Hello everyone! Just popping in to give you a few quick ideas for some fun Halloween themed art and math, and also a few recycled play ideas and book suggestions!
Hope you enjoy and have a safe and fun Halloween!
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Paper Plate Pumpkin
It's a no brainer! Take some orange (or red and yellow if you'd like to include a lesson on color mixing) paint, white glue and shaving cream and mix some neato "poofy" paint.
Paint your paper plate and glue black triangles and mouth shapes to make a jack o' lantern.
I cut a spiral out of green paper for the vines, which my son wanted to glue on as "arms". :)
The added idea for motor strength would be to have your child cut their own shapes out of black paper with child safe scissors! Fun and easy, plus cute to display!
Candy Corn Math
Something yummy always makes math fun! As you can see from the picture, what I did was take a ziploc bag, and place 10 dots on the outside, along with the number "10" using a permanent marker. I then put 10 peices of candy corn in the bag.
Have fun counting all of your peices, adding and subtracting peices, and learning math in this "sweet" way. The best part is that you get to eat it when you are all done! Kids love it. Try this activity with larger numbers, multiplication or fractions for older children!
Recycled Cereal Box Play Houses
I got this idea from a great book I have called "365 TV-Free Activities (You Can Do With Your Child)" (Bennett, Bob Adams Inc, 1991).
Check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/365-TV-Free-Activities-Your-Child/dp/1558505857.
The idea is to take your recycled cereal (or mashed potato, cracker, etc.) and cut doors and windows in them, to create play houses! I turned mine inside and taped them back up out so that we could draw on them. This is an awesome open ended project--get out the scissors, tape, crayons and markers and have a blast! Not only do they look neat when you are done, but it is a free and creative activity that your child will love.
The play houses are as elaborate as you'd like them to be...we even made steps for ours! They look neat when lined up into a little "neighborhood". Try it!
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In closing, a few book suggestions that we've enjoyed reading! These should be available at your local library:
Bats at the Library
http://www.amazon.com/Bats-at-Library-Brian-Lies/dp/061899923X
Bats love to read too...and they've flown in through an open window at the library!
Too Many Pumpkins
http://www.amazon.com/Too-Many-Pumpkins-Linda-White/dp/0823413209
An overgrowth of pumpkins!
Pumpkin Soup
http://www.amazon.com/Pumpkin-Soup-Helen-Cooper/dp/0374460310/ref=pd_sim_b_7
A story of friendship and tasty pumpkin soup!
Easy to make feltboards, spiders and more!
Because the Halloween season is upon us, I'll kick it off with the spider crafts!!!!:)
Paper towel or toilet paper tube Spider Prints
To make these quick and cute spider prints, all you need to do is take a tube and cut it into eight segments, and then fold the "spider legs" out, so that the tube becomes a stamp when dipped into paint! Emmett and I did black paint on white paper and added a glitter web, although white paint looks great on black as well! He enjoyed helping to stamp the tube in the paint and on the paper, but ofcourse this is a "parent pleaser" and is fun for both parent and child. Older kids can go crazy on their own! After stamping a few spiders with me, I gave my son a sheet of paper and allowed him to fingerpaint all over, which was what he really wanted to do. Haha!:)
OTHER SPIDER PROJECTS:
Marble Web Painting--place a black piece of paper in a tray with a marble dipped in white paint, and roll back and forth to achieve a spider web! Infants and toddlers can do this project a little more safely if you cut a circular peice of paper and put it into a tin with a lid. That way they can shake it and let the marble go crazy without fear of the choking hazard popping out! Older kids will enjoy controlling the web, and it is a great exercise for large motor and hand/eye coordination.
Double handprint spiders--place handprint facing left, then another handprint directly next to it facing right. The two thumbrints become the spider eyes, and then you have eight legs! Especially cute when you glue googly eyes on the thumbprints.
FELTBOARD AT HOME!
This is one make at home project that I highly recommend having! The felt, or flannel board, is so much fun and a wonderful teaching tool!
I made this one by taking some blue burlap and covering a large square of cardboard. (You can also use felt or flannel material.) I then stapled and taped over the back of it, and taped it to the wall at eye level for my son. He likes to stand at it and take the shapes on and off.:)
You can cut out lots of felt shapes or make seasonal themes (like pumpkins, Christmas trees, etc.) I will add felt board activities here from time to time now that I have posted how to make one! They are a great way to illustrate stories, sing songs, or just have fun naming shapes and colors. Easy for little hands to do, although older kids enjoy them very much as well!
CHEAP FELTBOARD TIP #1--the shapes you see on my feltboard are actually cut from pot scrubbers! I get them in a multicolor pack, five for a buck, at the dollar store! They are made from an industrial material that sticks to felt. It feels quite similiar to felt/burlap. I think you will find what I am talking about if you take a look in the stores!
CHEAP FELTBOARD TIP #2--You can also laminate paper shapes and glue or staple a piece of felt, or the scratchy side of a velcro strip, to the back to make it stick to your feltboard! This is great for acting out characters from a story because you can simply photocopy pages from a book!
FOLLOW ME--A fun large motor footprint game!
Cut out and tape colorful footprints to the floor! Early walkers or crawlers will enjoy a straight line, while older kids might enjoy an elaborate pattern that takes them on an adventure where they may need to turn, walk backwards, etc. As you can see, this was a hit with my toddler!
And finally....
Quick and Easy Play Tip--Cardboard Shoe Box Garage!
Trust me, to the child it is just as cool as an expensive one from the store! Kids will love to drive a car in and out of a shoebox with a simple hole cut out of it.:)
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
