Last Minute Valentine's Crafts for Toddlers/Preschoolers

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day!  If you are anything like me, you had grand intentions about the fabulous heart-themed activities and crafts you were going to do with your children, but it is now the day before Valentine's Day and you have not done them yet.  We finally did our first Valentine's art project and made our homemade cards earlier today (nothing like waiting to the last minute!).

For those of you needing a bit of inspiration, I have a compiled a short list of VERY easy projects (with links to blogs that have completed the crafts) to do with your young children today or tomorrow.

Wine cork hearts

Cutting practice with hearts (we did that this year as a part of our homemade Valentine's cards - so easy and a fun way to work on fine motor skills!)

Coloring heart cutouts

Painting or watercoloring heart cutouts

Gluing small pieces of paper onto heart cutouts to make a collage

Heart caterpillars 

Heart footprints

Hearts covered in tissue paper

Elephants made from heart shapes (We did this in our toddler playgroup this morning and the children loved it!)

Heart Valentine paper chain

Heart flowers

Potato print hearts

Handprint heart

Heart butterfly

Toilet tube roll heart stamps

And now that I have compiled this list, I am feeling guilty for not doing more Valentine's Day crafts with my girls.  I have one more day to make it happen!  What fun crafts do you have planned to do with your children this Valentine's Day?

Marla is a former special education teacher, current PhD student, university instructor, and stay-at-home, homeschooling mom of two little girls (ages 2 and 4).  She blogs about homeschooling at Marla's Motherhood Musings and her family's experiences living in Zambia at Our Life in Lusaka.

Connecting Reading and Art for Preschoolers

In our house, we do a lot of art projects and we love to do art projects that go along with the books that we read.  In fact, we host a weekly playgroup where I read a story and then the  children do an art project that goes with the story.  Sometimes, I am really ambitious and even make a snack to go along with the theme.  Today, I want to share with you a few ideas for simple art projects to do after popular children's stories.  This is not a comprehensive list, but hopefully these ideas will get you think about simple projects that you can do with your preschooler after reading a story.

After reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, you can make a toilet tissue tree and decorate it with letter stickers.  For a snack, I made homemade bread in the shapes of the children's initials-they loved their snacks!

When we read Sheep in a Jeep, we made handprint sheep 

and enjoyed a marshmallow sheep snack.

We read Scuffy the Tugboat and made boats. For snack, the children enjoyed "boats" made from orange slices, celery sticks, and grapes (sorry, but I can't find a photo of the snack).

We read Where the Wild Things Are and made crowns so that we could be the "Queens of the Wild Things".

We have also planted carrot seeds after reading The Carrot Seed, made coffee filter butterflies to go with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, baked cookies after reading If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, and made paper plate trees after reading The Giving Tree.

How have you connected reading and art for your children?

Today, we are linked up at It's Playtime.

Preschool Creativity with Less Mess

It takes a long time.
The end result isn't always nice.
It makes a HUGE mess.

To all these statements, I agree.  Yes, it does.  Allowing a preschooler time and supplies to be creative can take a long time, the end result isn't always frame worthy, and it almost always makes a huge mess.

The independence your child can have is a direct result of you willingness to take the time, accept the less than perfect results, and clean up countless messes.  However, sometimes, it can be nice not to have as many messes to clean up while they are learning.

 

Learning to work with arts and craft supplies is a lesson for life which preschoolers can learn now.

A few ideas for helping preschoolers express their creativity with less mess...

The Skill of Cutting with Scissors:

• Teach your little one how to properly hold and carry scissors, and how to cut away from themselves.
• Allow them to cut paper into small pieces.  These pieces can be used for paper mosaic crafts later.  Or, better yet, give them the papers you need shredded and let them cut, and cut, and cut.

