Archive for June 2009
Kids love painting with things that aren’t made for painting. When looking through old family photos I found one of me in preschool in 1980 painting with a toothbrush. It brought back happy memories and we ran out and bought a new 2 pack of cheap brushes to paint with. Although we made a brush to paint, free play with the brushes , some plain paper and paint is just as much fun!
- Gather your materials. You will need 2 pieces of paper , a marker, some watercolors, a toothbrush, scissors, dish of water and glue.
- Start by drawing a simple tooth brush with your marker on one piece of paper. If your child is able to draw a toothbrush ( and by able I mean they can tell what it is even if you can’t) then they should do this step if they want.
- Hand it and the toothbrushes to your child.
We used water colors for two reasons, most other paints will goop up and you’ll end up with a huge pile of paint that will take forever to dry. Also when the brush ends up in their mouth like all paint brushes in our house do even when they aren’t tooth brushes, water colors leave much less paint on their teeth. - Paint ! Let dry.
- Cut out the tooth brush, if your child is able to have them do this step.
- Glue it onto the 2nd piece of paper. Let dry. If your child is forgetful about brushing this craft can be added onto a chart . Simply make a box for each day ( big enough for 3 small stickers) and after each brushing add a sticker.
Song!
Brush ,brush brush your teeth
Every single day
In the morning
After lunch
And before you hit the hay !
Books!
“The Berenstain Bears Visit The Dentist” by Stan and Jan Berenstain is a classic. I remember reading this as a child and was so pleased to see how much my son enjoyed reading it too. The story is simple, but they cover a lot of the questions a child who has never been or hasn’t been to the dentist in a while may have. We read this many times this fall before my son’s first visit and the hygienist was thrown off when my son asked for the drill. I like that the tooth fairy is giving out dimes for teeth, what’s the going rate now?
“Andrew’s Loose Tooth” by Robert Munsch. Sometimes I think Munsch gets kids in ways many other’s don’t especially what will make them laugh. This book is about a little boy who’s loose tooth is driving him batty,he just wants it out! Everyone tries to help, the dentist comes in a funny car sporting a ponytail and the tooth fairy is in leather and drives a Harley! When I read it alone I thought, oh no this might make my toddler fear the dentist since the dentist in the story ties a rope to Andrew’s tooth and attaches the other end to his car. When I read it to my son I was reminded why the author is as successful as he is, my son even at 2 could tell this was absurd. Hilariously absurd!
- Gather your materials. You will need some heavy paper ( we are using a paper grocery bag), a marker( darker will be better), tissue paper of various colors, one sheet of plain white paper big enough for the snail, scissors, googly eyes, tape and a pipe cleaner.
- Start by drawing a snail and a snail head- don’t worry if it’s perfect it will all be covered anyway. * if you have a really little guy you could hand them some markers to color the snail , that would help fill in the gaps if they aren’t too enthusiastic about adding so many pieces of tissue paper.
- Cut the tissue paper into small pieces, another tip for younger ones, use bigger pieces. This was my mistake I made ours way too small and my son only put about 1/4 of the paper you see on.
- Add LOTS of glue
- Add your tissue paper
- Add some more glue
- Add more tissue paper. See why I should have made it smaller? Yeah the wee boy was off playing garbage trucks telling me ” I share project,mommy’s turn” like how he spun it ?
- Cover the snail head in just one color. Let dry.
- Cut the head out and add googly eyes. Let dry
- Cut the snail out following the marker lines if you can. It should spiral . Go back a second time and trim it all the way along so there is extra space.
- Glue the head on and let dry ( see snails pace… the end result is worth it, hang on!! )
- Add the pipe cleaner by poking tow small holes and threading one through.
- Tape the snail onto a plain white sheet of paper. I couldn’t wait for more glue to dry.
Books!
” Bob and Otto” by Robert O. Bruel is a lovely story about 2 friends who must part ways , in this case because one is a caterpillar who needs to build a chrysalis and the other an earth worm who needs to dig deep into the ground. What I like about this book is that it goes on to explain that the earth worm’s digging is vital for the trees to grow so that the caterpillar can eat the leaves and turn into a butterfly. I like the lesson about how we all play a part!
“Jazz Fly” written and performed by Matthew Gollub is a fun idea, a book with a CD. The story is about a fly who plays drums in a jazz band, on his way to the gig he gets lost. Trying to find his way back he asks different animals for directions but they just make sounds at him. Later those sounds save jazz fly and his band! I liked the book and the music on the CD as well but my son had no interest which shocked me. I really thought he would like it, he loves Jazz . The monochromatic illustrations by Karen Hanke were cute but I think the lack of color while stylistically cool didn’t grab my son’s attention. The CD included got my son off the couch and dancing in the playroom until the author started narrating, at which point my son stopped playing air upright bass and asked to stop the CD. I’ll try this book again when he’s older.
