
- Card stock
- Art tissue paper (in red, white, and/or blue)
- Ribbon (in red, white, and blue)
- Glitter glue pens, stickers, markers, etc. for decoration
- Confetti
- String
- Craft needle
- Craft glue
- Beads
- Tape
- Kids craft scissors
- Stapler
- Paper punch

In preparation for the craft, cut small squares from the art tissue paper (big enough to cover the end of the recycled tube), as well as pieces of string measuring approximately two and one-half inches each. Additionally, trace the end of your recycled rocket tube onto a piece of card stock and make circle cut outs. You’ll need enough of these prefabricated supplies for each of the children completing the craft.
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Turn Your Kindergartners into Pirates!

Inspire new themes for pretend play with these fun pirate eye patches from Sherri Osborn at About.com!

Supplies You’ll Need

- Eye patch template
- Card stock
- Black Wonderfoam sheet
- Black yarn or leather cord
- Kids craft scissors

Begin by printing the eye patch template provided onto sturdy card stock. Make a template for each group of four students, instructing them take turns tracing the patch onto their sheet of foam and using scissors to cut it out.
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Paint Walking in Preschool

Give your preschoolers a new sensory experience with this fun exercise from Teacher Tom! Not only will it give your students a chance to get messy, it will give them the opportunity to get outside, soak up the fresh air, practice important gross motor movements, and ‘play’ off some of the excess energies!

Supplies You’ll Need
- Three large tubs
- Craft paint
- Bulletin board paper roll
- Tape

To prepare the activity area, cut four long strips of paper and tape them together to form a square. Then tape the paper to a secure part of the parking lot or playground and line the inside with chairs (backs facing out) for balance support. At one corner, place a large tub filled with paint and chairs with a clean-up station (e.g. a tub of warm soapy water with paper towels for washing and a tub of warm water for rinsing with paper towel for drying).
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