The Ability to Use Glue:

• Glue sticks and glue dots are less messy, but don't automatically ban the liquid glue.
• Teach your little one how to open and close the tops of the liquid glue.
• Show them how to use liquid glue in moderation.
• Teach them how to clean up glue messes, and how to rub their hands together to remove excess glue.
• Let them coat an entire page of paper and use those paper mosaic squares to create a design.

Sticking Stickers:

• Does your child cover the furniture, walls, or floors with stickers?  You could teach them not to, and give them paper or a sticker book for their favorite stickers.  Or you could hang a large piece of paper on the wall or door, and allow him to display his favorite stickers for all to see.  For the ambitious, create a frame about the sticker page with markers or a mat.   

Sculpting:

• Clay, Play-doh, or homemade dough messes can be immense.  Cover your table with a plastic table cloth before, or take it outside.

Building with K'nex or Lego pieces:

• Use a tray or cookie sheet with edges to contain the small pieces.  

Painting:

• Looking for a less messy alternative?  What about purchasing bath tub paints?  Or using water to paint outside?  Fill a can with water and use the brushes to paint any surface without fear of damage.

Do you have additional ideas?  Perhaps even a whole post?  If so, then please share your ideas or links in our comment section.   

Reading Nonfiction with Young Children

In our house, we love books.  We spend hours and hours reading.  We enjoy all books and every day, we read both fiction and nonfiction books.  Occasionally, I have friends ask me how I can get my girls to sit and listen to a nonfiction story.  Their children think that nonfiction books are boring and that fiction stories are more exciting.  I remember feeling like that as a kid, so when I became a mom, I decided that my children were going to love all types of books.  In order to make this happen, we have done several things in our home:

1. We started reading both fiction and nonfiction to our children even before birth.  In fact, when Abigail was a newborn, I was in graduate school.  I had hundreds of pages of research to read each week, so I held her in my arms and read it out loud to her.  As a baby, she heard more research articles than children's stories!

2.  We make sure that the girls see us reading nonfiction books, magazines, and newspapers.  Young children love to do what they see grownups doing!

3. Our nonfiction books are housed with our other books, so my girls don't even know that they are different from fictional stories.  Don't get me wrong; we talk about "real" and "pretend", but they don't see one type of book as being better than another.

4. We choose nonfiction books that are related to their interests.  For example, Abigail LOVES George Washington, so we read many books about him.  Charlotte loves babies, so we have several iBooks about baby animals.  We also read books related to animals we see on trips and about places we've been or that friends/family are visiting.

5. When we read books, we take turns choosing the books.  When I notice that it has been a while since we have read anything nonfiction, I choose nonfiction books during "Mommy turn".

I am thrilled that my girls love books so much and that they get excited when we read all stories.  It makes me smile when they ask to read a nonfiction story, as I love when our story times can be so educational!  I worry that it won't always be this way, but I am thankful that, for now, they love nonfiction books too.

Marla is a former special education teacher and current PhD student and stay-at-home, homeschooling mom of two little girls (ages 1 and 4).  She blogs about homeschooling at Marla's Motherhood Musings and her family's experiences living in Zambia at Our Life in Lusaka.

When Opposition Comes

When we made the decision to homeschool Sophie, I was ready for some opposition from the local elementary school where Ken is on the school board.  

Surprisingly, the superintendent was supportive. She listened to our explanation, and didn't question why. She listed all the activities that Sophie would be allowed to participate in, even if she is home schooled.  There was no criticism. No backlash. At all.

However.....

When we've told our friends who have asked which school Sophie will be attending their reactions have been quite different. Hostile, questioning, hurtful.....and these are our friends!

I feel like they are waiting for us to fail - and I'm wondering how many of these friendships I should hold on to, and which ones I should back away from.

To be honest, I am a people pleaser. I don't like confrontation, and have always kept silent when I don't have a positive thing to say.  Now I'm forced to continually explain what I feel is a personal choice for my family....and I'm getting tired of it.

I could use some tips....what do you do when you are faced with the sarcastic questions, the looks, and the never ending "socialization" conversation? 

