Chipman's Corner Preschool

N is for Noodle Necklace

2013-03-07T06:21:00.000-08:00

Noodle necklace - fun for all ages! Take some noodles, dye them fun colors and make a necklace!

Here's the Recipe we used to dye our noodles:

What You Need:

rubbing alcohol
noodles
ziplock bags (cheap bags will leak, I speak from experience)
food coloring

What You Do:

Add noodles to bag.
Add 1/8 c alcohol for every 1/2 c noodles.
Add food coloring until you get the desired color.
Shake bags a bunch.
If needed, add more food coloring.
Dry overnight, spread out on a paper towel

M is for Maraca

2013-03-07T06:20:00.000-08:00

I found this fun idea on pinterest (where else right?). It has been a favorite around our house all week and it was so easy! I think I might need to make a class set for when I start doing classes again. These would also be great for singing time at church!

All you do is fill an Easter egg with something small and hard (beads, beans, rice, etc.). Then sandwich it with two plastic spoons and wrap in fun duct tape. Awesome!

Dr. Seuss Math

2013-02-28T10:00:00.001-08:00

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

For older kids - work on patterns

For younger kids - work on colors, matching, and counting

Dr. Seuss & Read Across America

2013-02-28T08:03:00.000-08:00

March 2nd is Dr. Seuss's birthday and National Read Across America Day. It is a day devoted to encouraging literacy and reading in honor of one of our nation's most beloved authors. We will be celebrating by doing Dr. Seuss activities this week and hanging out at our local library this Saturday. If you are looking for some good Dr. Seuss activities to do, here are some we've done in the past.

10 Apples Up on Top

Cat in the Hat hats

The Lorax plant holders (from Little Birdie Secrets)

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish venn diagram

Green Eggs and Ham

Cat in the Hat bow ties

We plan on spending the day reading in lots of fun places and in lots of fun ways. I hope you will participate this year!

M is for Magnet Math

2013-02-20T07:30:00.000-08:00

We love exploring with magnets - seeing what sticks and what doesn't, talking about why some metal things work and some don't, talking about why some things that don't seem metal (i.e. pipe cleaners) but still stick, etc.

This year we also added a little bit of math to our magnet fun. I cut up pipe cleaners into little pieces. Then, the girls tried to see how many they could get to stick on. After, we counted how many pipe cleaners were stuck to our magnet. It was good for practicing counting to high numbers.

Love Bug Valentine

2013-02-13T11:30:00.001-08:00

I can't take credit for this cutie but, I just had to share. Anya made these at the library story time. The rest of the day she would show us her love bug and ask, "Will you be my Valentine?" Too cute.

It's pretty easy - heart shape, black paper head, googly eyes and heart stickers.

L is for Letter

2013-02-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

We did a letter walk for letter L week. I wrote the alphabet around the edges of a plate and we walked around trying to find all the letters. When we found a letter, we folded it down and tore it off. (It was a styrofoam plate.)

Thank you to Whatdidudo2day for the fun idea!

L is for Library

2013-02-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

The library is a great place to encourage a love of reading. Libraries usually let kids get their own library card at age 4 or 5. Plus, many have great story times and activities for preschoolers. For letter L week, Anya was really excited to go and get her first library card!

We read this fun book - Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen - before we went.

It is about a lion who wants to go to the library. It discusses rules of the library in a fun story with great pictures. This book is really great for making inferences. Inferences are when you figure something out without the story telling you. For example, the lion walks away slowly with his head down. You figure out that the lion is sad.

We hope you'll have as much fun exploring your library as we do!

K is for Kangaroo

2013-01-25T13:56:00.000-08:00

I made this kangaroo pouch for letter K week. Anya absolutely loves it. She wore it all day and it is still a staple in her dress up wardrobe. Yes, it did involve sewing, but don't stop reading! I promise, it is a no fuss project. It seriously too me 10 minutes to cut and sew this bad boy. If the sewing machine and you are not the best of friends, you can still do this. So, please stick with me and I promise, it will all turn out okay! Just make sure to read the whole post before you write this project off.

