New stuff

I love new equipment. I finally received some equipment on my wish list.
First were some hoop holders. They hold hula hoops so children can throw stuff through, step through, kick balls through etc. Great investment. I got another toy, that I can set up to kick balls, and or crawl through. It can be made into a long train to follow. Third were stepping stones, that can be used for balance and climbing. Great stuff.
I am so excited to be able to use all this new equipment. I look forward to it actually. The only down side is I have 2 classes left and then I am on summer break. For most stuff, I will have to wait to use until September.

Some theme crafts

I have 3 more preschool classes left and then I will be off until next September.. The whole summer off, basking in the sun, sitting around the pool.. Oh, don't get me started :) - I am so looking forward to summer.

So my last 3 classes focus on a bug theme, a fishing theme and a fathers day theme. Here are some pics of what we will make.

For bugs, we are making construction paper caterpillars(you can easily make these with egg cartons as well)





for fishing we are making a fishing pole out of string, and tongue depressors








and for fathers day, undecided but I found some great ideas, different magnets, desk accessory, and a card.

Mothers day craft

Here are some great ideas for preschoolers to make for Mother's day. I found these tonight surfing online for ideas. I thought these would work quite nicely in my class. If you have any other craft ideas that preschoolers could do, please feel free to share.
Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there.







Coupon book




Recipe cards(kids can decorate)






Painted clay pots






tissue paper flower collage







Mother's day cards






Beaded bracelets

Face cloth bunnies

Yesterday during my preschool class, I introduced the children to the face cloth bunny for craft time. (see above picture)They loved it and their bunnies turned out very well. The kids were able to roll the cloths, I helped by tying off the ears and then they added the eyes, nose, and tail. They also added another little Easter decoration to spice it up a bit. The kids loved that they got to take home their very own Easter bunny and their parents loved them too!
The little chick would be good for our bird themed class coming up later in the year! What a nice way to change things up a bit.

Spring time Flowers

I am teaching a class this week, with Spring flowers as the theme to get everyone geared up for the first flower buds to appear. I personally can't wait to see my flowers starting to bud and flourish.
In my classes we do 2 crafts, a paint craft and a glue craft. Here are the ideas for this theme:

Paint Craft: Coffee filter Tulip
PREP: I have prepared coffee filters by cutting scalloped edges on the top of the filter and attached them to long wooden Popsicle sticks using a stapler.
I then attached leaves cut out from green construction paper with a stapler as well.
I will add 4 drops of food coloring in 1/2 cup water and have many q tips ready to go.

The children will then dip the q tips in the colored water, and touch their coffee filter flower filling it all with many colors. The colors all bleed together and it makes for a very beautiful flower.

Glue Craft: Tissue paper flower
PREP: I have cut out of construction paper, a great big yellow flower, an orange circle center and the stem and leaves out of green and put it all together using a glue stick.
I have cut up pieces of different colored tissue paper into little squares about 2"x2"

The children will be able to crumple up and glue on to their flower.
Makes for a fun and unique flower craft.

Kool aid playdough

Here is a great recipe for playdough I made the other day for some of my preschool classes. The kids love the scent.

2 Cups Flour
2 Cups hot water
1 Cup salt
2 Tablespoon oil
5-6 teaspoon cream of tarter
1 pkg koolaid crystals(no sugar added)

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a microwave safe bowl. Add oil and water and mix until well combined. Put in microwave for 30 seconds at a time, take out and stir until play dough can no longer be stirred. Knead for a few minutes to get rid of any lumps and to make a nice smooth dough. Store in an airtight container until needs replacing.

The fun thing with this recipe is I can change color and scent as often as I like to mix things up a bit.

Enjoy and let me know how you like the play dough

Art for toddlers

Today I am covering a class for a friend. This class is a mommy and me class, and focuses on art for toddlers as well as music.

Now I am a crafty person, but thinking this through, I did not know what I was going to do.
Picking a craft for young kids is really hard.

I found something online this morning, that is going to work just perfect.

The first craft we will do is a paint craft. I am going to give them a rectangle piece of paint paper. I will fold it in half, one side behind the other. I will let the kids paint one side, and then take the back folded over piece and make a butterfly picture, by folding over the blank piece on top of the paint to make the mirror image.. Fun.

The second craft, will be sticker art. Who doesn't love stickers. I will cut out a shape and let the kids decorate it with stickers.
I have a tonne of music to incorporate into the music half of the class.
I think this class will be fun. I hope the kids have fun.

The class went really well. I really enjoyed it. It is a 1 hour long class. The first 15 minutes, I let the kids play, and then we sat down for a circle time, where we sang, open them, shut them, counted our fingers and itsy bitsy spider. I showed them a copy I made of the craft they were going to do. The coloring center was already set up with stars, stickers and crayons.
The kids had a great time with the painting, they were thrilled with the butterfly prints. They also enjoyed the stickers, but the painting was more popular.
After all the children had completed their craft and had some more playtime, we cleaned up and then we sat down with musical instruments, and sung head and shoulders, alice the camel, old Macdonald, and the alphabet.
Overall it was a really nice class, the kids and parents were really great with the fact, that I taught the class quite differently from the normal instructor, but everyone enjoyed it. It is a class I could see myself doing more of.