Aurie Good is a pastor's wife, a "retired" youth minister, and probably the most relaxed mom that you'll ever meet!  She blogs at Our Good Life with quips about life as a stay at home mom to two girly toddlers, two wild & crazy dogs, and one cranky cat.  She is married to her best friend and consider the simple life that they've created absolute bliss!  They are currently fostering a lively two year old little girl who keeps them on their toes!

Simple Christmas Crafts for Preschoolers

We LOVE doing art projects in our house!  I especially like the art projects that take little preparation on my part and Abigail can do mostly independently.  Thanks to Pinterest and blogs, I am constantly finding new ideas for simple preschool art projects.  Almost daily, we do one of these activities.  Today, I would like to share some of my favorite simple Christmas art projects for preschoolers.

Cutting practice Rudolph 

Handprint and footprint Rudolph 

Torn Paper Christmas Tree - you can't see it, but I drew the outline of the tree and had Abigail tear paper and glue it on top.  She got overzealous and glued too much paper!

Paper Size Sequencing Christmas Tree

Gingerbread House

Homemade Wrapping Paper

Cotton Ball Candy Cane

Each of these art projects was simple for me to prepare and fun for my girls!  

What Christmas art projects have you done this year?

Snacktime Basic Math

I try to make learning fun for Abigail and also try to build learning opportunities into our daily routines.  I have found that snacktime is a wonderful way to work on math skills.  Here are a few fun ways that we do math at snacktime.  

We use food to make patterns.

I write numbers on plastic cups and Abigail counts the correct number of snacks and puts them into the cups.

I write numbers in the holes of egg cartons and Abigail counts snacks into the holes.

I put snacks into Easter eggs and Abigail counts them before eating them.

We use snacks as counters for addition

and for measuring tools.

There are countless ways to work on basic math skills at snacktime.  How do you play with your food to enhance learning for your children?

This week, we have linked up with the Hip Homeschool Hop.

Additional Alphabet Activities

In my last two posts, I have provided activities for working on the alphabet with young children using art and movement.  Here are a few more fun ways to incorporate letters into your child's day.

Magnetic Letters

Purchase a cheap set of magnetic letters.  Let your child play with them on the fridge or on a cookie sheet.

Sidewalk Chalk

Use your chalk to draw the alphabet on your sidewalk.

Letter Cookies

We love cookies and other sweets in our house and I am always looking for a good excuse to eat them, so I often use food for instructional purposes.  You can purchase cookie cutters that are in the shape of letters, use frosting to write letters on your cookies, or purchase letter-shaped cookies at the store. 

Letter Scavenger Hunt

Go on a walk or a drive and help your child look for letters.  When we go to the mall, we sometimes look for our "letter of the day" on the signs in the store windows.  If you have more than one child, you can make it a competition.

Alphabet Puzzles

Purchase a few alphabet puzzles and help your child put them together.  As he/she is working, point out the letters.

Read alphabet books

You can purchase books about the letters.  Our favorites are Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom and Eating the Alphabet.  You can also print alphabet books.  Webbing into Literacy from Virginia has some very cute, free printable alphabet books (http://curry.virginia.edu/go/wil/home.html#Alphabet).  You can also print alphabet coloring pages and make them into a book.

Alphabet coloring pages

Children love coloring and coloring the alphabet can be a fun way to play with the letters.  Two of my favorite places to find alphabet coloring pages are http://www.first-school.ws/theme/bible/coloring-pages/alphabet-zn.htm andhttp://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/mabcposter.html

Letter Stamps and Stickers

My daughter loves art supplies and is always willing to work with letters if it means she can use her stamp pad or do stickers.  Because finding letter stickers can sometimes be a little expensive, I often write the letters on cheap stickers that I buy. 

Starfall

For teaching letters, I love the website www.starfall.com.  It has an interactive video for each letter and Abigail also loves the ABC song.  Starfall also has an iphone/ipad app for the letter videos.

