Fall is here again

I love this time of year. The leaves are turning different colors and the weather is changing. It is apple and pumpkin season. In our little family it is a tradition to visit the pumpkin patch every year. So to gear up for our visit to the patch I created these two little worksheets. Get out your red and orange paint or you can use stamp pads. Have your child use his or her finger prints to make apples and pumpkins. This is a great way to get your kids counting and doing math.

Happy Fall!

Egg-xcellent Easter Crafts

Easter is coming! Here are some printable eggs to play with. 

Egg Matching Game

I make a lot of matching games because my daughter loves them. It is a simple game that you can grab and keep in your purse. Pull it out at a restaurant while you are waiting for your food. Play it with the family on Family Night. My daughter likes to play with them by herself too. So that is why I am always posting matching games.

Egg Puzzles

Egg puzzles, super easy to make and a great time consuming activity. This is a great quite time activity. I cut the medium egg pattern several times out of different colored construction paper. I laminated them and then cut out different puzzle like shapes.

Recycled Egg Lace Cards

Easy to make and another awesome quite time activity. Made from a empty cereal box and the large egg pattern. I used a slightly larger hole punch and some lacing string I bought at lakeshore learning center.

I hope this gives you some fun Easter activities to do with your little one. 

Enjoy!

Love is in the Air!

So sorry for the long break from blogging. My daughter started in a wonderful preschool program at our local school and I haven't had to do very much homeschool. She is about to enter kindergarten next school year and she has a speech delay. My husband and I thought it would be good for her to be around other children. She started attending her school in early December. She loves her class, new friends and teacher. So I have been very busy running around and taking her to preschool. However, I still have so many ideas and I have some fun crafts/patterns to share. So I promise to post soon and get 2011 going with some yummy recipes, crafts, patterns, etc. Happy Valentine's Day! Here are some hearts to print and enjoy today.

Enjoy!

Four Quick, Easy and Cheap Preschool Activities

I love searching other blogs online to get ideas for activities to do with my daughter. Most ideas I find are great, but I don't always have the materials on hand. Here are some ideas that I have given a new spin on by using things that I have around my house. 

The first activity I have, I found on several different blogs. It is a great fine motor activity for kids. The blogs that I saw share this activity used all different kinds of Parmesan cheese holders. I don't have a Parmesan cheese holder so I tired to think of a way to duplicate it without having to go to the store. I was looking though my recyclables and found a clear container. I got out my hole punch. Folding the lid in half and I punched several holes in it. I then cut some pipe cleaners that were stowed away in a art bucket. Long enough to poke out of the top of the lid when put through the holes, but short enough to fit sideways inside the container when storing.

The second activity I created, I found again on several of my favorite blogs. Another great fine motor skill and a life skill. Not very many thing have buttons anymore, but this is still an important skill to learn. Most examples of this idea were great, but not very cute. I wanted mine to be more girly so I cut out flowers colorful felt. It is very simple to make and it is an excellent quiet time activity.

The Third activity I have seen a lot of moms use on there blogs. This great free printable I found on 1+1+1=1 they have a variety of great learning resources for children. I adore there tot books. This fun activity goes with one of my daughters favorite books. She loves to do this activity and then read the book. This activity will help your child learn there colors, and it is filled with familiar animals too. We love to make all the sounds that the animals make in the book.

The last activity is Dress up dolls. I have seen several adorable dress up dolls here and there on blogs. Some out of paper, or foam, but mine I  made out of felt. This dress up set is for when my daughter want to play on her own with our felt board. Again very easy to make and will entertain your little one for hours.

Here is a great printable below! Enjoy!

Thanks for looking and please feel free to comment.

Turkey Matching Game

Happy Thanksgiving! I wanted to share a fun little game I made for my daughter this week. With no preschool this week and it raining on and off, we have had a lot of inside time. I created it so it can be used several different ways. I chose to do colors, but you could change it to matching number, or letters. You can even turn this game into a counting game, were you draw dots and your child has to count the dots then match it to the right number. 

Enjoy and I hope you all have a great holiday.

Little Cloud Felt Board Story

After reading this darling little book with my daughter I thought it would be nice to get her more involved with the story. With the help of a lot of white flannel and some cream colored puffy paint, I created this felt story. I fill my felt board with the clouds and then I clear it off, then start over again adding clouds. My little Ella just loves this story.

 

Rain and Clouds: Unit 4

The weather this time of year is always wonderful and beautiful. We love to look at the big beautiful clouds in the sky, and pick out shapes. With rain comes rainbows, and who doesn't love seeing rainbows? I know that rainy weather can cause many kids to be sad, but with my fun activities no one will be bored on those gloomy days. In this unit kids will be playing with cotton balls, shaving cream, reading a great book, and discovering weather. 

Little Cloud By Eric Carle

This book is so wonderful. I love the simple story. The pictures are easy to recognize and your little ones will love following the adventures of this little cloud. There are so many activities you can do that go with this book.

Playdough or Shaving Cream Clouds

This activity can be accomplished in two different ways. It depends on what you have on hand, and how messy you want to get with your child. I made a simple hill, grass, sky and sun background scene placemat. I then laminated them, so they can now be use for many different projects. You can even use them for snack, or other craft activities and then just wipe them down when you are done. Making your own placemats are so easy, and you can get really creative with them. The point of this project is to let your child make clouds either with shaving cream or white playdough. You can get out cookie cutters or just leave it up to there imaginations. This activity is fun and is a great sensory activity.