For anyone who can sew a straight stitch on a sewing machine or can hand stitch, Here's What You Do:

Cut out two identical pouch shaped pieces from brown felt.
(Optional) Cut out a letter K from a different colored felt.
Cut two long pieces of ribbon.
Sew the letter K onto the right side of one of the pieces of felt.
Stack pouch, ribbon, pouch with right sides of the fabric together and the longest parts of each ribbon inside the stack.
Sew a 1/2 inch border around all sides except the top.
Flip right side out.

If you don't want to sew, you could do the same thing with cardstock and glue or a stapler. Happy hopping!

L is for Lion

2013-01-23T11:11:00.000-08:00

Who needs to wait for Halloween to dress up like a lion? Here's a fun deviation from the paper plate lion heads we did last year. Instead of using a paper plate, use a picture of the child.

Now that's one cute lion!

Here's What You Need:

1 X 6 orange strips
large photo of the child's face
glue
scissors
markers
construction paper

Here's What You Do:

Cut out the child's face and glue it onto the construction paper. For younger lions, draw a circle around the face to give them a guide where to glue the paper strips.
Glue the orange paper strips around the face by only putting glue at one end of the strip.
Draw a lion nose a whiskers.
Use scissors to carefully curl the strips like you would curling ribbon.

** Update: If you curl the paper around a pencil instead of with scissors, it gives a more coiffed look like the cowardly lion in the Wizard of Oz. I like it much better.

J is for Jumprope

2013-01-11T16:19:00.000-08:00

For any of you out there who was once an 8 year old, or has an 8 year old at home, this post is for you because it is a walk down memory lane!

We had fun jump-roping for letter J week.

Now sometimes, preschoolers aren't the most coordinated group. So instead of doing over the head jump roping, I just swung it back and forth and Anya jumped over it. The rope never got much higher than her knees.

We had fun singing jump rope songs . . . Cinderella, dressed in yella, went upstairs to kiss a fella . . . It was so much fun to try to remember the ones I used to sing in elementary school. Oh the memories!

We had fun counting how many times she could jump over the rope.

Then we ended with the jump rope snake game. Put the rope on the ground and wiggle it like a snake and try to jump over it without it touching you.

If you are a solo act (like me) without someone to hold the other end of the rope, just tie it to a table leg and then you only need one person to turn the rope.

Hat Pictograph

2013-01-10T13:24:00.001-08:00

We made these hat pictographs to tell a little bit about ourselves. Each hat was colored in a special way to tell about the person who colored it.

The hat color is their favorite color.
The number of sequins is how old they are.
The pom pom tells their gender.
The bottom part of the hat is colored in a certain pattern to tell about their favorite food.
For a free printable of this paper, go here.

I don't know if you noticed, but our picture is being held up by our fun airplane art holder.

Shape Snowman and 3-D Snow Paint

2013-01-05T11:09:00.001-08:00

We practiced our shape names and used those shapes to make a snowman. Then we used some "snow" paint to give our picture a 3-D effect.

Creating the snowman is pretty self explanatory - shapes (3 circles, 4 ovals, triangle, square, rectangle, & scarf shape), buttons, googly eyes.

To make the 3-D "snow" paint, mix equal parts of shaving cream and white glue. We used cotton balls to apply it so it was kind of bumpy, you can also use a paintbrush

Christmas Tree Math

2012-12-18T19:29:00.001-08:00

Roll a dice and add that many pom poms to your tree. Use one dice or two or use a 10 sided die.

Let's talk about dice!

There are a lot of different kinds of dice you can use for math games. I mainly use the standard 6 sided dice with dots or a 10 sided die. Depending on what the activity is and what skill I want them to practice, I will use different types.

