Blog Archives

Hydroponic Flowers

4/28/2015

Did you know you could grow flower bulbs using just water? It's called hydroponic gardening and I accidentally stumbled upon it while I was at walmart. They had clear vases with tulips in them and you could see the bulbs and the roots. I bought one to have in our classroom so the children could see how the flower bulbs grow.

I plan on making our own hydroponic flowers as I believe this will be a wonderful science activity for the children to work on and observe over time. I have been doing research online and have found these helpful links:

hydroponics - how to force tulip bulbs

how to force tulip bulbs in water

how to grow tulips in glass jars

The hydroponic tulips that I purchased from walmart are just leaves at this point but they should have flower buds soon and then of course those will open into beautiful purple flowers (my favorite color).

Let me know what you think about this for a science center and if you have tried this activity and how it went.

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Sight Word Rocks

4/24/2015

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Sight Word Rocks Pre-Reading Activity For Preschool and Kindergarten

The weather here is finally warm enough to set up outdoor learning centers. For one of the centers I set up a sight word activity for the children to do. I purchased river rocks from Menards (most home improvement stores will have them) and painted them with black paint.

Sight Word Rocks Pre-Reading For Preschool and Kindergarten

I painted the top of the rocks only as I liked the look of the having the natural rocks for the children to feel and explore. Once the paint had dried I took a sharpie oil based medium tip paint pen and wrote sight words on each rock. I also made sure I made two rocks with the same sight words.

I put the rocks in baskets and the children pick out a rock and if they could read what was on the rock they kept the rock out of the basket. If they could not read the sight word they put the rock back in the basket. This can be done as an individual or group activity.

The children also did a sight word match by finding the two rocks with the same sight word. This activity was easy to set up (which I love) and the children really enjoyed working with the rocks.

You can see a video of our sight word rocks below:

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Sequin Car

4/24/2015

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Sequin Car Fine Motor Project For Preschool and Kindergarten

We made sequin cars which is a great project for fine motor development and eye-hand coordination. I traced around the car pattern on a sheet of colored cardstock paper and cut it out. Children cut two circles from cardstock paper for the wheels and also a window shape and glued them onto the car. The last step was to apply glue drops to the car and press on sequins.

You can see a video of this project below:

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First Five Years ...

4/23/2015

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Car Number Match

4/22/2015

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Car Number Match Preschool Learning Activity

I made a can number match activity for the children to work on number recognition and review. I printed the patterns on cardstock paper and cut them out. I glued the car (which comes in six different colors) onto a sheet of colored cardstock paper and cut it down to size. I then laminated all pieces and put magnets on the back of the number circles.

In this activity the children found the two matching number circles and put them on the blank circles on the car. Play continues until all numbers have been matched.

You can see a video of this activity below:

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Birdhouse Letter Sliders

4/16/2015

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Birdhouse Letter Sliders For Preschool and Kindergarten

I made birdhouse letter sliders for the children to work on letter recognition. I printed the patterns on cardstock paper ... cut them out and then laminated them. I cut the lines on the birdhouses with an exacto knife and set them out with the letter sliders in a basket.

Birdhouse Number Sliders For Preschool and Kindergarten

The children picked a slider and pulled it through the birdhouse. They then identified the letter shown. When they finished with one slider they removed it and put a new one in. Play continues until all of the sliders have been used.

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