11.21.2011

Thankful Tree

Thankful Tree
Materials:
  • 5 wine corks
  • green, red, orange, yellow, and brown paint
  • brown construction paper 
  • black sharpie and pencil
  • paintbrush
  • stickers
  • glue
Directions:
This was one of those "grab whatever from the craft cupboard" and make something cute for the teacher! :) Dip wine corks into fall-inspired colors for tree.  Cut out the trunk using  brown construction paper. We then grabbed some stickers, painted YOU and traced helping me grow, etc. parts.

Turkey Handprints

Turkey Handprints

Materials:
  • green, yellow, brown, orange, red, (fall color) paint
  • beige paper for base of picture
  • light brown construction paper- circle for face
  • dark brown construction paper- slightly larger- circle for body
  • googly eyes
  • orange construction paper for legs, feet, and beak 
  • red construction paper for wattle
Directions:
  • Prepare the circle for the head and body with the light and dark brown paper, the feet/legs and beak with the orange, and the wattle using the red paper.  Help your smartypants glue the circles, feet/legs, eyes, wattle, and beak onto the beige paper. Paint your little's hand with green, yellow, red, etc., until you have what you like for the feathers.

11.20.2011

Letter "Kk" Week

Kick up your kicks: It's letter "K"!


Kitten:
Sorry no picture- camera decided to not work (or user error...) Shall I KICK it to the curb, let a KANGAROO pounce on it, or a KITTEN eat it? ;)


What you'll need: 
  • black paper plates
  • black and pink construction paper
  • white yarn
  • googly eyes 
  • nontoxic glue


Prep: Cut the black construction in large triangles and the pink construction paper into smaller triangles for ears. Also cut the pink construction paper into oval for noses. Cut the yarn in four inch pieces.

Instructions: Give each smartypant a paper plate, two black triangles, two pink triangles, one pink oval, two googly eyes, and six pieces of yarn. Instruct your "little" to glue the pink triangles onto the black triangles and then the black triangles onto the back of the paper plate to make the ears. Glue the pink oval and the eyes onto the front of the paper plate. Then glue the pieces of yarn near the nose to form the whiskers. Make sure to talk about the different shapes (circles, triangles, ovals, lines) of the different pieces of the kitten. Meow!

Kettle Corn


Ingredients:
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels
Directions: Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once hot, stir in the sugar and popcorn. Cover, and shake the pot constantly to keep the sugar from burning. Once the popping has slowed to once every 2 to 3 seconds, remove the pot from the heat and continue to shake for a few minutes until the popping has stopped. Pour into a large bowl, and allow to cool, stirring occasionally to break up large clumps.

Letter Hunt: Your letter bucket is filled with kittens, kangaroos, kites, koalas, kings, etc.


Fine Motor: KEEP it in the cube:
Have your smartypants put the poms in- let them color-coordinate too!



Coloring Page: Print off the Kk is for coloring sheet on the Fisher-Price website. Click on the link: http://www.fisher-price.com/us/ms7/alphabet-coloring-pages.asp

Books: Below are a few suggested readings for your little ones. You should be able to find most of these books at your local library or around the house.
  • The Kite by Harry Behn
  • The Kitten At Play by William Wordsworth
  • Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? by Eric Carle
  • Kipper by Mick Inkpen
  • The Frog Who Would Be King by Kate Walker
"Little" Tip of the Week: There are so many fun activities to do this week!  Weather permitting, flying a kite would be the perfect day for your fun, little one!  Is it raining, or (gasp) snowing and you're stuck indoors?  How about pretending to by kittens, kangaroos, kings, and/or koalas.  Talk about the sounds they make, imitate the way they move, what they eat, etc. If they don't already know how, teach your smartypants how to blow kisses.  Who doesn't want to catch a kiss from your kiddo? 

11.11.2011

Letter "Jj" Week

Well, jumpin' jelly beans, if it ain't the letter Jj week!


