We've Been Busy Little Bees in Preschool

Some of you may have noticed that I've been off-line for quite some time.  One of the reasons is, along with the regular daycare duties I perform on a daily basis, I've added an hour or more of preschool everyday!  There is much planning involved in getting things ready for circle time, story time, art time, etc.  I've enjoyed it very much!

Here are some highlights from this past Fall and Winter

Creating Pizzas--A fun little game for writing numbers, counting and recognizing shapes.

 

Our circle-time board with the gourd and pumpkin that a friend brought for us to explore.

 

 

Our December circle-time board.  The children love taking turns being "teacher".

 

 

Gingerbread Friends!

 

 

We do many magnetic games on a magnetic tray or board. (I've since retired the cookie sheet because it was too small, and bought a larger magnetic board).  One of the magnetic games for January involves colored mittens (to work on color recognition).  It is a fun game where I hide a paper snowball behind a mitten and the children guess under which color mitten the snowball is hidden.

"Snowball snowball, cold and round

Under which mitten will you be found?"

Idea and poem found on Pinterest.

 

We do flashcard letters.  I know many teachers frown upon flashcards, but they seem to work best for my group.

As the months progress I add more activities to our circle time activities and the kids love it.  As soon as the baby goes down for her morning nap, the kids are begging for circle time and story time.

 

The paint can flash cards of different colors are a poem-movement activity that I found ages ago.  I hold up a paint can and the children say the color, the little poem that goes with the color, and do the movement. 

 

Red Red, touch your head.

Orange you see, slap your knee.

Yellow Yellow, shake like Jell-O.  (that's their favorite)

Gray Gray, shout Hurray! (their other favorite)

It goes on through all of the colors.  They love this one and it never seems to get old!

 

So, that is just a small sample as to why I have been away from blogging for so long.  I am super busy!  But, I hope with the new year ahead of me, I can find some time here and there to share some fun vintage things, creative projects, daycare projects, and summer road trips with you all!

 

Until another time, have a happy day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decorative Indian Corn Craft

A few weeks ago I picked up a decorative Indian corn at the grocery store.  I got to thinking it would be fun to do an Indian Corn craft with the kids.  This is what we ended up doing.

 

I cut "fall colored" tissue papers into squares.  We didn't have any brown so I watercolor painted a bit of white tissue paper and let it dry.  Next year I will let the older kids watercolor their own sheets of white tissue paper to get a "marbled" effect, much like the real kernels of corn.

 

 

 

We placed the eraser part of a pencil in the center of a piece of tissue and gently twisted the tissue.  Then dipped the tissue in glue and placed it on our corn cut-outs.

 

 

These are the beautiful corns that we made.

For the leaves, we took a large sheet of cream colored construction paper, spritzed it with water, crumpled it up, then laid it flat to dry.  After it was dried, we then cut out corn leaves and glued them to the back of our corns.

The kids had fun with the different colors of tissue paper!

 

That's all for today, until next time have a happy, crafty day!

Ocean Snack

Pinterest is a wonderful thing sometimes!  I think the original maker of these snacks is from a blog called thefirstyearblog.  But I'm not positive (that's the not-so-fun thing about Pinterest, I never know who should get credit for the original idea). 

Anyway, these super easy snacks were a big hit during our Ocean/Beach theme weeks.

 

You start by making some blue frosting.  I just use powdered sugar, a tiny bit of milk, some vanilla for flavor and a few drops of blue food coloring.

 

Graham crackers!

 



Frost the graham crackers with the blue icing.

 



 

Put a graham cracker into a baggie and smash it to bits with something.

 

 

Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs onto the bottom of the cracker to create a beach, or the ocean floor.

 

 

Add some goldfish crackers to your ocean and some tiny white sprinkles (bubbles).

 

 

Eat and enjoy!!

 

 

The daycare kids loved them!

 

That's all for today.  Until another time, have a happy, snacky day!

 



Mr. Seahorse and Beach Day--Books and Crafts

Every summer we spend two daycare weeks on an Ocean/Beach theme. 

This year we read Beach Day by Karen Roosa Illustrated by Maggie Smith. 

We also read Mr. Seahorse by well know author/illustrator, Eric Carle. 

 

Our first craft was making a Mr. Seahorse.  Each child was given a piece of cardstock with a Mr. Seahorse drawn onto it in permanent marker.  They were invited to mist their seahorse with water then paint with watercolor paints.  The misting creates a "tie dyed" effect.

