Paint Pallette Tweezer Transfer

Using a paint pallette some tweezers or small tongs, you can set up a transfer activity. Pile pieces in the center and transfer small items (I used paperclips) using tweezers or tongs to each of the smaller cups.

Paint Pallette: $1.49 from craft store

Transfer items: Endless possibilities. Try cereal and eat after success!

*Pinching and grasping strengthens hand muscles in pre-writers.*

Recycling Greeting Cards

Turn a greeting card into a puzzle by cutting it into pieces, as many as you think your child can handle.

Punch holes around the outside of a card to make lacing cards. Weave a shoelace through the holes. Try cutting out specific shapes from the pictures on the cards and punch around those.

*Extension: Laminating will extend the life of the pieces.

Share recycling with your children.
Is this the world you want to leave them?

Pony Bead Patterning

Pipe cleaners make a great "string" to pattern on. It stands steady when pony beads are pushed on, unlike string which can be frustrating to little fingers holding and pushing beads on all at once. Bend one end so beads don't come cascading off. Encourage pattern making and then finish by turning the final product into wearable bracelets, or rings if they don't extend the pattern that far!

Dance a Part

Switch on the music and listen to the rhythm. Tell children to dance to the music using one body part at a time. Finger, hand, knee, face, shoulder, leg, toe and so on! This will help sync your preschoolers thoughts and actions, providing for more control over body movement.

Exploring Sunflowers

The sunflowers are starting to droop and I decided to let C do a little sunflower dissection. They really are pretty interesting. Once you remove the little yellow buds, a whole sea of seeds lies underneath. He spent a good fifteen minutes removing the seeds one by one with tweezers!

Making Homemade Applesauce

When I think of fall and back to school, I think of apples! Making your own applesauce is a very simple process and one you can easily involve your preschooler in. Make a real trip of it and pick your own apples in the orchard or support your local farmer's market. A plastic knife or butter knife can further chop down apple slices.

We use this recipe from AllRecipes.com Note: The type of apple you use might affect how much sugar the recipe needs. We recommend "Pink Lady" apples, and use a little less sugar than the recipe calls for.

Sarah's Applesauce

Sensational Scarves

A scarf is a simple prop that encourages movement. Scarves are available for purchase on a number of children's stores. I suggest checking your local thrift store. They are light and showy. They flow with ease through the air as the mover prances and dances. It encourages crossing the midline. So many play possibilities!

Abracadabra! Scarf Magic!

Arts & Crafts Gift Buckets

Here's a gift idea that encourages imagination and creativity. It would make a nice birthday gift or party favor! While I like Discount School Supply, a great time to pick up the "stuffings" would be during back to school sales.

Arts & Crafts Gift Buckets

P.S. Discount School Supply is one of my favorite online stores for materials!

Shake It Up, Baby

Materials: Ziploc baggies, sliced fruits such as bananas, apples, strawberries. Can use buttered toast squares too. Coatings: try cinnamon and raisins, hot chocolate mix, cinnamon and sugar, parmesan cheese, powdered sugar, ranch dressing mix, powdered drink mixes like strawberry flavor Nestle Nequik.

Pick a food and a coating. Here are some combos to get you started!

Sliced bananas + cinnamon-sugar + raisins
Sliced bananas + Nestle Nequik powder
Apple slices + cinnamon-sugar
Strawberries + powdered sugar
Toast squares + parmesan cheese
Sliced bananas + hot chocolate mix
Apple slices + parmesan cheese
Toast squares + ranch dressing mix

Kids can slice the fruit or toast and put it into the Ziploc bag. They can also measure and pour in the coating. Let 'em shake and eat their treat.

*Variation: Put heavy cream into a plastic jar that will seal tightly. Have children take turns shaking it (20 minutes or so) until it turns into butter. Serve with pancakes or toast or crackers.

Repeat the Beat

Snap, clap or pat a simple beat and ask your child to "repeat the beat." Start simple and increase difficulty. Mix snaps and claps and lap pats.

*Variations: Use a drum to pound out a beat that goes with the syllables in names of people you know. For example, Tyler would be clap-clap. Adrienne would be clap-clap-clap: three quick claps.

I Can Hammer

For motor skills practice, a hammer and nails can be teaching tools. The optimal materials are the real thing- wood and metal! Don't worry moms, pair a hammer and nails with safety goggles. An old tree stump is a good surface. You've never seen concentration until you watch a preschooler use a hammer and nails!

If it is tricky, you can scaffold success by drilling or pounding a few partial holes into the stump first yourself so the nail stays upright, no holding necessary.

*Variation: Let your child practice hammering golf tees into a big chunk of styrofoam or floral foam with a toy hammer.

*Extension: A song

Johnny works with one hammer, (pound one arm)

One hammer, one hammer,

Johnny works with one hammer,

Then he works with two.

