Hot Chocolate

Here's an easy winter craft for kids!

Cutting and gluing activities help young children strengthen their fine motor skills. So, this simple and fun winter craft is just the right activity for preschool children to make.

The Snowy Day written by Ezra Jack Keats, is a lovely book to read to children on a winter's day.  And, there are so many great activities to go along with the book, like this easy hot chocolate winter craft.


Items I used:
Yellow and brown construction paper
Mini marshmallows
Winter stickers
Glue

Instructions:
I cut a hour chocolate mug from yellow construction paper.  Older children can cut it out themselves.  Cut out a half circle from brown construction paper. This will be the hot chocolate.

Have the children glue the hot chocolate at the top of their mug.
After that, have the children glue the mini marshmallows on top of their hot chocolate.
Once done, have the children decorate their hot chocolate mug with winter stickers.

Pointsetta's

Cut out Pointsetta leaves and use a brad to attach them together.

When you fan out the leaves, it turns into a pretty Pointsetta.

This is a great opportunity to teach the letter P.

Happy Holidays

Homemade Gift Idea for the Holidays

Snowman Ceramic Christmas Plate: A Homemade Gift Idea for Mom
Ask any mother or grandmother around what are the best gifts they have ever received. Their reply will most likely be those gifts that were homemade and from the heart. These kinds of gifts carry so much meaning and can be treasured throughout the years. If you are looking for a sweet and unique homemade gift idea, try making handprint art on any kind of ceramic dish. Preserving your child's handprint is a wonderful way to remind you and others just how small your kids use to be.

What Kind of Paint to Use on Ceramic Dishes?
You may be wondering what kind of paint to use on your ceramic dishes. I suggest choosing an enamel acrylic paint. This kind of paint is a little more expensive than your standard acrylic paint, but it is more durable and scratch resistant. You also can wash these dishes on the top shelf of your dishwasher once they are dried and cured in the oven.

If you are planning on using these dishes around food, you need to make sure your ceramic paint states toxic-free and safe to use around food. Some ceramic paints contain harmful ingredients that should never be used near food. If you are hand painting a ceramic dish for home decor, you do not have to worry about the toxic-free label.

How to Paint Child's Handprints on Ceramics
To get started making handprint art on a ceramic dish, you will first need to gather all the necessary supplies and decide what kind of dish you are going to paint. Be sure the dish has been thoroughly washed and dried. You also need to wipe it down with alcohol and a paper towel to remove any hidden residue.

Before attempting to make the handprints, make sure to wash your child's hand. Dirt and oil from his or her hand could potentially affect the quality of the paint. Below are the supplies you will need and step-by-step directions for painting your ceramic platter.

Supplies:
• Ceramic serving platter
• Ceramic paint – white, black, orange
• Paintbrushes
• Permanent Marker
• Alcohol
• Paper towels

Directions:
1. Wash and dry ceramic dish. Wipe down dish with alcohol and a paper towel to remove any residue.

2. After washing your child's hand, use paintbrush to cover the hand completely with white ceramic paint.

3. Press child's hand firmly down on the platter. The gloss on the ceramic platter makes it slippery but try to keep the hand from moving.

4. If you want to start again: Quickly wash platter with warm water or use alcohol to help remove paint.

5. Paint hats, eyes, buttons with black paint and an orange nose.

6. Write title with Permanent marker. I used white acrylic paint because I wanted the letters to stand out on the green plate.

7. Once satisfied with the design, set platter on baking pan. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes on 300 degrees. Do NOT preheat the oven. Let the platter gradually warm with the oven to prevent cracking or shattering.

8. Carefully take the pan out of the oven and set aside in a safe area to allow the platter to completely cool.

Other Ideas:
Birthday – Balloon Hand prints (Happy Birthday)
Mother’s Day – Flower Hand prints (Happy Mother’s Day)
Thanksgiving – Turkey Hand print (Happy Thanksgiving)
Veterans Day – Red White and Blue Hand print (My Hero)

Decorating the Classroom

Christmas Ornaments

This is a simple and yet beautiful craft for children to make.

There faces light up when they hang one of their very own decorations on the Christmas tree.

Supplies:

Plastic, clear ornament.

Tissue paper cut up into squares.

Elmer Glue

Paint Brush

Glitter Glue (optional)

Ribbon (optional)

Directions:

With paint brush, apply glue on the ornament, small sections at a time.

