Tue
9
Dec
2008

Unique Christmas Craft

 

 

( click on pic to enlarge )

 

 

 

 

I am always in search of unique crafts for my daycare kids to make for their parents, especially around Christmas time! This craft has been one my favorites.

 

I first saw this craft as a Christmas Ornament, but I decided to use a salad plate (from the dollar store) rather than a ball. You could also use a canvas. I used acrylic paint, and sprayed a sealer over top when the paint was dry.

 

 

Paint child’s palm and fingers white. Carefully have them place it on the plate to create the five snowmen. Use a small paintbrush to make hats, faces, and scarves. Attach a tag with this poem:These aren’t just five snowmen
as anyone can see.
I made them with my hand
which is a part of me.
Now each year when you trim the tree
You’ll look back and recall
Christmas of 2008
When my hand was just this small!

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy this craft, Feel free to share your Christmas craft ideas.

Thu
4
Dec
2008

Let Them Eat Snow! NOT!!

Let them eat snow!! NOT!!!

I don’t know about your kids, but my kids LOVE to eat snow.

I try my best to discourage the little snow eaters, but nothing was working.

So I decided to do a little science experiment. We used clear plastic disposable cups,

I asked the children to fill the cup with the cleanest snow they could find, and fill it with as much snow as they could fit in the cup.  The kids loved this and all were convinced their snow was the cleanest.

We then took the cups inside to melt.

After all the snow was melted, we charted

Who had the most water in the cup, which had the cleanest, which had the dirtiest?

The kids were shocked and disgusted to find out how dirty their snow actually was.

This has stopped most of my snow eaters, but you can’t win them all (LOL)

 

Thu
27
Nov
2008

FREE Preschool Printables

I came across this wonderful site full of FREE Preschool Printable worksheets and I had to share…..

http://www.lilbunnyhops.com/

It is loaded with Kindergarten and Preschool printables. Perfect for Parents, Teachers and Daycare Providers.

Tue
11
Nov
2008

Remembrance Day Preschool Ideas

Help children understand the importance of Remembrance Day, which honours brave man, and women who have fought for our freedom. I decided to incorporate peace and heroes in my Remembrance Day theme. Poppies are worn as a symbol of our veterans; I gave each child 4 hearts and a small black flower and asked them to see how they could arrange the hearts and flower to make a poppy.

                                                                                                    

Songs/Poems                                                                 

(To the tune of “Frere Jacques”)
See the poppies
See the poppies
Oh so red
Oh so red
Growing on the hillside
Growing on the hillside
Soldiers lay dead
Soldiers lay dead
We remember
We remember
On this day
On this day
Soldiers on the hillside
Soldiers on the hillside
Far away
Far away

 

Poppy
Poppy we are but children small,
we are too little to do it all.
Children you may do your part.
Love each other is how you start.
Play without fighting.
Share your games and toys.
Be kind and thoughtful,
to all girls and boys.
Remembrance Day
We wear a poppy
On Remembrance Day,
And at eleven
we stand and pray.
Wreaths are put
upon a grave.
As we remember
our soldiers brave.
Little Poppy
Little poppy
given to me,
Help me keep Canada
Safe and free.
I’ll wear a little poppy,
as red as red can be,
to show that I remember
those who fought for me.

                                                    

 Here are some pics of our Remembrance Day Crafts

Sun
26
Oct
2008

Halloween Craft ideas

Tissue Ghosts

 

Have children roll up a Kleenex into a ball. Then help them to wrap an opened Kleenex around the ball and gather it around the ball and tie a string around the outside Kleenex that is covering the Kleenex ball. Have the children draw a ghost face onto the “head” of the ghost. Let them fly their ghosts around the room by tossing them into the air and then catching them when they “fly” back down. An extension to this activity is to take them outside and use them with the parachute. Put the ghosts in the parachute and have them wave the parachute and watch the ghosts fly.

 

Puzzle Piece Ghosts

Cut out a haunted house shape out of black construction paper. Have children paint several cardboard jigsaw puzzle pieces white, covering both sides completely. Have them place the puzzle pieces randomly on the haunted house cutout. When paint on puzzle pieces are dry…use black marker to draw ghost faces on each puzzle piece. Very cute! You can write the word “Boo!” here and there on the house next to the ghosts with a white crayon for an added affect.

 

Painting

Paint each child’s foot with white paint and have it stamp its footprint onto a dark colour paper (black looks great!) Turn their footprints upside down so that their heel is at the top of the paper and draw two ghost eyes onto the centre of the heel.

