Ducks 'n a Row

preschool crafts

Letter O is for Owl Preschool Craft

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Letter O is for Owl toilet paper roll craft #kids
The Letter O is for Owl is one of the easiest crafts I have had my preschoolers make. I wanted to make sure that they could be successful at doing it so, instead of using this craft for a lesson in  paper cutting, I pre-cut the wings and other pieces myself: wings, feathers, eyes and beaks.

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Googly eyes for crafts
Don’t worry, this lesson is educational. There is PLENTY of learning for them to do, as you can see. Each child looked at the sample owl that I made and modeled theirs accordingly. They had to identify what was a wing or a feather. Those shapes are very similar. They used their creativity in selecting colors and placement of pieces.
And, take a look — everybody’s craft looks like an OWL! Yipee!
owl crafts
Toilet paper roll owls made by preschoolers – ages 3 & 4.
In addition to the craft, we gave our students an owl matching game to do.
O is for owl preschool craft; toilet paper roll craft

 

How To Make A Letter O is for Owl Toilet Paper Roll Craft

O is for Owl toilet paper roll craft #preschool #kids

Craft Supplies

Free printable templates for beaks, wings, feathers and eyes linked below.
colorful adjustable children's scissors

Instructions

Pinch two sides of one end of the cardboard toilet paper roll to make “owl ears.”
Print owl eyes on white card or cover stock.
Print beaks page on yellow or orange copy paper
Print wings and feathers page on a variety of colors of copy paper.*
*An alternative to that would be to print on white copy paper and have the child color the parts in with crayons or markers.
Cut the eyes, wings, feathers and beaks out.
Glue all the pieces on the toilet paper roll.
Tip:  use Elmer’s glue to attach the wings. Glue stick works fine for the other pieces and takes less drying. Your child will have to press the glued pieces with her hand for a minute to make sure that it sticks.

Free Printable Templates for O is for Owl Preschool Craft

This little girl is just 3 1/2 years old and look at her owl! Wow!
Owls made by kids!
One thing that I did not do was to show them a video. I love to find short videos to enrich the lesson. There are some great owl videos but they were all too violent for tender young 3 and 4 year olds. Owls are great hunters and amazing to watch — every film showed it — but my little ones would have nightmares seeing sweet little bunnies and mice carried away to be an owl banquet!

Classic Children’s Book

the Owl and the Pussycat book cover

Classic children’s book:  The Owl & the Pussycat   Ad

Cutest Ever Baby Snow Owl Stuffed Animal!

mini snow owl toy

R is for Bunny Preschool Craft

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The letter R is for Rabbit  — we know that.  Of course it is! And that was our theme in preschool:  R is for Rabbit. But when you show this craft to a 3 or 4 year old, they will say “BUNNY” every time! LOL That is why I jokingly say that we studied “R is for Bunny” that day!

Bunny rabbit paper plate craft for kids

So we made a bunny.  We learned about bunnies.   It was  “Bunny Day” in preschool!

This was a very fun paper plate craft. 
My students loved it and your kids will love it, too.
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Berenstain Bears Easter Story Book
Cute Bunny Paper Plate Craft for Kids

Supplies

2 white paper plates
2 cotton balls
Scotch tape
scissors

Instructions

Color the inside circle of one paper plate, using a pink crayon.
Cut a 2 inch column out of the middle of that plate, discarding  the “column.”
The two remaining parts of that plate is one bunny ear.
Attach the ears onto the other whole plate by taping them to the back.
Glue on the pom-pom nose.
Now, glue the cotton ball cheeks very close to the nose.
Glue on two googly eyes above the nose.
Glue the tongue on sticking out from under where the cheeks meet.

Glue the bow tie at the bottom of the face plate.

Tip: I tried attaching the ears using glue. That was a mistake. Not only did the glue fail to hold them on but it wrinkled the top of the face. I highly recommend using clear tape to attach them.

Melissa & Dough plush toy bunny

Melissa & Doug Plush Toy Bunny Rabbit #ad

Above all, enjoy making this bunny rabbit craft with your little ones!  It is a fun time for all 🙂

Enjoy!

Sinea

Pom Poms for crafts

 

I is for Ice Cream Puffy Paint Craft

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Ice Cream Cone Puffy Paint craft for kids

As most of you know, I teach preschool. In keeping with my traditional alphabet themed lessons, this year I thought it would be fun to use ice cream for the letter “I.”  Well, my little kiddos had so much fun, it made me wonder why I had never taught it before.

