There was so much snow that the children were excited to find anything! This was not planned, I grabbed a couple of recycled containers to put their goodies in.
Returning inside, I cut two pieces of clear contact paper and hung them up with magnets on our “magnet boards”. (Oil Pans)
Then, they stuck their collages to the color paper they wanted, and filled in the “frame” with oil pastels.
Creating masterpieces
Finally, they decided to blend oil pastels on the back, which can be seen here.
I use this book to introduce mixing colors, and I use it again periodically to review color mixing. We have done several activities practicing color mixing, including oil pastels. Oil pastels continues to be the most popular.
I gave them a huge piece of paper, $store watercolors and three or four jars of water each. The goal was to let them mix paint in the water and watch the water change and explore as they wanted.
They spent much excitement and wow time predicting what the water color would change to, and then observing the change of color.
When I thought they might be ready to transition, I mentioned mixing colors on their paper.
I truly become inspired when I see this awesomely pure creativity expressed!
(I made some shapes and traced around to create puzzles, then reused for this project)
I’m sharing a site that offers a Kindness book list. The list was compiled from subscriber suggestions. The great thing about that is the books are tried and tested!
On of the books I like to teach kindness, is Z is for Moose. I enjoy interweaving themes that are not obvious with books we read.
My observation is the children are more receptive when I ‘m using implied teaching, instead of overt teaching when it comes to charachter building, social skills and emotional practices.
I only blog the winners I’ve tested on different children from toddlers to 7 year olds. The review above gives you an idea of how I integrate activities and dump the obvious (ABC’s) on its head.
Our small rural town is not diverse, so its incorporated into our curriculum.
We are going to be talking about Chinese New Year. I made this game for Chinese New Year 2019 Year of the Pig activity.
Roll and Color a pig for Chinese New Year, Farm, animals theme or just for fun!
No Prep for counting, pre-write & subtizing skill building!
Supplies: Printable(s) /Die
Skills:
Pre-Write (coloring)
Following Directions
Counting 1-5
Subtizing (I see & know how many w/o counting)
Silly no prep game with a snorting pig!
How to play:
Choose which pig template to print, and print one per child.
Child rolls die.
Child says number outloud, and colors the picture that matches the rolled number.
If that item is already colored, child passes turn if you want the game to last longer. If you desire a quicker game, when child rolls an item that is already colored, child re-rolls.
Continue until 1 child has entire pig colored. That child wins.
What is in the Free Printable Pack?
There are two of each page in the pack.
The two pictures shown previously are two of the pages in the pack.
Show below is the pig template page, with the body already colored.
Finally, a separate dice page, shown below.
My preschoolers play this with each other, with only a little guidance from me. Since this has pictures, not words, it can be used as a center or independent play activity.
Foam Die= With a dry-erase marker, draw 2 rectangles, 2 squares and a heart on one die. Or any combination of 3 shapes.
Set up on a table:
A paper for each child
Glue for each child
Some of each shape to glue onto papers.
Other random items children can glue onto their art.
Game benefits and directions:
Exercise. The benefit of a foam die from the $store, they can throw it within a controlled area. They become really excited, every turn, to read their number.
Following Directions and Memory:F After the child rolls the dice, I have him leave it until he identifies the number and yells it. This helps the child follow a direction and remember while he walks back to his art paper.
Find a shape paper that matches the shape that he rolled, and glue it on the paper. Repeat after each turn.
After 5 or 10 turns, or when the children appear bored, the game ends.
Give child(ren) the option of finishing their art by gluing random items provided onto their paper.
SQUARES VS. RECTANGLES; OUR version
I chose squares and rectangles because they were challenged in telling the difference between those two shapes. I have observed they memorize easier if I teach using comparison. I chose an easily recognized shape for the third shape, so they only had to really THINK for square vs rectangle.
I allowed the children to both run and see what the other child had rolled, however, we only had 2 children playing this. I doubt I would allow more then 2 children at a time run to look at the dice.
I set up liquid glue and a paintbrush for each child. The paintbrush helps with finemotor, provides less glopping and mess. I try to alternate between using glue sticks or liquid glue with our art. Also, I don’t have to say “don’t use too much” because the paintbrushes are small.
$store paintbrushes, elmer’s glue, or Aileen’s tacky glue for bulkier items like poms.
I use recycled container lids to pour paint and glue in. Jar lids are an example of the best depth/width.
The random items I placed out were in my “bits and pieces” box. A photobox I keep misc crafty type bits like leftover scraps of paper, google eyes, stickers and seasonal items that we didn’t use all of=not enough to save, and small items I find floor after official cleanup. HAHA.