6 sided with dots are a great way to practice counting and one to one correspondence. (Learning that you count one time for each dot or object in front of you.)
10 sided dice with the numbers are a great way to practice recognizing the numbers by sight. For example, I know that my daughter can count objects pretty well, but she has a hard time looking at a number 7 and knowing that means 7. So lately we have been using the 10 sided die more often to help her practice that.

Either way, both are great math tools and are worth having around to practice numbers!

Thank you to Kids Matter for the fun Christmas math idea!

Rick Rack Christmas Tree

2012-12-11T08:12:00.001-08:00

Here's a fun project that we did last year as a gift for our parents. I didn't post it before Christmas because I didn't want to ruin the surprise.

Click here for complete instructions.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

2012-11-29T07:58:00.000-08:00

We have been having a lot of fun using our fly swat activity lately.

Since we are working on the letter F and we've been swatting flies all over the place, I've been thinking a lot about the song There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. So, we made our own old lady who swallowed a fly.

This activity is an oldie, but a goodie. A baggie is attached to the back of the Old Lady cut out so that you can have her "eat" the animals by putting them into the baggie. Her stomach is cut out so that you can see what she's eaten. It's great to help remember the song and to help with the math skill sequencing. I'm sorry that I don't know where I got this, but I know there are a lot of these on the web if you just search on Google.

E is for Elephant

2012-11-27T13:08:00.001-08:00

An upside down hand print makes a fun and easy elephant art project.Just make a hand print with gray paint, add googly eyes, paper ears, and draw a tail!

Napping House Free Printable

2012-11-25T16:33:00.001-08:00

A while ago we did a fun activity with the book, The Napping House. This is seriously one of my favorite books of all time. It has a great rhythm, beautiful pictures, and it's fun! If you want a reminder of what we did, check out the old post here.

Someone emailed me and asked for a copy of the activity we did and I am happy to put it out there. Click here to get the free printable. Enjoy!

Turkey Treats

2012-11-19T17:29:00.002-08:00

Here's a fun turkey treat that you can use at your classroom or at home this Thanksgiving.

Here's What You Need:

2 oreo cookies
large sprinkles or frosting
frosting
circus peanut candy (I found mine on the bottom shelf in the candy isle at Walmart)
candy corn

Here's What You Do:

Stick candy corns in between one oreo cookie to make feathers.
Put a dab of frosting on the front of the circus peanut and add a candy corn for a beak.
Add eyes above the beak with frosting or sprinkles
Put a dab of frosting on the back of the circus peanut and stick it to the oreo with feathers.
Twist apart the other oreo and stick the turkey into the frosting to make it stand up.

Alphabet Fly Swat

2012-11-19T11:10:00.002-08:00

I don't know about you, but I hate flies. We live near a cow farm so flies are an inevitable part of our existence. Of course, since we have kids that love to play outside and often forget to close the door, flies are sometimes found flying around the house. My kids love it because I pay them 5 cents for every fly they kill. Plus, there is something satisfying about swatting something with a fly swatter.

Well, here is a fun way to practice your letters and get that satisfying swat without the annoying flies that actually buzz around. These fake flies are just the trick.

Put the alphabet fly pictures up on a wall or on the floor and call out the letter name or the letter sound. When the kids find the correct fly, they swat it with a fly swatter. Use as few or as many of the fly letters as you need to practice. Pretty easy and pretty fun!

Click here to get a free printable of the alphabet flies.

D is for Dumping

2012-11-11T04:56:00.000-08:00

What little kids doesn't love to dump their box of toys onto the floor and what mom isn't driven crazy by this behavior because I know I sure am! Here is an activity that will keep your kids busy for hours that allows them to dump their toys to their hearts content without driving you up the wall in the process.

Hang a sand bucket from the ceiling on a string or yarn. Under it, put a box full of toys. Make sure to add lots of toys that start with the letter d like: dolphin, dog, dice, domino, dragon, dinosaur, dragonfly, etc. Have your child find all the things that start with a letter d and put them in the bucket.

