Take a Hike

No, literally, strap on your tin can stilts and stomp around! This activity does involve lots of falling, but even more getting back up and trying again.

Kid Quotes

"Look Ms. Bonnie, I drew Jabba the Hutt!"
 

"Ms. Bonnie, I have cinnamon in my nose."

"Ms. Bonnie, Look! I drew a letter P!" (shouts a kid who just used permanent marker on a whiteboard)

"but it's an irrasable marker!"

"Please Ms. Bonnie, can we make something out of these?" (regarding the tin foil wrappers on our lunch burritos)

Pushing is Ok

How many times do you tell the kids not to push each other? Well, here's an activity that requires a little shove. Take some lightweight plastic tricycles and set them up in a big empty room with a slippery hard floor and maybe a few bumpy carpets. The lack of friction between the plastic wheels and the hard floor makes it almost impossible for a single child to adequately move and steer their own trike. Let another child stand behind them and push their shoulders or seat, and then you've got some motion. This double kid triking requires considerable teamwork in steering, stopping, and generally deciding where to go. The motor kid on the back gets a great workout, and the rider kid in the front gets a thrill ride. The kids in my class have been quite good about switching riders and pushers, alternating frequently without my prompting.

Flashcards with Eyeballs

Adding eyeballs to things make them cuter. Kids like cute things. So obviously flashcards should all have eyeballs, right?

Introducing: the first two sets of cute eyeballed flashcards. And yes, the kids play with them way more than with the generic flashcards.

These owls are very shy and nervous and they feel better if they are in a line with the other owls, next to the owls with the numbers on their bellies that come next in order.

These baby penguins are all mixed up, and want to find their mommy penguins. Match the lowercase baby penguins with their uppercase mommy penguins.

Enjoy!

Toliet Paper: Not Just for Wiping Butts

Looking for a sensory table filler that costs nothing, is easily kid clean-up-able, and won't hurt when thrown? Look no further than your paper good supply closet.

Fun on a roll. Take a clean roll of TP, rip it at the perferations, and fill your sensory table. Now there's a cheap way to spice up your science area. Add a few dishes, and plastic baskets (special request of the kids), and let them go at it. The only rule I had for this activity was that any paper that fell on the floor had to be thrown away, and not put back in the sensory table bins. The kids did really well at following this rule. The filled the baskets and carried them all over the room, and still the clean-up was incredibly easy.

Recommended!

A House for Eyeore

I found myself in the posession of 30 or 40 rolled up newspaper "sticks" and no apparent use for them. Our class had recently become the proud owners of a boxed collection of "The House At Pooh Corner", some of the classic Winnie the Pooh stories by A.A.Milne. As luck would have it, one of the girls brought in a large stuffed Eyeore on the same day that we decided to read In Which a House Is Built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore. The only reasonable plan of action for the morning was to take the newspaper sticks and build a house for our visiting stuffed Eyeore.

I whipped together the box frame and "roof" shape using a stapler and some tape, then I let the kids go from there. They added more sticks with tape, and even taped on some paper walls (their own idea).

Squealing with delight, they bowled each other over crawling in and out of the tiny house. This necessitated some serious reconstruction, but all together the house was not completely destroyed until about four thirty in the afternoon.

Future Topics on Preschool Learning is Fun

Topics I would like to cover on Preschool Learning is Fun:

~Table Toys Center
~Math Center
~Dramatic Play Center
~Art Center
~Science Center
~Blocks and Transportation Center
~Library Center
~Computer Center
~Legos and Tools Center
~Closet Library
~Window Art
~Letter of the Week
~All About Me Box
~Holiday Projects
~Farm Week
~Wipe-Off Boards
~Easel Painting
~Crayons vs Markers vs Pencils vs Chalk vs Water
~Kid Initiated Games
~Kid Initiated Art
~Trains
~Strategies for Sharing
~Clocks and Time
~Handwriting Without Tears Program
~Free Play Art Center Fads
~Cardboard Boxes
~Newspaper Houses
~PomPom Accorns
~Tricycle Teamwork