 

 

We also water color painted these cool fish.  You cut a triangle out of the paper plate to create the mouth and tail.

 

 

 Later in the week, we read Beach Day and did some beach coloring pages.

 

 

And had a beach snack!

 

 

 I'll post details of the snack next time!

Have a happy day!

 



Easy to Make Water Table For Daycare Sensory Play

Last Friday morning was a beautiful one with a quiet little breeze and slightly over-cast skies.  For a little while we only had a couple of kids so we let them play on the deck, one at a time, supervised by my daughter.

Earlier this spring we purchased a set of patio furniture, something we've been wanting to do for quite a few years.  Lounging on the loveseat with a book in hand, is a wonderful way to spend the evening (especially since the mosquitoes haven't been too bad....yet).

The patio coffee table really came in handy today!  It allowed us to create a "water table space" for the daycare kids!

 

 

No special, or expensive supplies needed!  We bought a Sterilite brand, under-the-bed, storage box to use as a "sensory bin".  We fill this bin with all kinds of fun objects throughout the year.  Everything from aquarium gravel to puff balls of many colors.  Today, it held water.  The party tray is from our local party store, but any tray or small box will work, to hold fun objects that can be played with in the water. 

 

 

The kids LOVED it! The plastic Easter eggs were their favorite, along with the sea creatures. 

 We decided not to use the whitish gray rocks (seen under the dolphin, below) for fear they might crack the table's glass top (duh, Jen).  The farm animal ducks we found at Hobby Lobby.

 

 

So that's how we do a sensory-water table at our house.  It's really nothing fancy, but still a lot of fun!

Next time I might add a water wheel, and some sponges for the kids to play with, along with some measuring cups and spoons.

Until another time, have a happy day!  And enjoy the summer!

Teddy Bear Toast

You see, THIS is why I love Pinterest.  They have so many cool ideas to fill our days.

Today the daycare kids and I had Teddy Bear Toast!

 

 

Supplies: toast, peanut butter, raisins, banana, and a chocolate chip (or another raisin) for the nose.

These were easy to make, yummy, really cute and the kids ate them right up!

 

Until another time, have a happy day!

Daycare/Preschool Curriculum Organized

I know this isn't a daycare blog (maybe I should start a daycare blog?) For the last month or so I've been getting my preschool curriculum organized for the upcoming school year.  Like I said earlier, I will have four daycare kids ages 3 and up, and would love to set aside some time each day for preschool/ learning time.  We have a learning time now, but it's not as structured as I'd like it to be.  It's good to be flexible, but sometimes it's good to also have a plan.  That's what I've been up to lately....planning.

 

I want my everyday items to be accessible.  At first I thought one of these would be GREAT! 

A little background on this...I watched this episode of the TV show The Apprentice YEARS ago when one of the teams developed this product for Staples. 

The Desk Apprentice

At the time of the show my husband laughed and said that NO ONE would buy such a monstrosity and they were fools for producing them.  Weeeelll, I kinda wanted one for my daycare/teaching supplies, but really didn't have the space for one (they are a whopping 16x16x11inches)!

 

Then I saw one in action in a Kindergarten classroom and wanted one even MORE!

 

Now I'm seeing them all over Pinterest.  Homeschoolers, teachers, and daycare providers are using them to store their "everyday use" materials.  This is just what I need!
 

 This summer I have been making all sorts of file folder games, wipe-off marker sheets, and other activities.  And what have I been keeping them in?

 

That's right Ladies and Gents...it's a cereal box. 

 



The cereal box is not my friend.  It's flimsy and difficult to hold onto when I'm getting it in and out of the cupboard.  So the desk apprentice would be great....but.

 

There is a problem with the desk apprentice, it won't fit in my daycare cupboard!

Sigh.  So in early July I began searching for something similar, just not quite as big.
First, I tried my old purple file box I used during my student teaching time.
It worked okay, but wasn't very convenient, and again, it didn't really fit in my cupboard.

Finally, I found this blue, file holder with handles at Target!  I wish I'd bought two or three!

This file holder fits in my cupboard and holds all of my "activity" sheets and file folder games!