 

Finger-paint Pumpkins

colours of finger-paint (red and yellow) to discover what the new colour will be made.

Pumpkin Pies

Cut round pie shapes out of orange construction paper. Set out small containers of powdered cinnamon and ginger in cups for each child. Have the children brush glue on their pie shapes. Then let them sprinkle the spices over the glue to create fragrant “pumpkin pies.”

Pumpkin Patch

Have children fill paper lunch sacks with pieces of crumpled newspaper. Secure each bag with a twist tie, leaving about 1 inch of the bag gathered at the top.

Then have the children paint the bottom parts to their bags orange and the gathered parts green to create pumpkins with stems. When the pumpkins have dried, string them all together with green yarn to make a “pumpkin patch.”

Jack O Lanterns

 

I have made these Glass jar Jack O Lanterns with my daycare kids every year. They love making them, and they are a wonderful keepsake and look great all lit up on Halloween.

You will need empty pickle jars, or any glass jar will do, for my youngest kids they use baby food jars. Orange Crepe paper and white glue mix with water (Half glue half water works well) Pre-cut the crepe paper in manageable squares or strips. Have the children first paint the outside of the jar with the glue/water mixture and then add the crepe paper pieces all over the jar, brush over the crepe paper with the glue/ water mixture. Keep adding crepe paper until the entire jar is covered. Cut out eyes, nose and mouth shape out of black construction paper and apply it to the jar the same way as the crepe paper.

Dry overnight, place tea lite in the jar and watch it glow. 

 

 

Wed
22
Oct
2008

Preschool Halloween Games

Halloween Game
(Tune: Farmer in the Dell)


The pumpkin in the patch,
the pumpkin in the patch,
Hi-Ho on Halloween
The pumpkin’s in the patch!
The pumpkin takes a bat,
the pumpkin takes a bat
Hi-Ho on Halloween
The pumpkin takes a bat.
The bat takes a witch
the bat takes a witch
Hi-ho on Halloween
The bat takes a witch
the witch takes a ghost
the witch takes a ghost
Hi-Ho on Halloween
The witch takes a ghost.
The ghost says “Boo!”
The ghost says “Boo!”
Hi-Ho on Halloween
The ghost says “Boo!”
(We sometimes play this during our Halloween party, when the children are in costume. We call them by character–princess, queen, ninja, etc.)

 

Ghost Ten Pin Bowling

Put a little sand in the bottom of ten large soda bottles to give them weight. (Water bottles work well too) Then cover the bottles with white medium sized garbage bags, or white lunch bags secure with tape. Let the children draw faces on the ghost bottles with black marker. Set up like ten pin bowling but throw the pumpkin beanbag to knock the ghosts down. Kids of all ages love this game.

Eyeball Mini Putt

A great Halloween indoor/outdoor game. *Great for hand-eye co-ordination Materials: - a dozen or so of those novelty eyeballs *can be found at most novelty stores - a few plastic golf clubs - shoe boxes or milk containers

Decorate the boxes or containers in a festive deco and cut out a large enough entrance/exit to allow the balls to pass through. Then just set up a miniature golf course inside or outside. *Sand boxes work great to create a challenging course.

Mummy wrap

Mummy Wrap Have your children form two groups. Each group picks one person to be the mummy. The rest of the children try to wrap the mummy using toilet paper.

 

Witches Cauldron

Witch tries to tag you and puts you in her witches brew. (Hoop)

 

Hide The Pumpkin

All you need is a mini pumpkin or plush pumpkin. Have one child hide the pumpkin while the others close their eyes or go in another room. When pumpkin is hidden have the children come back in to the room. The child who finds the pumpkin gets to hide it next.

 

Ghost Count

We made these great ghosts out of white lima beans. They turned out so cute we had to make extra so the kids could take home some “ Pet Ghosts “ We even glued them on our Crafts.

 

We had a pile of ghosts in the middle of the table and the kids would roll the dice, then put that number of ghosts in to their cup or empty small tin can. The kids loved the sound it makes when it is dropped in the can. When  the ghosts were all taken from the middle of the table the kids are encouraged to count all the ghosts in their cup.

                                                           

 

 I hope you and your preschoolers enjoy these fun games. Feel free to share your Halloween Games in our comments box…

Check back for Next weeks Halloween Crafts Blog….

