Posts Tagged ‘Preschool’
This is a super quick craft that leads to a lot of fun and playing.
I don’t have a photo of the supplies, because we started off with the idea of making it one way and then had to revise our plans as we made our puppet.
You will need a macaroni and cheese box, orange construction paper, scissors, and tape. That’s it.
We started off trying to paint our box with trim roller.
As you can see, it didn’t turn out very well.
Onto how it was actually successful. 
Go ahead and cut your box in the middle, but leave one of the large side uncut. Like above.
Now you can have your children help you wrap the construction paper around each half.
We taped ours up like a present. The kids had a great time putting the tape on.
Now fold the box and your children have an instant puppet.
We added some eyes at the last minute, too. Drawn on regular paper with a marker and my daughter cut out.
Here is a fun duck song that my children LOVE to sing around the house and in the car. We tried to record them singing it with me, but it was totally crazy and you couldn’t understand a word of it. That is what happens when a 5 year old, 3 year old, and 1 year old all start singing together. But you know how that is. 
Kim is a contributing writer for No Time For Flash Cards, a mom to a toddler, a preschooler, and a foster parent, too. She juggles her day by trying out fun activities and crafts with the kids. After all, she is just a big kid herself. See what she has been up to over at Mom Tried It.
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Spring is almost here and it will be summer before we know it , here are 50 simple outdoor activities to get your kids outside without breaking the bank. Activities with kids don’t have to be elaborate so browse the list of fun things to do and get outside!
- Paint like Monet.
- Go on a bug hunt.
- Run through a sprinkler.
- Melt some crayons in the sun .
- Play in a sandbox.
- Investigate your yard with a magnifying glass .
- Paint some rocks with water colors.
- Wash the paint away with the hose.
- Hunt for “dinosaur” bones.
- Play with a hose.
- Play Angry Birds ( with water balloons).
- Hose down some chalk letters and shapes.
- Ride a bike or scooter around the block.
- Plant something ( anything) in the garden.
- Mix some colors with water balloons.
- Play with a water table or make your own.
- Climb up a tree, a wall or a jungle gym.
- Make some bird feeders and feed some birds.
- Have a backyard toy car wash .
- Wash a real car .
- Go on a nature scavenger hunt.
- Have a family meal outside.
- Dig in the dirt.
- Jump in puddles.
- Have a soccer shoot out all you need is a ball big enough to kick .
- Paint with a fly swatter.
- Pick some apples and have an impromptu snack under the trees.
- Make a nature collage.
- Take a dog for a walk.
- Put down some painter’s plastic, grab a hose and have a homemade slip and slide!
- Make a stepping stone for your garden.
- Catch and release some frogs.
- Go for a hike.
- Color the patio with sidewalk chalk.
- Play catch with a ball ( or water balloons on a hot day).
- Paint like Jackson Pollock.
- Take some books outside and read under a tree.
- Go on a photo scavenger hunt.
- Spray paint.
- Graffiti the driveway.
- Stack and balance rocks.
- Have an ice cream taste test.
- Go on a sound safari.
- Find, sort and make a leaf scrapbook.
- Make a treasure map and find treasure.
- Host the mini Olympics.
- Explore shells, crabs and rocks at the beach.
- Make mud pies.
- Pick Flowers and paint with them.
- Find shapes in the clouds.
Like our 75 TV Free Activities for Toddlers the majority of these pictures were taken from my iPhone because most of these are just simple everyday things we did and you can do without too much planning or cost. Of course I have a few of our favorite more elaborate activities too , but nothing will break the bank.
What outside activity for kids would you add to the list?
My toddler is in the eating paper phase and the fling the paint phase. We are still having fun with paint but when we do my camera is safely on a shelf since I need two hands to wipe down the playroom walls. Today while her brother was at school we made this mess free butterfly craft with ribbons something she has no desire to eat or fling. If your toddler’s reaction to an activity frustrates you find a way to connect and create with them that doesn’t push your buttons. I say all the time how if we make the challenge too great for our kids they shut down and stop learning well it goes for us too. If I am frustrated I am not connecting with my child and getting angry about exploration serves no one. Don’t give up on the messy stuff (they need it) just try it again when you have the patience to deal with their exuberance.
- Gather your materials. You will need some sturdy paper , contact paper , ribbons in your choice of colors , scissors and crayons.
