Boys and Their Cars

As does any house of boys, we have a lot of cars, car tracks, etc. running around here.  I saw this cute idea on pintrest and it was a hit at our house! Sorry I couldn't find out who the original source was, but THANKS to whoever came up with this idea!  We connected our masking tape road to some of our existing car tracks.  I also incorporated a fun idea for a sight words parking lot, to help S work on his sight words for preschool, found at Juggling With Kids.

Ten Color Activities

1.  Color Caterpillar:  My inspiration for this came from here.  It's really simple, cut out the color shapes.  Glue them in the shape of a "C".  Draw a face.  Have child pick a name that begins with a "C".  This could be used in a colors unit and in teaching letter "C".

2.  Color Slapping Game:  I bought these color posters from the Dollar Tree and put them up in our preschool room.  I give my boys each a plastic spatula and then say things like, "S, can you find the color green."  "L can you find the color purple." "What color is the pumpking?  What color is the rubber duck?"  And they slap the correct poster.  I learned this in my teacher education program.  We've also tried it with spelling words, sight words, shape posters, etc.  It's a big hit at our house!

3.  Color Junk Sort:  Found the idea here along with many other CUTE ideas.  The one with the number is for S.  He has to put the correct number of colored objects into each section.  For L, I did no numbers, he just has to sort them into colors.  I found these boxes on sale at Michaels Crafts for $1 each!  I taped construction paper into each space and found all the "junk" around the house.

4.  Color Nature Hunt:  I can't seem to find the link where I found this activity, but I'm pretty sure it was on the blog Tired Need Sleep.  She has great ideas!  This activity is best done in spring or summer.  We went on a hunt outside to find something in nature for each color.  Then we dumped out our bags and shared our treasures.

5.  "The Color Song"  found at Mrs. Jone's Room.  We LOVE this song at our house!  Here's just one verse to give you a taste: 

(To the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It")

If you are wearing red, shake your head
If you are wearing red, shake your head
If you are wearing red
Then please shake your head
If you are wearing red, shake your head

6.  "I Have...Who Has..." Game:  Another great find from PreKinders!  Click on the link for directions and downloads.  This game works on colors and shapes.  S keeps asking to play this game, he caught right on and loved it!  L had a harder time getting it, but it was a really good way to see what shape and color names he knows.  It starts to cost a lot when printing in color, but there are always deals on copies too!  (Frugal Tip:  Office Depot had a coupon a few months ago for $10 off a purchase of $10 or more.  So I made a folder of all the preschoolish things I wanted to print in color and printed them there for free! Their website or the fabulesslyfrugal website will show deals like these.) 

7.  "Oh Rats" Game by Discover Toys:  We had this game when I was little, so my sister and I were ecstatic when we found it at a thrift store for $2.00!  I always check the games isle everytime I go to the thrift store, you never know what treasures you'll find!  I looked on ebay and saw a few copies of the game. We also play color games just using the color spinner from "Oh Rats".  If you can't get a hold of the game, make a spinner or dice with colors and try these variations:

a.  "I See":  Spin or roll the dice.  Look around the room for something of that color.  I say to everyone, "Something that is purple is the package of baby wipes." 

b.  Colored Laundry:  We tried this one yesterday.  I was working on folding laundry and the boys wanted me to play with them.  I dumped all the clean laundry on the couch then spun the spinner.  It landed on green and I said, "S will you please bring me all the laundry with green on it?"  Then I would fold it and go until we did all the colors. 

What other spinner or dice games do you play?

8.  Fruit Loop Necklaces:  A classic and EASY activity that I seem to forget about.  So incase you have forgotten too, I'm am posting about it.  I had L tell me the name of the color as he put it on.  I had S make color patterns on his necklace.  Tip:  Tape one end of the yarn or string with masking tape for easier stringing. Tie a froot loop double knotted on the other end to keep them on the string.