Everytime we play this game its a big success to get their energy out in a focused, non rambunctious way. Moving from the game to finish the art is an easy transition.
Another last minute activity I threw together, as a result of being stuck inside!
Activity builds:
fine motor prewrite skill
counting
patience
following directions
cooperation, taking turns
sensory exploration
coordination
science-how things move, gravity
Fill bin halfway with cotton balls, and at least 5 bells per child.
Game: Explain to students: Get bells out by using spoon, using only ONE hand. Each child gets one turn to attempt to fish out a bell. At the end of the game, have child count their own bells and the one with the most wins!
OR
Independent play activity. Encourage children to dump the bell into the container only using THE SPOON. I also allowed the children to remove some cotton balls and play with after activity if they wanted.
Extension: Substitute the bells with different objects, or smaller objects to continue skill building. Substitute heavier spoons such as a metal ice cream scoop, for hand strength building.
BOOKS NOTE: I order and check out our theme books from the library, usually about five if there are that many. Since we started with hibernation, then artic animals, we are now moving to snow. We just had another snow storm and the subject is very relatable! However, if we were only having a “cold” winter, I might do this activity while reading about ICE and maybe show a video and talk about ice fishing. This is an example of choosing books that are as relevant as possible, AND interesting.
I thought they would be bored with snow books after covering different aspects of winter from december through January. If they lose interest before winter ends, I will shift it to winters are different depending on where one lives. Always have a back up aspect for your theme!
Subscribe to keep up with future no-prep activities for preschoolers!
Ice, Salt, Seasoning Salt in containers, set out on a tray.
Bubble wrap, plastic sandwich bag
Flashlight
Cloth for wiping up spilled water
ADULT MUST STAY WITH CHILDREN DURING ALL EXPERIMENTS. DISCUSS FLASHLIGHT SAFETY AND USE (DON’T PUT IN WATER!)
INTRO: Read interactively books which involve melting snow, artic, hibernation. We checked out Sneezy the Snowman from library and read it again, right before activity.
Above is a You Tube Read Aloud link for Sneezy the snowman.
We had been studying artic animals/ hibernation, observed our mini snowmen melt over days; so it was natural for children to put Sneezy the Snowman book AND the Ice experiment together for comprehension of the 3 states of ice, gas-liquid-solid. I interjected “gas” a couple of times but mainly we focused on the cool stuff the ice did!
Mini snowman, we built this inside, if snow isn’t available-used crushed ice.
Tray setup
PART 1- Melting Ice basic experiment
Each child recieves 3 pieces of ice.
Explain what we are going to do.
Direct children to pour epsom salt on 1 ice piece, seasoning salt on 1 ice piece and the plain ice piece is for comparision.
Encourage them to watch and see what happens. Ask if anything is different, what is it? Why is it?
PART 2-Melting ice extension, or continue later or next day.
Each child recieves 3 pieces of ice.
Explain what we are going to do.
Ask child to wrap a piece of ice in bubble wrap and set aside on tray.
Ask child to put a piece of ice in baggie, close it, set aside on tray.
Repeat Part 1.
Pass out flashlights, encourage children to keep talking about what is happening and why.
After a few minutes, or when children get bored, have children unwrap the ice in the bubble wrap and remove from baggie.
place both pieces on tray next to control piece. Did ice melt at all, which melted fastest, why and how?
This activity worked great for me as a last minute activity on an stay inside day!
Cut and Craft a Robot PuppetRobotlove Pattern play
Just Print and Play! I use standard clear contact paper from the $Store and cover if i am going to store and use again. I also insert page into a clear protector sheet, and the student uses dry erase markers. Robot Love is Easy Peasy!
Roll A Robot Dice Game (also includes robot drawing template, separate dice key)
PreWrite Page Tracing Lines
Puzzles with and without numbers
Fine Motor Cutting Page
Boy and Girl Robot Puppet Craft to make
Trace Letter H (uppercase)
Trace Letter r (lowercase)
Count dots and robots/write #
Patterns what comes next
Find the Differences
I Spy and count
Alphabet recognition matching cards (upper and lowercase)
Letter A cut and match upper and lower case
ReadCountCraft free printables may not be edited, and must be shared from this page. Thanks!
A no prepe game to use with any Valentine, Love or Friendship book to draw a cute heart! I’m calling our Valentine’s month theme “Robot Love”.😍
A Robot friendship story, Sparrow by Jake Parker.
Another Robot friendship theme book, Spare Parts by father and daughter team, Rebecca and Ed Emberly.
The 4 pages for the game are:
A key of dice with corresponding drawings assigned.
An example of what a roll a heart can look like.
