Ducks 'n a Row

kids activities

Microwave Play Dough Is The Super Easy Way To Make Homemade Play Dough

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I love making play dough. There is something fun about developing this colorful toy by yourself,  knowing that a child  you love will have hours of play ahead of him. Making microwave play dough is by far the easiest way!
Microwave Play Dough Recipe #kids

 

The classic playdough recipe, cooked on the stove, works great but it takes a lot of elbow-grease stirring and stirring. So, when I came across a recipe for MICROWAVE play dough, I had to give it a try.
Oh my goodness, is this so easy and the play dough turns out just as pliable and deeply colorful as ever. I won’t be making the old recipe again!

This blog contains Amazon  affiliate links. ♥

 
preschool, DIY play dough, play doh

Microwave Play Dough Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 generous T cooking oil
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/3 cup salt
*Bleached flour is whiter and gives you a truer color.
**Neon food coloring is the most vivid.

neon food coloring

Directions

Use a microwave-safe mixing bowl. This process takes about 5 minutes including prep.
Combine water, oil, food coloring and stir.
Add cream of tartar, and stir again.
Add salt, stir.
Gradually add flour and stir as you go along to prevent lumps.
Microwave on high for 30 seconds.
Stir.
Another 30 seconds.
Stir.
A third time, 30 seconds.
Stir.
A fourth time, 30 seconds.
Stir.
It will now be in a ball.
Let sit for 2 minutes.
Remove from bowl and put the play dough ball on a dinner plate to cool.*
Wrap cooled play dough in plastic wrap and store at room temperature.
*I spray the plate with cooking spray to make it easily removable from the plate.
Playdough Ice Cream Kitchen
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Enjoy!

Playdough pasta maker toy

9 Fun Shaving Cream Activities That Preschoolers Love

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Fun activities for kids using shaving cream

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Last week my preschool class had loads of fun free-playing  with shaving cream! I wanted each one of them to have their own pile of fluff to play in so I bought  lightweight 12″ round plastic serving trays, one for each of them.

The trays so light, though, that they would have moved all around the table and the predictable mess could have become a catastrophe! Can you imagine sliding trays full of foam in motion? There goes the floor!

So, before the children came into the classroom, I took packing tape and made a big loop for each tray. I stuck it to the bottom of each tray and stuck the tray to the top of the table in front of each seat. It was perfect! They played to their hearts’ content and nothing moved. I love it when a plan comes together!


9 Fun Ways For Kids To Play With Shaving Cream

Do your children enjoy playing with shaving cream? There are so many things you can do with it. Here are 9 great ideas they will love:

DIY Puffy Paint For Kids – Artful Parent

DIY Toy Car Wash – Paging Fun Mums

Fake Snow – Playtivities

Free Play with Shaving Cream – Ducks ‘n a Row

Marbled Eggs – Ducks ‘n a Row

Shaving Cream on a Window – Simple Fun For Kids

Shaving Cream Paint – Ducks ‘n a Row

Shaving Cream Rain Clouds – One Little Project

Shaving Cream Wrapping Paper – Mess For Less

What fun activities have your kids done lately with shaving cream?

9 fun activities for #kids using shaving cream! #preschool #tips Share on X

Enjoy!

Make clay charms with this craft kit #kids #ad

Simple Bottle Cap Bugs Activity For Preschool Fun

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Bottle cap bugs are just a silly fun way to occupy little ones’ time for a while and spark their imaginations. The bottle caps are kept loose – not fastened to a page – so that they can be manuevered and rearranged at will. This activity is strictly a fun way to experiment with making designs and patterns.  Your children can make them look like caterpillars or anything their hearts desire.

I prepared my bottle cap faces ahead of time and we used them as part of our  B is for Butterfly day at preschool.  The schedule that day had a short unplanned period of time that I wanted to fill up with something new but it wasn’t going to be long enough for an elaborate activity. The kids really had fun with this but it would not have held their attention for more than 10-15 minutes.  Lesson plan idea:  this activity can also be used for I is for Insect or C is for Caterpillar.



Tip: do not get overly attached to those bug faces, if you are working with children younger than four years old. The 3 year olds in my class couldn’t help themselves. Attennaes got broken off. It was almost like they were calling to my little kiddos “Break me!” LOL My 4 year olds did not do that. Every bug face was safe with them. As I was planning this activity, I determined not to interfere with their fun. I planned on some breakage.

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How To Make A Bottle Cap Bug Face

Supplies

Bottle caps – saved from soda bottles

Glue gun or Tacky Glue

Googly Eyes

Pipe Cleaners

Cardstock

Sharpie (for the smile)

Washable marker or crayons

Make a bug face on a bottle cap for preschoolers to play with

Directions

Take a colorful soda bottle cap and glue two googly eyes to it.

Cut 1 – 2 inch pieces from pipe cleaners

Glue 2 pipecleaners to the top of the cap, above the eyes.

Add a smile made with a Sharpie permanent marker.

You will need at least one bug face bottle cap and many plain bottle caps per child to play with. I gave each child a piece of cardstock as a base that they were welcome to write or draw on with a washable marker or crayons. The example I made has little black legs for a caterpillar but they will come up with all sorts of ideas that you never thought off! Little imaginations are amazing to behold!

 

 

Fun little Bottle Cap Bugs activity for #preschool #kids Share on X

All little children adore imaginative play. My preschool class looks forward to dress up time every time we have it on the schedule.

Now, this is hard to find but teachers and parents absolutely love quality dress up clothes that ..