Place tissue paper on the glue.

You may have to help the child make the tissue paper flat.  

(I used the paint brush to go over the tissue paper).

Ribbon around the middle of the ornament is optional.

Glitter glue applied over top of the ornament gives a nice touch!

This is an easy craft for preschool and kindergarten kids to make.

You may have to help the younger children, but they are just as proud of their Christmas Ornament.

Merry Christmas!

Winter Bears

During the Winter Bear Theme Unit we talk about the BIG word: Hibernate.

Grizzly bears hibernate, or sleep all winter.

GAMES:

Build A Den

Provide blankets and pillows and have the children construct a bear den.  

I used a 'parachute' to drape over the kids.  

We shook the parachute to pretend it was the cold winter wind. 

Then we shrunk down to pretend we were fast asleep.  

BOOKS:

Old Bear by Kevin Henkes

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? by Eric Carle

SONGS:

Sleepy Bear

tune Fere Jacques

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping

Grizzly bears, grizzly bears?

Tell us when you wake up.

Tell us when you wake up.

When it's Spring!

When it's Spring!

It's Winter for Mr. Bear

tune: The Bear went over the mountain

The bear is eating some berries

The bear is eating some berries

The bear is eating some berries

It's Winter for Mr. Bear.

Munching on grass.

Catching some fish.

Digging a Den.

Going to sleep.

CRAFTS

Bear Mobile

With this craft we talked about the foods bears eat.

You can also add berries and grass to the mobile.

Christmas Bear

Template

Other Crafts:

Hibernating Bear

The Bear Went Over the Mountain

Enjoy!

Hibernating Bear

This simple and fun hibernating bear craft for preschool and kindergarten children is the perfect craft activity to make for a bear-theme, animal homes-theme or winter theme unit. 

Old Bear by Kevin Henkes and Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson are adorable books to read to children about a hibernating bear.

Craft supplies you will need:

• Blue and brown construction paper
• Paper plate
• Googly eyes
• Brown marker
• Cotton balls
• Glue

Craft instructions:

Have the children cut out a square shape from brown construction paper.

Next, have the children glue the brown square in the middle of the blue construction paper.  This will be the Bear.

Using scissors, have the children cut a paper plate in half.

Then, have the children cut out a small half-circle shape from the paper plate.  This will be the entrance to the Bear’s cave.

When ready, have the children apply glue to the paper plate and press it down over the Bear (brown construction paper).

After that, have the children glue the googly eyes on their Bear.

Turkey Handprints and more...

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving [part three]

Pilgrims and Indians

BOOK

The Littlest Pilgrim

This book is about a little pilgrim girl, Mini who wants to help but everyone tells her she is too little.  Until Mini meets a friend. She isn't too small to make a friend.

CRAFTS

We talked about things that were the same and different about Pilgrims and Indians.

I braided yarn to use as a belt around the Indian girl.

I cut out the clothing from a coloring sheet for the children to glue onto their Pilgrims and Indians.

WORKSHEET

Letter I

This is a simple was to introduce Upper and Lower Case Letters.

POEM

Thanksgiving Friends

5 Pilgrims fishing in the morn (pretend to fish)

5 Indians help them plant corn (pretend to put a seed in the ground)

The Indians bring the corn (hold up right hand)

The Pilgrims bring the meat (hold up left hand)

Ten new friends sit down to eat (join hands together).

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving [part two]

 CRAFTS

For this turkey craft we painted 1/2 of a coffee filter with orange, red and yellow. After it dries glue on a turkey cut out with wiggle eyes. 

 BOOKS

SONGS

Tune: Frere Jaques

We eat turkey,

We eat turkey,

Yum, Yum, Yum

Yum, Yum, Yum

Always on Thanksgiving

Always on Thanksgiving

Yum, Yum, Yum

Yum, Yum, Yum

Tune: Bingo

Thanksgiving day will soon be here,

I'm ready for some turkey

T U R - K E Y, T U R - K E Y, T U R - K E Y *(clap with each letter)

I'm ready for some turkey.

Tune: I'm a little Teapot

I am Mr. Turkey, big and fat.

On my tail are feathers; what d'ya think of that?

When I walk I wobble - wobble, wobble, wobble.

And when I talk I gobble - gobble, gobble, gobble.