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- Gather your materials. You will need at least 2 different color pages of construction paper, we used the colors that we remembered from the toy unicorn but any colors will do. Glitter glue, scissors, a marker and some sparkly sticky back foam ( optional).
- Start by drawing a large uppercase U
- You can have your child color it if they want or just cover it in “goop” by son’s word for glitter glue.
- Spread the glitter with your fingers. If your child is able they can make little Us in the glitter glue with their fingers. Let dry.
- While they do that or while the U is drying and they are washing their hands ( aka playing in the sink) draw a unicorn head . Add an eye with marker, cut out. I used a 3rd piece of paper for the head, my son was adamant that it needed to be purple. However if you could fit it in the same piece as the U if you want to conserve paper.
- Cut out your U and glue it to the 2nd piece of paper.
- Add the head.
- Cut out a horn from your sparkly foam- if you don’t have foam you can use more paper and add sparkles to it. I was too impatient to wait for more sparkles to dry and my son was still playing in the sink!
- Add your horn and let dry!
Books!
“The Midnight Unicorn” by Neil Reed made me cry. I don’t know why but i was so touched by this book. A little girl goes to the park with her dad, and not for the swings or slides, but for a statue of a unicorn she loves dearly. The unicorn comes to life and they go on a far off adventure with her dog trailing behind. The dad in this book comes across as so kind and gentle and I kept waiting for the unicorn to be her mom who had passed away. I am not sure why I thought that and that isn’t what happens but the love between the girl and this mythical creature was so strong my mind jumped ( incorrectly) to that conclusion. It’s a beautiful book and worth a look!
“Unicorn Dreams” by Dyan Sheldon and Neil Reed is another wonderful book about imagination and belief. Dan is a little boy who sees a unicorn and gets a lot of slack from his teacher and classmates about it. He never seems too bothered by them laughing at him or calling him “Dreamy Dan” . When he gets a chance to tell them a story in class he tells them all about his unicorn and they become believers too.
All three of these books were great but too long for a toddler- do you know a book about unicorns that is a short enough for kids under 3? Tell me about it!
Preschool Playbook
This blog is nothing less than inspiring, I wish I had it as a resource when I was teaching . Not only are there tons of fun projects, there is real insight into preschoolers, what works and what doesn’t. She blogs about different activities and art projects and shows her readers how they are used together in her classroom . In addition to that she covers topics like learning centers and resources. This information is fantastic for any parent or teacher.
www.preschoolplaybook.com
“Freight Train” by Donald Crews is best reviewed by my son who loves it so much he “reads” it to us. This video was taken for grand parents far away but it was perfect for this post. Clearly proof of how many times we have read it, renewed it from the library and genuinely enjoy it as a family.
“My Truck is Stuck” by Kevin Lewis is a fun book full of great rhymes and funny illustrations from Daniel Kirk. The story is simple a truck is stuck and even though other vehicles come to help, nothing budges until a tow truck arrives. The best part is the cargo of bones in the truck are slowly stolen by hungry gophers while the others work to free the truck. It’s got a great message about helping people and the illustrations make me giggle, especially the guy in the moving van who is blowing bubbles. I have never understood that but it makes me laugh.
“Trucks Go” by Steve Light is a new find for us. I spotted this board book from across the library during preschool story time today. There were kids everywhere and I was not sure that I would get to it before someone else did. I kept my composure , didn’t have to elbow a single person and popped it in my bag. The minute of worry was worth it , what an awesome book! The illustrations are so beautiful that I would seriously consider framing every page. The book goes through different trucks ( garbage truck, cement mixer, fire engine etc..) and the sounds they make. My son was laughing and repeating the sounds while we read this at bedtime and enjoyed the water color illustrations almost as much as I did. Grab this one like I did.
“The Truck Book” by Harry McNaught is another favorite in our house, mostly because it has a forklift in it. There isn’t much of a story, instead it’s a collection of labeled illustrations. If your child is like mine and loves , no obsesses over things that move this is a fantastic book. I admit I get bored reading it even if my son doesn’t. To fight that boredom we play I spy and both of us are happy.
“The Mighty Street Sweeper” by Patrick Moore is a rare book, it’s rare because it is a story about self esteem clothed in a truck book. The street sweeper isn’t the biggest, the fastest or the most powerful truck but it’s still mighty and proud. I really like this book, we read it before nap and again before bed and I liked it even more the second time. The message about being happy with who you are is really touching . I liked that the book says that you don’t have to be the best at everything to still be proud of your hard work. My son really enjoyed this book as well and it was excited to read it again at bedtime.