When they have found them all, dump it out and start over again. After you have found all the letter d toys a couple of times, you can do other searches like all the land animals or all the nonliving things or all the things that are blue, etc. At the end, just let your child fill and dump to their hearts content with what ever toys they want.

D is for Dots

2012-11-09T08:42:00.000-08:00

We painted dots using things we found around the house - q-tips, pencil eraser, bottle caps, etc. We also read a great book called Lots of Dots.

Danny and the Dinosaur Hats

2012-11-09T08:26:00.002-08:00

Danny and the dinosaur is a classic book that never goes out of style! We made some brontosaurus hats to go with our Danny and the Dinosaur book reading.

Here's What You Need:

2 green constuction paper cut 6" tall
1 yellow construction paper
Googly eyes
glue

Here's What You Do:

Draw the dinosaur legs, head and tail on the yellow construction paper. The legs were about 4 1/2" tall and the bottom was about 3" across. The head was about 10" long and the tail was about 9" long. I drew it like this:
Glue together 3 of the green papers that are 6" tall to make a tall headband. Fit it around your child's head and cut any extra length off.
Have the kids cut out the pieces. On the head, glue two googly eyes and a mouth.
Glue the head on the inside of the band on the middle so that the head curls up and over the child's head. glue the feet on each side and the tail in the back.
Glue the green paper together to make a headband.

Letter D Songs

2012-11-06T12:05:00.000-08:00

Here are some fun letter d activities involving music and movement.

Freeze Dance - D is for Dance!
You can dance in many different ways, with many different things to celebrate the letter D. We like to freeze dance. We use The Freeze song by Greg and Steve, but you don't need this song to freeze dance. Just turn on your favorite tunes, pick someone to be a DJ and dance until the music stops then freeze! Start dancing when the music starts again.

"We are the Dinosaurs"
By: Laurie Berkner Band

"Dinosaur Song"

(Sung to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It)
There are dinosaurs stomping all around.
There are dinosaurs stomping all around.
There are dinosaurs around, they are stomping all around.
There are dinosaurs stomping all around.

*You can replace stomping with other words like flying, swimming, roaring, etc.

5 Little Ducks

5 little ducks went out to play

Over the hills and far away

When mommy duck said, "Quack, quack, quack."

4 Little Ducks came waddling back

(Repeat, taking away one duck each time until you get to no little ducks . . .)

. . .When mommy duck said, "Quack, quack, quack."

No little ducks came waddling back.

But when daddy duck said, "QUACK, QUACK, QUACK!"

5 little ducks came waddling back.

Halloween Ideas

2012-10-31T13:51:00.004-07:00

I'm baaack. Life sure is crazy with another little one needing love and attention, but we are starting to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully, as things smooth out, I will be able to post regularly again. I'm finding the hardest thing is that as Anya and I do preschool together, half the time I am holding a baby. That makes taking pictures a little more complicated! Anyway, here are some Halloween fun activities and songs we have been doing the last couple of days:

The Skeleton Dance - This is awesome because it is catchy and fun. It is also great because the moves are mirrored so the kids are moving in the right direction. I just wish I would have had it when we studied bones recently.

The Improved Frankenstein - Last year we did this fun Frankenstein, but it kind of looked Shrek-ish. You can see the instructions and picture here.

So, we changed the golf tees and screwed in some screws instead. Once I got the screw started, it was easy for her to keep going. I like it much better!

Of course we had to read our favorite monster story to go with it:

Candy Corn Mosaic - I have seen this idea on a couple of different websites. Here is our version.

To begin we looked at, tasted, and talked about candy corn. We talked about color and shape, but I really wanted to focus on the words - top, middle, and bottom. This activity is great for color sorting, scissors practice and practicing vocab: top, middle, and bottom. We started with strips of white, orange, and yellow. Then cut those strips into squares. We put the white on top, the orange in the middle and the yellow on bottom. Pretty easy, but a lot of fun!