Spring, Spring, Spring!

What are some signs of spring? Spring makes me think of birds returning, weather getting warmer, gentle rain, the grass turning green, and plants beginning to bloom. Frogs are a'hopping by the pond and turtles are lazing in the sun. Decisions, decisions!! Luckily I have my spring activities and art boards on Pinterest to help me narrow my choices.

Little H LOVES the color yellow so this bird nest caught my eye rather quickly at Mrs. T's First Grade Class. Remember ... when an adult does all the cutting, a project done by an older child can easily be adapted for a younger one. But to make it look really different from the chick we did in March, I think I'll change the bird color to red. Luckily that bag of feathers I bought for the chick project included orange and red feathers as well!

Can't take the teacher out of me ... I'm beginning to think of possible games when I visit the dollar store! I grabbed these small Easter eggs, but don't plan to use them till mid-April. We'll pretend they are bird eggs ... Little H is VERY good at pretending! I put two nests on the workmat so I could vary our counting activities. This way I can call out a number or show her a number card to fill each nest. Then we can compare the eggs to work on some math vocabulary: more and less. At two and a half, she really doesn't have a good grasp on that concept yet. If she shows interest, we could also do some simple addition problems.

Then while looking at some of her other class projects I found a simple rainy weather craft. Coloring this umbrella will be a snap with her Do-a-Dot paints. Think she'll glue it on a pale blue background and maybe add some raindrops with dark blue tempera. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Hmmm, I think we need to have more painting this spring and in a project that allows more expression for Little H.  Teaching 2 & 3 Year Olds had a Cherry Blossom Craft that I thought looked like fun ... just hope Little H thinks it's fun too! Sometimes she just wants to glue and it's sure a lot less mess for me to clean up so I'm happy to oblige!

Goodness knows, I always have plenty of wine corks around so we can use those for the pink blossoms. Not sure how the feather will work for the stem, but I still have plenty so we'll give it that old college try! If she finds it frustrating I can always have her use the end of her paintbrush to paint the branch.

My friends know that I'm not really an outdoorsy kind of gal, but Little H does love all kinds of  animals. Since I've already come up with a "bird" craft I think we'll do an animal from the pond. (Yes ... the Pinterest junkie has a board for that too!) I saw a turtle at Preschool Activities that gave me an idea. I don't want to repeat all those dots I have planned for the umbrella. Instead, I thought I'd cut out squares of tissue and have her place them on the turtle shell. Then we'll spray water on the tissue and let it dry.  The tissue paper will bleed a pattern on the shell and when the tissue is dry, we'll remove it. Repetition problem solved! There Was a Little Turtle is a cute rhyme we could do and Five Little Speckled Frogs would be a great pond song to learn. Uh oh ... might have to have some frog stick puppets too!

 FTM posted this gift idea as a frugal Mother's Day gift and I quite agree! I just happened to find a 5x7 shadow box in my closet that would make a perfect frame. Then I kept looking and found some bright green polka-dot ribbon to make the bow. I'll just need to cut some tissue paper squares and this will be ready to go!

I never used cupcake liners to make flowers before so I decided to look at Hobby Lobby and see if they had any spring designs. Sure enough ... jackpot! I found striped lines in spring colors.  A little more searching and I found some jeweled flower stickers in matching colors that would look great in the middle. Thank you Crafty Crow for the great idea!

March Madness

I love March! I get to welcome spring and a return to warmer weather, the leprechaun can play his harmless tricks, and the best ... March Madness!! Well, that last one's really for me and certainly not Little H.

So what have I got planned for the month? Well ... that's a kind of madness in itself since I'm going to be hopping around to a variety of topics. First on the list: Dr. Seuss to go along with Read Across America on March 2nd. I've already checked out Little H's personal library and she has quite a few Dr. Seuss books ... lucky little girl! I plan on starting the day by making green eggs and ham. Then I'll have an assortment of Seuss activities interspersed throughout the day, making sure she has time to play as well.