Jellyfish

What you'll need...
  • paper plate
  • paint (watered down with water on your brush)
  • googly eyes
  • tissue paper cut into strips or streamers
  • tape
  • glue
Cut half of the paper plate like shown in the picture.  Add a little water to your paint (or use watercolors) and paint your little jellyfish.  Add some eyes and tape on strips of tissue paper or streamers to the back of the plate. 

Jelly Cookies

Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup raspberry preserves
  • 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease baking sheets.
  2. Cream the butter with the white sugar and brown sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
  3. Mix the flour and baking powder together. Stir in the flour mixture into the butter mixture and combine.
  4. Form dough into 1 inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. Make an indentation in each cookie and fill with jelly. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.               
Letter Hunt:  Your letter bucket is filled with jellyfish, jets, jellybeans, jaguars, and jack-o'-lanterns.

Fine Motor: Playdough Jj's
Let your little one fine tune their fine motor skills by shaping and molding the letter J with playdough.



Coloring Page: Print off the Jj is for Jet coloring sheet on the Fisher-Price website. Click on the link: http://www.fisher-price.com/us/ms7/alphabet-coloring-pages.asp


Books: Below are a few suggested readings for your little ones. You should be able to find most of these books at your local library or around the house.
  • Jack in the Beanstalk
  • Jack and Jill
  • Joey and Jet by James Yang
  • Just A Little Bit by Ann Tompert
"Little" Tip of the Week:
When you're reading to your smartypants, point to the words from left to right as you say them.  Make sure you're not blocking their view though!

11.04.2011

Letter "Ii" Week

Insane...it's letter "Ii" Week!
Normally we would just introduce the short vowel sound (i as in igloo).  There aren't a lot of words that start with the short vowel sound so we will also learn i as in ice cream.


I Wanna Iguana (minus the tail that got eaten by little brother)
What you'll need...
  • green foam
  • red foam
  • googly eyes
Cut out the letter "I" with your green foam paper.  Add a tail, red tongue, and googly eyes. 
Make an Instrument

I made these several years ago, so they're a little beat up.  They make fun instruments and great baby rattles, too!  What you'll need...
  • empty water bottles
  • noodles
  • food coloring
  • rubbing alcohol
  • glue
Color your dry noodles by mixing food coloring and rubbing alcohol.  I don't measure, I just kinda "eye it" until I get the color I want.  Mix in a large bowl or bag and lay out on old towels with newspaper underneath and let dry overnight. 

After you put the noodles in the bottles, make sure and glue them shut to prevent choking.

Ice Cream in a Bag


Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup half and half
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 sandwich ziploc bag
  • 1 gallon ziploc bag
  • 3 cups crushed ice
  • 1/3 cup rock salt
  1. Put first 3 ingredients in the smaller Ziplock bag and seal bag (Make sure it is tightly closed!). Put ice and rock salt in the larger bag and then add the filled small bag. Seal the large bag. 
  2. Squeeze bag until ice cream is thickened, about 10-15 minutes. 
  3. Remove small bag, unseal, and it's done!
Letter Hunt:  Your letter bucket is filled with insects, ice cream, iguanas, igloos, instruments, inchworms, etc.

Fine Motor: Letter "I" Laces
Make the letter "I" with construction paper and punch some holes\.  Let your little one lace up the holes with a piece of yarn or shoelace.

Coloring Page: Print off the Ii is for ICE CREAM coloring sheet on the Fisher-Price website. Click on the link: http://www.fisher-price.com/us/ms7/alphabet-coloring-pages.asp


Books: Below are a few suggested readings for your little ones.  You should be able to find most of these books at your local library or around the house.
  • The Igloo by Charlotte and David Yue
  • Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni
  • Inspector Hopper by Doug Cushman
  • It's a Good Thing There are Insects by Allan Fowler
"Little" Tip of the Week: 
Use notecards to write different items around the house for your smartypants to begin learning sight words.