For our craft, we painted a picture of an ice cream cone using puffy paint. Puffy paint is always a BIG hit. As expected, the kids LOVED it!

Preschooler using puffy paint to create ice cream cone picture

The idea came from from Crafty Morning’s puffy paint post.  She always has great creative ideas for kids crafts. I pretty much did the same thing that she did except I gave my little preschoolers two colors of puffy paint – pink for strawberry ice cream and light green for mint.  And instead of painting it on, we glued a pom pom on top for the “cherry.”

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How To Make An Ice Cream Cone Picture Using Puffy Paint

Supplies

Cardstock paper

Construction Paper (brown)

Black Sharpie Marker

Shaving Cream (foamy type)

White School Glue [I used Elmer’s}

Tempera Paint (red and green)

Glitter

Pom Poms

Paint Brushes

Pom Poms for crafts

How to Make Puffy Paint

1 cup school glue for every 2 cups shaving cream.*

*Use the foamy white kind of shaving cream, NOT the gel kind.

Using a mixing bowl, spray lots of white foamy shaving cream into the bowl. Next add the  white school glue (i.e. Elmer’s glue or a generic brand) and mix it through.  Add dabs of tempera paint and mix with a spoon till you get the depth of color you like best.  Use drops of red paint to make the pink ice cream and drops of green tempera paint to make a light green for mint ice cream.

How to Make an Ice Cream Cone Craft with Puffy Paint

  • Print the words “I is for Ice Cream” on a piece of cardstock paper.
  • Cut a triangle out of brown construction paper.
  • Make criss-cross lines on the brown paper using a black marker to make it look like a waffle cone.
  • Glue the cone paper onto the lower half of the page.
  • Mix up two colors of puffy paint.
  • Give your child two paint brushes and let them have fun painting scoops of ice cream above the cones.
  • Optional:  Sprinkle some glitter on the “cone” and glue a “cherry” pom pom on top.

TIP:  A mistake that I made for this first time of doing this craft is that I made the cone a tiny bit too big.  It  forced the children to paint their ice cream cone higher on the page and it partially covered the words “I is for Ice Cream Cone.”  Next time I will place the title “I is for Ice Cream Cone” at the bottom of the page and may just cut the brown paper for the waffle cone a tiny bit smaller, too.

Ice Cream Cone Puffy Paint craft for kids

How about you?  Have you ever made a puffy paint craft?  

Make a really cute ice cream cone craft with your kids using homemade puffy paint! It is so much fun! #kidscrafts #preschool #kindergarten #painting Share on X

Click here for all of our preschool crafts!

Alphabet inspired preschool crafts

Enjoy!

Sinea

 

 

 

Glitter for arts, crafts and makeup, too!  Teens LOVE it!  #ad

Glitter for arts ,crafts and makeup!

 

 

T is for Turtle Craft For Little Kids

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T is for Turtle paper plate craft for kids.

T is for Turtle Paper Plate Craft

Little 3-D marshmallow eyes give this turtle paper plate craft for kids dimension. It is cuter than cute! 

Oh, how I have looked forward to teaching this lesson. In previous years we did T is for Tee Pee, T is for Turkey and T is for Teeth. It was time to do Turtles – especially with the fond memories I have of “my own” turtle named Manfred.  *amazing story below

Things we learned about turtles:

  • Some live on land, some live in water.
  • The ones who live on land have stumpy legs. Sea turtles and other water-dwellers have webbed feet.
  • Turtles can be itty-bitty small or huge!* (tortoises)
  • Turtles are reptiles.
  • Turtles eat a variety of foods. Some eat vegetation. Some eat insects. Some eat animals.
  • Baby turtles hatch from eggs using a “tooth” to chip their way out!
  • More: Fun Turtle Facts from Science Kids

 

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Childrens book "Turtles" AD

Fascinating TURTLES picture book for children #ad


My Tortoise Story

 

