Family Picture Frame Craft

This month we’re talking a lot about families, traditions, and food in my PreK class. However, I still want to keep building on skills and concepts from previous themes. One that my students are really doing well in math with patterning. I knew I wanted to make a family photo keepsake craft to take home and share with their families, but I didn’t just want it to be a craft; I wanted to weave in some of our math lessons too. Here is how I plan to do just that. If you are looking for more family crafts and activities, check out my Family Thematic Unit and my archives of family activities for preschool here.

Picture Frame Craft for Preschool

Gather your materials. You will need some popsicle sticks, fall-themed foam beads ( you can buy these exact ones here with my affiliate link), glue, printed out photos of your students’ families, and self-adhesive magnets.

I like to do this craft in two parts. During free choice, I have the students come over one at a time to choose 12 foam beads. They need 6 of one type and 6 of the other if they want to make an ABAB pattern or 4 of 3 different types if they are making an ABCABC pattern. My PreK class will be doing the latter. I will also have them choose what four popsicle sticks they want and have them glue them together then, so there is time to dry and be sturdy for the patterning later.

Let that dry and set aside the students’ foam beads.

Later in the day, when the glue is dry, it’s time to create. Add glue to the frame. At this point I would ask my students to sort the foam beads into three piles.

Or into two if your students are doing a simpler ABAB pattern for their picture frame craft.

Use the beads to create the pattern. Having the beads in the piles will help support your students while making the pattern.

Let dry.

Add the family photo. I printed ours out at 4.3x 4.3 and then trimmed. This, of course, will change based on what size popsicle sticks you use, so measure before printing.

Add a magnet, and voila, a beautiful family picture for the fridge!

Picture Books About Families

Click here to see the full list of amazing books about families. These are prefect to read before or after making this picture frame craft.

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Over 170 simple preschool activities that use everyday materials. You don’t need to invest a lot of money to teach your child at home.
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The book is organized into nine categories of learning; literacy, math, science, sensory, art, fine motor, gross motor, social-emotional, and bedtime reading tips.
Everyday Preschool activity book was created using various state standards for PreK and has tips for making activities easier or harder to fit your child.
An Appendix filled with an extensive book list links to free printables, song lyrics, nursery rhymes, my favorite playdough recipe, and more.