This is what happens when you get 6 3-5 year olds together and have them use the story bag:
Once upon a time... there was a treasure chest on a big boat and a pink flamingo took the treasure to an underground mountain where the flamingo played football. The flamingo flew in a rocket ship to space over a rainbow to the planet Saturn to hide the treasure forever. The End
Once upon a time... there was a tree on a hill with a lion waiting for his friend the monkey. They looked up into the sky from earth and a robot came from space and said, “I am going to eat you!” An airplane landed nearby and out hopped a frog and he ate everything in sight except the airplane and he flew far away.
The End
These crack me up!!!!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Story Bag
I picked up this bag at Michaels for $1 and
these for .59 each(I bought around 15 of them)
Our story always begins with Once upon a time and then we draw a piece (without looking)and we start to tell our story. Every person adding to it as we draw new pieces. My children loved it and could have done it for hours, literally!
these for .59 each(I bought around 15 of them)
Our story always begins with Once upon a time and then we draw a piece (without looking)and we start to tell our story. Every person adding to it as we draw new pieces. My children loved it and could have done it for hours, literally!
Activity Bags
Practicing counting 1-10 and patterns. Also by putting the beads on the pipe cleaners-fine motor skills.
Upper case and lower case puzzles. I also have him practice the sounds when he is doing this activity.
Name Practice. He loves putting the magnetic letters in order and then practicing writing his name. Okay okay not totally true he loves putting the letters in the correct order and singing the little song I taught him to practice his name. He could do without needing to practice writing it!
Fine Motor Skills by taking pop poms from one container to the other.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Our Little Heart Monsters
Items needed:
pink paper plate
googly eyes
red and pink construction paper
valentine foam stickers
pipe cleaners
glue
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Magnet/Flannel Board activities
I found this great blog that had wonderful magnet/flannel board ideas.
Here are a couple of examples:
There was an Old Lady That Swallowed a Fly
ABC's
Here are a couple of examples:
There was an Old Lady That Swallowed a Fly
ABC's
Monday, January 18, 2010
People have asked how did I choose how to preschool my children and it all came down to this. I was researching the topic of women and came across a wonderful talk by President Benson titled The Honored Place of Woman. Years later when I had preschool aged children a part of that talk I had read so many years earlier came to my mind and it read:
"We become enamored with men’s theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother’s influence."
It was then I knew what my role as a mother concerning preschool was and I truly have enjoyed every learning moment with my preschoolers!
"We become enamored with men’s theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother’s influence."
It was then I knew what my role as a mother concerning preschool was and I truly have enjoyed every learning moment with my preschoolers!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
An Edible Snowscape!!!
We did the following after reading many books about snow and snowmen!!!
Items needed:
plate and knife
square of graham cracker
white frosting
snowman shaped marshmallows or 3 mini ones stacked on top of eachother
This is a project you let them do themselves(doing things ALL BY THEMSELF is a huge boost to your little ones self esteem). Yes they are going to get messy but this is what wet ones are for. They each have their own frosting and knife so they can lick the knife if they want. They spread the frosting over the cracker. Add the marshmallows and eat up!!!! Surprisingly enough this is great for working on their fine motor skills.
Yummy and Fun!!!
Items needed:
plate and knife
square of graham cracker
white frosting
snowman shaped marshmallows or 3 mini ones stacked on top of eachother
This is a project you let them do themselves(doing things ALL BY THEMSELF is a huge boost to your little ones self esteem). Yes they are going to get messy but this is what wet ones are for. They each have their own frosting and knife so they can lick the knife if they want. They spread the frosting over the cracker. Add the marshmallows and eat up!!!! Surprisingly enough this is great for working on their fine motor skills.
Yummy and Fun!!!
The Mitten activity
Here is the finished mitten(yes I was interrupting snacking).....
and the animals!
I love the story The Mitten by Jan Brett. She has a wonderful website www.janbrett.com were I got the images of the animals from the story. We colored all of our animals and then I quickly cut them out(if you have older preschoolers they can do this themselves) Just like Nicki from the book we made our own mitten, decorated it, and taped it to our bag. Then we practiced retelling the story.
I did this over 2 days and I told the story many different ways(I just read it, told it as a flannel board story, used the mitten bags the kids made).
It is amazing how well young children can retell stories and it helps with them learning to comprehend what they are reading or what is being read to them!!!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Where to Start?!?
If I were to start preschooling my kids today, this is what I would have to start with:
1. A subscription to The Mailbox magazine full of excellent ideas www.themailbox.com
2. An alphabet puzzle and a number puzzleYou can take all the letters or numbers out and ask them tofind specifis ones to put back in the puzzle starting out in order does make it not so frustrating for them and eventually they will be able to find them all randomly.