Johnny works with two hammers, (add other arm)

Two hammers, two hammers,

Johnny works with two hammers,

Then he works with three.

Repeat with:

Three – add one leg

Four – add the other leg

Five – add head

On last line of verse five say, “Then he goes to sleep.” (put hands under head like pillow)

Color INSIDE the Box

**Set a large cardboard box in the middle of the living room for their discovery, with a box of crayons inside. Watch what happens next!**

Berry Basket Weaving

**Once you've enjoyed some summer berries (dipped in vanilla yogurt?), recycle the container by weaving pretty ribbons throughout.**

Share recycling with your children.
Is this the world you want to leave them?

I Recommend...Fiskars brand scissors

As a parent and early childhood educator, I trust Fiskars for my children's scissoring needs.

http://www.fiskars.com/content/school_en_us/School/whyfiskars/teacher+knows+best

Pre-Cutting Activities

Strengthen your child's scissoring skills with some simple ideas:

1. The wooden clothespins (the kind that do NOT pinch open and sort of look like little soldiers) slide easily onto the lid of a container-oatmeal, frosting, box...make up a game?

2. Squeeze clothespins

3. Playdough, cutting playdough with scissors

4. Real clay with clay tools and hammers

5. Sort pom-poms or manipulatives

6. Finger plays, hand and finger puppets

7. Tear paper (torn paper collage)

8. Snip or fringe paper

To encourage proper grip on the scissors, make up a little tune and repeat this

Thumb on the top

Fingers on the bottom

Keep your elbow in

Clean Mud

A wacky science/sensory recipe I did with the preschoolers today.

Materials:
1 bar Ivory soap
1 roll toilet paper
Popsicle sticks

Tear the toilet paper into shreds into a small tub or large bowl. Use popsicle sticks to grate the bar of soap into the toilet paper pieces. Add warm water a little at a time until mushy. Add water until the mixture sort of stops soaking it up. It gets an oatmeal consistency but the more you mix and mash it, the more the TP dissolves. Leave overnight for best results.

This is one of those ones that is hard to explain but neat to experience. Trust me on this one!

Salad Spinner Art

For this art activity, you will need:
A salad spinner
Watered down tempera paints
Small paper plates or circles of paper

Directions: Have your child place the paper plate inside the salad spinner, drop some paint on, replace the lid and give it a whirl!

This is usually a very popular project with the preschoolers, leading to multiple tries and oodles of finished paper plates to take home. Enjoy!

Writing Strips

For pre-writers

Cut a sheet of paper into smaller 3" x 8 1/2" strips. Give your child the strips along with a crayon or marker and let the scribbling begin. By encouraging your child to mark on the smaller sized papers, she'll be praticing smaller hand movements. Since we read and write from left to right, make a dot in the upper left corner and tell her it is the starting point.

Cues to use when talking about her writing:
"These looks like big loops, and these look like smaller loops."
"You have some long lines here and some short ones here."
"I notice you connected these loops."
"These marks are side by side."
"This is really close to the letter ( )."

A Firefighter Fingerplay

Our recent preschool field trip to the firestation sparked an interest in C in all things firefighter. Here's a fingerplay for you to learn together. Try to remember, even after thirty-somethingth time performing, repetition is a positive thing! Fingerplays use fine motor development and hearing and discerning the sounds of language, as well as rhyming which kindergarten teachers like our kiddos to come prepared with.

A Firefighter

This brave fireman is going to bed

hold up right thumb

Down on the pillow he lays his head

right thumb on left palm

Wraps himself in his blanket tight

curl fingers around thumb

And plans to sleep this way all night

close eyes

But the fire alarm rings! He opens his eyes!

open eyes

Quickly he's dressed and down the pole he slides

right hand slides down left arm

in a grip from elbow to wrist

Then he climbs on the truck to go, go, go!

hands manipulate imaginary steering wheel

Pom Pom Sort

80 ct. assorted Pom Poms, $1 @ Dollar Tree

Collapsible Storage Box, $1 @ Dollar Tree

Another color sorting activity requires crafting pom poms and a divided container of some sort. I found this one with 8 sections at Dollar Tree, but you could use cups, dishes, plastic lids, 6-pack rings, dessert cups, pinch bowls, recycled clean plastic fruit cups...just about anything that makes for clear visual "dividers" so children can easily see groupings.

I just poured the pom poms onto the ground and let C decide how he was going to sort them. It was tricky because a few of the shades were visually hard for him to discriminate (white, pink) and he had to decide what shades could be put together (green, neon green).

*Variation: Buy a package with different sizes and colors of pom poms and challenge children to find new ways to sort them.

*Variation: For younger children, choose basic colors and remove some of the shades. Give them a jump start by placing one pom pom of each color into the groupings you are looking for.