9.  I saw this idea here  and decided to also make it a color activity.  S and L loved dropping the water and shaking the tray to make the colors dance.  They also learned that if you collide the colors, they make new colors.  (See how I got my pipets and another pipet activity here.)

10.  Coloring Snow:  I think this was the favorite color activity at our house!  I filled each muffin tin hole with snow, filled glasses with primary colored water (using food coloring) and gave the boys pipets.  They mixed colors and colored their snow.  I ended up giving them plastic spoons also for stiring and tasting (they thought it tasted SO good!) and straws for drinking the melted snow. 

At the Table: Pipets, juicing, marshmallow shapes, and rice

It's always handy to have something the kiddos can do while I'm cleaning the kitchen or cooking.  These are a few activities we like:

1.  Juicing:  The boys always want to squeeze limes with a lime squeezer...not my favorite activity to supervise.  So I cut up some green sponges and let the boys fill them with water and squeeze their own "limes" into a pitcher.  Lime squeezers can be found almost anywhere...Walmart, Targets, etc.  I also give them measuring cups and bottles to practice pouring with.  We call this a pouring job (from the Montessori method).  Go into it knowing you're going to be cleaning up water and changing clothes...and it ends happy!

 2.  Color Mixing with Pipets:  Use food coloring, water, and a plastic cup or baby food jar to make each of the primary colors. Let kids explore mixing colors into empty cups. Also could try this idea by mixing colors in snow!  I've seen this idea in plenty of places on blogs, but I was too cheap to go out and buy pipets for $3 each from the hobby store.  So my frugal heart showed me a way around it.  I found some Infant Triamenic on clearance for $1.79 at ShopKo.  Then I combined that with my $3.00 off 2 Triamenic coupons.  I bought 9 things of Triamenic for $.29 a piece.  I will use the medicine too, but what I really wanted was the pipets!  Yes, I LOVE couponing!    (See other pipet activities here).

 3.   Marshmallow Shapes: discovered this by accident when we were making gingerbread houses.  S came up with his own idea by creating things with marshmallows, toothpicks, and graham crackers.  Provide the materials and let them explore!

4.  Rice and Popcorn Kernels:  Put a tray underneath to catch some spills.  Mix rice and popcorn kernels and have kids sift through a colander.  They also like to scoop with an ice cream scoop and practice transfering from one bowl to another (another Montessori job). 

Flannel Board and Felties

I finally got around to making a flannel board.  It was super easy.  I used a recycled sheet of that foamie project board we had laying around.  Then I covered it in flannel (used 50% off coupon at JoAnn's) and hot glued it to the board. 

My boys had recently got these cute Pixar cutouts that I knew would be destroyed in a day.  So I covered them in clear contact paper (found cheapest at Walmart on the isle with shelfing paper).  The last step was to make them into a feltie by covering the back with glue stick and rubbing dryer lint on the glue.  This fabulous dryer lint idea was found on "Bust Out Your Crayons" .  Then S & L used these Pixar felties to tell their own stories using the Pixar characters.

 I made some Nativity story felties by cutting out pictures from "The Friend" magazine from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  A copy can be found here.

These are some felties for songs.  "Five Little Monkeys", "Old MacDonald" and "Five Little Speckled Frogs".  I had my boys help color these while I worked on the laminating part, they can also be found on "Bust Out Your Crayons", along with many other song and story feltie printables.  Make sure to read the directions on the sidebar about printing.   

Everything Thanksgiving

 THANKFUL POSTER:  Every November I hang a poster in our front room and through the month we write things we are thankful for on it.  When people come to our house, they also get to contribute to the poster.  It was especially great when we hosted a family party and now get to have record of what my extended family is grateful for.  I think I'll start typing up the list each year and then we can read our thoughts from years past.

SALT DOUGH TURKEY HANDPRINTS:  My mother-in-law saw the idea for salt dough hand prints on pintrest and did these with the boys.  I was in need of some more Thanksgiving decorations, so I had S & L paint their's like a turkey instead of Christmasey.