  • look great
  • are simple for the child to get into and out of ON THEIR OWN (right moms and dads?)
  • are comfortable (no scratchy seams inside) and
  • are WASHABLE!!!

Thought that wasn’t possible? These little kid costumes do exist! #affiliate  Check out the adorable dress ups at Little Adventures.  Hint: They make excellent gifts. 

Enjoy!


How To Make Homemade Sidewalk Chalk In A Bottle

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #allessentials #allsulfatefree #CollectiveBias 
Summer is almost here – yippee! Aren’t you excited to finally get outside those four walls and, better yet,  get your KIDS outside? Fresh air and lots of run-around play is so good for them.
family fun, DIY, summer fun, kids, playtime, kbn, homeschooling, playground
Our little kiddos love to bring their artistic skills outdoors with them. Forget paper and crayons. They really get into using chalk on the driveway. Hopscotch – tic tac toe – drawings everywhere. As a mom and preschool teacher, it makes me feel happy knowing that they are using perfectly safe materials in their artsy play.
This recipe is for homemade sidewalk chalk in a bottle. Yep! Your kids can squirt decorations all over the driveway and it simply washes away in the next rain. Each ingredient is a gentle household item found right in your kitchen cupboard – nothing harsh. And, when it comes to cleanup, you can simply wash their clothes with NEW sulfate free all® fresh clean ESSENTIALS®. NEW sulfate free all® fresh clean ESSENTIALS® delivers a powerful clean without harshness.
family fun, DIY, summer fun, kids, playtime
 
 
 
Here is how you make …

Homemade Sidewalk Chalk In A Bottle

family fun, DIY, summer fun, kids, playtime, kbn
 
Supplies
Empty plastic squeeze condiment bottles
Large mixing bowl
Fork / Spoon
NEW sulfate free all® fresh clean ESSENTIALS® – for clean up
Towels – for clean up
Ingredients
1/3 cup Cornstarch
1/3 cup Baking Soda
1 1/3 cup Water
Food Coloring
family fun, DIY, summer fun, kids, playtime, how to
 
Directions
This recipe is for one squeeze bottle.  You will want to repeat it for as many bottles as you use.
Put cornstarch in the mixing bowl.
Add baking soda and stir to mix.
Add water, stirring constantly.
Pour the mixture into a clean squeeze condiment bottle.
Add a few drops of food coloring.
Secure the lid.
Shake till mixed well.
family fun, DIY, summer fun, kids, playtime, sidewalk chalk
Tip 1:  Sediment from the mixture will settle to the bottom of the bottles. They will need to be reshaken occasionally. The kids will figure that out!
 
Tip 2:  Expect this day of fun to produce a mess. It comes with the territory! I just want you to be prepared for food coloring stains. Have your children wear old clothes and old shoes or flip flops. Have some towels ready for clean up – along with your NEW sulfate free all® fresh clean ESSENTIALS® waiting in the wings for you to launder them back to cleanness! 
messy fun, clean clothes, laundry, sulfate-free, stain free
I bought my all® sulfate free at Walmart. They were located right in the laundry detergent aisle at the top.
clean laundry, sulfate-free, detergent
Here is a good shot [below] of the sulfate free all® bottle in my cart so that you know what to look for. It comes in both fragrance free or fresh scent 36.4oz/28ld.
laundry, clean

Are you a label reader? Well, check this out. Every ingredient is listed on the bottle so that you can be confident about what is going into your family’s laundry. This is one of the first laundry detergents ever to do that!  You can see just what is in there and why they are essentials.  We moms want powerful clean in our detergent, don’t we!  But it is also important to us that, while this sulfate-free formula is deep cleaning and lifting the toughest stains, it is not harsh.  They figured that out!

Try it!  Go to Walmart and use this coupon to get $1.50 off on one bottle off  New Sulfate Free all® fresh clean ESSENTIALS®. Hurry. Offer is good from May 1 to July 31, 2017 – while supplies last. 

 
safe laundry detergent
 


Enjoy some more sidewalk chalk “driveway art” …

 

family fun, DIY, summer fun, kids, playtime, stick figure art
family fun, DIY, summer fun, kids, playtime, tic tac toe
family fun, DIY, summer fun, kids, playtime
Have you ever made sidewalk chalk?  

Enjoy!

Shaving Cream Fun for Kids!

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The simplest activities are often the most entertaining in preschool. Free play with shaving cream is one of them. Little children love it 🙂
preschool, sensory play
 
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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This blog contains Amazon affiliate links.❤️
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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!

 

 

Did you know that tinted shaving cream is great to PAINT with? Oh, it is- take a look!
shaving cream activities, preschool, kindergarten, painting, kids fun

 

Enjoy!

Rock painting kit for kids #ad
shark vacuum

Making Dinosaur Eggs for Preschool

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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:
 
fossils, dinosaurs, preschool lessons, Letter D
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 eggs for preschool D is for Dinosaur lesson

How To Make Dinosaur Egg Fossils for Kids 

Supplies

4 cups dirt
1 cup sand
2 cups flour
1 cup salt

Makes 12-14 dinosaur eggs

how to make dinosaur eggs - preschool

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 Share on X

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

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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!

This blog contains affiliate links. ♥

How to Raise Monarch Butterflies book
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.
butterfly picture hunt game for preschool

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 Share on X
Butterfly garden kit - caterpillars change into butterflies

Enjoy!

Paint by Sticker book for kids - butterflies