kids activities

Shaving Cream Fun for Kids!

May 13, 2016 Leave a Comment

The simplest activities are often the most entertaining in preschool. Free play with shaving cream is one of them. Little children love it 🙂

Shaving Cream Play: All of my kiddos tried it. Most of them loved it. The couple of children who didn’t enjoy it were “so-so” about it – not total rejection. They are my neatniks! This little gal, Miss A, is NOT a neatnik. She dug into the activity with gusto. It was so much fun watching her having fun!

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Expect a mess. It’s only natural.

Preschoolers + shaving cream = messy!

Free Play With Shaving Cream

Supplies

Cans of shaving cream (1 per 4-6 children)

Clean baking pans or trays (1 per child)

Bath towels

Paper Towels

Dish pan

Smocks or old t-shirts

Tips from the teacher:

If you are not near a real sink, have a dish pan of warm water ready and lots of dry bath towels to clean up your kids afterward. You will also want paper toweling and baby wipes on hand.
Cover the children with smocks. We used old, adult sized t-shirts.
Bring an empty plastic kitchen bag to put the messy towels and smocks in for transport. You will have laundry to do!
One can of shaving cream for each 4-6 kids is about right.
After covering them with a t-shirt, give each child their own baking pan full of shaving cream and watch them have fun!

Give your kid a pile of SHAVING CREAM to play with - it's fun! #preschool #kidsactivities Click To Tweet

Did you know that tinted shaving cream is great to PAINT with? Oh, it is- take a look!

Preschool Painting – Try It With Shaving Cream!

Enjoy!

Making Dinosaur Eggs for Preschool

October 25, 2015 Leave a Comment

D is for Dinosaur is a fun preschool lesson with so many possibilities. Our favorite classroom activity was to break open “fossilized” dinosaur eggs. You can make your own at home and here’s how:

One of our favorite activities on Letter D is for Dinosaur day was to use a hammer to break open a pretend fossilized dinosaur egg. Three and four year olds love the excitement of discovering what will be inside their rock. As they uncover the little plastic dinosaur toy, they are told that they can bring them home to keep. Here is how to make the dinosaur eggs:

How To Make Dinosaur Egg Fossils for Kids

Supplies

4 cups dirt

1 cup sand

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

12-14 little plastic dinosaur toys

Makes 12-14 dinosaur eggs

Directions
If you are using dirt from your garden, sort out roots and other unwanted particles to make it a purer mixture.
Combine dirt, sand, flour and salt in a big mixing bowl.
Add water to the consistency of a stiff, thick dough.
Take a hunk of dirt-dough in your hand, knead it.
Put a depression in the middle.
Insert plastic dinosaur toy.
Press and roll the ball with your hands like a meatball.
Put it on a tray to sit and dry for 3-4 days.

Dinosaur Fossil Lesson

Teach your children about paleontologists and how they dig for dinosaur bones.
Pretend that you have found a fossilized dinosaur egg or a fossilized dinosaur. Help the little ones use a lightweight hammer to gently crack it open and make the discovery!Little #kids love learning about #dinosaurs! Make these fun dinosaur egg fossils and discover what's inside! #preschool Click To Tweet

Special Attraction: we watched the adorable Sesame Street Dinosaur DVD featuring Elmo which teaches it in such a fun way. This video is the perfect companion-piece to this lesson.

Note: this author is an Amazon Affiliate. Anything purchased from Amazon through Ducks ‘n a Row will result in a small commission for me. In advance, “thank you!” Sinea

Preschool Game – Butterfly Picture Hunt

October 4, 2015 Leave a Comment

This game is not just for a butterfly theme. You can use any topic that works for your kids. In fact, I have plans to do it again in a couple of weeks for D is for Dinosaur! What I can tell you is that 3 and 4 year olds love it as much as an Easter Egg Hunt!

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This game was a spur-of-the-moment replacement for our motion time. The weather was rainy so going outdoors was not possible. I wanted to get my kids out of the classroom into a different environment but the gymnasium was occupied, too. So, I used this as an opportunity for a mini-adventure and a way to help them to get to know their classmates a tiny bit better.

First, our preschool theme that day was B is for Butterfly. I had pre-purchased a pack of butterfly pictures from the Dollar Tree, not knowing exactly what I’d do with them but, hey, they were $1! (They also had dinosaurs, so I have a pack stashed away for Letter D week!) There are 36 pictures to a pack and I have 12 students. Perfect. Note: if you cannot locate them, print out butterfly pictures using free clipart online.

How To Play the Butterfly Picture Hunt Game

Supplies

Butterfly Pictures

Small photos of the children, printed on cardstock and cut out.

Small brown paper lunch bags*

*I cut them in half for ease of use

Glue

Directions

Print photos of the students onto cardstock — one of each — and glue them to the back of 12 of the butterflies. The rest remain blank.

Have someone spread the butterflies around a large area. We used the school foyer for our game.

Handing a small brown paper bag to each child, give them the instructions to go find butterflies and put them in their bags. When you get back to the classroom, have them explore whether any have someone’s picture on it. If they do, they should find that person and give it to them. They can bring theirs home.*

I prepared my students that, if a friend couldn’t find any, the good thing to do was to help their friends. No need, though. Everyone found some!

Did you read about the exciting B is for Butterfly day we had? This game was just a small part of a very big day.

B is for Butterfly Preschool Lesson and Craft

Add a little spice to the day for your #preschoolers by making a butterfly treasure hunt game for them! #kids Click To Tweet

Enjoy!

Children love to play dress-up. The best dress-up clothes for imaginative play are top quality, look great, soft to the touch inside and out, easy for a child to put on and take off all by themselves and machine WASHABLE! Thought that wasn’t possible? These little kid costumes do exist! #affiliate Check out the adorable dress ups at Little Adventures. Tip: They make excellent gifts.