T is for Turtle and T is for Tortoise, preschool lesson
My Tortoise Story: affectionately remembered in my kid-memory as “the best day ever!” Long long ago, in a place far, far away (Upstate New York) there was a second grade class … MY second grade class and there was a little 8 year old girl, that would be me. Though it was far in the past, the images will stay with me forever. During recess, our class was playing outside on the playground. Suddenly, I kid you not, a huge and I mean GIGANTIC tortoise slowly crept out of the woods. He was so big that two children hopped on his back, to the great distress of the shocked teachers. They couldn’t move fast enough. “Get off. Get off!”  and ” Keep away from his mouth!” They did get off but he was soon surrounded by a sea of wondering children. Can you imagine our parents when they asked us how school was that day? LOL!
We named him “Manfred.” Somebody called for help. I remember the police being there. It isn’t clear to me whether we were still outdoors when he was taken away but he did become a permanent resident of the local zoo. Manfred kept his name and he lived there for decades. He passed away a few years ago and it has been said that he was well over 100 years old. When I read the news, for a moment there I felt like a friend had died. Manfred the Tortoise will always have a special place in my heart.
20 inch stuffed animal plush TURTLE toy AD

T is for Turtle Paper Plate Craft

This craft is simple and fun to make. I had run out of googly eyes but came up with this brainstorm – marshmallow eyes! I had mini’s on hand. I cut them in half, put a dot of black paint on each and Voila! Eyes! I like them better than the googlies.


kids crafts, T is for Turtle, paper plate crafts

Supplies
Plain white paper plate
Green construction paper
Turtle part template on white paper
Marshmallows: mini and large
Small paintbrush
Cotton swab
Tempera Paints
Stapler
Tape
Black marker
White school glue
T is for Turtle
Directions
Cut the small marshmallows in half.
Paint a black tempera paint pupil on each marshmallow “eye ball”*

You will find that they harden a bit in a short period of time.

 

turtle, preschool, kids crafts

 

Cut out the turtle parts using your template as a guide
Tape the tail onto the legs part of the turtle.
Now you will have two parts: front and bottom
Trace the front and back onto green paper and cut them out.
Staple front to one side of a paper plate shell making sure that the “dome” part of the shell will be on the correct side. You don’t want the staples and tape to show.
Do the same on the other end for the bottom legs with tail of the turtle.
Tip:    you can also use some tape to secure it.
Glue the marshmallow eyes on the head.
Draw the nose and mouth using the marker.
Using large marshmallows, DOT colored tempera paint all over the paper plate, decorating his shell.
You now have one adorable turtle!
Jet Puffed mini marshmallows AD
 

Enjoy!

Fun S is for Spring Fork Painting Craft for Kids

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S is for Spring fork painting project for kids

This Letter S is for Spring preschool craft is so easy to make that your kids will love it. No frustration – guaranteed success because we used fork painting!

Whenever we do a new craft in my classroom, I try to bring a sample for my students to see to give them some idea of where we are headed. It never stifles their creativity. Each and every painting is totally unique, which I love!

Painting spring flowers with tempera paints using forks #spring #preschoolcraft
When I started my sample copy, I was confident that I had everything I needed to do the job. What I hadn’t recognized was that my little tempera paints had gone dry. Well, almost dry. I had no transportation that day, so I couldn’t run out to buy more,  and I was up against the wire time-wise. So, I poured a little water in the paints, let them sit, and then blended them with a craft stick.  It worked!
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Tempera paint for kids #ad
My painting is pictured here:
S is for Spring fork painting craft for preschool
This picture was made by me, the teacher, as a sample for my students to see.
fork painting for kids
Plastic forks are your paint brushes for the petals.

 

Stickers for spring

Butterflies and flowers stickers for kids #AD

 

Spring crafts for preschoolers; letter S is for Spring
Three paintings of tulips made by preschoolers, using plastic forks and tempera paints.

 

S is for Spring Fork-Painting Picture

Supplies
Card or Cover Stock
Small Paint Brush
Plastic Forks
S is for Spring preschool craft; fork painting; spring preschool lesson
Directions
Start with smocks. Little children are messy. They can’t help it.
Cover them up with an old shirt or smock before you start.
Paint stems and leaves of the flowers first, using a small paint brush and green paint.
Pour different color tempera paints on a plate.
Use a different fork for each color.
Paint tulip-shapes on the stems in various colors.
Let it dry.
Done!
Tip: if you have several children doing this project at the same time – our classroom had 13 – pre-label each piece of cover stock paper with each child’s name before they start to paint. That way the person who is labeling won’t get paint on themselves, as they might if you wait until after the picture is completed.

Enjoy!

                 
If you love this idea, wait till you see my post about ROCK PAINTING!  
Rock painting is fun!

Letter X is for Xylophone Preschool Craft

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As a preschool teacher, I have found the end of the alphabet to be quite challenging for themes. Our class has featured a different letter of the alphabet every week, from A – Z.

Now, our Z is for Zoo day [which is the final day of school] is easy. Think of the many possibilities; they are as diverse as the many creatures who LIVE in the zoo!

