Blog Archives

Playdough Hearts Bead Match

1/30/2015

We did this fine motor activity last year and the children really enjoyed it. They used cookie cutters to make heart shapes out of playdough and lined them up. They then took the pony beads I had set in a bowl and found the colors that matched the playdough hearts.

The next step was to press beads in to the same color hearts. They could put on as many as they wanted and at the end they counted how many beads were in each heart. We used eight different colors of playdough but you can use less colors with younger children.

You can see a video of this activity by clicking below:

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Colored Ice Balls

1/27/2015

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Colored Ice Balls Sensory and Sorting Activity for Preschool and Kindergarten

We do a lot of learning activities outside when weather permits and this week we worked with colored ice balls. They were easy to make ... the children loved them ... and they looked awesome in the snow!!

We did counting and sorting for specific activities and then the children took the ice balls and played with them in the snow. They made shapes ... buried them ... lined them up and really had an great time with them.

I used liquid water color instead of food coloring for the ice balls. The ice balls will stain children's hands but the water color paint will wash out easier than food coloring. Because we were outside the children had mittens and gloves on for most of the time they were working with the ice balls. I also had special scooper tools that were perfect for picking up the ice balls.

I purchased a special silicone ice ball mold and filled it up with colored water that I had mixed together in a squeeze bottle. I didn't put a specific amount of the liquid paint in ... I just put enough in until I liked the color of the water.

The mold makes four ice balls of the same color at a time and it takes between four to five hours for them to freeze. One they are frozen I removed them from the mold and placed them in zip lock bags with each color having their own bag.

Colored Ice Balls Sorting and Sensory Activity for Preschool and Kindergarten

When we were ready to go outside I put all of the ice balls in clear plastic bowls (I had three ice centers set up) and added a special scoop that that is from a fine motor skills tool kit that I really love. The children used clear plastic cups as well as muffin tins to sort and count the ice balls.

You can see a video of this activity by clicking below:

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Snowflake Circle Time Songs

1/16/2015

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Snowflake Circle Time Songs For Preschool and Kindergarten

I wanted to share with you our snowflake songs that we use for circle time during our snowflake theme. There are three easy to learn songs along with snowflakes that you can glue on craft sticks to use a props to increase engagement during the songs. You can grab the songs and patterns here.

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Playdough Number Tracing

1/15/2015

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Playdough Number Tracing Cards for Preschool and Kindergarten Fine Motor Development

If you've been a follower of my site for a while you know we love working with playdough. I made number tracing cards for the children to use with playdough to work on fine motor development as well as number identification.

I printed the patterns on cardstock paper and laminated them. I then set them out along with various colors of playdough.

Children picked a number card and rolled the playdough into "snake" shapes. They traced the numbers with the playdough by following the dots on the cards.

You can a video of this activity be clicking below:

Playdough Number Tracing For Preschool and Kindergarten Fine Motor Development

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Learning Begins At Birth ...

1/14/2015

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Did you know that when a baby is born he/she is born with over 100 billion neurons or brain cells? A baby's brain is not completely developed at birth ... it will still need to connect the neurons and strengthen those connections.

How many strong neural connections a baby's brain will have is highly dependent upon the experiences and interactions they have with their caregivers and the environment.

Birth through age five is a time of rapid brain development. After the age of five the connections of neurons start to slow down and those connections that are weaker or not being used will be lost in a process known as pruning.

Here are a few great links on early brain development:

Baby Brain Map - interactive brain development map from prenatal to three.

Nature ... Nurture ... and Early Brain Development - how nature and nurture work together to shape the human brain.

Early Brain Development - what parents and caregivers need to know.

Importance of The Early Years - provides the on track guide.

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Snowman Button Counting

1/7/2015

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Snowman Button Counting Math and Fine Motor Activity For Preschool and Kindergarten

I put together a snowman button counting activity for our math center and for fine motor development. It was really easy to set up. I cut a snowman shape out of a sheet of white construction paper using the whole length of the paper. I glued the eyes and nose on the snowman head and also drew on a mouth with a marker.

The next thing I did was to make the number hats that would be placed on the snowman's head. I put various colors of construction paper together and cut out a hat shape. I put the paper together instead of cutting them individually so that the hats would be close to the same size. I then glued a number circle on each hat.

In this activity the children would choose a number hat and put it on the snowman's head. They would then count out the same number of buttons and put them on the snowman's tummy. They would take of the buttons and the number hat and choose a new hat to put on for more button counting.

You can see a video of this activity by clicking below: