Build fine motor muscles with these easy preschool Halloween activities

Build up those fine motor muscles with these fun Halloween activities for preschool and kindergarten.

Have kids sort Halloween themed erasers into ice cube trays using tweezers.   I try to encourage kids to use their "pinching fingers" and sort the erasers.   I ask the kids group all the like characters into one section for example all the witches go in one section, all the ghosts in another.  Or I have the kids make repeating patterns in the tray.  I buy the erasers on amazon or at the dollarstore and I buy a set for each holiday and season, that way I can re-use the activity by just exchanging the erasers!

Another activity we like to do at Halloween time is draw letters in shaving cream.  I squirt a bit of shaving cream onto a plastic plate and then I call out a letter and the kids draw the letter in the shaving cream.  Then they move around the shaving cream to "reset" their plate.  The kids love, love, love this activity but I have to say it does make quite a mess!  Using a serving tray under their plate is a good ideas as well as a plastic table cloth and having them wear painting shirts is also a good idea.  A bit of a mess but it's great printing practice!

For a similar activity that is not messy, you could try printing on bags of paint as this would be mess free.  You can read about it in my post a creative way of making printing practice fun.

Another great activity for strengthening the pincer grasp is picking up and sorting googly eyes, into small, medium, large.  I spill out a handful of eyes to each student and they have to use their "pinching fingers" to pick each eye up and put them into the correct bowl (small, medium, large).  For kids that zip through this activity I have them use tweezers to move the googly eyes to the bowls.  As an extension I have them make patterns with the eyes.

Cutting skills are practiced by cutting "monster hair" or multicolored yarn.   I have the kids cut up their strip of yarn into the color sections.  They are then asked to sort the yarn based on color.  As an extension I have them count how many pieces of each color they cut and have them record it in their math journals.

You might also be interested in the following Halloween activities(click on the images to read more):

Learning about color mixing with an easy preschool pumpkin craft

Who doesn't like to make Jack O'lanterns and pumpkins at Halloween?  With this easy Halloween craft for preschool your students will learn about color mixing while making a fun pumpkin craft.

To make these Jack O'Lanterns I have the kids cut out the pumpkin shape first, they could draw it or you could give them a printed out version.  You can print out a blank pumpkin here.

After the shape has been cut out I have them hold out their hands and I put one drop of red and one drop of yellow in each hand.  I then tell the kids to put their hands together and mix around the paint and to their amazement it turns orange!  Just like magic!  I then have them finger paint the pumpkin, spreading the color all over the pumpkin.  It's a great way to start a discussion about creating color and how the primary colors (red, yellow and blue) mix together to create the secondary colors (orange, green, purple).

Next we cut out shapes from black paper for the face and Voila, a jack o' lantern is done!

For more fun Halloween ideas check out the links below:  (click on the photos)






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Craft for kids make a beautiful fall wreath with leaves

Need a quick idea for a fall decoration or a craft for your kids?  We made this beautiful fall wreath with leaves and it was so quick and easy and most importantly the kids loved it!

Materials needed:

• Paper or Styrofoam plate
• Leaves (real or plastic)
• Berries
• Ribbon 
• Scissors
• Glue (we used white Elmers glue)
• Q-tips (optional) 

To make the fall wreath we cut out a hole in the center of the plate, and then dipped our q-tips into the glue, dabbed glue onto the berries and the leaves, added a bow out of ribbon (red) and then added a ribbon at the top of the plate (gold) to hang the wreath.   

We used real leaves in the above photo but you could certainly use plastic leaves and have the wreath last much longer.  Don't you just love all the fall colors?

Full disclaimer:  You will probably have a bit of a mess to clean up if you use real leaves.  I don't know what it is but kids LOVE to scrunch up leaves.  A quick sweep should do it though!  

Happy crafting!

Top 10 Pinterest Boards that focus on learning the ABCs

OOOhhh I am so very excited today.  Today I get to share with you an amazing ABC collection by some fabulous bloggers.  I've collaborated with 31 AWESOME bloggers and participated in 31 Days of Learning the ABCs which is a blog hop organized by All Done Monkey.  Each day in October a blogger has chosen a letter of the alphabet and shared an activity or craft that corresponds to that letter and included a linky so that other bloggers could link up their resources inspired by the chosen letter.  So now there is a complete list of activities for each letter of the alphabet from A-Z!

Now if that wasn't enough, I have come up with a collection of (what I believe to be) the top 10 Pinterest Boards that focus on learning the ABCs.  If you are looking for ideas and inspiration on how to teach your students or child the alphabet you NEED to be following these boards! (Click the images below to see and follow them in pinterest)

1. My first pick is the 31 days of Learning our ABCs blog hop board, of course!

2.  My next pick would have to be Deborah's from Teach Preschool.  Her Alphabet board
is always one of the first places I go to look for ideas.

