Cheep, Cheep!

Wake up Spring!

Wake up Spring!

Here’s a simple craft to celebrate the arrival of Spring. You’ll need,

brown paper “lunch” bags- roll top down to form a “nest

• “nest” fill- shredded paper or Easter basket “grass”

Spring themed cupcake liners or any colour of your choice- fold in half

• wiggly eyes or small pom poms to substitute as “eyes-” attach an eye

• triangles of yellow construction paper for “beaks”-attach one “beak”

• children’s craft glue

Wake up Spring!

Let’s Celebrate Our World

Let’s celebrate Noruz– the Iranian festival of Spring!

Bring a hyacinth bulb and flower to “show and tell” about.

 

Give each child a piece of white paper, a green felt pen or crayon, and a purple coloured “Bingo” dabber to share with a small group. Children draw the green stems of the hyacinth plant. Dab on the purple hyacinth blossoms.

Welcome Spring!

~ a hyacinth

~ a hyacinth

Multicultural Times

Gung Hay Fat Choy!”

Make a lantern!

~ make a lantern

~ make a lantern

Here is a simple, affordable craft idea using a red paper plate (red is a “lucky” colour), a golden pipe cleaner (cut into half), black tissue or construction paper rectangles, white craft glue and multi coloured sparkles. Of course, you can always embellish the lantern by adding on gold washi tape pieces or brightly coloured tissue paper bits.

Use your bits and bobs and imagination!

Sensory Bins

simple fun

simple fun

 

Simply one of the easiest activity ideas!

Children love to explore sensory bins* or tubs! For this one, I used~

• a baking pan

• rice

• magnetic letters

• plastic tongs * helps to promote finger gripping strength and dexterity

Combine the rice and letters. “Play” together! Talk about the letter. What is its name? Let’s find something that begins with this letter!

Talk, talk, talk!

* Supervise small children and add age appropriate items to the bin.

 

World Literacy Day!

Yes, my darlings! It is World Literacy Day!

Make a word!

Make a word!

What are you reading? Whom are you reading to?

photo

Snuggle up beside a loved one and listen to a story. Talk about the story.

What happened?

Talk about your favourite character? Is the character brave or timid, kind or selfish? What was the problem? How did the story end? Did you like this story? Why did you like it; has something similar ever happened to you? What would you change?

•Are you a Writer?

Think about a happy moment in your life.

Write a short story about that moment.

Print a message to the world; help the leaders shape a better place. Write a letter to an author.

Draw your story or message. Ask an adult to “scribe” your story. Be brave; sound out the words!

Be a reader and a writer!

A sample of a child’s letter to author, Brian Wildsmith~

“Two Mr. Brian Wildsmith,

I like yur pictures but I’l askt Don’t sciBoL

The Little Wood Duck is messy!”

by- M

Age 6

Printing with Sidewalk Chalk!

Live, Love, Learn!

Live, Love, Learn!

Matt's Letter to B Wildsmith

Back To School!

Scatter kindness like confetti!

You Can Help! Consider filling a shoebox or back pack with basic school supplies. I promise you that your donation will be appreciated by a student and teacher.  Your donation will help those in need.

Some basic items  appreciated by Primary Students ~

• boxed  paint set

• plain notebooks

• plain white paper

• glue stick

• eraser

• pencils

• binder

• soft, cloth pencil case

* children’s scissors

• children’s white glue

• children’s felt pens and crayons

Magnetic Letters and Numbers

CAT, BAT, RAT!  Another fun activity for little learners is to put a basket filled with magnetic letters and numerals onto a table.  When we play with our letters and numbers we place them onto a magnetic cookie sheet to contain them.  Let the children “free” play with the letters and numbers.*

* Adult Supervision Required!

Ask them to find,

– the letter A…

Magnetic Letters and Numbers

Magnetic Letters and Numbers

– the letters in their name

– a number that represents their age

We purchased our magnetic letters and numbers at the Dollar Store for practically a song!

Marvelous Magnets

Here are two activities, easy to create and guaranteed to delight your little learners.  Most of the items can be found at home or in a classroom setting. We sourced our magnets, canvas and dinosaurs from a local Dollar Store.

These are Science based activities so we begin with a discussion about Magnet Safety.  Adult Supervision Required!

Another talented teacher created this “favourite” activity~  The Dinosaur Maze.

... take a dino for a walk

… take a dino for a walk

You’ll need-

• a small canvas- Dollar Store

• permanent felt marker to draw a maze* onto the canvas

-* the maze can be simple or difficult

• two plastic dinosaurs

2 round medium sized magnets

-attach a round magnet (use a glue gun to secure the magnet to the dino) to the base of each dinosaur

• horseshoe magnet or strong magnet wand

Take the dino for a walk along the maze!

The Discovery Bottle

You’ll need-

1 two litre clear plastic bottle

lid- I taped the lid with washi tape.

pipe cleaners cut into pieces- the glittery, the better

bolts, nuts, large sized paper clips

pom poms

a powerful horseshoe magnet or bar magnet

Place the above items into the clear bottle.  Tighten the lid!

Let the children use the bar magnet to discover which items can be pulled within the bottle!

Discovery Bottle

Dandelion Art

“Because they were roses and I was just a dandelion.”

...make a wish!

…make a wish!

Spring is officially upon us and the dandelion is back!  Here is a quick and inexpensive art activity that your little learners will enjoy.

You will need~

• dandelions

• clothes pegs * (to attach to the dandelion stem)

• white paper

• yellow tempera paint

• paper plate to squirt some yellow paint onto

Attach a clothes peg to the stem of a dandelion.  Dip into the yellow paint.  Press the dandelion head onto the paper.  Let dry!

Extension Activity~

Once the dandelion print is dry, the child can draw green stems to the flower prints.

This is a very simple yet effective activity and the children are delighted to “paint” with dandelions!

Make a wish!

Easy Peasy Stick Puppets

Foamie Face Srick Puppet

A colleague and I came up with a fun way to make a simple stick puppet!

We sourced Michael’s and purchased a package of foam “heads.”

Have the child glue the “head” onto a wide Craft Stick. Use cut up scraps of coloured foam, paper, or wool for hair.  Glue on wiggly eyes. We had some glittery heart stickers on hand, so the children used them for the “lips!” We added pipe cleaner eye glasses for a whimsical effect. You could easily add a crown for a royal touch!

The children enjoyed this simple craft.  Michael’s has a wide array of foamie shapes from flowers to animals.  Use your imagination and make some stick puppets.

Create a simple puppet theatre for your characters from an empty cereal box! Then, sit back and enjoy the dramatic play that you have inspired!

http://www.michaels.com/text-ur%E2%84%A2-foam-make-your-own-funny-faces/kd4062,default,pd.html?cgid=products-kidsteachers-foamandfeltcrafting-texturfoam

Lion Puppet

We traced a pair of sunglasses to create the raccoon's mask!

We traced a pair of sunglasses to create the raccoon’s mask!