A quick idea or 2 before Christmas..... December and November were so busy I am hoping to post some ideas and add pictures between Christmas and New Years.
My class is big on drawing pictures for class made books. It try to come up with many ideas because those books are the favorite to read during rest time. Not enough to go around yet, but as the year continues more will be added. The favorite right now is How many apples on top. I got the idea from a teaching website. I take a picture of the child's face and glue it to a paper. On the top of the paper I type _________ has ______ apples on top. They roll the dice to see how many apples they will draw on top of their head. At the bottom I write ___ apples are on the ground. They again roll the dice to draw on the bottom of the page. Lesson on math and spatial awareness.
At Christmas I use to do this little Wise man page with 3 blank squares. The children would paste gold paper on one, squirt perfume on another and a little spice on another. We then would take 3 squares of wrapping paper and tape them over the gifts at the top to make a flap. We added little mini stick on bows and I would write for them the gifts of the wise men gold, frankincense and myrrh. This year I had a little brain storm to make a class book but ended up letting the children take their page home. At the top I had typed out The Wise men brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. There was a big square in the middle of the page and at the bottom I wrote If I could give baby Jesus a gift I would give him_________.
I was amazed to find that only one child wanted to give him toys. One wanted to give him milk, several wanted to give him a flower, and I don't remember everything they said but it was cute. The children drew a picture in the box of what we would give and then we taped a big square of wrapping over for the flap and put a bow on our present. I could not figure out how to make it last as a book, but when I do we will keep them in class next year.
One quick little idea. Home made play dough, if your little ones are getting fresh play dough make it homemade. IT lasts longer, and works better. You can even make surprise play dough by poking a hole in the middle and putting a few squirts of food color in the middle. When the children squeeze their play dough it will make a color as they mix the coloring in. Don't put too many squirt 3 little ones is enough to give color and not make a huge mess. My favorite recipe is:
My Favorite Play dough Recipe
(this is a double batch)
2 Cup flour
1 Cup salt
4 tsp. cream of tarter
2 T. oil
2 Cup water
food color or unsweet koolaide (for smelly play dough)
Put dry ingredients in a sauce pan. Stir in water and oil and coloring, while cooking over med heat. Cook until mixture comes away from the pan and begins to ball up. Store in air tight container. Keeps for a very long time.