3. The Leap Frog Phonics DVD
4. Craft supplies-Paint, playdough, crayons, scissors, paper, etc...-use your imagination here. You can make paint and playdough there are tons of recipes online and the kids love helping you make it. You can even use vanilla pudding tinted with food coloring for finger paint and if you have young children they can get in on the fun and you don't have to worry about them eating it.
5. A set of counting bears with cups-these are used to make groups, count, sort etc
6. Magnetic numbers- you can make a fishing pole out of a dowel, string and magnet and fish for letters
7. Dry Erase board and markers This way they can practice making their letters over and over again
8. Books, lots of books
This seems like a relatively small list, but you have toys they use that can be applied to preschool too. Some of my favorites are blocks, duplos, little people, plastic dinosaurs and animals.
For me preschool has been about them learning about the world around them and keeping it fun, so trips to apple orchards, pumpkin patches, fire stations, etc have been a staple. Story times at the library and other free events in our community. Going on nature walks counting squirrels in the fall or flowers in the spring, collecting fallen leaves and observing ant hills. Children love the world around them and they like to observe and explore everything and I take advantage of that.
If anyone has questions about this post they can ask me questions in the comment section.
1. A subscription to The Mailbox magazine full of excellent ideas www.themailbox.com
2. An alphabet puzzle and a number puzzleYou can take all the letters or numbers out and ask them tofind specifis ones to put back in the puzzle starting out in order does make it not so frustrating for them and eventually they will be able to find them all randomly.
3. The Leap Frog Phonics DVD
4. Craft supplies-Paint, playdough, crayons, scissors, paper, etc...-use your imagination here. You can make paint and playdough there are tons of recipes online and the kids love helping you make it. You can even use vanilla pudding tinted with food coloring for finger paint and if you have young children they can get in on the fun and you don't have to worry about them eating it.
5. A set of counting bears with cups-these are used to make groups, count, sort etc
6. Magnetic numbers- you can make a fishing pole out of a dowel, string and magnet and fish for letters
7. Dry Erase board and markers This way they can practice making their letters over and over again
8. Books, lots of books
This seems like a relatively small list, but you have toys they use that can be applied to preschool too. Some of my favorites are blocks, duplos, little people, plastic dinosaurs and animals.
For me preschool has been about them learning about the world around them and keeping it fun, so trips to apple orchards, pumpkin patches, fire stations, etc have been a staple. Story times at the library and other free events in our community. Going on nature walks counting squirrels in the fall or flowers in the spring, collecting fallen leaves and observing ant hills. Children love the world around them and they like to observe and explore everything and I take advantage of that.
If anyone has questions about this post they can ask me questions in the comment section.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Apples
A new version of bobbing for apples-cut apple shapes out of craft foam, with a permanent marker write upper case A on half and lower case on the other half. I float them in a tub of water that is half full and have the kids grab them out with tongs seperating them into upper and lowercase groups by sticking them to the side of the tub and saying the sound A's make.
Throw play apples into a bushel basket singing the a song. (the A says ahhhhh the A says ahhhhh every letter makes a sound the A says ahhhhhhh.
Go to an orchard and pick apples if you can.
Cut apple in half both ways and dip into red paint and make apple prints.
Apple tree sequencing cards.
Read books about apples.
Get red and green pom poms and have them seperate them into groups and then count them into baskets. For fine motor skill you can also have them pick up the pom poms with a clothes pin or kiddie chopsticks.
Program tree patterns with different letters on them and using the pom poms above play apple tree bingo.
Spray foam balls with red spray paint and then with a skewer poke 2-3 holes through the ball. At the top of the ball poke a green pipe cleaner in and make it into the shape of a stem and leaf and glue into place. For each ball take a green pipe cleaner and bend both ends over a half inch, this is your worm. You now have apples and wormmsa nd you have the children weave the worms through the apple holes. They love it!!!
Throw play apples into a bushel basket singing the a song. (the A says ahhhhh the A says ahhhhh every letter makes a sound the A says ahhhhhhh.
Go to an orchard and pick apples if you can.
Cut apple in half both ways and dip into red paint and make apple prints.
Apple tree sequencing cards.
Read books about apples.
Get red and green pom poms and have them seperate them into groups and then count them into baskets. For fine motor skill you can also have them pick up the pom poms with a clothes pin or kiddie chopsticks.
Program tree patterns with different letters on them and using the pom poms above play apple tree bingo.
Spray foam balls with red spray paint and then with a skewer poke 2-3 holes through the ball. At the top of the ball poke a green pipe cleaner in and make it into the shape of a stem and leaf and glue into place. For each ball take a green pipe cleaner and bend both ends over a half inch, this is your worm. You now have apples and wormmsa nd you have the children weave the worms through the apple holes. They love it!!!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Mitten
Read book-The Mitten by Jan Brett
Sequencing: mitten with animals(http://www.janbrett.com/activities_pages_artwork.htm)
Mm practice. Laminate mittens with Mm on it and have the kids trace them with a dry erase marker.
Mitten memory game.