Letter W is for Weather day is another one that we really enjoy. There is so much to do!

Letter X is for Xylophone preschool craft #preschool

But I have found that X and Y are both hurting for good preschool craft ideas. So, this year I decided to combine two letter X’s. We featured X marks the Spot – our Dress Like A Pirate [or princess] day – and tacked on the Letter X is for Xylophone for the craft.

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You will see that the primary activity for  X marks the Spot is great fun. The children follow a treasure map that leads them to an “island” where there is a real treasure.  You can get all the details here => Letter X Marks The Spot Preschool Treasure Hunt Theme.   

Dressing like pirates and princesses and going on a treasure hunt really don’t need a huge craft project to compliment them. This little letter X craft can be built around discussion about xylophones and how to play one. If someone has a toy xylophone at home that they can bring in, all the better!

Fun and easy Letter X is for Xylophone #preschool craft! #kidscrafts Share on X

Letter X is for Xylophone Preschool Craft

 

Supplies

Card stock paper

Colored construction or copy paper

Letter X template

Crayons

Glue Stick

Preschool craft letter X is for Xylophone #kidscrafts

Directions

Print copies of the letter X template onto white card stock – one for each child

Color the inside of the X. Encourage the children to use their imaginations and do designs inside. My little group of artists almost always look at my design and try to duplicate it but we did have a few very original creations!

Cut rectangles from four different colors of paper. Each rectangle should be a bit shorter than the next. We were limited in time so I pre-cut them for the children.

Demonstrate for the children, using a glue stick,  how to “color” straight lines across the letter X and then press the colored papers onto the glue; place shortest rectangle at the top finishing with the widest piece at the bottom.

It is just that easy!

Oh, curious about letter Y?  We did Letter Y is for Yellow and learned about colors. 

Enjoy!

 

 

 


 

Colored Shaving Cream Is Really Fun To Paint With!

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Use foaming shaving cream and food coloring to make paints and PAINT wit them! #painting #preschool #kidsactivities
Isn’t this pretty?
The artist: a four year old.
The medium: shaving cream!
For a new experience and a very fun time, let your preschooler paint with foamy shaving cream. You can’t go wrong.
Tip #1: be sure that your little artist has at least 3 or more pieces of blank card stock to paint on. It goes fast but, if you keep ’em coming, this will keep your little one happily busy for some time!  
Tip #2: if you are doing this project with a group of children, write their names on their papers before they start. Doing it first will protect the delicate artwork as it dries. Otherwise, you may accidentally touch the page while trying to write on it.

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Mixing food coloring into shaving cream for homemade paints #preschool #kidsactivities
Use a muffin tin for your “paints.”
Squirt each one full of white shaving cream from the can.
Add some drops of food coloring to each.
Using a different craft stick for each color, mix the color through.
Paint with colored shaving cream for preschool fun #preschool

Ideally, it makes sense to have a different paint brush for each color but we don’t live in an ideal world. My students each had just one brush and they made it work fine! Even their “pallets” looked pretty.

Shaving cream painting for preschool fun! #preschool

Here is some real fun for young children >> give them colored shaving cream to PAINT with! #preschool #kindergarten #kidsactivities Share on X

Shaving Cream Painting Activity

Supplies
Foil Muffin Tins
Food Coloring
Foamy Shaving Cream
Small craft sticks for stirrers
Small paint brushes
Card or Cover Stock Paper
Smocks or old shirts to wear as protective gear

Directions
Spray shaving cream into each depression on the muffin tin.
Add several drops of food coloring to each.
Stir with a different stirrer for each color.
Using a paint brush, children “free-paint” on their page.
Lay the page(s) out to dry.

*If there are several artists in the room, pre-label each page in advance so that you can identify whose work of art is whose.

Click here for LOTS of preschool craft ideas!

Enjoy!


 

Cutest Little “O is for Ocean” Preschool Craft

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O is for Ocean paper plate craft for preschoolers #preschool #kidscrafts

The “O is for Ocean” preschool theme is one of my absolute favorites. We have two very strong activities that the children love:  O is for Ocean Fizzing Sensory Activity [also used for U is for Under the Sea] and this O is for Ocean Preschool Paper Plate Craft. 

What I love about this craft is that it is easy to pull together and simple to do. Being on a very limited budget, I used many components I found right at my home instead of going out and buying them.
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Here is what you’ll need:

 

Goldfish crackers – colors – in individual lunch packs!