3. Alphabet Fun by Bernadette (Mom to 2 posh divas) takes my number 3 spot.

4. And number 4 goes to ABC Goodies by Becky@ This Reading Mama.

5. Number 5 goes to A B C Rap (song) board by Debbie Clement with 529 pins and counting.

6. Learn as we go authors my number 6 pick, Alphabet Games and Activities.

7. The Measured mom authors a board full of hands on activities called Alphabet for kids.

8.  With 268 pins Cassie at 3Dinosaurs shares her board ABC Themes for Kids.

9. My 9th pick goes to the KBN Activities for Preschoolers board.  This board is a collaborative board that features pins from the most A-MAZ-ing kid bloggers around the web.  If it has anything to do with preschool it will be found on this board.

10. And last but not least, I couldn't share a pinterest round up without sharing one of my own.  Follow my board Learning our ABCs for lots of fun alphabet learning.

So do you have an Alphabet pinterest board?  Please link up your boards in the linky below.  And be sure to check out the rest of the posts in the 31 Days of ABC’s series by the following bloggers!

This Reading Mama, Nothing if Not Intentional, Sugar Aunts, For the Love of Spanish, Craftulate, Diapers-n-Heels, The Good Long Road, Here come the girls, Toddler Approved, Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes, Princess And The Rock, Kids Yoga Stories, Frogs & Snails & Puppy Dog Tails, Little Bins for Little Hands, The Measured Mom, P is for Preschooler, 3 Dinosaurs, Preschool Powol Packets, Crayon Box Chronicles, Juggling With Kids, Toddling in the Fast Lane, Teaching Mama, Still Playing School, Mamas Like Me, Little Hiccups, LalyMom, What to do with the children, Teachers of Good Things, Stir the Wonder, Scribble Doodle and Draw

Still looking for some fun ABC activities? Have a look at the following:



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100 fun and easy ways to play and connect with your kids

Today I have something very exciting to share.  100 bloggers from around the world have come together to compile a list of 100 fun and easy ways to play and connect with your kids.  We all joined together in a blog hop and each day one blogger will share a fun way to have fun and play with your kids.  The point is to put off the house work, step away from our phones and computers and connect and spend some time with our kids.  I'm always telling myself, they are growing up so fast, don't miss out!

  So are you ready to take the 100 days of play challenge?

So when I think of my kids favorite thing to play it's without a doubt, Pretend Restaurant.  Even in my classroom it is always the favorite center.  My kids love, love, love to play restaurant.  They probably play some form of restaurant every other day if not more. Playing restaurant can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be, you can even build in lots of literacy and math activities. My kids like to have one person be the "chef" and one person be the "waitress/waiter", and one person is the customer (usually Mommy or Daddy).  The waitress takes my order and records it in their notepad and then takes the order to the chef who then makes the food and the waitress delivers it to the customer (Mommy) who then pays for her food.  Simple, right?  But the kiddos have so much fun.  Not to mention the learning opportunities that are integrated in. 

To enhance the play experience you could:

1. Make menus.  My kiddos love to make menus.  They cut out pictures of food from the weekly flyers and glue them onto a piece of folded card stock.  I sometimes write the words beside the picture and sometimes they try to sound out the words.  They love to refer to their menus when writing down their orders.  It's definitely a fun way to learn.
 

2. Use playdough to make food.  If you don't have plastic food you can always use playdough.  The kiddos love to take my order then run off and create the food. 

Playdough hot dog

 3. Use real life samples.  We stock our pretend kitchen with empty boxes and containers such as cracker boxes, cereal boxes, and empty bottles of ketchup and mustard.  The kids use the boxes (filled with blocks, or rice, or beans) and bottles when they are cooking and pour out whichever food they are cooking.

4. Use real money.  We always have a mix of pretend money and real money mixed in our cash register.  To challenge the kiddos I sometimes ask for my change to be in quarters or dimes only.  It's a great way to throw making change practice while playing.

5. Most importantly take turns with your kids.  My kiddos love it when we reverse roles and they become the customers and I become the chef.  I usually manage a crazy accent and refuse to cook anything but fancy delicacies such as flies and frog soup, carrot and banana sandwiches, and toe nail tacos!

If you haven't played Restaurant with your kids before I highly recommend it!

Check out more ways to play by following the link:

100 Days of Play Blog Hop
Sharing simple ideas on how to connect with your children through play!

100 Days of Play is brought to you by these wonderful bloggers

SunScholars . Frogs, Snails & Puppy Dog Tails . Playful Learners . Train Up a Child . Fantastic Fun & Learning . Scribble, Doodle & Draw . Learn. Create. Love. . Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas . Nothing if Not Intentional . My Little 3 & Me . Buggy & Buddy . Sun Hats & Wellie Boots . Twodaloo . True Aim . The Educators' Spin On It . Blog Me Mom . Life At The Zoo . Putti's World . Kitchen Counter Chronicles . Triple T Mum . Busy Kids Happy Mom . Crystal's Tiny Treasures . Rainy Day Mum . Momma's Fun World . My Little Bookcase . Craftulate . One Perfect Day . MumCentral . Artchoo! . Little Artists . Simple. Home. Blessings. . JDaniel4's Mom . NurtureStore . Me & Marie Learning . Child Central Station . Mamas Like Me . Making Boys Men . Powerful Mothering . Craft to Art . 3 Dinosaurs . Domestic Goddesque . Lessons Learnt Journal . Royal Baloo . Smiling Like Sunshine . Adventures at Home with Mum . B-Inspired Mama . PragmaticMom . Eazy Peazy Mealz . Gluesticks . TheBoy&Me . Learning is Messy . My Nearest & Dearest . Growing Book by Book . How to Run a Home Daycare . Here Come the Girls . Think Magnet . Dandelions Picked . 123 Homeschool 4 Me . Our Ordinary Life . Parenting with Professor Poppins . 2 Little Hooligans . Fun-a-Day! . The Non-Martha Mamma . Angelique Felix . My Very Educated Mother . Creative Playhouse . Go Explore Nature . Zing Zing Tree . Sense of Wonder . Childhood 101 . Crayon Freckles . KZ & Me . Serenity You . This Mumma's Life . Leapfrog & Ladybugs . Blue Bear Wood . Growing Together . KC EDventures . Mommy Lessons 101 . Nature & Play . Like Mama Like Daughter . Mums Make Lists . From Wine to Whine . Messy Kids . Babble Dabble Do . Sugar Aunts . Teaching @ Home . Preschool Powol Packets . Clothed in Love . Curiosity Creates . The Magnolia Barn . Strong Start . Stay-at-Home Mom Survival Guide . Learn with Play at Home . Mummy... Mummy... MUM! . Science Sparks . Toddler Approved . Thrive 360 Living . Rockabye Butterfly . Mud Hut Mama . Coffee Cups & Crayons .Playing with Words 365. My Lil Love Bugs . Creative Connections for Kids . LalyMom

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How to make edible paint to create colorful Easter egg paintings

Are you looking forward to spring?  I can't believe how fast March is going and how quickly Easter and Spring is coming up!  This week we started talking about Easter and the kiddos are already wanting to know "how many more days till we color eggs"?  So today I thought for our art activity we would paint some colorful Easter egg paintings!  I wanted to do something a little different this time though, I wanted them to be shiny and glossy!  So into the pantry I went.  When I came out I had created an edible paint that was just gorgeous and vibrant yet safe for toddlers and preschoolers who like to sample their paint.

Ingredients to make edible paint:

• Syrup- just straight out of the pantry
• Wilton icing color or food coloring

In my search for ingredients, I found some regular syrup and went digging for food coloring.  We were all out so I used Wilton icing color instead (food coloring would work the same).  So I added just a couple tablespoons of syrup into each cup and a toothpick full of icing color.  The paint worked quite well and it was yummy too!  

So after I mixed the paint, I gave the kiddos each an egg outline.  I then showed them different ways to make lines.  Straight lines, squiggly line, swirls, mountains, etc..  They then choose which lines they wanted to use and drew them onto their egg.  Next I showed them different ways to fill each section.  Circles, squares, triangles, vertical lines, horizontal lines, happy faces, hearts, etc..  The kiddos then filled their eggs with the patterns of their choice.  

I then outlined each of their eggs with a black sharpie.  If you wanted the kids to be more independent they could a black crayon and it would look quite similar.

Next was painting time.  I showed the kiddos how to make "puddles" with the paint as it would dry much shiner that way.  This technique of making puddles is great practice for when they work with watercolors.  Then we let them dry.  It did take quite a while for them to dry completely.

Now when I paint like this with my kindergarten class I would do this in two parts.  First I would do the drawing part with the students as a large or small group, have them outline it with a sharpie or crayon and then during center time I would have them come and paint.  It keeps the mess contained to the art center as opposed to the whole class painting at one time.  

How to create learning opportunities while playing with your kids

Many Early childhood educators stress the importance of learning through play.  But how do we create learning opportunities while playing with our kids and our students?  It is not as hard as you might think. Incorporating imaginary play is a great way to get started.  Whether it is a tea party, pretend restaurant, gas station, hair dresser shop, etc...the ideas are endless.  

So when is the last time you had a tea party with your kiddos?  It's been a while for us.  As soon as I suggested we should have one, the kiddos were over the moon.  First we made some chocolate chip cookies, because tea parties always have cookies!

Then we set up a blanket and gathered our cups, plates, and tea pot and set up all the invitees.  

As we were waiting for the cookies to finish I added in a little math time.  It kept them occupied and it was a great way to practice mental math.

Some sample questions could be:

• How many plates do we need if we have 4 friends?
• How many will we need if 2 more friends come? 
• How many cups do we need if blue puppy doesn't come?  
• How many cookies will each person get?   
• If I give blue puppy a 1/2 a cookie and pink puppy a 1/2 a cookie.  How many cookies do we need?
• If each cookie cost 10 cents how much money would we have?

Then it was time to eat and drink!  The kiddos couldn't get enough of pouring and sipping, and pouring and sipping!  

As Spring approaches and the wet weather comes don't forget to make time for tea parties!

It's fun for everyone!

You might be interested in more ideas for learning through play centers (click on the picture for more ideas):






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