Second week in January 2012 Part 2

We continued our winter theme and did some fun art projects and we also started learning about the Arctic with Pam the Pilot (our community helper puppet).

We made some Q-tip snowflakes that was a great Pinterest find that was found here.

 

We talked about some Arctic transportation… the snowmobile and the icebreaker. We made one of each that the children could play with as dramatic play. We even turned over clear tubs so we could break through the ice with our icebreakers.

 

We talked about the Arctic Hare and made one using 1/2 of a paper plate, some cardstock ears and eight cotton balls. The children were to figure a way to cover their hare with the use of only eight cotton balls. Nobody figured out to stretch the balls out… but they still look good.

We also talked about the Polar Bear… but it isn’t finished so I will show that one next week. But we did do this cute little positional words book.

And here we are reading through it having fun…

 

Since Pam the Pilot is our community helper puppet this week and we are ever so in to paper airplanes… we just had to do some airplane activities.

We made these cute toilet paper roll airplanes. The idea came from the picture here.

Which lead into some dramatic play!!!

We also water painted some airplanes.

 

We talked about left and right. Here are some of the activities we did.

After learning a fingerplay about left and right and doing the Hokey Pokey we stamped our left and right hands into mittens.

We sorted mittens that are for the left and right hands.

Our last activity for the week was a crayon resist painting. It is where you take crayons and draw a picture (pressing hard) and then paint over the picture with waterpaints. The waterpaint will resist the crayon and it makes a nice picture. Here we are in action… forgot to take pictures of the final product (sorry).

That about sums up our week. I will be sharing our learning box activities later this weekend… so if interested in what we will do (and some free printables) check back later this weekend.

Best,

Rose

Learning Activity Boxes

Hello Everyone!
So many blogs have given me wonderful ideas to incorporate into my childcare program.  One of them is how homeschoolers have incorporated "work boxes".  I saw them first (I think) on Confessions of a Homeschooler and thought... what an idea!!!  Well it took me over a year to figure out a way that I could actually do this in my small space.  So here it is... not as elaborate as some I've seen... but do-able.

This is what my Learning Activity Boxes look like in my room.

Yes... small and only six boxes plus 2 file folder games on top and a few other

activities through the room.  It isn't overwhelming to put together... and it worked last week.

Here is a look at the activities we did last week.

Last week I gave it a try and it worked pretty well.  The children were able to

use the activities when they wanted to and at times when I needed a few minutes

of quiet work time... well these came in handy!

How Tall is the Snowman

This is a measuring file folder game.  The children were to measure how many

snowflakes tall the snowmen are and then put the number (which velcro's down)

onto the box next to the snowman.

You can get this game here.

New Years Magnet Sheet



Children are to use the power magnets to fill in all of the empty circles. 

This was one of there favs!

You can get the magnet sheet here.

Block Buddies

This activity gives a two-sided card in which the child has to take the

blocks and construct the picture. 

They liked this one too!  You can purchase this product here.

Pattern Blocks

I have children use the card and place the right block onto the card

to make the picture. 

And this week we will be....

Season Sorters Part 1 File Folder

I made this one years ago.  The children are to take the pieces and match them

to the outline shape.  It has them sort summer vs. winter items.

Snowflake Numbers File Folder

 This game has children count dots in the middle of each snowflake and put

it on the right numbered snowflake.  I also made this years ago and believe

I got it here.

Snowman Magnet Sheet

I made this printable today and you can download it here.

More Block Buddies

Children can make a turtle or an angel with this drawer.

Color Cubes

This is another activity where the children build with blocks using the pattern card.

I got this on Amazon.

Snowman Colors

This is a printable I made that Deb over at PreK and K shared how to use.  I took her

wonderful idea of using tweezers and beads to put the right color buttons on the snowman

after matching the hat with the right color sash.  I also wanted my children to become

more familiar with the color words so I took our bottle cap lowercase letters for them

to spell the color word.

You can get this printable here.

(I have to say thanks to Deb... it is the most downloaded printable on my site... thanks)

Pattern Blocks

Making a flower using pattern blocks.

Cutting Practice

Children can take the coffee filters and cut snowflakes.

The Snowman Needs Buttons

I made this into a magnet board game.  I cut out the belly of the snowman so that my

buttons with hot glued magnets (just used the self sticking magnet rolls... but because

it falls off, I have learned to hot glue them down).  Children will pick a hat and then

place that many buttons on the snowman's belly.

This isn't in one of my drawers.

You can download this printable here.

What's Missing Snowman Game

I got this fun printable over at "A Child's Place".  She by the way creates a lot of

wonderful printables.  I made this into a pocket chart game in which the child

needs to find the missing part of the snowman and then move it to the snowman.

You can get this printable here.

I hope you enjoyed finding out about our Learning Box Activities.  Any comments or suggestions are welcome. 

Best,

Rose