Wed
15
Oct
2008

Preschool Halloween Songs

5 Little ghost (felt board)

 5 little ghosts flew through the door

One flew away, and then there were 4.

4 little ghost spooky as can be.

One flew away, and then there were 3.

3 little ghosts drinking Halloween brew,

One flew away, and then there were 2.

2 little ghosts having lots of fun,

One flew away, and then there was one.

1 little ghost is a real super hero,

He flew away, and then there was zero!

 

 

 

Five Little Pumpkins

 

Five Little Pumpkins sitting on a gate

The first one said,” My it’s getting late!”

The second one said,” There’s witches in the air!”

The third one said,” I don’t care!”

The fourth one said,” Let’s run, run, run!”

The fifth one said, it’s only Halloween fun!”

 

Bats Are Sleeping

 

Bats are sleeping, bats are sleeping
Upside down upside down
Waiting for the night to come
Waiting for the night to come
then they fly around, then they fly around

 

Three Little Witches

 

One little, two little, three little witches (Count on Fingers)
Fly over haystacks & fly over ditches (Make flying motion)
Fly over moonbeams without any hitches (Make flying motion)
Hey its Halloween night
One little, two little, three little witches. (Count on Fingers)
Fly over barbwire and tore their britches (Make flying motion)
had to go home and get some stitches. (Make flying motion)
Hey, its Halloween night

 

Three Little Ghosts

 

Three little ghosts on Halloween night
Saw a witch and freaked in freight
the witch just laughed and shouted Boo!
One ghost ran home and then there were two
Two little ghost who shiver and shook
With every single step they took
When the door opened wide
A goblin stood inside
One ghost said to the other . . .
I’m going home and stay with my mother
One little ghost can’t have much fun
so he ran home, and then there were none

 

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said, “My it’s getting late”
The second one said, “There are witches in the air”
The third one said, “But we don’t care”
The fourth one said, “Let’s run, let’s run”
The fifth one said, “Oh it’s only Halloween fun”
The Puff went the wind and out went the lights
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Mr. Pumpkin
tune: Frere Jacques

Mr. Pumpkin, Mr. Pumpkin
Eyes so round, eyes so round
Halloween is coming,
Halloween is coming,
to my town, to my town.

 

 

Five Round Pumpkins


Five round pumpkins in a roadside store
One became a jack-o-lantern; then there were four.
Four round pumpkins as orange as can be
one became a pumpkin pie; then there were three.

Three round pumpkins with nothing fun to do
One was cooked as pumpkin bread; then there were two.
Two round pumpkins sitting in the sun
One was cooked as pancakes; then there was one.
One round pumpkin, one job was left undone
He was kept to make new seeds; then there were none.
One round pumpkin, one job was left undone
He was kept to make new seeds; then there were none.

 

Five Little Witches

The First one said “There is nothing to do!”
The Second one said “Let’s go out and have some fun!”
The third one said “Halloween has begun!”
The Forth one said “Let’s go out and “trick or treat”!”
The Fifth one said “We will get a lot of candy to eat!”
Whoooo oooo went the wind
and out went the light
and the five little witches flew out of sight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you and your preschoolers enjoy these songs

Feel free to share your preschoolers favorite Halloween songs, Games or Craft ideas in our comments box!

Fri
3
Oct
2008

Preschool Thanksgiving Games

 

Fall is my favourite time of year! There are so many fun themes for everyone to enjoy, Apples, Leaves, Pumpkins, Halloween and of course Thanksgiving! The kids are enjoying music time dancing to ” Turkey in the straw” and the ” Chicken Dance “.

Here is a list of some simple Thanksgiving games you can try with your preschooler’s

Thankerchief

Arrange the child in a circle, pass around a “Thankerchief” (handkerchief) around and everyone recite this poem.

Thankerchief, thankerchief, around you go – 
Where you’ll stop, nobody knows.
But when you do, someone must say,
What they are thankful for this day.
The player holding the “thankerchief” when the poem ends, must 
say aloud, one thing for which they are thankful. This continues until 
everyone has had a turn.

 

Where is Mr. Turkey? 
Instead of saying “warmer…cooler” you gobble?
One player is the hunter and the others are helpers. The hunter leaves 
the room. The helpers hide a small toy turkey. The hunter returns with a mission to find the turkey. Helpers give clues by “gobbling” like turkeys. If the hunter is not close, the helpers gobble very quietly. As the hunter gets closer, the helpers gobble more and more loudly until Mr. Turkey is found! 
This game is definitely a favourite!

