Cloud dough recipe

                                   

• 8 cups flour
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• heaping tbsp non-toxic Tempera paint powder
• potato masher or pastry cutter & wooden spoon
• In a large bowl, stir together the vegetable oil and flour.
• Add the Tempera paint, give it another stir, then using a pastry cutter or potato masher, work the dough for several minutes until the colour is uniform and the ingredients are soft, silky and well-mixed.
• This cloud dough won’t have that heavenly scent that it would if it were made with baby oil, but it still feels amazing, and your hands will be so soft after playing with it.
  

  PLAYING WITH YOUR CLOUD DOUGH:

  Transfer your dough to a shallow storage container (a dollar store kitty litter bin works well), and add spoons, scoops, bowls, cookie cutters and plastic moulds.
  Your kids will have a blast stirring, mixing, scooping, pouring and moulding their cloud dough.
  
  Cloud dough is so lovely to the touch, they’ll love simply running their hands through the bin, squeezing and shaping the dough and watching it crumble when they release it back into the bin.  I’ll bet you won’t be able to keep your hands out of it either!
• Store your cloud dough in an air-tight container.

http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/53524/toddler-safe-cloud-dough

Are you a girl or a boy?

This is an activity to do so that the children are able to learn if they are male or female. Simply Print and colour.

 Let them talk about themselves and please discuss with them that both girls and boys like pink and blue colours, that both like to play with cars or dolls, that both can have long or short hair and most of all that both girls and boys should be treated equally. It is very easy to fall into the stereotype trap of gender roles. It is important that what we do at school, you continue to talk about at home. We are all different, but we are all beautiful and we are all equal! Everyone can choose what he or she wants to be, do or look like. If we teach our kids how to love and respect everyone and to treat everyone how we want to be treated from this young age, they will grow up to be loving and respecting adults.  Remember children learn from the example we lead and not from what we tell them to do!

Activity to do at home after first days at school

Dear parents this is a sweet activity you can do with your child at home. Just print out this page and spend a few minutes discussing with them what they did at school.

Ask: What is the name of your teacher?
        What toys are there in your classroom?
        What did you colour with the teacher?
        What did you paint with the teacher?
        What are the names of your new friends?

Then let them draw however they like in the boxes on this picture of  a school and then hang it up at home.

Enjoy it!

Just remember that these little moments you spend with your children will build a positive attitude towards school that will last a lifetime!

People who help us activity to do at home - Finger puppets

Print out this picture at home and stick it on cardboard or on a recycled cereal box and cut around each person who helps us or (can also be called) community helper and put your fingers so as to make their legs. Colour them and you have pretty finger puppets!

My First Day of School at K1.5

Go to the link below to print this activity to do at home when you arrive from your first day of school at K1.5! 

http://www.mpmschoolsupplies.com/ideas/3572/my-first-day-of-school/

Stars stick puppets

Print these stars to make stick puppets - you can put them on a stick or on a straw and then you can sing "Twinkle twinkle little star" with them in your hands

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKt2KVVV80H744wWpFeylCElfKRsvqQKr8jJkKMtqhSpHB6eJYwPLHark9iu4Sx9pQIglHKttm4BkxW6CRoD2LBzLVA7hEzP3K61kpPdjthyphenhyphen17fU-UM_y0zwz_O1ts84I0YId6rvba5RXG/s1600/Stars+Puppet+Sticks.jpg

Twinkle twinkle little star printables

Print and colour these Twinkle Twinkle Little Star flashcards so you can sing at home! http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/4311-4320/sb4312.html

 

Goldilocks sizing activity to do at home

This is a very good activity you can do at home to practice small, medium and large sizes and revise the story we are saying in the classroom.

http://www.first-school.ws/t/ac3bears_sizingb.htm

Easy Homemade Ice Cream | Full-Time Kid | PBS Parents

Maths week at home too

It is very important that even you at home provide a lot of different ways to experience and explore mathematical concepts, numbers, shapes and colours!
Here are some links that you can get ideas from to do at home :

http://www.education.com/activity/preschool/math

http://www.pinterest.com/keriel132/math-ideas-for-preschoolers/

http://www.pinterest.com/pschooltoolbox/math-activities-for-preschool-and-kindergarten/

http://www.pinterest.com/melissa_taylor2/math-ideas-for-kids/

http://preschoolpowolpackets.blogspot.com/2013/04/free-ladybug-math-activity.html

Kebab ta' Fonzu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzZAnvnjMLE&list=UUPS8U4_FawBTouuCyiudZ3A&index=8

Eggshell collage

 

Use food coloring to colour crushed eggshells. Use a few different colours. (You can use eggshells from eggs you have used. There is no need to hard boil these egg shells.) Let your child glue the eggshells to a piece a paper, after the dye has dried.

Do-It-Yourself Recycled Crayons

MAKE SURE THAT THE CRAYONS ARE WAX NOT PLASTIC, LIKE THE ONES WE USE IN THE CLASSROOM!

  Practice fine motor and one-to-one correspondence skills by placing a paper cupcake liner in each section of a muffin tin. (Or, if you want funkier shaped crayons, try using some silicon baking trays.)