Painting Clouds

Making your own clouds by painting them is so simple and fun. Your child can paint whatever they like, and then tell you about it. They can paint a bunch of little clouds or one big cloud. They can even try to paint different objects. Just let them have fun. You will need blue paper and white paint for this activity. If you want to go a less messy way you can give your child a little glue and a handful of cotton balls. Then they can create a cloud with out getting out the messy paint. I got out my cookie cutter for this activity and my daughter loved it.

Weather Chart

This is a fun way to track the weather. I like to take my daughter outside everyday and ask her what the weather is like. We sing a fun little song, and we figure out what the weather is like. She really likes it. We then run inside and mark our weather chart. So simple and lots of fun.

Weather Song: (to the tune of london bridges)

Whats the weather like today? Like today? Like today?

Whats the weather like today? On this Wednesday? (fill in the day of the week)

Fun Freebies

Enjoy and feel free to comment!

Kippy, The Sad Little Pumpkin

I found this story while searching for a felt board story to teach in preschool. I created a felt pumpkin with a jack-o-lantern face that changes with the different feelings that Kippy talks about in his story. He talks about three feelings; happy, sad and scary. I hope you enjoy this story and have fun reading it with your little one.

On a hot summer day, the sun shined his sparkling light on a late-blooming flower sprouting from a pumpkin vine. 

"Hmmm" thought the sun, "that one will never be worth a nickel. There's not enough growing time left for him."

Pumpkins do take some time to grow, you know, and it was already late in the summer. The earlier pumpkins had a beautiful orange glow; every time the farmer looked at them, he got hungry for homemade pumpkin pie with cinnamon sprinkled on top.

The little flower held tight to the vine and hoped with all his heart that he'd grow up big and round like the other pumpkins.  The farmer made sure he got enough water and the sun kept him warm.   Before you could say "jack-o-lantern," Kippy, for that was his name, had become a tiny pumpkin.   He looked all around him and saw many big, round pumpkins, all ready for picking.   Kippy knew he could never catch up to them, no matter how hard he tried, and he hung his head and tried to hide under the leaves of the vine.

Before long, summer turned into fall and still Kippy hung his head, feeling sad and wishing he could grow big like the other pumpkins.

Finally it was Fall Fun Day at the Pumpkin Patch.   Boys and girls, Moms and Dads trekked down the winding path to the pumpkin patch, looking for the best pumpkins.   Kippy squeezed his pumpkin eyes tight, trying not to watch as one big pumpkin after another was chosen.   Dads left, carrying heavy pumpkins that Moms knew would make the yummiest pies.  Girls and boys called out to each other excitedly as they chose their own special pumpkins.   Kippy shivered when he heard the children talking about carving scary faces on the pumpkins for halloween.

He thought to himself, "I'd like to have a face, too, but I don't want to scare anyone.  I'd like to look happy, not scary."   But Kippy wasn't happy at all.   He was the littlest, saddest pumpkin in the whole pumpkin patch.

Suddenly, Kippy heard a wee little voice saying,   "That one, Mommy!   I want that little pumpkin--there!--under those leaves." 

Sure enough, the youngster had spotted the sad little pumpkin hanging its head.  Kippy could hardly believe his pumpkin ears!

When the little fellow's Mom put her soft hand around Kippy and twisted his stem to free him, it kind of tickled and Kippy couldn't keep from giggling a little giggle.   Then he looked up and saw her smiling at him as she cradled him in her hand.   He peeked out from between her fingers to see the little boy.   He was so small and thin! Kippy could hardly believe his pumpkin eyes!    The boy was a lot smaller than the others, just like Kippy!   When he saw the happy smile on the small boy's face, his little pumpkin heart began to throb with joy!

"Mommy, I want to hold my pumpkin,"    the little boy told his mommy.   I LOVE my pumpkin!"   He reached out his arms and lovingly took Kippy from his mother and cradled the happy little pumpkin close to his heart.  Kippy knew that his boy would not want him to be a scary pumpkin. Hisboy would give Kippy a bright smile like his own and Kippy, too, would bring happiness to all who saw him.

And that's how Kippy, the saddest little pumpkin in the pumpkin patch, became the happiest pumpkin of all.

Felt Board Stories

Creating felt board stories are a great way for your little one to learn. I find that my wiggly child thrives in learning when I let her participate in touching and helping with different activities. I can keep her attention longer, by creating fun activities she can participate in. Felt stories are an excellent resource that little ones can touch and play with safely. Having your child help with stories, poems, or songs will help them remember it quicker. Fun visual aids will keep their attention and make the activity fun. 

You do not need to run out and spend lots of money on an expensive felt board. It is simple to create your own. I simple used a piece or thick cardboard from a box, and covered it with some black felt I purchased at my local fabric store. Most fabric stores carry felt by the yard, so you can make your board as small or large as you want. The price of the felt was very reasonable, so it didn't take much time or money to create a great tool for my homeschool. Here are a few felt board activities we do at home. They were simple to cut and create.

Five Little Ice Cream Cones

(Tune of 5 Little Ducks)

Five little ice cream cones standing in a row

Each with a scoop and an ice cream cone

Out came the sun and it shown all day

and one little ice cream cone melted away.

With each verse you count down till there are no more ice cream cones.

 Apple Tree Poem

Way up high in the apple tree (stretch arm up high)

Five little Apples smiled at me (hold up 5 fingers)

I shook that tree as hard as I could (make a shaking motion)

Down came an apple, (make a downward motion)

Mmmm—it was good! (smile and rub stomach)

Repeat; count down till all the apple are gone.

Please feel free to leave comments or questions. Thanks for looking!