May 22, 2013

What is a cut and paste worksheet for my preschooler that will help teach him numbers?

It’s time for another fun cut and paste printable. Last week, Little Bear enjoyed the color sorting cut and paste pages, but he wished there was only one page as opposed to three. So, this week I granted his wish and made a one page cut and paste worksheet for preschool. This one uses really big rectangles which basically tricks Little Bear into thinking there is less to cut. ;) Yep, I’m pretty sneaky like that.

 

This printable is pretty straightforward. All Little Bear had to do was cut out the numbers on the bottom of the page (the ones with the dotted lines). And then glue them into the correct place on the number chart. This was the perfect difficulty for Little Bear because he had to count to 12 several times to figure out which number was missing. I was really excited to get so much counting practice in without Little Bear even realizing it.

 

Little Bear was feeling so smart that he even noticed a mistake that I made on the worksheet. I have fixed it in the free printable version, don’t worry. I haven’t done very many “missing things” pages with Little Bear so far, so I wasn’t sure how Little Bear would do with this missing numbers page. Honestly, he did better than I was expecting.

 

This is a really fun printable kids activity and probably Little Bear’s favorite of all our cut and paste pages so far. He liked that the rectangles to cut were pretty big. I guess that made it easier for him to cut. He also liked counting to see where each of the numbers should go. Overall, I would definitely call this worksheet a success. I hope your preschooler enjoys this cut and paste page as much as mine did.

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

May 21, 2013

Where can I find a tutorial for a wind chime?

About a week ago I did a fun wind lesson with my kiddies. We talked about the wind and observed how different objects changed when they were in the wind as opposed to inside. During the lesson, one of the objects we observed was a wind chime from the dollar store. Unfortunately, it did not work extremely well with this lesson. However, Little Bear and Smiley Man have been fascinated with it, so I decided we should make our own that would work a little bit better in a light wind.

 

To make this wind chime spring craft, you will need a few materials to begin:

• Shells (I got a bag of shells from the dollar store and they worked great)
• Yarn (we used a funky and fuzzy yarn, but you could also use regular yarn, fishing line, thin twine, jewelry wire, etc.)
• Pipe cleaner
• Hammer
• Nail
• Small piece of wood

First, spread out your shells and remove any broken pieces. Next, you will make a hole in each shell for your yarn to go through. I placed a shell on top of my piece of wood. Then, I put a hammer on the shell, then I carefully hammered the nail into the wood to put a hole through the shell.

 

Make sure you don’t hammer too slowly because it will be easier to crack the shell. Some of the more fragile shells may crack anyway. I only had one or two shells crack so much that I couldn’t use them. I still had plenty of shells for the wind chime.

Next, thread yarn through the hole and tie a knot. Decide how long you want the yarn to hang, then cut the yarn. You will want the yarn lengths to be similar, but not exactly the same. This will make it more pleasing to the eye and it will also make it work better as a wind chime.

 

When you have holes in all the shells and yarn tied through all the holes, get your pipe cleaner. Make a small circle with your pipe cleaner. You could also use a small embroidery hoop, but the hole I made was even smaller than a small embroidery hood, which is why I used a pipe cleaner. I liked the look of a really small hole.

Now, tie each piece of yarn to the pipe cleaner circle. When you have tied all the yarn to the circle, tie more yarn to the top to have a way to hang your wind chime. This craft is definitely a fun one to do with kids. If you do it with children, I suggest making the holes ahead of time so your child doesn’t ever touch the hammer or nail. Also, the awesome yarn I used was really fun, but also hard to see while tying. It was not something Little Bear could easily help with. So, I also suggest using a regular yarn if you want your child to help.

When our wind chime was all finished, I hung it on the light fixture just outside our back door. It has only been slightly windy, but I can hear the shells hitting and making a beautiful sound. Luckily, I can really only hear the wind chime when I am outside. That means it doesn’t bother me when I am inside working. Win win.

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

May 15, 2013

What is a fun cut and paste activity that is good for preschool?

I have another fun cut and paste activity for you today and it is perfect for preschool. I made some sorting colors cut and paste pages. There are three different pages you can print or you can just print one for your preschooler. Each page has 8 pictures with two different colors. Simply have your preschooler cut out each picture and then glue it in the box with the same color at the top.

Little Bear went through a small phase a few months ago where he didn’t want to cut anything. I guess it was getting difficult for him and was taking a long time and the end result didn’t turn out perfect. Little Bear can be a bit of a perfectionist (unfortunately he gets that from me and from my amazing husband, so the poor kid has a double whammy). So, I think cutting was frustrating because it took so much effort and he could see that he hadn’t done a good job.

For a while I tried to limit the number of cutting activities that we did because I was trying to be sensitive to his frustrations. However, when we did do cutting activities, I tried to make them extra fun so that he would be willing to try. I found that colorful cutting activities (like these sorting colors cut and paste pages) were the perfect thing to get him motivated.