Puppet show. See if the kids can guess who is going into the mitten next.
Design your own mitten. Make mitten print outs and have the kids cut out and design their own mitten with a M on it.
Bring some snow in and hide winter animals in it or shaving cream works(non menthol) in the water table.
Mitten matching game- clothes line, clothes pin, and mittens. Helps with fine motor skills.
Sequencing: mitten with animals(http://www.janbrett.com/activities_pages_artwork.htm)
Mm practice. Laminate mittens with Mm on it and have the kids trace them with a dry erase marker.
Mitten memory game.
Puppet show. See if the kids can guess who is going into the mitten next.
Design your own mitten. Make mitten print outs and have the kids cut out and design their own mitten with a M on it.
Bring some snow in and hide winter animals in it or shaving cream works(non menthol) in the water table.
Mitten matching game- clothes line, clothes pin, and mittens. Helps with fine motor skills.
Brown Bear Brown Bear
Read book. Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?
Sequencing magnets. Make and cut out the animals from the story and put magnets on the backs. After reading the story have the children try to remember who saw who. HINT: a company called Punkydoodles has the cutouts for this story for $1.99 http://www.punkydoodles.com/
Color to Color name match. Make cards with color names on them to match the above animal cut outs from the story.
Animal to name match. Make cards with the name of the animals from the story to match the cut outs previously made.
Bb Practice-Laminated bears with Bb on them. Have the kids trace the Bb's with a dry erase marker.
Make book to practice reading with at home (End of book change- child's name what do you see?)
Puppet show. With all the animals on popsicle sticks and see if the kids can guess who is going to pop up next.
Counting Center. With bear counters and cups.
Color Center from The Mailbox magazine. I think it is the June/July issue.
Have fun with this action poem:
Brown bear brown bear turn a round,
Brown bear brown bear touch the ground
Brown bear brown bear twist side to side
Brown bear brown bear reach up high
Brown bear brown bear touch your head
Brown bear brown bear jump ahead
Brown bear brown bear clap your hands
Brown bear brown bear one foot you stand
Brown bear brown bear march up stairs
Brown bear brown bear say your prayers
Sequencing magnets. Make and cut out the animals from the story and put magnets on the backs. After reading the story have the children try to remember who saw who. HINT: a company called Punkydoodles has the cutouts for this story for $1.99 http://www.punkydoodles.com/
Color to Color name match. Make cards with color names on them to match the above animal cut outs from the story.
Animal to name match. Make cards with the name of the animals from the story to match the cut outs previously made.
Bb Practice-Laminated bears with Bb on them. Have the kids trace the Bb's with a dry erase marker.
Make book to practice reading with at home (End of book change- child's name what do you see?)
Puppet show. With all the animals on popsicle sticks and see if the kids can guess who is going to pop up next.
Counting Center. With bear counters and cups.
Color Center from The Mailbox magazine. I think it is the June/July issue.
Have fun with this action poem:
Brown bear brown bear turn a round,
Brown bear brown bear touch the ground
Brown bear brown bear twist side to side
Brown bear brown bear reach up high
Brown bear brown bear touch your head
Brown bear brown bear jump ahead
Brown bear brown bear clap your hands
Brown bear brown bear one foot you stand
Brown bear brown bear march up stairs
Brown bear brown bear say your prayers
Pumpkins
Read various pumpkin books.
Pp practice-
Make P's out of pumpkin seeds on pumpkins.
Laminate a pumpkin shape with Pp on it and have them trace with them with a dry erase marker.
Scoop out a pumpkin put insides in water table for further exploration.
Make pumpkin book.
Make pumpkin life cycle craft-green yarn(vine), large paper plate painted orange, small paper plate painted green, yellow tissue paper crumpled up(flower), seed from pumpkin glued to cardstock tape last four items on to vine.
Sequencing pumpkin life cyle cards.
Pumpkin pie treat: mix pumpkin and cinnamon, crush grahams add pumpkin mixture top with whipped cream.
Pumpkin Playdough make snake P's. Make orange playdough can add cinnamon for a more pumpkin pie effect.
Classify pumpkins and gourds.
Pp practice-
Make P's out of pumpkin seeds on pumpkins.
Laminate a pumpkin shape with Pp on it and have them trace with them with a dry erase marker.
Scoop out a pumpkin put insides in water table for further exploration.
Make pumpkin book.
Make pumpkin life cycle craft-green yarn(vine), large paper plate painted orange, small paper plate painted green, yellow tissue paper crumpled up(flower), seed from pumpkin glued to cardstock tape last four items on to vine.
Sequencing pumpkin life cyle cards.
Pumpkin pie treat: mix pumpkin and cinnamon, crush grahams add pumpkin mixture top with whipped cream.
Pumpkin Playdough make snake P's. Make orange playdough can add cinnamon for a more pumpkin pie effect.
Classify pumpkins and gourds.
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