One problem solved.  Now on to organizing our curriculum.
I have THEME binders that I've used for a very long time and they work great.  With the help of page protectors and a 3-hole punch, I can store songs, finger-plays, craft ideas, posters, worksheets and even small books, all in one place.  For example ALL of my apple stuff is in the "Apple Binder". 

But for reproducing worksheets they are kind of a pain.  I have to take the binders to Office Max, fish out the originals and make copies one-by-one.  It takes FOREVER.

I kept the theme binders mostly intact, but I took out all of the pintables I want to do with the kids, and organized them by week.

We are going to work week-by-week, instead of theme-to-theme.
Each week will have:
 an alphabet letter page
a cutting page or activity that involves using scissors,
a math activity, 
a couple of coloring pages,
a craft project (or two) related to our theme,
 and a story book with activities linked to the book. 

Each week has three page protectors.  One for originals, copies, and plans.

A page protector of originals.

A page protector of copies (to be handed out to the children to be colored, cut and what-have-you).

And a page protector for the week's plans with plenty of space at the bottom to make notes, jot down finger-plays, etc. (to be filled in).

 

All of the page protectors containing "originals" go into the "originals binder"
The page protectors full of copies go into one of two "worksheets/activities binders"

 

WHY on EARTH did I do all of this?  One reason was to separate the originals out and have them all be in one binder.  I can make copies at my husband's office for about 1/2 of what it costs at the local copy center, but he says he'd like me to do it all in one shot (as he has to sit there and watch me make the copies), and it can't take all day.  (Haha, he knows me so well).  It will be SO much easier to grab the originals binder, copy the activities need for all of the weeks and place the originals BACK into the binder. 

 

And if I REALLY feel like getting crazy with the planning, I can sit down some Sunday night and put each day's projects and supplies into their own daily envelope.  (I've had these forever...at least 13 years, if not more).  I've done that before and it works really well!  If we don't get to an activity on Monday, I just move it to the Tuesday folder or to a day when we don't have much else going on. (I keep Friday either open or light with activities and use it as a "catch-up" day.

 
Well, I've got to run. Whew!  That was a lot of organization for one post!  I hope it was all understandable. 

Until another day, happy organizing!

 

 

 

 

Daycare Circle-Time Board

This is what I worked on last Saturday...pretty much all. day. long.  And it still needs some changes.

 

It's a "bulletin board" of sorts for circle-time. 

I will have four children this coming fall who are ages 3 and up, and would like to spend a few minutes each morning doing "preschool" activities while the two babies have their morning naps.  I know morning naps won't last forever, but we'll see how well we can squeeze in some preschool time at some point or another during our day.  Some days it might only be 10 minutes, sometimes longer. 

 

 

We will talk about colors and learn our color words by sight.  A couple of the kiddos already know them, but could use some practice.  We will say the ABCs together, then have fun picking different letters at random.

 

I used baseball card sleeves that I picked up at the Goodwill for my color flashcards.  I will remove the colored cards, leaving the color words.  Children will say the color word and I will put the corresponding colored card into the space below it.  I would like to do this with learning numbers and number words as well, but that will have to come along later.

 

 

 

I'd like to do something different with the shapes as well, but I really like the look of the turquoise behind all of the pastel colored shapes.

 

I have different "opposite" cards than the ones shown for the four squares of green below the shapes.  The opposite cards I will use are by Carson Dellosa and fit much better than the taller, Sesame Street ones.  I may trim the 4 squares down to only 2 squares in order to make room for a different shape poster.

 



 

It's a work in progress, but has been keeping me very busy.  There are so many things to do this summer to prepare for a good year of daycare preschool!  I'm finding that if I have everything ready: worksheets copied, arts-n-crafts supplies ready, and some plans written out ahead of time, it is much easier to stay on track each day and week.  Unfortunately, with all my free-time going towards daycare projects, I haven't had much time for quilting and embroidery.  But, I suppose that's what the winter months will be good for.

 

That's all for today!  Until another time, have a happy, learning day!

 

 

 



Daycare Candy Store

Well, it's not really candy, but the 3-5 year olds love to pretend that it is.

*I wouldn't recommend doing this with kids under the age of 3, and even some 3 year olds still put things in their mouths.  So you have to know your kids well enough to know if they can be trusted with smaller toys.*

 

To start, I found this old Whitman's sampler box that I had saved from Thanksgiving.  It was empty (candy boxes don't stay full around me for very long), cleaned out, and still had it's dividers inside.