Alphabet Printables

There is a plethora of free, printable alphabet activities on the internet that you can use.  Here are some of my favorites:

Bingo -http://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo/

Caterpillar - http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/insects/mcaterpillar-letters.htm

Dominoes -http://www.first-school.ws/theme/printables/dominoes-alphabet.htm

Flashcards - http://www.first-school.ws/theme/printables/flash-cards/alphabet.htm

Train - http://www.first-school.ws/theme/printables/alphabet-train.htm

There is an almost limitless way to incorporate letters into your day.  Have fun and enjoy guiding and observing your child's learning.

Active Alphabet Activities

In my last post, I provided ideas for using art to teach the letters of the alphabet.  While art is a great tool for teaching some children, it does not work for all young children (or parents).  Some children learn better from movement, so this post provides a few ideas for active ways to teach the letters and letter sounds.

Color Around the Room

Print alphabet posters and place them around the room.  Have your child start on one end of the room with you and give him a marker.  Say a letter or letter sound (or write it on a dry erase board for children who are still learning the letters).  As quickly as he can, your child needs to run to each poster and color in that letter.  You can make it more fun by setting a timer each time to see if he gets faster.

Bowling for Letters

Write one letter each on plastic soda bottles and place them in a line on the floor.  Give your child a ball and say a letter.  Your child's goal is to hit the soda bottle that has that letter.

Gather the Letters

Place alphabet flashcards on the floor or alphabet magnets on the refrigerator.  Have your child start at the other side of the room.  Tell him a letter and have him run to find the letter and bring it back to you.

Hunting for Letters

Hide letter flashcards around the room or the yard (similar to an Easter egg hunt) and have your child hunt for them.  When he returns, pull the letters out of his basket and have him tell you the letter.

This is just a small sample of the ways that you can make learning the letters fun for your active child.  My next post (the final post in this 3-part series) will include more fun alphabet and phonics activities for you and your child to enjoy together.

Alphabet Art

One major goal that most parents of preschool children have is for them to learn the letters of the alphabet.  Because I think that learning should be fun, I am using a variety of activities to teach the letter names and letter sounds to Abigail.  My next few posts will focus on letter activities.  One of my favorite things to do is art projects, so naturally, we do one (or several) art projects for each letter.  Here are some fun ideas for alphabet art projects; because Abigail and I love painting, most of them involve paint.  I have included photos of some of my favorite projects.  This list is by no means comprehensive; it is simply meant to give you some ideas.

A - paint with Acorns or Apples (use the objects instead of paintbrushes)

 

B - glue Beans, paint with Bananas, Bread, or a Ball

C - paint with Carrots or crumble and glue Cookies

D - glue on Dirt

E - paint with Eggs

F - Flower rubbing

G - glue on Grass

H - paint with Hands, make Handprints

I - paint with colored Ice

J - use Jello, Jelly, or Jam instead of paint

K- put on lipstick and Kiss the paper, paint with Kleenex

L - paint with Lemons or Limes, glue on Lettuce or Leaves

M - color with Markers, glue on Macaroni, paint with Mud

N - glue on Noodles or Nuts

O - paint with an Orange

P - Paint, rip and glue on Paper, color with Pencils

Q - paint with a Quarter or Q-tips, color Quietly

R - paint with Radishes

S - use Stamps or Stickers

 T - paint with a toy Truck or Train

U - paint or color Under the table

V - paint with a Volleyball or Vegetables

W - paint with Watermelon or colored Water

X - paint at the eXit to your house

Y - paint with a Yo-yo, glue on Yarn

Z - make Zebra stripes, create a Zoo animal collage, paint with a Zipper

When you have finished all 26 letters, you can make a book for your child with pictures of her artwork alongside a picture of the object used to create the art (ex. - the letter "A" next to an acorn) as a fun way to remind your child of sounds that each letter makes and of the fun she had learning the letters.  For more fun ideas about teaching the letters, please see my next post on July 11.