Preschool - N is for nest

N is for nest ..... or nightingale. I couldn't really decide since we talked about all different kinds of birds.

Not too original on the craft here but still turned out pretty cute. I just drew a "nest" shape and let the girls put multi-colored tissue paper in it. We added an "N bird" just for fun.


We actually did a lot of activities for bird week including this bird feeding activity but I have almost no pictures to show for it.

Emma matched colors with color words. She is still working on pinching the clothes pins to the card. On a side note: the box provided a great deal of entertainment for her as well. Opening and closing, locking and unlocking.

We also did an activity where we sorted all our stuffed animals into pets vs. wild animals.

Sorry there is not much more in depth review of our week but I really like to have pictures to go along with explaining what we did so just trust me when I say it was a good week but we have little to show for it.

Thanks for reading.

International Popcorn Day

I have a book that says today is International Popcorn Day. I got out our popcorn containers and we put sight words and numbers on pieces of paper and crumpled them up. The girls had a fun time learning and I love when they do.

Preschool - M is for Moon

Here is a look at what we did last week for letter M.

We combined our letter craft with our book for stArt and I think it turned out pretty cute.



We collected "moon rocks". For this activity I hid rocks around the room and the girls searched for them. I am always amazed that this simple seek and find game is so much fun but it is always a huge hit even if little girls don't always remember where they hid things when it is their turn. We play a hide and seek kind of game a couple times a month. These kinds of games lead to a lot of counting too.

I cut out a bunch of different size circles (planets) and they girls painted them with watercolors. They turned out very pretty. Lydia insisted on making a mobile and though I ave it a good try in the end I just glued them to a plastic coat hanger. They didn't know any different and I think they will hold up longer this way too.



We placed "planets" (paper circles) in order from largest to smallest and also talked about which ones were the same sizes and which ones were different. Yes there are more than eight planets as some are exactly the same size. Makes it a little bit harder for her.



Number and alphabet puzzles are always a hit.



We sang a planet song and I found a moon poem that was pretty cute.

We blew up a bunch of balloons and learned a song about planets and put them in order. No, the balloons are not in any sort of size order just a visual.



We made another easy bake oven cake, this time a moon cake with marshmallows for the craters. 30min + for 3 small cakes is not my idea of a great time but I am not a 5 year old girl.





We also did some space puzzles and various other space materials I have collected over the years. Counting Coconuts had a great space unit recently and I would love to use some more of her ideas when I revisit space.

It was a fun week learning and playing together. To see what is happening in others preschool home classrooms check out Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations.

stArt - While The World Is Sleeping

This week we are talking about birds and what better way to introduce the week than by feeding them so we have some to look at and observe.

We read the book While the World is sleeping by Pamela Duncan Edwards. It is a nice story about different animals and their nighttime habits.


First we dried out bread by leaving it out all day. Then we used cookie cutters (we used a large heart) to cut the bread. We poked a hole in the bread and I tied a piece of string through the hole. Then we spread peanut butter on the dry bread.

After we spread the p.b. on the bread we dipped it in birdseed.



Then we hung them up on the birdfeeder.



We did this project in the late afternoon and when we woke up in the morning they were one. It is my belief that we didn't feed the birds but the deer! Either way it was a fun simple activity. I think our picture window and birdfeeder are the best form of entertainment.

Funny story about our birdfeeder..... one day last spring Lydia remarked that she was "bored" and then added "I think I will go watch the birds." I thought it was hilarious because most people (no one in this house) would consider watching birds a very boring activity.

To find out more ideas for crafts check out: A Mommy's Adventures and Red Ted Art.

stArt - moon

This week we are studying the moon and the planets. For our focus story we read Off! to the Moon by Stephanie Marbury. In the story a father shares a story with his son about a trip he took to the moon when he was a young boy.

For our craft we made a moon. First we glued beans to a small round paper plate. After they dried we wrapped the plate in aluminum foil pressing down on the indentations from the beans for the craters of the moon.


Here Emma is picking up the beans and gluing them to the plate. Good fine motor skill practice.


Here is the final product. Not perfect but still a good idea. (I read about this idea somewhere but can't remember where. Sorry.)



It was a fun and very simple craft (the only kind I do) and a cute story.

To see what other families are doing with crafts and stories checkout:

A Mommy's Adventures and Red Ted Art

Preschool - L is for Lizard

We had a fun week getting back into the swing of things here.

We had fun doing a few lizard crafts and activities.

We made stArt craft and did a few activities to go along with the books A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni and the Icky Sticky Chameleon by Dawn Bently.

Most of the activities I used came from Cindy at Along the Way. (She captured much better pictures too.)

We worked on some sequence cards and writing and counting numbers.



We caught flys on our sticky lizard tongues and did lots of counting.



We played in our winter sensory bin.



Lydia requested to do L is for Ladybug so we made a ladybug cake in her easy bake oven (Christmas gift) and she was satisfied. We read The Grouchy Ladybug to appease her idea as well. I love being able to say yes to my kids because they don't always hear it.



We had a great week and as a special treat we went to the National Geographic Young Explorer website and looked at some crazy pictures of lizards and read through several magazines there. It was a treat and I will definitely be using it again soon. Let me know if you take a chance to check it out.

To find out what other families are doing check out Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations.

stArt - A color of his own

This week we read the book A color of his own by Leo Lionni.

The art project didn't turn out quite the way I expected but the girls had fun.

I started by printing out a lizard coloring page. I placed a small amount of watered down paint on the picture. The plan was for the girls to blow through a straw to spread the paint. It didn't work very well so we resorted to just painting it. Here are the pictures.






To check out how others are combining art and books check out stArt at A Mommy's Adventures.

Winter Imagination Sensory Bin

Here is what I included in our Winter Imagination/Sensory Bin:

White Rice (snow)
Blue Glass Beads (ice)
Cotton Balls (snowballs)
Snowflake cut outs (from some leftover winter paper plates) and some snowflakes from the winter printables at 1+1+1.
A few pine cones
Some snowflake buckets for scooping and collecting (from Dollar General after Christmas sale)
***As a special effect I covered the bottom of our bin with some cellophane snowflake bags so when all the rice is moved away or push to one side they have a nice winter feel to the bin itself.***



I included spoons for scooping and tongs for picking up the "snowballs" (cotton balls).

So far the girls have enjoyed playing in "winter woods" as much as they enjoyed playing in "autumn woods" and kept the fairy theme going.

To keep the fairy theme going we played hide and seek with some small Tinkerbell fairies we have. Here is Emma finding one of them. This was a form of entertainment for quite some time.



I love sensory bins and should make them every month but for now I will make them for each season and then throw some extras in whenever I feel like it.



Please feel free to leave me links in the comments to your sensory bin ideas so I can have more ideas. Thanks for reading!