Worm Painting

This craft is loads of fun when pairing it with the study of worms or reading a worm book! Plus the look you get when the child touches it for the first time is priceless!

Supplies: brown paint, brown paper, and faux worms (found in worm bait) or rubber worms (found in party supply stores)

Process: Place the faux worm in the paint and let it wiggle around in the dirt (paint and paper).

Teach Well: Preschoolers need sensory experiences. Why not bring unique items into the classroom to help them explore? Those will be the ones they remember most! 

Affordable Classroom Garden

This project is quite affordable if you have a large classroom. This planting kit can be found at your local Target in the dollar section. The one photographed is of clover and if it is planted the first of March, you can have clover grown in time for Saint Patrick's Day.

Supplies: plant kit, a plastic spoon per child, a bowl per child, and water

Process: Plant your pot according to kit instructions

Teach Well: Giving your children a spoon and a bowl to plant their own pot gives them ownership over the plant. Make sure to water daily. The small pots dry out quickly and can not go a day without water.

Grow-a-Frog

Supplies: a growing frog (can be found at local dollar markets or the dollar section at your local Target), a large bucket, water, measuring tape, pencil, and paper

Process: Measure your frog and mark it's length on your paper. You may want to use butcher paper or something larger than letter size. Place the frog in the bucket of water (or according to package instructions). Every day take the frog out and measure it again. In our case, the frog grew an inch every day. It stopped at 14 1/2 inches and started to peel. As it gets too large for its skin begin to let it dry out by removing it from the water. You can measure the shrinking process if you like or just enjoy observing it instead.

Teach Well: Take photos of the growing process. Use it on a bulletin board or science journal prompt.

Feathered Chick

Supplies: Construction paper, yellow feathers, buttons, and glue

Process: Draw the chicken shape on to construction paper and cut out. Have the children use glue to attach all the pieces to their bird.

Teach Well: Make a master and copy your chicken to the paper using a copy machine. If your children are old enough, let them cut the chicken out themselves to develop their small motor skills.

Frog's Lunch

This game is a lot of fun! When I find green party blowers I pick up quite a few to keep on hand for years to come.

Supplies: party blowers, plastic flies, and dice

Process: Lay out the flies on the floor in front of the children at circle time. Roll the dice. Have the children blow their green party blowers (frog tongue) on the flies. Whatever number was rolled pick up that many flies and have them put it at their spot.

Driving in the Snow Sensory

This sensory is perfect for little boys! It keeps them busy for quite some time!

Supplies: white playdough and cars

Process: Use the white playdough as your "snow." Have the children drive along in the snow as they like!

Teach Well: White playdough maybe hard to make at home. During this time of year you may find white playdough in the seasonal department and during Valentines Day. I use inexpensive cars from the dollar store and keep them only for art projects. These are not save to play with since the wheels come off easy and are a choking hazard to young children. So, they are only used to paint with or in playdough.

Feed the Penguin

I am sure I got this game idea from Mailbox Magazine but love the new twist I added!

Supplies: Clip art of a penguin, tub or box, clipart of fish, and dice

Process: Cut your penguin out then slit a slot where his mouth is. Attach it to the front of a box or dish tub. Cut out fish clipart (I found mine on my computer). Lay the fish on the floor (your "ocean"). Roll the dice and count how many fish you can gather from the ocean to "feed the penguin."

Teach Well: Read Without You before playing this game.

Sentence Builder

I found this old game for 99 cents at Goodwill! I love you Goodwill!

Supplies: thrift store game, word strips, or printed out words from the computer

Process: Place a sentence on the table (or at circle time) and have the children read the sentence with you. Take turns finding a word from the pile you set aside to add to the blank in the sentence. Have them read it. Then read it together.

Teach Often: For a little fun, throw words in the pile that might not work with the sentence.

Decorate a Snowman

Find items around the house to help you play this fun and decorative game!

Supplies: craft foam snowmen, buttons, ribbon, pom poms, and dice

Process: Roll the dice and count the number you land on. Add that many pieces to your snowman and decorate him as you wish! Let your friend have a turn. When your snowman is filled clean him off and play again!

Teach Well: Snowmen are alway on clearence this time of year at your local craft store. No craft foam? Use clipart from your computer to make your "game board." Use this game with your favorite snowman book!

Picture Book Sequence Cards

Ever have those favorite books fall apart? Keep the pages for storytelling sequence cards. I love this book about pumpkins. I had the growth of a pumpkin lined up and then had a few pages missing from the line up. Have the children place the missing pages in the place where they belong.

Teach Well: Find ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle old books!

Easy Christmas Cards

Christmas cards can be easy for children if you prepare the project to only a few simple steps! To get some ideas, go to card sites like this one or this one. I learned this design from Jeanean at Craft Warehouse. She does a card make and take every Sunday afternoon. It is a great way to learn how to do the project before you do it with your kids!

