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

This entry goes along with our shape unit.   Art Journal I recently found out about art journals and thought it would be a wonderful experience with the kids for preschool.  There are so many possibilities with art journals and it is a nice way to express yourself with another person through art.  This activity can look many different ways for many different people.  Art is open, as is journaling. We will be adding 1 entry a week to our art journal.  The themes, topics, or prompts may be random or may go along with a theme we are learning about for the week. For this art journal we used Ruler Pencils Crayons Erasers Before we got started journaling we took some time to get to know our rulers.  Little Dragon had not used a ruler before so we went over the basics. He was excited to use this new tool.  I told him we were going to make a city. There are many shapes in a city. You can focus on one shape or make your c...

This art journal went with our Sh sound unit Art Journal I recently found out about art journals and thought it would be a wonderful experience with the kids for preschool.  There are so many possibilities with art journals and it is a nice way to express yourself with another person through art.  This activity can look many different ways for many different people.  Art is open, as is journaling. We will be adding 1 entry a week to our art journal.  The themes, topics, or prompts may be random or may go along with a theme we are learning about for the week. I had this idea since the first day I was looking into what I wanted to teach about sharks.  It came about when I was looking at what makes a shark a shark.  I knew this is information I wanted Little Dragon to learn and this art journal was the perfect way of teaching it.  Materials  construction paper scissors glue art journal crayons pencil ...

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 ...

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...

I had a hard time coming up with a pet that started with p that could still look like the letter p and still be recognizable as a pet.  Instead of taking this logically I gave this to Little Dragon to figure out.  Materials paper with the letter P on it black paper scissors I gave Little Dragon the supplies and let him make a pet from them. He drew eyes and used the paper for whiskers and a nose.                                     His letter P pet was all his own Even if the letter P is on its side.

This activity went with the story of Moses. Little Dragon has always enjoyed the story of Moses and is intrigues with God showing himself using the burning bush.  This activity helped bring the story to life for my Little Dragon.  Materials  Brown paper bag Black paper Tea light  Scissors Tape The preschool dragons had pre cut bushes in their week folder, the older dragons had a snow day so they cut out their desired shapes out of black paper.   Next I helped the dragons tape their shapes to the inside of their bags.  Insert the tea light and turn out he lights Watch the fire burn There were many giggles and squeals of excitement at the glows.  They did look wonderful :)

Each letter has its own craft each week to add to the alphabet wall. For this letter we made a letter S snake.  Materials  Construction paper  Scissors Glue  Plastic snake Googly eyes Before we started we took some time to discover our plastic snakes. Some had stripes, multiple colors, or shapes. This gave some inspiration for the paper snakes.  Each boy chose his colors and we started creating snakes.  They cut out shapes and glued them on as they liked.  They of course glued on googly eyes  as the finishing touch. 

Learning about another country is fun especially when you get to make a costume!  Ancient Egyptians dressed differently then we do here in America and recognizing the difference for was part of our lesson.  The first piece of the costume was the headdress.   Materials paper print outs of the top and sides of the headdress markers stapler scissors Color the headdress in common Egyptian color schemes. Cut out the 3 different pieces Staple them together Put it on!  Egyptian necklace Egyptians like things big and gold.  So of course we had to make something to adorn ourselves with that was big and golden.  Materials cardboard tri color noodles yellow paint glitter paint paint brush glue twine pencil I cut a frozen pizza piece of cardboard in half for the perfect semi circle shape.  Little Dragon and Toothless then mixed the yellow and glitter paint to  make a wonderful gold c...