Definitely want to share Dr. Seuss's ABC book since I try to work in some letter work each time I sit. Thought that could be followed up by some gross motor activities suggested by 3 Dinosaurs.

Then I made some green egg shapes with letters on the yolks. Little H will have to name the letter correctly and when she does she'll get to lift it into a frying pan. I adapted the idea after looking at this picture/post from The Homeschool Den.

And for the art project, I'll have all of the pieces precut to assemble a Cat in the Hat. Thank you Mrs. Saylor for the idea! Now mind you, it's not going to look quite like the picture since I had to draw all of the pieces freehand ... God, I LOVE that little girl!









But we can't forget a math activity! Obseussed has this cute counting mat to go along with the book 1 Fish 2 Fish. Mmmm, I'm not sure my son realizes what kind of prep and thought goes into each day that I watch Little H.

When I used to teach first grade I just loved that tricky little leprechaun. Luckily I discovered I had quite a few leprechaun books saved from my teaching collection that I can now share with my granddaughter.

I think I will adapt the coin activity at fun-a-day.com. Note to self: make a letter workmat and go shopping for some gold coins. The coins could be used as a stand alone - name the upper case letter or as a matching activity with the workmat of lower case letters.

I found a short counting song on youtube: Counting with a Leprechaun that Little H will like. Then there's this counting fingerplay as well. Little H does like her music and amazingly keeps a steady beat when clapping along. So-o-o I kept searching and found another one: The Little Leprechaun Song.



123Homeschool 4 Me had a handprint rainbow project that i picked because it looked a little different than all the other rainbow crafts out there - kudos to your creativity!! Guess I'll need to get those coins for sure now - this pot needs them too!  Next I found a cute shamrock painting idea to do with q-tips at crafty morning.com. I'm a little worried about taping q-tips together (they seem so fragile) so I'll tape three pencils together instead. Little H will be able to grip that easily and dipping the eraser end in the paint should work just fine! I'll round it off the day with some printables from my trusty pinterest board.

Since Easter falls on the first Sunday in April this year, I'll probably do an Easter theme the last week of March and then continue into the first week of April. Unfortunately I don't have a source for the first craft  pictured below. Might have to let her decorate that eggshell though to I've it more of an Easter look.

Adventures-In-Mommy-Land has a cute peeps craft. Guess that means I better include some peeps in her Easter basket ... Mommy & Daddy please don't hate me!

There are plenty of printables and videos available on my Easter board so I'll wait before making those selections ... Little H changes so quickly in what she can and cannot do! But I do know I'll be making a run to the Dollar Store and stocking up on some plastic eggs ... SO many ways to use those in play/learning activities.

February Is Here!

Well thanks to the frigid chill at the beginning of January I still have a mitten craft to do this February. The wind chill got to 50 below at the beginning of January so I missed a week of babysitting ... both parents opted to stay home and tag team Little H and that meant I got to stay home too! Some of our crafts didn't go quite as planned (she wanted NO part of the white shred and I was happy to accommodate her) since the emphasis last month was on potty training. But she's now wearing those big girl panties and quite proud of herself!! Here are four of our projects from January.

We also did some very casual activities with the first set of letters in Jolly Phonics. One week we worked with magnetic letters: finding the letter as I called its name or made its sound and some simple sound blending. Then the following week I introduced her to a tabletop pocket chart and letter cards. I'd call a letter name and she got to put it in the pocket. Then I modeled some simple sound blending of 3 letter words. She quickly caught on and unfortunately for me ( I only made one set of alphabet cards) she wanted to name a word and have me build it ... doesn't work when we're playing "baby" all day and that was THE word she wanted!!

A great place to start looking for February ideas was at the 1+1+1=1 blog. I signed up for her free printables and she offers amazing resources. Oh to be younger and have that kind of energy once again! Another wonderful site I check regularly is Gift of Curiosity. Be sure to sign up for her printables as well. I'll need to cut out 5 red hearts and then we can use the following chant for our number practice:

Five little valentines, I bought at the store.
gave one to Mother, now I have _____. 

