Fall, Harvest and Halloween Ideas!
Hey everyone!
I've got some cute art ideas here, one science project that is a spinoff from another that I've posted recently, two songs and a game!:)
I hope you enjoy. Read on!
THREE FALL ART PROJECTS FOR INFANTS, TODDLERS OR PRESCHOOLERS!!!
FINGERPRINT FALL TREE
This is such a cute project and quite simple. You just take a piece of construction paper, and either draw, paint or glue on a tree trunk base. I've used a tree trunk shape I cut out of a paper bag here, and glued it on.
Next you take your child's fingertip and dip it in fall leaf colors--I chose red, yellow, orange and brown for this. Also, I mixed my paint with a bit of Elmer's glue, because I knew that I wanted to shake glitter on afterward.
Next you just press the child's fingertip all over the tree! I decided to outline the basic shape of the tree once I was done with a permanent marker. My son was very interested in this project and I think it is one that will work well with children of all ages, even very young babies! Very cute.:)
PAPER BAG PUMPKIN
The cutest centerpiece ever! First, I took a medium size paper bag (any size will work, and if you make it a family project it is really cute to do different size bags for a little variation in your "pumpkin patch") and then I had Em fingerpaint it orange with some shimmer and glue mixed in. He did his thing and played in the paint for a while, and when he was done, I added the nose and mouth. Ofcourse older kids will really enjoy cutting and glueing their own eyes and mouth!
Then, I shook some red and orange glitter over the pumpkin and allowed it to dry a bit. Next, I stuffed the bag with 10 or so plastic bags to make it nice and fluffy, and twisted the top off to resemble a pumpkin vine. As a finishing touch, I made a pumpkin leaf out of green construction paper and added a bit of green rafia. All done and soooo cute!:)
WHITE HANDPRINT GHOSTY
A cute all ages Halloween project! Very simple to do--just take some white tempera paint and paint or dip your child's hand in it, and then apply to black construction paper! Ofcourse, I wanted to add glitter (yes, I'm a glitter ADDICT--LOL!) so again, I added glue to mine.:) Then I wrote, "BOO!" on the paper.
COOL VARIATIONS:
For awesome "poofy" ghost paint, try mixing white elmers glue with shaving cream! Dries poofy! So cool!
Instead of a handprint, have your older preschool age child glue marshmallows within a ghost shape that they have drawn, or you have drawn for them.
Try adding googly eyes to ghosts!
Add pumpkins to your ghostly scene with orange fingertips! Remember though--in order for orange to show up on the black tempera you will need to mix some white tempera into it.
HOPE YOU ENJOY SOME OF THESE FUN ART PROJECTS WITH YOUR CHILD!!!!:)
On to the science project--
COLOR EXPLORATION BOTTLE
Ofcourse, this is a spin off from the exploration bottles I've already posted. But I plan on adding all different color bottles to Em's science center, one at a time, and I thought October was the perfect month to introduce him to "orange". Simply find a small bottle with a tight fitting cap, fill with water (add GLITTER if you are a glitter addict like me!!!) and then objects of your theme color. I used orange beads in this one, and then finally taped the word "orange" around the bottle as well.
FALL THEMED SONG
I'm a Little Acorn Brown
To hear the tune of this song, download the midi file here:
Acorn Brown Tune: http://www.magicroot.net/supermoms/acorn.mp3
The "cluck, cluck" that you see is the sound of your clicking tongue.:)
Im a Little Acorn Brown
Lying on the cold, cold ground
Everybody steps on me
That is why I'm cracked you see
I'm a nut (say "cluck, cluck" and tap the top of your head with your closed fist)
I'm a nut ("cluck cluck")
I'm a nut, I'm a nut, I'm a nut ("cluck, cluck")
This song may seem silly but I will tell you, it is one of the ALL TIME favorites of my music students during the fall season. I guaruntee your child will love it.:)
And finally...a fun game!