These sorting colors pages are pretty simple and don’t really need much explanation. Little Bear didn’t really need any instructions to complete the pages; he just needed some scissors and glue. These pages are in color, but you could also print the pages in black and white and start the activity by coloring the pictures the correct color. That way, this becomes a color, cut, and paste activity. Hopefully your preschooler enjoys these sorting pages. Don’t forget to check out my cut and paste apple tree from last week.

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

May 14, 2013

How can I teach my kids or preschool class about the wind?

It has been awhile since I’ve done a dollar store finds on this blog and last week I finally had a chance to run to the dollar store and search for items to make the perfect dollar store finds post. Luckily, I was only looking for about two minutes before I found the perfect items. I first saw a little wind chime, and then I saw a cute flower pinwheel. Little Bear has been asking a bunch of questions about the wind recently so when I saw those two items, I knew they were perfect for a lesson on wind.

I didn’t write out a formal lesson plan, but this activity is perfect for preschoolers and even Kindergartners  If I have a bunch of people request a wind lesson plan, then I will make one. For now, here is the fun process we went through to have an awesome lesson on the wind.

Materials (all from the dollar store!!)

• Wind Chime
• Flower Pinwheel
• Palm Leaf Table Topper
• Hula Skirt

Begin the wind lesson by asking students a simple question, what is the wind? Ask, Can you see it? Can you hear it? Can you feel it? Get a quick discussion going about the wind. Tell students (or your kids) that they will be making observations about the wind.

Start by choosing one item (we did the wind chime first, but in retrospect, I would have done the hula skirt first. It wasn’t extremely windy outside and the wind chime didn’t really chime.). Hold up the item while inside and have your students observe what the item looks like. Now ask students how they think the item might change when they take it out in the wind.

Go outside and hold the item up and observe the item. Have students explain how the item is different now that it is in the wind.

Go back inside and observe the last three items while inside. Go outside and observe the items while they are in the wind. Through the lesson, talk about what the wind does and answer the questions, Can you see it? Can you hear it? Can you feel it?

This lesson is perfect for a preschool class, but it is also perfect to do just with your kids. I did this activity with just my two children and they really loved it. I was surprised at how much Little Bear learned and how much he observed. This was a perfect activity for a slightly windy, but warm day.

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

May 9, 2013

What is a fun way to teach shapes to my preschooler or toddler?

I have been working on shapes with Smiley Man for several weeks now and he really having fun. For this week, I really wanted to have an activity that could fit in a busy bag. If you don’t know what a busy bag is, check out this great post on hosting a busy bag exchange. Or just search busy bags on Pinterest and you are sure to find a wealth of information.

I don’t use busy bags a ton with my kids, but I do use them. Unfortunately, Smiley Man has been getting a little bored of the busy bags that I currently have for him, so I wanted to make a new one. Since we are already learning about shapes, I figured it would be perfect to have a shape themed busy bag. I found some great ideas like this felt shape matching game, these hot glue crayon rubbing designs (4th one down), or this clothespin and popsicle stick shape matching game (9th one down)

In the end I decided to go with something simple that I knew Smiley Man would love. I just made some shape lacing cards. Making these cards is very simple. First, print off the shapes using this printable that I made. Next, laminate the shapes. Usually I say laminating is optional, but I have tried lots of different options (using contact paper, using packing tape, gluing the picture to cardboard or a cereal box) and honestly, nothing works as well as lamination. If laminating is absolutely not an option, I would glue the picture to a thin piece of cardboard (like a cereal box), then cover both sides with packing tape.

Once the shape is laminated hold punch holes in the edges about one inch apart. Now, add a shoelace or yarn with tape on the end. I always use yarn and tape because I like to save money, but you can usually find a big pack of shoelaces at the dollar store and shoelaces do work better. You can tie one end of the yarn or shoelace to the lacing card if you want, but that is optional. I usually tie one end to the lacing card because my kids are still young and I don’t like the yarn getting lost.

Now, show your toddler (or preschooler) how to thread the end of the shoelace or yarn through each hole. Smiley Man requires a lot of help with lacing cards, but for some reason he still absolutely loves them. I usually try to cover most of the holes except the one he needs to put the yarn through. He also has a really hard time switching hands when it is time to pull the yarn through the other side, but I just show him how each time and he gets it. Someday he’ll be able to do it alone. ;)

This is a great way to teach shapes because Smiley Man really explores the edges of each shape while using the lacing card. Plus, these lacing cards fit perfectly in a gallon size ziplock bag which is what I use for busy bags.

We've found some fun people with great linky parties. You might just see this post linked up on one of these amazing sites! Link and Learn from No Time for Flashcards Sunday Showcase from Train Up a Child Share it Saturday from Teach Beside Me Tot School Gathering Place from 1+1+1=1 Montessori Monday from Living Montessori Now Tuesday Tots from In Lieu of Preschool Show and Tell from ABC & 123 For the Kids Fridays from Sun Scholars Finished Friday from All Our Days Weekly Kids Co-op from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Preschool & Kindergarten Corner from Homeschool Creations TGIF Linky Party from 123 Homeschool 4 Me