- Have your child color the paper first. I forgot. For really little guys skipping this like I did is probably best, it’s another step that might make it too long. While they do that cut the ribbon.
- Fold your paper and cut out a butterfly shape.
- Cut out the middle.
- Peel the back off your contact paper and press your butterfly on sticky side up.
- Trim.
- Give the butterfly to your child. She just felt it for a minute or two. I just let her explore.
- Hand them the ribbon. She immediately started adding it to the butterfly.
- No need to help unless they seek it, every now and then I would say ” That’s a nice red ribbon.” or ” You found a yellow one.” but it wasn’t a constant dialog.
- They will let you know when they are done. Activity will slow, items may start finding the floor… just know that toddlers typically won’t spend long on a structured activity like this and don’t feel like you are doing anything wrong . We spent about 5 minutes total. This is her “done” she claps her hands once and says “un!”
- Put it up where your little one can see what they made and know you think it’s fantastic!
Stars , space and rockets are a theme that has never really lost it’s luster at our house. My son who is 5 1/2 is not as keen on sensory tubs as he once was ( or so I thought) so I set this one up with a little reading and matching activity. If I was doing this for younger kids I would have a few rocket ships and a few cups for pouring and transferring and skip the matching activity completely. As it turned out I misjudged my son and you will see that even at 5 1/2 that simple is wonderful.It’s great for space themes, learning about shapes and even fine motor practice!
- Gather your materials. For the sensory tub you will need dried black beans, bright star buttons and some tools like spoons and containers to dig and pour. For the matching activity I also used a chocolate box liner, some paper, scissors and marker.
- Pour the beans and the buttons in. You could add sparkles but you will never be able to use the beans for another non sparkly tub again and cleaning it off the buttons if you want will be impossible. I like to re-use my sensory tub innards so we kept it simple.
- If you want to make the matching container you can do it a few ways. For my son I wrote the words including light and dark blue and hot pink because we’ve been talking about different shades of colors. For pre readers simply use a marker in each color to write the word.
- Other than setting up I just let him go. He read all the words to start.
- Then got down to business sorting and matching. Don’t be surprised if they start counting while they sort. Everything is a competition at our house right now and so as he was sorting he was keeping me updated to which color was in the lead.
- After he’d had enough he filled the extra squares with beans using his hands
, then grabbed a spoon, dumped the buttons out and and started carefully scooping the into the little squares one by one. 
- Then we got a big container and filled it ( with the pot from our play kitchen) so his little sister could enjoy the stars too.
She loves rolling it around and how loud it is when she does. 
So even though I had a more directed activity ready I am thrilled he used it as a start but then directed the rest himself. I am just glad we had all the tools he needed.
We love penguins and was one of my favorite themes for daycare and preschool when I was teaching toddlers. My daughter loves the penguin bath toy you see in this post so we decided to use a penguin to paint a penguin. This was a huge hit with my toddler who thought it was hilarious to whack it on the paper. With older children encourage them to do the cutting but with toddlers the goal is fun, exploration and making something fun to show off on the fridge. This penguin is on our fridge right now and my daughter likes to point to it saying her name and smiles.
- Gather your materials. You will need 3 sheets of construction paper ( blue, black and orange) , white paint, a dish , a bath toy ( but a sponge will do), glue, scissors and googly eyes ( although I put them on at the end she is too little and still eats things).
- Start by pouring paint into the dish, and placing the toy in it.
- Hand it and the black paper to your monkey and start painting. My daughter carefully made a few prints…
- Then really got into it.
- We paused to wipe paint off our hands and mouth and switched paper. The blue paper is the icy habitat so it needs paint too!
- I gave her snack after clean up #2 and allowed the paint to dry some. And cut out some feet and a nose from the orange paper.
- Then cut out the black into the shape of a penguin.
- Time to glue. We took turns gluing.
- If they want to take time to explore the glue bottle don’t fret, they are making connections. Just stay close so any giant messes can be minimized.
- Put the body on the glue.
- I added the glue for the nose and feet putting it on a wide area so she could choose where to place the pieces. Don’t correct your kids and where they place things, this is their creation. If they are able to glue ( and get more than a few tiny drops) by all means encourage them to do it.
- Add eyes ( if your little bug is like mine and eating all small potentially hazardous items wait until they are napping or engaged in other play and add them on) and let dry.
Penguin Books
Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere!
Penguin
Tacky the Penguin 
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