O is for Ocean Paper Plate Craft

SUPPLIES
Black marker
Blue paper plates
Colorful bottle caps
Drinking straw
Glitter
Gold Fish crackers
Green tissue paper
Plastic container/plate for the glue
Q-tips
Rice or dried beans for sand
White school glue
White paint
Yellow copy or construction paper

 

Items you can use for the O is for Ocean paper plate #Kids craft
Directions

The only tricky part of this simply project is in getting the bottle caps and rice to stick. Be sure to allow some time for the glue to set before the children will be taking them home. 

Letter O theme, preschool, kindergarten, kids crafts, paper plate crafts
  • Pour some white school glue on the bottom edge of one side of the plate.
  • Spread it thinly using a Q-tip and immediately sprinkle rice on it.
  • Move the rice around by tipping the plate till it sticks. You may want to lightly press it into the glue. This will be the sand on the ocean floor.
  • Next, glue yellow paper triangles on the plate. They will be the tail fins for the larger fish.
  • Dip the bottle cap edges in the glue and set them over the tail.
  • Wait for it to set for a few minutes.
  • Add a drop of glue on the bottle caps and set a googly eye on.
  • Finally, draw the smile on each bottle cap.
  • Squiggle glue on the side of the fish and tail.
  • Sprinkle glitter on the squiggles.
  • Glue shredded green paper on as seaweed.
  • Glue Gold Fish crackers onto the plate.
  • Add some sea life stickers
  • Pour white tempera paint onto a clean space of your plate.
  • Using a plastic drinking straw, dip the end in the paint and lightly tap white rings on your scene as bubbles.*
*My little kiddos were “running out of steam” when we got to this part so, to preserve their enjoyment, we skipped the bubbles!
 
Tip: we “unveiled” each part of the project as we went along. Each adult took a table of four students to work with. We brought them the next parts of the project after they had completed the previous until it was complete. We’ve learned by experience that if you put it all out on the table “anything” can happen! LOL
 
 
kids crafts, preschool, kindergarten, teacher ideas, lesson plans preschool
Be sure that the U is for Under The Sea kids activity that FIZZES. Your kids will LOVE it!
Children's book - the pout pout fish
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Letter T is for Tee Pee Preschool Craft

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How to make a tee pee craft from waffle cones

Some craft projects for preschoolers stand out above the rest. This tee pee craft made out of waffle cones is one of them. My preschool class made this craft on “H is for House” day.  It was also our last time to meet before Thanksgiving so we killed “two birds with one stone”, so to speak, and made a Native American House (Tee Pee) as we learned the story of the first Thanksgiving.

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Story of the Pilgrims book

When you have your children make this craft, you will want to consider their ages and how many kids are involved. As a classroom preschool activity, there should be at least one adult helper for every 3 children for them to be involved in the whole process. If you don’t have that, I suggest preparing the top of the tee pees in advance and bringing them for the children to enjoy completing the preparation. That is what I did.

Older children can do so much more for themselves;  they will enjoy doing the tops, too.

 

preschool crafts, tee pees, Native Americans, H is for House

Tee Pee Craft

Supplies

Sunny Seeds or colored sprinkles
Thanksgiving display mat (optional – FREE printable below)

1. Clip the bottoms and tops of the waffle cones.

  • Tops: use scissors
  • Bottoms: pinch off bottoms with your fingers to make the bottom edge even and make a small entrance to the tent. Keep trying to stand it up as you even it off. If it topples over, pinch a tiny bit more off till it does stand. The cone is so brittle, using scissors will take too much off the bottom. Pinching works best!

2. Pre-test the size of the opening at the top of the cone. If two pretzel sticks do not fit in it at the same time, gently increase the size of the hole.
3. Melt the chocolates in a microwavable bowl or melting pot.
4. Dip the top of the cones in chocolate. Insert two pretzel sticks about 1-2″ long. Press them against the chocolate so that they stick. Lay them on their side to harden.
5. Take the waffle cones, after the tops have solidified, and dip the bottoms in the bowl of melted chocolate and then in a bowl of either colored sunflower seeds (pictured here) or sprinkles.
6. Lay them on waxed or parchment paper until dry.
7. Place a tee-pee on our display mat at the end of the stone walkway and you have a nice little scene!

FREE Printable Tee Pee Display Mat: Here


Supplemental Learning: Depending on the tribe, Native Americans lived in a variety of styles of houses: Tee Pees, Longhouses & Pueblo Homes

Enjoy!

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