Four little valentines, pretty as can be.
I gave one to Daddy, now I have _____. 

Three little valentines, red, white and blue.
I gave one to brother, now I have _____. 

Two little valentines, enough for everyone.
I gave one to sister, now I have ______. 

One little valentine, what should I do?I know what, I'll give this one to you!          By Jean Warren

Since she doesn't have a brother, I'll substitute with "Poppa" and use "Grandma Sharon" for sister. Then I could repeat using names for the many stuffed characters she has.

    

Woo Hoo!! I scored some craft foam hearts in the $1 bin at Target so we'll be able to make valentines for Mom and Dad. Add some sticker jewels and we'll be ready to go. Letter work could be this cute "heart" song:

I picked up some valentine themed paper at Hobby Lobby and I'll just have to pick one of the heart crafts from my valentine pinterest board to round off the day. 

Hmmmm ... maybe we'll  focus on Abraham Lincoln and George Washington for the latter part of the month. I don't think I saved any of my classroom books on these two presidents, but I'll go through what I have stored just in case. If I don't find anything, there's a simple timeline at Abraham Lincoln for Young Readers that I will use as an introduction. TeacherVision has a short video and I like how they mention that he lived in a log cabin.

Momma Smiles has a simple log cabin craft and the only thing I'll need to get are the craft sticks. I like the idea of the penny in the window - I used to do a similar project when I taught first grade, but that one used pretzel sticks and the cabin took a LOT of pretzels. If I know Little H ...she would be more into eating those pretzels than glueing them! For number practice, we can count pennies and even make a penny person. Then we can count how many pennies in 1 leg or both ...you get the idea. For a movement activity I can sing the following song and we can march ... Little H just loves to march around the house:

Lincoln Was the President

Lincoln was the president
Who helped to free the slaves.
He was honest; he was brave
We call him Honest Abe!                Sung to the tune of "Yankee Doodle" & adapted from Jean Warren

Now on to George Washington ...

Creative Teaching has a cute Washington craft. Yes, I know this comes from a kindergarten post but I could have the pieces cut out and when you're working side-by-side giving directions, it really isn't a problem. We would just do the Washington portion and I would probably have Little H glue it to a red background. If I don't use that craft I found a a darling President's Day Craft Book! I'm a member of TPT and whoopee ... it's a free download. There's no way we could do this in one day but I could pick two of the pages or split it up into two weeks with a morning/afternoon session on both days.

I'm thinking we also need a little song: 

My Hat
My hat it has 3 corners.(form triangle above head)
Three corners has my hat.
If it did not have 3 corners,(raise 3 fingers fingers)
It would not be my hat. (shake head sideways)

Just in case I decide we need to make a matching hat, there's a pattern at A to Z Teaching Stuff.

I don't know if she's familiar with the legend of George and the cherry tree so I might have to do a little background. 

Then there's a fingerplay to go along with the legend:

George Washington(Sung to "Yankee Doodle")

One time there was a little boy
Who had a little hatchet (chop with hand on opposite wrist)
He looked and looked around to find (hands above your eye)
A little tree to catch it.

At last he spied a cherry tree (point away from you)
His father's pride and joy (raise arms in excitement)
He chopped it down, right to the ground. (chop hand)
My! What a naughty boy! (shake your finger back and forth)

And then he heard an angry voice (hand raised by ear)
It sounded like a cymbal. (clap on the word cymbal)
George knew he was in trouble great (point to your head)
And he began to tremble (shake)

Who cut this tree, my son did you? (arms out in shrug)

His father asked the question.

Yes ... was I. I cannot lie. (nod head up and down)

I cut it with my hatchet! (chop with hand on opposite wrist)

Chorus:
Georgie, Georgie, no, no, no.
Be careful what you do.
Hatchets can be dangerous
And you might get hurt too!

