We made puffy paint penguins after circle time today.  It was a great project for scissor skills ... sensory and fine motor development.  We used black and orange cardstock paper to make the the penguins.  We free cut the penguin shapes but I have included patterns that you can trace around on the cardstock paper.

The next step was to make the puffy paint which was really easy. The children mixed 1 cup of shaving cream and 1/2 cup of white glue together with a craft stick.  The puffy paint should be like a thick marshmallow topping ... if it is not you can add more glue.

The children applied the puffy paint to the penguins using either their fingers or craft sticks.  The penguins took a while to dry because of the thickness of the paint.

penguin pattern

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

I made a bumble bee color match file folder game to work on color identification.  I printed all patterns on cardstock paper and glued the color mats inside a file folder.  I then cut out the color and color word circles  and laminated them.

I made the game with twelve different colored bumble bees and included both color circles and colors words (in both black and white as well as color).  I put self-adhesive magnets on the back of the circles to add a little weight to them so they do not slide around too much.  They are also easier for the children to pick up.

In this activity children place the color circles on top of the matching bumble bees. They then take the color word circles and place those on top of the bumble bees. Once the children have mastered placing the correct color words on the bees we switched to the black and white version so they are not relying on the color of the words for matching.

Play continues until all bumble bees have been match. As of 2022 this activity can be found in the member's section which is also where the bumble bee fine motor sheets are located.

I made a bunny color file folder which is great for color recognition and review. I printed all the patterns on cardstock paper and glued the bunny sheets inside a file folder.  I then cut the color circles out and laminated them.

I attached self-adhesive magnets to the back of the color circles and set them out along with the bunny file folder. If you do not have a file folder you can always tape two pieces of construction or cardstock paper together.

In this activity children pick a color circle and place on the blank circle of the bunny with the same color. Play continues until all colors have been match. As of 2022 this activity can be found in the member's section which is also where the bunny shape tracing is also located.

I made a fish themed color match file folder game to help with color recognition.  I printed the patterns on cardstock paper and taped the two fish mats together and then laminated them.  You can also glue the mats inside a file folder.

I laminated the color circles and attached self-adhesive magnets to the back of each circle.  In this activity children pick a color circle and put it on the blanks circle of the fish with the matching color.  Play continues until colors have been matched.

You can grab the fish color match patterns here.

I made an umbrella roll and cover game for the children to use in our literacy center.  I printed the patterns on regular paper ... cut them out and glued them inside a file folder.  I assembled the dice by folding on the lines and making a box shape. 

The patterns are blank so that you can use them for the skill sets you are working on whether that is numbers ... letters ... sight words etc. 

In  this activity children roll the dice and find the matching umbrella.  They then put a cover-up circle on that umbrella using the same color circle as the umbrella.

Play continues until all of the umbrellas have been covered.  Because there are six sides to a dice and twelve umbrellas each letter ... number ... or sight word is repeated twice in the file folder game.

You can see a video of this activity below:

I made a roll and cover file folder game to go along with our car theme and put it in our math center today.  The children really love playing the roll and cover games and you can do different skill sets with them.  For this game I used two sets of numbers one through six.  Children roll the dice and then find the same number on a car and cover it up with a circle that is the same color as the car.  Play continues until all of the numbers have been covered up. 

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