A blank valentine to play with blank dice to fill in corresponding drawings.
A blank heart to print out and use.
Remember, the great thing about Roll and Draw games is we get to use math and art! We also use counting, 1:1 recognition, fine motor skills, prewrite skills, subtizing-seeing a number and knowing it without counting it, and common core foundation because of DOTS! Plus it can be as long or as short as they want!
I cover the Heart/Dice page with contact paper but you can do this, or print out on paper, or just print out on paper. OR you can cut a heart out of cardboard and let them use THAT as a stencil and trace around it.
We use white boards, erase markers and large foam dice from the dollar store. That way they can throw the dice as hard as they want (not up high lol) and RUNNNN after it and it gets their energy out yay!
On occasion in summer during the school kids quiet time, we watch Puffin Rock. This led to interest in Puffins, and it was the only artic creature that recieved a unanimous vote to learn about. It turns out that Pufrins are pretty cool, their eyes show quite an expression. Penguins are taught in schools here, so I was thrilled to investigate Puffins.
Here are the preschool books we found at our library which my preschoolers found interesting, that are ONLY about puffins, but you can use ANY animal book that includes Puffins.
The Library had these books below also, and while I love Gail Gibbons, they totally were not interesting for the preschoolers. My preschoolers weren’t totally excited about puffins like other animals. They are naturally inclined towards domestic, familiar animals, or familiar fun animals such as monkeys. I added interest by adding “fly like a puffin” or “dig like a puffin” during theme time. The funnies thing is to make puffin noises, one of the sounds they make are a bit like cows!😂
Other books about only Puffins There are several wonderful Puffin Cams and this clip shows a Puffling hatching! I find the parent’s eyes quite expressive, and it also shows the HABITAT, a burrow. The burrow knowledge helped the children understand other animals who use burrows under the snow during winter.
Here is the free printable P is for Puffin template we used
Books: Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Three Snow Bears, both books are by Jan Brett. I checked out from the local library. Use these to invite talks about the differences, similarities in both stories. My preschoolers are always interested in exploring a favorite story retelling- and drawn differently!
Be a Bear! Hands on Hibernation
These books were the favorites to learn about hibernation of different animals! Read Goldilocks and the 3 Bears first, then the Three Snow Bears.
After reading the books the first few times, children may notice, or you can talk about the pictures how the same person wrote and drew both books. Or you can introduce that discussion once they are familiar with both books and the similarities/differences in both stories. I leave the Dramatic Play once the children indicate initial comprehension of hibernation. We had our “Cave” up after the first week, and the children helped me set it up while including smaller teddies in smaller “caves”. The 3rd week we built a town (blocks), railroad around mountains (towels over boxes with stuffed animals), and stools as bridges. The the children included more animals figures on their own.
Below is a fun craft with a bear puppet to go with Goldilocks!
Bear Puppet Free Printable by ReadCountCraft
Talk about where brown and polar bears live. Do brown bears really live in a people house? 🤣 So silly!
After reading Goldilocks and the 3 bears, click on the picture, print and make the bear puppet craft.
Supplies:
Bear House Printable and any decorations, such as, poms, paper shapes, stickers.
scissors and glue (we used gluesticks)
Piece of Construction Paper
Crayons or any medium.
1 Craft Stick per child
**All activities require Adult Supervision**
(The Bear with Backpack graphic is by Trevor Brown, his link is below)
Glue the House Pieces onto the Construction Paper.
Cut the Brown Bear out on the dotted lines.
Tape the back of the Brown Bear to a craft stick with heavy tape.(we used Shipping tape).
Cut a line through both the house and the construction paper, for the Brown Bear to slide back and forth into the house. (See finished photo)
MORE OPTIONS:
Ask them what they want to build a cave with, along with suggestions of using anything you have. Even egg containers can be used!
Remind them that only PREGNANT polar bears hibernate and talk about why this might be. Then use the opportunity to research together. (google it, hahahaha, its great for kids to observe technology being used for research!)
Ask them, when reading Goldilocks and Snow Bears books, what happens in sequence, using First, Then, Last.
Introduce snow or crushed ice during this time.
I like to use YouTube clips before each subject focused booktime. Habitat and Hibernation go hand in hand.
It’s not very exciting to watch a bear hibernate, these are short!
Sleepy bear in natural habitat
So, ask where each bear is living. Which one is manmade, which one is wild? By the end of these book journeys, the children will excercised the following:
Critical thinking
Engineering
Art
Biology
Observation
Sequencing
Fine Motor
Prewrite
Pre reading
We played Roll a Bear during the holiday vacation which is a favorite group activity! Roll games are my favorite too because it: encourages drawing, builds printing skills, builds subtizing (see and know the # without counting) (common core) , dots familiarity aids common core K math. We use a huge foam dice from the $store, so they can throw it across the room, not hit anything, and get thier energy out during our cold weather. Between the drawing and the throwing its bubbling SILLY SILLY! Click on the pic and print!
We checked out The Mitten by Jan Brett from our local library.
Over the next two days, we watch The Mitten on YouTube The Mitten story by Kids Hut and we read the book each day.
“The Mitten” and stuffed animals are left out for an activity choice for use during free play.
On the third day, after reading The Mitten, we put the animals into the mitten as I read the book.
The children don’t care if the stuffed animal is the same as the book. The ones we used do not match the animals. They still learn and we use our imaginations!
Remember, my goal is to get their interest peaked about artic animals, we are not into the STEM of it yet!
Repeat the first activity only this time using the book, and instead of commenting with “less then more then” comment with “first, next, then” . These are Kindergarten skills, and, it also gives the children a framework for their sequencing. Name it and claim it!
A review of the skill building/concepts:
Artic Weather and Animals= It’s cold and they have to do things to stay warm.
Math: Kindergarten/Common Core= Less then More then, First Then Last
Math: Volume, Sequencing
Practical Skills: Perserverence (getting the last critters in) Waiting (waiting to put in an animal when the page turns).
During Free Play, he took this container of animals out, and played The Mitten.
We start with making artic animals fun with many readings of The Mitten.
I made a “Mitten” out of a hot chocolate box covered with contact paper. I gathered stuffed animals of various sizes to fit into the box.
ACTIVITY
I read the book (again) and did the activity with the students by putting animals into the mitten individually. The students chose which animal to put in next. We did this several times, with different combinations of animals.
We counted the animals as we were taking them all out of the mitten. Once they became used to counting the animals, we counted the animals as we put them IN the mitten. Once the children stuffed the mitten severeal times, I introduced the concept of “Less” and “More”. “Less and More” is a Kindergarten Common Core skill. I also think its a great concept to learn!
When the big animals were used, I remark “Oh, not as many fit in there because the animals are bigger.” When more smaller animals were used, “Oh more animals fit in the Mitten because they are smaller!”
Later, “Oh so is there more animals in there then the last time?” “Oh, is there less animals in there then the last time?”
The children probably already understand “more” , they know what more is so half the learning is done for us! We only have to use the words as a framework! They probably also know what less is, especially if they have siblings and have to share ALL the time!
Towards the end, which is when they get they are winding down from the fun of stuffing animals in and out of the Mitten, I remark, “Oh so was that * more than* or *less than*, the last time?” I repeat this several times with each student and they are so busy having fun they don’t know they are learning math!
Playing The Mitten independently during free time.
I checked out about 7 books from the library, for the 1st week of January. This is a great week for extra reading due to the post holiday transition. The children get to choose 1 or 2 stories before naptime.
Reading before naptime take 30-45 minutes because we are interacting about the stories. We will talk about if bears really live in a house like in the Goldilocks story. Where do real bears live?
To spark interest in eventual learning with The Mitten, I highly recommend using this video during this week:https://youtu.be/E-V6f3aCfEo
This provides a foundation for skill building focus over the next month:
The Mitten by Jan Brett: Sequencing, measurement, counting, animal identification. (Reading and Math)
The Hat by Jan Brett: Differences and similarities with the Mitten story. Animal Homes and Habitats. (Pre-Reading skills, Science )
I grew up in central Cali. I moved to a beautiful rural small town, 40 min from Crater Lake National Park, 15 years ago. Located on the opposite side of the state from Portland. Oregon.
I am adjusted to the weather change. I prefer 4 seasons, vs. Warm and hot. There’s so much wildlife here! Last week there was a peregrine in my front yard with a sterling in is beak! Deer walk in our own on a regular basis.
However by Feb we are all in cabin fever mode,desperate for spring. It’s not the snow that bothers me. It’s not the cold that bothers me. It’s the no warning constant switching back and forth. Four days ago, we received four inches. It warms up when it snows, today the high is 32. Freezing point.
Between trying to adjust my schedule (daycare) and my husbands, and cold means we burn more energy in doing the basics.
So I remind myself. It’s beautiful. That’s why retirees move here, snowball res, and tourists. Of the Eagle migrations, bald Eagles. Raptors,a plethora of water birds and my daily NorthernFlicker woodpecker.
I have the day off and slept twelve hours lol. Below is Klamath Lake, but not frozen like last week.
PART 2- Melting ice extension, or continue later or next day.