 HEADBAND NAPKIN RINGS:  S & L helped me make these cute and easy decorations for our Thanksgiving feast.  We cut a cardboard paper towel tube into rings and decorated them with crayons and some confetti scraps from another project.  The book also suggested gluing a feather to the ring.  Idea came from "Crafts for Thanksgiving" by Kathy Ross. 

MAKING BUTTER:  These are my little helpers who are shaking the butter as we waited for Thanksgiving dinner.  We opened a carton of whipping cream, added some salt and a marble.  Then taped up the carton really well.  Many muscles were used to shake this cream into butter. What we learned was that the cartons still leak, and one marble is not enough.  So next time, thanks to the suggestion of my sister-in-law we will pour the whipping cream into a pint mason jar with 4-5 marbles and shake. 

KIDS TABLE:  This was our first year of having a kids table at Thanksgiving.  From the "Family Fun" magazine, I found the idea to cover the table with paper and let the kids color during the meal.  We did this, turning Christmas wrapping paper backwards and the kids LOVED it!  So simple.

Literature & Felt Activities

GO AWAY BIG GREEN MONSTER out of felt.

My boys LOVE the book, "Go Away Big Green Monster" by Ed Emberly.  Then I found this cute idea here for making felties.  (This link is full of fabulous Halloween preschool ideas!)  The kids create the big green monster as I tell the story to them.  I already had a big bag of assorted felt and some ziplocs = a cheap activity.  (Frugal Hint:  use a 50% off coupon at the craft store to buy your felt! These can be found every week!)

 

MOUSE SHAPES out of Felt

As we were reading another favorite book, "Mouse Shapes" by Ellen Stoll Walsh, I got an idea of another felt activity.  In the book, the mice make different things out of shapes.  I used felt to cut out some of the shapes the mice use to make a house, tree, wagon, etc.  Then as I read, the kids build things along with the mice.  I also plan on making these out of construction paper, and letting the kids glue them to make a picture.

Chalkboard Door

This is not a new idea, but one bouncing around the blog world.  I saw it a long time ago before I had a house and knew I had to have one someday.  So when I was decorating the kitchen to our new house, I decided I would turn the pantry door into a chalkboard door.  It was prett easy.  I took the door out to the shop and sanded it.  Then I primed it with a couple coats of magnetic primer (found at home depot).  Next I put about 3 coats of black chalk board paint on the door (bought it at JoAnn's using a 50% off coupon...woot!)  It is actually really inexpensive. 

This door happens to be what we face when we sit at the table to eat which turns out to be very handy.  I write on it the sight words and letters that S is working on in preschool that month.  L even points to letters and want to know what they are and what sound they make.  The magnets stay on until someone slams the door, then they create a pile on the floor :(

Days of the Week/ Months of the Year

When S began preschool and we did the initial assessment of skills, I realized we had never talked about days or months.  S always asked what day it was or when an event was, but didn't quite "get it".  So I looked all over online to find some good ways to teach it or some cute printable...didn't find much.  So I made my own stuff.

Days of the Week
"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle uses the days of the week so I worked with that.  I found a printable coloring page here and cut out what the caterpillar ate each day to make some flash cards.  Then we sang the song "Days of the Week" to the tune of "The Addams Family" found here which turned out to be the same one S sings at preschool.   I also made a list of the days to go on our fridge, and printed some tiny magnets so S knew what happens on those days.  (picture of him with back pack for school days, picture of Day playing for days he's home, picture of Jesus for Sunday, etc.)

Months of the Year
For the months, we read the book "A House for Hermit Crab" by Eric Carle.  I made some months magnets with some art found here.  Then I printed some tiny pictures of cousins, uncles, aunts, etc. and made them into magnets.  Then my boys put the months in order and learned to put the pictures by the corresponding birthday month.  And we sang a to the tune of "Ten Little Indians" also found here.  Now my 2 1/2 year old can sing all the months of the year and put the magnets in order...who knew a few magnets and a song would do the trick!