Maybe we can sort a pile of coins. This would be good introduction to coin identification. After we make our groups we could put them in rows or columns and practice counting. At the end we might try some coin rubbings ... we did that in the fall with leaves. Fun-A-Day has a penny/quarter sorting mat I could print. Or ... I could get some star stickers and do some counting with those.

Let It Snow

I'm using this holiday break from babysitting to shore up some ideas for January. You know me ... better to have a wealth of ideas to choose from than a day with nothing planned.  Do I expect to use all the songs & fingerplays next month? NO WAY!! A two-year-old can be quite capricious and this just becomes part of Grandma's "bag of tricks." But she's come to expect that Grandma will have some kind of craft so that part is a given. Other than clean-up, I LOVE this part of our time together!!

The weather here has been unseasonably warm and there isn't any snow on the ground. However, when you live in the Chicagoland area, you can pretty much guarantee we'll see snow in January so I feel a snow theme is pretty safe.

Art Projects:

Friends and family say I'm out of control with my pinning. So there's certainly plenty to choose from on my preschool art board for winter!  I already included a canvas snowflake for Little H to paint in her birthday art box so that's out. I can hardly wait to see how it turns out. I found it at Ten Kids and a Dog.

  One of my Christmas gifts to my son and daughter-in-law needed three (yes three!) bags of white shredded paper. Corey was quite happy to empty the Santa basket full of craft beer, chocolates, and gift cards, and leave me with the white shredded paper ... a WIN-WIN! I plan to use the shred on a cute snowman from BabyCenter Blog. So that leaves 3 more art projects.


Decisions, decisions! I really like the snow globe over at Rainbows Within Reach blog. The marble painting isn't something we've done yet, even though I did plan a similar activity for February in her birthday art box. I'm also concerned about how tiny the facial features would have to be. Grandma, I want to do it myself!!! Mmmm ... maybe I should leave this for next year's art box!

So I looked for another snow globe. I like the simplicity of the snow globe made with pom moms at the wehaveraars blog. There would only be a few pieces to precut and everything is large which should make it easier for those tiny fingers to grab. I would probably have her mount it on a background sheet and we could still do some painting just for fun on her easel that day. More learning in process than product!







I'm  thinking one week needs to be collage. I've learned that Little H loves to put things on top of glue. She also likes to take them off and rearrange them much 
to this Grandma's dismay!!

 

How to Run a Home Daycare has a mitten project 

I like that starts with painting.  But I would probably expand the decorating portion. In addition to adding cotton balls (which I have), I'll need to stop at Hobby Lobby for stickers, buttons, ribbon,  or pom poms. I think Little H would enjoy adding extras for a more 3-D effect. This  means painting in the morning so it will have time to dry, and then designing in the afternoon. I like projects that we can come back to in the same day.

At the end of the month I want to introduce her to Groundhog Day. I have to admit ... most of what I found didn't thrill me. But I still have some groundhog books from my teaching days : note to Grandma ... find them! All Kids Network has a very simple groundhog shadow project that even includes the groundhog template. I already picked up  Mickey's Silly Shadow book for a Science project so I could combine both that day.

Science:

I found a cute project that demonstrates what happens to snow
when you bring it in the house over at Teach Preschool. We'll
get to make a snowman in a bag once it snows. I'll have to get
some black buttons and I can use orange craft foam for the nose.
Will she be surprised when it melts????

Now if I am feeling really brave or just a little crazy one day,
we'll have to make Frozen Erupting Snow! PagingFunMums  takes you step-by-step through the process. It looks like a LOT of fun but also
quite messy. I would definitely need to buy a LARGE tub of some sort
to contain the erupting snow! Better make myself a shopping list: baking soda, shaving cream, blue glitter, vinegar, and a BIG tub!

Fingerplays & Songs:

Five Little Snowmen

Five little snowmen on a winter’s day.

The first one said, “Wake up so we can play.”