"Hide The Pumpkin"
Well, it might be a no brainer, but it will keep your preschooler or toddler busy for quite a while! You can use real mini-pumpkins or a pumpkin piece of paper, or any other fall themed item. Tell your child to close their eyes and face the wall while you hide the pumpkin somewhere in the room. Then ofcourse, they try to find it!
For babies and toddlers, you can hide the pumpkin right in front of your child, inside a box, under a couch cushion, or under the edge of a blankie, and watch them come scrambling right away to get it out.:)
Simple fun that encourages great problem solving skills.
That's about it for now! Check back with me soon for more early childhood tips!:)
Cheers!
Channy
Fun paint tips:
To make your paint dry shiny add a bit of corn syrup to your tempera or fingerpaint. Fun, but sttttticky!!!
Another tip: add a drop of dish soap to increase washability. Watch for paint in the mouth on this one, although it is non toxic soap causes a bellyache.
Also, you can fingerpaint with shaving cream/food coloring (careful, this will stain but it is non-toxic. Better for older babies/toddlers because sometimes shaving cream can irritate the eye).
Super cool foam paint: shaving cream plus white elmers glue! Dries poofy!
Window clinging paint, if you are brave enough to let your little one paint the window (I love doing this, it's so cute): Mix elmer's glue and tempera paint or add food coloring to Elmer's glue. Easy to scrape or wash off. For easier washing try vinegar water.
Also, try kool-aid and pudding! Totally edible, great for young babies (that can have a bit of dairy ofcourse--only the amount that they can lick off their fingers). Careful though, it will stain whites.
Hey Everyone!
A while back I posted that I would put up some of the signs I have used with toddlers/babies in the past...and these are also the first ones I plan on using with my son....
They say that the best time is around five or six months...but there are some signals your child will send you when they are ready. For example, they may begin to shake their head for "no" and nod for "yes". Or try to communicate through other ways such as grunting or pointing. Contrary to popular belief, baby signs DO NOT delay speech, so if you are interested in using them with your child, you needn't worry about that!
The most important thing is to just start out with a few and stay very consistent with them. ALWAYS say the word as you use the sign. Have fun!
I will soon be posting some songs in sign language as well!
There are many more but I thought I'd share a few I plan on starting with!
I've been making and using these in my classroom for years and years. They are so much fun and talk about cheap entertainment. I just recently thought Emmett would dig it and decided to make some for him! It has become his new favorite toy. They are so stimulating for young children! Here is a pic of the ones I recently made:
Exploration Bottles
Exploration Bottles
All you need to get started is a clear bottle with a tight fitting cap. I used a Juicy Juice bottle for the big one, and two different size Victoria Secret/Bath and Body works bottles for the other two. Small pop bottles work wonderfully too! You just add interesting colorful things and make very sure to seal the cap very tightly. Because I want to be extra safe about choking hazards, and to avoid leaks, I also tape mine off with masking tape.
I added things to the dry bottle (the big one) like popsicle sticks, ribbon and raffia, a pencil, beads, and even fake doll hair! Yes, I have that laying around. LOL! The dry bottles are alot of fun because they are full of neat sounds, so if you do more than one, make sure to try one without adding water so your little one can be fascinated by the rolling and clacking sounds of things inside.
On the water bottles, I added food coloring, glitter, beads and foam shapes.
So there you have it! Cheap entertainment in a bottle!
Other ideas for the liquid filled ones:
--Oil, food coloring, water
--dish soap, food coloring (gets all neat and sudsy when shaken!)
--action figures, small cars, etc.
Pretty much anything you can think of!
PS--Bigger kids can use two liter bottles for the water exploration ones, but the smaller sizes just seem to fit better in small hands.
Hope you enjoy!
Ideas to help kids clean up
When you are caring for young children at home or in preschool for years as I did, one of the biggest struggles can be getting them to clean up and pick up. The self help skills are really hard to start late, and it's always a good idea to start them as early as possible to create great habits.
For that reason I thought I'd share something I recently did to help Emmett start to learn how to pick up and some other tips I have based on my experience.