We used plastic buttons, uni-fix cubes and round, wooden beads as our "candies".

Here is one of my little ones playing candy store owner.  He is putting together a box of delicious candies for me (I like mints the best).

The kids played with this for hours this week!

And another fun add-on activity is to sit down and watch the Curious George cartoon "Candy Counter" where George watches the candy counter at Mable's Department store.

 

Here George is trying to sort 4 greens and 8 pinks into 2 boxes.

 

 

That's all for today, until another time have a happy play day!

 

Horse Cracker Snacks

Leave it to Grandma Holly to find a cute snack idea!  My mom came one day, supplies in hand, ready to make horse crackers with the daycare kids.  We've had them 3 other times since then and the kids love them.  She found the idea in an "All Recipes" magazine.

 

The snacks call for oval shaped crackers (this is a good time to remind the children what an oval shape looks like), mini chocolate chips, slivered almonds and peanut butter.  If you have a child who suffers from peanut allergies, we found that flavored cream cheese, such as strawberry, can be fun too. 

I usually make the first cracker, then let the children assemble the others using mine as a guide.  We usually have orange slices or the extra banana with the crackers as our fruit.

 

 

  Sometimes we end up with three-eyed horses or horses with ears off to the side like a donkeys, it's a hoot-n-a-half! .  But, when working with children you quickly learn that it's the process, not the product that counts.  This easy, little snack is great for fine motor skills, and yummy to boot!

 

Until next time, have a happy day!

This Toy ROCKS!

One of the best $10.00 I've ever spent! 

I found the construction vehicles at my favorite discount store for around 5$, and the aquarium rocks at a local pet store for around 5$ as well.  The rocks are shiny and somewhat smooth so they are not "dusty" or create a dust at all...which is a good thing.
I was going to put play sand in the box, but then I saw the idea for "natural looking" aquarium rocks on Pinterest and used them instead.  The box we already had along with the handy-dandy wooden tray that we use for all kinds of things.

The kids LOVE this toy!  It's so popular, that I use it as a good behavior reward.  Towards the end of the day, if a child has been good, he/she gets 15-20 minutes with the diggers!  Woo-Hoo!

That's all for today!  Hope you all have a fun day!  God Bless!

The Summer of Mailbox Magazines!

This past June I was lucky enough to stumble upon a former teacher's garage sale.  For those who don't know it, I'm a sucker for all of the stuff that comes with being a teacher.  Especially Preschool and Kindergarten teaching. I love the stickers, the plan books and room decor.  I love the organizational products with pockets and binders with page protecting sleeves.  Again, it is a sickness.  But in my defense, I use much of it with my Daycare kids and they love it too.
At the garage sale, this retired teacher had tons of stickers for the little miss of the household and a whole year's subscription to the Mailbox Magazine for Kindergarten.  So I counted out my quarters and scooped them up. 

I had so much fun looking through them and finding little projects for my daycare kids to do!  Because they are kindergarten and not preschool mailboxes, some of the activities are a bit too difficult for my kids, so I'll glean from this set what I can than donate them.... 

Because in August....

...I found these at our library book sale.  They weren't library copies either, they were donated by someone who used them and loved them well.  Some of the activities have been removed but for the most part they are in great condition.

Yeah, that's a lot of Mailbox Magazines and they are ALL Preschool.  I felt a little bit greedy buying them all, but I did leave a few...okay, only four.  But here's my plan.  Not only will I donate the Kindergarten ones I don't need any longer, but will also go through each one of these, photocopy the pages I like, copy great ideas onto note cards and donate most of them to my two friends that teach Kindergarten here in town (they would love to have a few I'm sure).  So I won't be keeping the majority of them.
Problem is, there are so many of them to go through!  I've been setting aside time each week (3 hours/week, while the little miss is in choir practice at the college), to copy ideas and mark pages I want to photocopy.  So, instead of driving back and forth across town, I just park my behind at a table on campus and get to work.  I suppose it could be considered "career enrichment" ha!
It's actually quite fun!

The small stack on the left side (6 magazines) have been browsed through, ideas written onto note cards, and pages already copied and put into theme folders.  It takes awhile, but it's like Christmas everyday, opening up a new Mailbox!  (This doesn't include the six Kindergarten ones I'd already read).

THIS is one of the reasons I haven't been embroidering? 

Until another day, have a happy one!