Teach Well: Try scrapbooking paper instead of construction paper for your Christmas crafts. It is acid free and will last longer for the parent who saves their child's art.

Pumpkin Pie Playdough

Supplies: pumpkin colored playdough, recycled pie tins, rolling pin

Process: Have the children make pumpkin pies with their dough. If you have a play kitchen have the children put their pies in the "oven".

Teach Well: If you have any pumpkin cookie cutters place them on the table for even more make believe!

Sequencing Cards

Keep your eyes out when you are shopping Goodwill or thrift stores. This game was a great find several years ago.

Teach Well: If you can't find premade sequence cards make your own.

Pumpkin Pies

Supplies: orange, brown, and white paper, pumpkin spice, glue, tape, and a shallow container

Process: Cut out pie and whipcream shape from paper. Create a crust from brown paper and tape to the back of the pie. In a container have the child squeeze glue on the paper. Shake pumpkin spice on the pie. Glue the whipcream cutout on top.

Teach Well: If the child is having a hard time shaking enough spice on the paper, pour some into the bucket and shake the bucket around to cover the glue.

Writing Readiness

White boards can be good change from worksheets. I like to keep a variety of writing activities in class to keep the children from getting bored of the same thing. White boards seem to give a child a feeling of independence.

Supplies: a small dual white board per person and dry erase pens

Process: Pre draw a circle on one side of the white board. Add several of the same letter that you are working on. Then put other letters around them. Have the child find and circle the letter you are working on (in this case letter Hh) When they are done have them flip the board and practice writing.

Teach Well: Take photos of your children writing. It helps you evaluate them later. Are they holding their pencil correctly? This way, at the end of the day, you can see where each child is while keeping the photo in the child's log.

Same Sound Stuffing

Supplies: Mailbox Magazine October/November 2009 page 55

Process: Make copy of cooked turkey from Mailbox Magazine and game cards. Lay cards face down on the table and take turns flipping two cards at a time. If the card has the same beginning sound place on the cooked turkey. If not, flip the cards over and it's your friend's turn.

Teach Well: If you are playing this game as a class enlarge the cooked turkey copy.

Fall Collage

I am always trying to reduce waste in the classroom. I feel guilty throwing a small scrap of paper away! Why waste when children can create beautiful collages using scraps around the classroom?

Supplies: scraps of fall colored paper, fall stickers, confetti, yarn, silk leaves, magazine cutouts of farms or fall colors, diecuts, paper, and glue.

Process: Place items at your art center. Let your children create how they wish! I love using black paper for them to glue onto. It makes the colors stand out and it displays well.

Teach Well: Have glue bottles out until they master squeezing the glue out. Then move to small containers of glue with q-tips. It will help develop their small motor skills and save glue.

The Squirrel Game

I love to shop thrift stores. When I go I am always keeping my eye out for vintage educational games. I found this game at Goodwill that I bring out only for this season. Can you believe it? It is so darling with the little pinecones on the board. The children love it!

When looking for games I usually know that there might be pieces missing. This game had a few pinecones and the dice missing but that didn't keep me from bringing this treasure home. I always buy larger dice to use for my preschoolers and keep a box at home to use as needed.


Teach Well: Shop thrift stores for unique board games that can go with your theme! As you start to collect them and bring them out on special occasions the children will sense how special they really are!

Pumpkin Patch Game

I found these great "pumpkins" and mice at the local dollar store years ago. Make sure to look in other departments in stores for things you can use in the classroom. Who would have thought that the health and beauty section would have the best pumpkins for this game?

Supplies: Pumpkins (of your choice - you could use plastic if you like), basket, plastic mice, and dice.

Process: Have a basket filled with the pumpkins and bury the mice underneath. Have the children roll the dice and count the number out loud. Have them put their hand in the basket and pull out that many mice. When all the mice are out of the patch have the children start again!

Teach Well: Use large dice so that the children can count the dots easily.

Leafy Shape Sensory

I love filling our sensory table up with different items every month; none in which are rice! This month we use silk leaves from the local dollar store; they come in a large package of loose ones. I think it cost me $6 to fill the table. I got the magnetic wands at my local teacher supply store. The shapes magnets I got at a garage sale, but you can use letters, animals, or round ball magnets (also found out a teacher supply store).

Supplies: Sensory table, magnets, magnetic wands, and silk leaves.

                       

Process: Fill your sensory table with the silk leaves and bury the magnets under them. Have the children use magnet wands to find a shape under the leaves. When they find one, have them say what shape they found!

Teach Well: Use this opportunity to introduce magnets and how they work in science. Keep other magnetic centers out for creative exploration!