Shelf Labels--This really, really helps young children. You take a picture of your toys, and tape the picture to the shelf or near the wall where it goes! For starters, they can SEE where the toy's place is. Also, now cleanup isn't just a chore, it's a matching game! Make sure you laminate or cover in packing tape well. Here are the ones that I made for Emmett's room--trust me, it's never to soon. I also included the name of the toy so he can be exposed to letters/words while he picks up!
You also might find these helpful:
Clean Up Songs:
They really work. Children hear the song and switch into working mode. It makes it more fun ofcourse, but music is a very powerful form of conditioning as well, and it helps cement the focus for the task at hand. I've used this one for years, and yes....(roll eyes) it's from Barney! LOL. It goes like this:
"Clean Up, Clean Up
Everybody Everywhere
Clean up, Clean Up
Everybody Do Your Share"
and this one:
"It's time to put things back where they belong
Clean Up, Clean Up, Clean Up Song
Let's Clean them up by the end of this song!
Clean Up, Clean Up, Clean Up Song!"
Either can be sang to any tune or simply chanted while you clap. Also effective is clean up "music" which can be anything you want it to be!
Other ideas:-You can make it a game by having a clean up "race" or only cleaning as long as the music is playing, which can help younger children who dread the task. They foresee a tangible "end" to the task which makes it much more tolerable.
-You can count items as you pick them up, or tell the child to pick up things by category, like "Find all the blue toys".
-Give kids a choice, "You may pick up the cars or the blocks today. I will help you. What do you choose?"
-Last but not least, the best tool you can ever use for clean up with a young child is a kitchen timer! Once they learn to understand it's meaning, the timer is SUCH a powerful tool. Always stick to a short amount of time with young children.
A Home Made Water and Sand Table
I am SO excited to share this idea!
I don't know if anyone here is aware of this, but water and sand tables for toddlers and children are VERY VERY expensive.
I was racking my brain, trying to think of how I could re-create one at home for cheap...when it hit me!
CHANNY'S HOME MADE WATER TABLE!!!
Take a medium to large sized rubber maid or plastic tub. Find a small plastic bin, and trace it's shape on the top of your lid. Using heavy duty scissors or a "Sawsall", cut the hole out of the lid and place the bin snugly inside. Fill with water or sand and replace lid on bin.
Now you have an activity table that doubles as a storage bin for the water/sand toys!!!!! Wahoo!!!!
To make it an even more stable structure that kids will have a hard time
tipping or dumping, put a bag or two of sand in the bottom. Then it becomes nice and sturdy.
Ofcourse never leave your child unattended with one of these.
Here it is!!!!!!:
PAPER PLATE FISH MOBILE
All you really need to get started is paper plates (I used small ones but it doesn't matter), scissors, glue, paint and glitter, some string, and something to hang with. In the past I've used dowels and sticks shaped in a cross formation to hang mobiles, but I kept this project super simple by just attaching it instead to a child's coat hanger.
Start by keeping 2-3 plates whole (how ever many fish you want to hang) and then cutting tails by simply cutting paper plates in half. I tape the plates down to Emmett's highchair so he can fingerpaint them more easily. Also, I wanted my fishies to have open mouths, so I cute triangles out where their mouths would be as well.
Today, I mixed my tempera paint with glue for two reasons: 1) I wanted it to dry more shiny 2) I wanted to shake on glitter after Emmett had painted them. Also, it made it easier to clean off the highchair when we were done!
Once we were done painting the plates, I shook glitter on them, hole punched the top of the body so I could run string through them, and glued on button eyes. You could use googly eyes, or just draw them on, or you could skip the eyes alltogether and it would still look great! Because I have used buttons for the eyes on the fish I will make sure to keep a close eye on them, and keep them out of Em's reach, in case they should fall off and be a choking hazard!
So, once they were dry and I had glued the tails and eyes on, I just strung them up with sewing thread and tied them on to a child's coat hanger! Voila! The glitter catches in the sun and it looks so darling. Emmett is really mesmerized by it!