The second one said, “Let’s stomp on the ground.” 

The third one said, “Let’s roll around.”

The fourth one said, ”Let’s run and run and run.”

The fifth one said, “I’m afraid I feel the sun.”

“Oh dear,” cried the snowmen, 
As they looked toward the sky.

And the five melting snowmen waved a fond goodbye. 

Snowman Surprise

(to the tune of: “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”) 

Roll, roll, roll the snow,

To just the perfect size.

A nose, a mouth, and two black eyes – 

You made a snow surprise! 

Snowy Pokey

(to the tune of: “Hokey Pokey”)

You put your right mitten in. You take your right mitten out,

You put your right mitten in and you shake it all about.

You do the snowy pokey and you turn yourself around. That’s what it’s all about.

Other verses:

~ You put your left mitten in.

~ You put your scarf in.

~ You put your right boot in. 
~ You put your left boot in.
 ~ You put your hat in.

~ You put your snow self in. 

Itsy-Bitsy Snowflake

(to the tune of: “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider”) 

The itsy-bitsy snowflake

Fell down from the sky.

It landed on my nose

And bounced upon my eye. 
It slid down to my chin

And it landed on my tongue. 
Then it melted all away.

My snowflake song is done! 

The Wintery Wind

(Sung to the tune of "Happy Birthday")

The winter wind blows

The winter wind blows

It gives me the shivers

From my head to my toes!

Videos:

Biggest, Best Snowman (story)
Groundhog Day (story by Gail Gibbons)
Groundhogs
I'm a Little Snowman Song
Little Snowflake Song
Polar Bear Mom and Cubs
Snowmen at Night
The Snowman
Why Is Winter So Cold?
Winter Preschool Songs-Let's Get Dressed

Christmas Songs & Fingerplays

I love having a "bag of tricks" while babysitting such an active two year old! Since I found the Thanksgiving songs and fingerplays helpful I decided I'd better prepare for the next holiday. Now that the weather is getting so cold, we won't be able to take that break outside like we did in the fall.

CHRISTMAS SONGS
Sometimes it's more fun to sing along with a quick video and I found some cute ones.

Five Little Reindeer

A Teacher's Touch has a cute song chart. This song is based on 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.

Reindeer Pokey

(Sung to the tune of "The Hokey Pokey")

You put your antlers in

You put your antlers out.

You put you antlers in and you shake them all about.

You do the Reindeer Pokey and you turn yourself around.

That's what it's all about!

Next verses ...

You put your hooves in... repeat as above

You put your red nose in....

You put your fluffy tail in...

You put your reindeer body in...

Little H hates and I mean HATES wearing things on her head. But I found some $1.00 antlers at Target and a cute Rudolph nose for $3 that I hope she'll put on when we learn this Christmas version of the Hokey Pokey. If not, Grandma will be a good sport and wear them and I'm sure Little H will get a case of the giggles.

Santa

(Sung to the tune of BINGO)

There is a man we know so well,

And SANTA is his name Ho

S A N T A

S A N T A

S A N T A

And SANTA is his name HO!

Each new verse we"ll leave off a letter and clap in its place.

Note to self: I need to make large letter cards for that song. It would probably help Little H if I made 5 picture cards of "clapping hands" to cover each letter as we omit the letters. I could also do a large picture of Santa so she knows what we are spelling and then place the S-A-N-T-A underneath.

Ten Little Angels 

(Tune: "Ten Little Indians") 

1 little, 2 little, 3 little Angels 

4 little, 5 little, 6 little Angels 

7 little, 8 little, 9 little Angels 

10 little Angels in the band.

Wasn't that a band on Christmas morning 

Wasn't that a band on Christmas morning 

Wasn't that a band on Christmas morning 

Christmas morning coming soon.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas - Hummingbird Educational Resources

(traditional--with a twist) 

We wish you a Merry Christmas, 

We wish you a Merry Christmas, 

We wish you a Merry Christmas, 

And a Happy New Year!

