Big Energy-Little Learners...Can I do it all?

This activity went with our meat eater unit you can see here This was a spontaneous art activity we did on a snow day from school.  It kept us busy inside and we were able to use the easel!  We don't get that out very often anymore.  Materials paper markers crayons imagination There are always many directions you can go with art.  I have found that giving a couple starting guidelines helps my dragons get started.  Once they have a starting point their imaginations begin to roll and they come up with many of their own ideas, some similar to the starting point and some far off on something else.  Both dragons ended up making 3 drawings!  One reason I picked this activity is because Little Dragon will be starting kindergarten this fall and part of the testing is drawing a person.  Little Dragon has never been huge on drawing or painting so I wanted to gauge where he was on his people drawing skills.  To start the dragons of...

This craft went with our meat eater unit you can see here I was having a difficult time thinking of activities for meat eaters.  I didn't want the sole focus to be on dinosaurs because carnivores and herbivores is a way to categorize many animals today. But everything I was running into was dinosaur related.  Finally I found this craft!  Materials:    paper template of a carnivore and herbivore (I drew a hippo and t-rex head outline) page of teeth scissors glue markers Little Dragon cut out the heads and then the mouth pieces.  Then he cut out the teeth and glued them inside the mouth To finish it he drew eyes on the head and a tongue on the inside of the mouth.  Little Dragon was very excited to see the finished animals and open their mouths to look at their teeth. We wrote what the animal was on the inside This was a fun easy craft that helps identify the difference in ...

This activity goes with our Meat Eater unit which you can see  here This activity was insanely simple to put together and very enjoyable for Little Dragon.  First I had him go in search of all of his animals: dinosaurs, jungle animals, and zoo animals.   He enjoyed the hunt and bringing each find to me and telling me about the animal.  While he searched for his animals I made out two sheets of paper one titled Meat Eaters the other Plant Eaters.  (You can find a printable version at the bottom of this post) First he sorted the animals into the right category Then we went over what made each category different.  Not only by their diet but by other characteristics.  We wrote these down together.  (You can find a printable version at the bottom of this post) We kept these sheets to help us identify other animals he found in his toy box or we saw in movie through out the week. Printables Title Sheets...

In pre-school Little Dragon has been learning about mail men for the last two weeks. When his teacher first told me the topic and letter I told Little Dragon we would learn more about mail men. Now we have gone over mail men and community helpers twice so when I told Little Dragon we would learn about m is for mail man he was was disappointed and asked if we could learn about something else. I can't say this upset or surprised me.  I get bored teaching the same things. So when we got home we brainstormed letter m topics.  I thought he would go for monkey, maybe mommy but he went with meat eaters.  Which he came up with on his own during our brainstorming.   This topic was a bit difficult for me to plan at first.  I would like to expand on this more but there are only so many hours in a day (and so many when mommy's are not being pulled in every direction) to make a impromptu plan.  This Week  Keeping with our theme we did a few me...

Because Little Dragon is in an outside preschool now I did not make a lesson plan for this year.  I have been trying to supplement the things he is learning there, here.  His teachers do not have a lesson plan or a syllabus that I can use as a reference so I am blind to what we will be learning until I see his teachers after school on Mondays. Some weeks what they are learning about is something we have gone over already at home or Little Dragon simply is not interested in learning more about.  On these weeks I ask him what he wants to learn about.  Together we pick a letter he is struggling with and assign a topic to it.  It been working out quiet nicely. This Week  Little Dragon has been learning about The 3 Bears so we got out the magnetic board and did some story telling. Little Dragon practiced his handwriting by writing the story title himself. He also practiced some art skills by drawing the house details for the Bears.   ...

b vs d is imperative to learn.  They look similar, their names sound kind of similar, and their letter sounds are even similar. I tried teaching this awhile ago and it didn't seem to stick.  I assumed it was just going to take a lot of practice.  That is until this year.  I found something that stuck!  It is a little different but Little Dragon has not struggled at all since we identified b and d separately using this method.  It all started when Little Dragon would always tell me butt began with b during our b week.  This gave me an idea.  I drew a lowercase b and a lowercase d on our white board. Little Dragon went back and fourth on which was which unable to decide with confidence.  Then I asked him when we read a book, do we start with the left or the right?  He answered left and pointed to the left side of each letter .  I drew eyes at the top left of each letter.  Then I said now look at the letters. ...

There has been more awareness about food allergies the last few years in schools and on Facebook.  Class parties are trying to keep food allergies in mind by doing activities not based around treats.  I think it is great so many people are trying to be sensitive to all kid needs and not leaving a child out due to allergies.  This year I kept this in mind when planning the dragons Valentine's.  I am all for involving everyone but I am also all for keeping things cheap.  My dragons love glow sticks so when I found this idea on Pintrest it was an easy pick.  Materials  Glow sticks (I found them 5 for a dollar at Walmart)  Valentine heart template Hole punch (I only have a three hole punch but either works)  scissors  I created a Valentine Heart Template for the dragons to cut out and write their names on.  While they cut I opened all of the glow stick packages.  Once they...

The kids and I had such a fun time doing this project together!    Valentine Photo Booth Materials Streamers Hearts Streamer Hearts Rose Petals Empty wall space Balloons Chair Nice outfits Cooperative Children Doll Dragon helped me set up the photo booth the day before our planned shoot.  I informed both of the dragons about the shoot, what it was, what we would be doing, and my expectations from them a few days prior.  I told them we were going to have fun and be goofy together and take pictures of us while playing around.  I think this helped their overall attitudes of the shoot the day off. I covered a decent part of the wall with the streamers to make sure we had plenty of space. I used the flower petals and some glitter hearts on the floor to make it a bit more festive.  I also didn't want it to look like we took the pictures at home.  I could have put a red blanket down but I thought it would be too much red and i...

I was not planning on making a Valentines bath this year, I haven't done a sensory bath in a while, but Doll Dragon requested that I make one for her and Little Dragon this year. How could I say no? Valentine's Bath I gathered supplies at Target.  Nothing huge just small dollar items.  I used the soap pens to draw 'tattoos' on the dragons         They each had a mini mailbox to store their items in Inside the mailbox was their soap pen and little stretchy hearts they could play pretend with.  They were in the bath for a couple hours but they had a blast together!            Thanks for checking out my blog! If you enjoyed it please                                             +1, comment, or like.                      ...

Sugar isn't good for just tasting but also touching!  Sugar Sensory Tray To make this tray I used regular sugar and some extra pink sprinkles I had on hand to make it bit more fitting for the current season.  Our main use for this tray was letter practice  but once we were done with that it was all hands in! And of course some toys in too! Little Dragon liked mixing the pink and white to make pretty pictures He also enjoyed feeling the grains between is fingers This tray will be out  for the week for fun and some learning.  The great thing about sugar trays is they can be used to practice shapes, letters, numbers, and sight words.           Thanks for checking out my blog! If you enjoyed it please                                   ...