Pin The Tail On The Turkey

Paint a turkey without his tail feathers, The tail feathers must be pinned on by the blind folded player!

Turkey Turkey Where Is Your Tail

Just like ” Doggy doggy where’s your bone “ Arrange the children in a circle, with one child in the middle to be the turkey. I made a ” bouquet ” of feathers to be the tail. Children pass around the turkey tail while singing the chant below, when the song is finished the child with the tail hides it behind his/her back and the rest keep their hands behind their back. The Turkey in the middle has to guess who has his/her tail.

Turkey, turkey

Where’s your tail?

Somebody stole it from the mail

Guess who, maybe you

Maybe the ghost from callamazoo!

 

Feed The Turkey

 

Use a small shoes box and a picture of a turkey and glue on the box.

 Cut around the turkeys beakso the mouth will open. you will need 40 coloured pompoms in 4 different colours  and a playing dice.

Each child has a bowl of pompoms, rolls the dice and gets to feed the turkey that number seeds ( pompoms )

my kids loved this game they wanted to play it over and over!

Variation: have children use tweezers to feed the seeds to the turkey!

 

 

 Have a Thanksgiving game idea? You can share your ideas in the comments box.

 

 

 

 

Thu
11
Sep
2008

Home Daycare Helper Cards and Chart

Kids love to help! I feel it is important for kids to be involved in daily routines and activities. Even though the ones in my daycare helper charts is more for fun, it keeps the kids involved.  The kids rush to it every morning to see what helper they are that day, of course the favorite one is the “Movie Helper” The movie helper picks a short movie for our quiet time.

 

 

You are welcome to print your own FREE COPY of my Daycare helper cards in the PDF below, I used my Apple tree pocket chart to make my chart, but you could just place on a bulletin board or make your own with a poster. The Apple Tree Pocket Chart can be found at www.smartiepantskids.ca

 Free Helper Cards PDF

I found these great links for family  job or chore charts

http://www.activeallowance.com/kidsallowance/free-chore-charts.html?gclid=CPL7o7SI1ZUCFQphswodnnknWw

http://www.handipoints.com/printchart.html?gclid=CL-jj8-I1ZUCFQUQswodY3JGYg

 

Wed
3
Sep
2008

Healthy Back to School Lunch Tips

Kids accross Canada are heading back to school. Now we have the dreaded chore of packing lunches. I have enjoyed my lunch packing free summer, but now that September is here we have to get back into routine.

Getting your children to eat right doesent have to be difficult. However, Planning ahead and being creative can get your kids to eat and enjoy a heathy lunch. Packing a variety of healthy foods will help make sure your child gets all of the nutrients he or she needs. In addition healthy eating fuels brain development and learning.

Always make sure the containers you use are child friendly and are easily opened, luch time in the classroom is a busy place and teachers are not always availble to open containers etc.

What works best for me and my family of picky eaters is, small portions with lots of options.

TIPS FOR PACKING A SAFE SCHOOL LUNCH

  • Use insulated lunch bags and a thermos to help foods stay hot and cold foods stay cold. You can warm a thermos with hot water before filling it with steaming food to help it retain the heat.
  • A frozen juice box, a freezer pack or a sandwich made with frozen bread can help keep lunch foods cold.
  • Wash fruits and vegetables before packing.
  • Do not resend sandwiches or hot foods. Fruits and veggies can be safely repacked, do not reuse wrappings.
  • Teach children to wash their hands before eating.
  • Wash reusable beverage container and the end of the day with HOT water and soap.

Some great school lunch recipes can be found at

http://www.rachaelray.com/kids.php

http://www.compliments.ca/juniorcalendar

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/family/specialfeature/backtoschool_food_sf/?CMP=KNC-FFGoog100705_ffn_google_recipes_recipes-lunches

http://recipes.slides.kaboose.com/66-12-quick-and-easy-lunch-box-snacks?gclid=CJ-4-aetv5UCFQrPGgodW2s7Qw&keyword=quick+lunch+snacks&sendroiad=2127426041&sendroicid=ac21eeb5-d897-46aa-8c0e-46cd327ee428&sendroikwd=Total+-+content+targeting+12+Quick+and+Easy+Lunch+Box+Snacks+&source=google

 Dont forget to visit www.smartiepantskids.ca for great craft kits, manipulatives, parachutes and more.



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