    (Hold hands and walk around in a circle as you sing this part.  We do a little step-together, step-together dance step at this time) 

    *Do actions as indicated in each verse! 

Let's all do a little clapping, 

Let's all do a little clapping, 

Let's all do a little clapping, 

To spread Christmas cheer! 

Repeat "We wish you a Merry Christmas" chorus 

Let's all do a little hopping 

    Chorus 

Let's all do a little twirling 

    Chorus 

Let's all do a little stomping 

    Chorus 

Let's all do a little snapping 

    Chorus

Where Is Santa?

(Tune:  Where is Thumbkin?) 

Where is Santa? Where is Santa? 

Here I am! Here I am! 

Merry, Merry Christmas 

Merry, Merry Christmas 

Ho, ho, ho! Ho, ho ho!

You need Santa finger puppets for this. You start with them hidden behind your back and then reveal.

MOVIES and VIDEO CLIPS

Disney Christmas Cartoons

Disney's Christmas and Winter Classics 2014 This video starts with a Chip & Dale cartoon that is one of my all time favorites!!

Kidsongs.com Presents: "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"  This is a 30 minute video of Christmas songs.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

SESAME STREET: Elmo Visits Santa

This Grandma even found a message from Santa! Think I'll save this for the week before Christmas.

Message from Santa

Learning a fingerplay can be a good activity for a transition and sometimes I use them as a lead-in to a story I'll be reading or a craft. She still looks to me for amusement at this age and with a limited attention span I like having a variety of choices in case what I pick doesn't catch her attention. Once she's familiar I like to give her the option of choosing.

FINGERPLAYS

Christmas Candy

Original author unknown

I took a lick of my peppermint stick
(Pretend to lick candy.)
And was it ever yummy!
(Lick lips.)
It used to be on my Christmas tree.
(Form tree shape with hands.)
Now, it's in my tummy!
(Rub stomach.)

Down Through The Chimney - Thank you Marty Layne

 Down through the chimney Santa slipped,

 (creep fingers downward) 

Brushed off the dirt and snow that dripped, 

(brush clothes)

 Looked 'round the room

 (shade eyes, look around) 

And then he crept 

(tiptoe) 

Right past the beds where the children slept. 

(rest head on hands)

 Laid all the presents 
(pantomime laying presents) 

Under the tree, 

(hands form pointed tree above head)

 Filled the stockings 

(fill stockings) 

For the children to see, 
(hand shades eyes) 

Then tiptoed 

(tiptoe) 

to the chimney and was out of sight. '

Till he jumped into his sleigh and flew off through the night.

Gingerbread Man - Thank you Marty Layne

Stir a bowl of gingerbread

(stir as in a bowl)

Smooth and spicy brown.

Roll it with a rolling pin up and up and down

(pretend to use a rolling pin)

With a cookie cutter

(pretend to use the cookie cutter to cut out men)

Make some little men.

Put them in the oven

(pretend to open oven door and place inside)

Till half past ten.

Here Is the Chimney (fingerplay video)

Santa's Fingerplay
Someone's peeping through my window,
(peek through fingers)
Tapping at my door
(make knocking motions)
Sliding down my chimney
(make sliding motion with hands)
Landing on the floor.
(stamp feet)
He's filling all the stockings,
(make filling motions)
And looking at the tree.
(turn head and widen eyes)
He has lots of presents
(pretend to count on fingers)
Some for you and some for me!
(point at others and then at self)
Im peeking round the doorway,
(peek around hand)
And OH!, what do I see?
(look surprised)
The jolly face of Santa
(smile)
Peeking back at me!
(peek through fingers)

When Santa Comes - thank you Marty Layne

When Santa comes to our house,

(hands make pointed rooftop)

I would like to peek,

(hand over eyes and peek)

But I know he'll never come

(shake your head no)

Until I'm fast asleep.

(rest your head on your hands)