Use the pincer grasp to place all the peeled crayon bits into muffin tins, sorting them by complimentary or contrasting colors. Add a bit of color-mixing theory to the activity by discussing what the resulting crayon colors might be -- avoiding mixes that will make dull grays and browns! (If you wish, for extra tactile input, sprinkle glitter into the cups. 

Pop the tray into an oven, pre-heated to 150 degrees F, for 15-20 minutes. Leave the oven light on for eager eyes to witness and be sure to take the tray out when the crayon pieces seem just melted, but not bubbly.

Carefully have an adult remove the tray from the oven, showing it from a safe distance to eager young ones.  Then it is time to put the tray in the freezer.

You can take a toothpick to swirl the colors a bit if you wish before freezing the crayons, which can add a little more color mixing and visual interest to the activity.

Carefully have an adult remove the tray from the oven, showing it from a safe distance to eager young ones. Then, after taking advantage of the inherent science lesson on matter and how it changes from solid to liquid due to the heat of the oven, place the tray in the freezer. Or, if it is cold enough like it was here when we made our crayons, just put it outside. (You can take a toothpick to swirl the colors a bit if you wish before freezing the crayons, which can add a little more color mixing and visual interest to the activity.)

Simple number value activity

This is a simple activity you can do a at home. Just write large numbers from 1 to 5 for your children and draw dots according to the number value. Then you can use small blocks, or recycled bottle caps, for the children to place on the dots and mark the number value. Revise Revise Revise Values! Touch and count the dots too!!

Play dough recipe

 

Play dough is a great activity for children and parents of all ages.
Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
2 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon food colouring
Mix all dry ingredients, add oil and boiling water with food colouring, mix well.
Store in an airtight container.
To add interest you can add glitter for a textural change, some aromatherapy scented oil for smell.
With some shaped cutters, rolling pin and some imagination your set for hours of fun.

fine motor skills practice

This is a really simple and fun activity to do at home with your children to help improve fine motor skill development. All you need is a kebab stick (beware of the pointy edges), a small bit of playdough (i'm posting a recipe for home made playdough in a few minutes under the Activities to do at home label) and Cheerios cereal or some other type of cereal with the same shape.

 

 

 

 

 

What your child has to do, is : hold the kebab stick in one hand and use the other to fit in the doughnut shaped cereal into it. It may be a bit tricky until they get the hand of it. (especially with toddlers)

 

 

 

Nature collage

Make a Nature collage

Children love to explore nature and the world around them. Take a walk outside; explore nature with your child. Talk about what animals eat and where the animals live. Explore the leaves changing colours. Collect interesting looking items from outside. They will choose what items are interesting to them. Use your collected items to create a interesting  nature collage.

Make animal jars

Making animal jars

Recycle jelly and sauce jars to hold all your little toys, item, and coins. Give your glass a new lease on life by making these adorable animal buddy jars to display in your room!

What you'll need:

• Clean, empty glass jars
• Felt, any color you like
• Pom poms (for noses)
• Scissors
• White craft glue
• Wiggle eyes
• Patterns

How to make it:

1. Print the patterns.
2. Remove lid from jar and line the top of the lid with glue. Pipe glue around the outside rim as well.
3. Place lid, glue side down, onto a piece of felt.
4. Wrap felt around lid and rim and hold snugly so glue can begin to grab. Sometimes felt will soak up the first layer of craft glue. If this happens, pipe more glue around the rim and repeat.
5. Trim the excess felt around the edge of the rim.
6. Fill the jar with whatever knick knacks, toys, or coins that you like.
7. Return the felted lid to the jar.
8. Cut additional animal pieces (ears, cheeks, trunks) from pattern to create animal faces. We used contrasting colors for some of our designs. For example, we used maroon for the red dog’s cheeks to stand out against its red face.
9. Glue these pieces on.
10. If creating the cat or dog, cut out long thin strips of felt for the whiskers and glue them on top of the cheeks.
11. Glue the facial parts in place. Use pom poms for noses.
12. Glue on wiggle eyes.
13. Tips:

• Get creative and make whatever animals you like.
• Use jars from jelly, mayonnaise, pickles and other condiments.
• You can use hot glue for attaching the felt to the lids if you like. 

Print your pattern from here ---http://crafts.kaboose.com/images_crafts/KAB_Printable_AnimalJarPatterns.pdf

Recycled box town

This is an easy activity for the Topic - People who help us - you can do from materials you find around the house:

BOX TOWN

This is an easy way to make a toy town using old boxes, cartons, colored paper, scissors, tape, paper tubes, and crayons.

To make buildings:

Wrap up boxes and other empty containers with colored paper.

Have an adult cut out doors if wanted.

Use tissue tubes for chimneys.

Decorate with windows, flower boxes, etc.

To make trees:

Use a tissue paper tube for the trunk.

Draw a green blob on stiff paper or cardboard for the leaf canopy and cut it out.

Tape the green canopy to the tube.

colour hop

Colour activities to do at home

Sing this song and do a fun hopping activity for different colours -- 
COLOR HOP (tune of Old McDonald) 

I see something that is ____(Colour)

Do you see it too? 

I see something that is ___

HOP there if you do. 

With a hop, hop here,

And a hop, hop there. Hurry up! Hop it up!

Hop as fast as you dare.

I see something that is _____

Do you see it too?