Heart Butterflies Art Project - Great for Preschool through 2nd Grade

Heart Butterflies are an easy art project for Valentine's Day, Life Cycle theme or even a Spring project.


Use one of the Heart patterns from the Sampler Download Membership (www.Tools4PreschoolandKindergarten.com).  The complimentary membership contains several sizes of hearts.


Cut out 2 of the hearts per art project and have the students decorate using markers, glue and glitter, magazine pictures, letters - example: B, stickers, yarn or anything that would be developmentally appropriate for your group. Let the hearts dry.


Use a large craft / popsicle stick to paste the pointed tips of the hearts onto (place on the upper area of the stick).  Leave enough room to glue googly eyes and antennae onto the butterfly (or draw them onto the stick).


This project can also be used to create puppets for circle time, to act out a story or even a rhyme. 


This is a great after school activity for even older students when you need to pass a few minutes in between activities or assignments.

Framework Recommendations - Preschool - Use in Daycare and Home School

This list was compiled awhile ago but is still very pertinent today. It includes many of the recommended guidelines for preschool to early kindergarten leveled curriculum.

http://www.pbcframework.resource4preschool.com/frameworkguidelines.pdf

Special Days in your Classroom or Daycare ... Home School - It's a Party Event

Have a special day every week. Children (like adults) love to have something to look forward to doing.

The special days can be something as simple as Bubble Day ….. Set up a bubble table and have the children see how many bubbles they can fill up the room with (while blowing several bubble sticks – everyone at the same time).

Another would be 'Plane' Day – Make paper airplanes and fly them around the room or outdoors. Have contests to see which will fly the farthest or the fastest.

Have a book party – everyone bring their favorite short read – provide a special snack and take turns reading. Another option would be to read a book that has a coordinating movie – read the book first – then watch the movie during rest time and discuss it afterwards.

Backwards Day is always popular – wear your clothes backwards, come to school in pajamas, eat dessert first, have rest time before lunch – anything that gets the kids giggling.

Favorite Toy Day – Let everyone bring their favorite toy to play with during free time.

There are so many options – you could have a different special day every week for the entire year without repeating the event.

Some additional suggestions:

Camping Day

Carnival

Beach Party

Art Fair

Grown-up Day

Do something Special Day

Song Day

Fashion Show

Hat Day

Favorite Cartoon Day

Circus Day

Luau Day

Pajama Party

Puppet Day

and so many more!

Play Dough / Clay Doh - No Cream of Tartar Needed - Great Preschool Recipe

Have you ever ran out of Cream of Tartar? 


Seriously ... the other day I was making some new dough for the kids and absolutely no cream of tartar. So I made several different kinds of 'doh' - all without the cream of tartar (which has always been my favorite type) and realized that the play doughs with oil have a nice consistency. 


After experimenting ..... I discovered (many of you may already realize this ..... and your one ahead of me) that adding a little oil to any of the basic clay doh recipes will make them more malleable and of a decent texture. 


Now our play dough area smells great with peppermint, coffee, pumpkin / cinnamon and some type of candy scent - and yes I did make that many different recipes to experiment with adding a little oil - and they all turned out great. 


One more thing ...... I did have to add a little extra flour to some of the recipes when kneading the dough. Hope you find this helpful .... and have a great day. 

Art Supply list Suggestions for Early Childhood Classrooms and Daycare

If you are home schooling, teaching via day care or an instructor in a school system – supplying the classroom with basic materials for hands-on learning is a necessity.  I know that when I began Peanut Butter Crunch years ago (it took me over a year just to complete the initial submission for the site which is a fraction of what is on the site now) – I began with the homeschool / private care provider in mind.  Individuals usually do not begin with an abundance of resources – money or otherwise – but still want the same or better educational value that the larger institutions are providing. 

So with that in mind, I created basic theme sets that needed very little beyond the very basic art supplies. Crayons, markers, glue, paper, salt / glitter, scissors, etc…. things that most households have on hand with little ones around.  I also felt it pertinent to make it affordable – especially in today’s economic environment.  I know – because I have been repetitively told – that the value for PBC is incredibly higher than what little I am asking for monthly memberships – but I also know ink / toner and printer cost money too ….. and if you need more than one item because you teach 5 or 15 students – the price of resources can nickel and dime you to death or at least bankrupt your savings account.  After experiencing what one small resource book costs - let alone 50 - I decided that everyone that works with early childhood education leveled students needed a very affordable / convenient tool to assist in teaching our children.  Peanut Butter Crunch was 'born'.

In addition to curriculum, I thought it would be nice to add some suggestions here at Legend of Learning for the daycare / private provider .... so for starters .....

In this installment to Legend of Learning (this was my original attempt at blogging) – I thought I would create a list (not completely comprehensive – but a good start) for the ‘basic’ art supplies needed in your home school / daycare area.

Crayons

Markers (thick & thin)

GluePaste

Paper (lined, construction, cardstock, shiny, wrapping, heavy ‘butcher’  style ….. too many to list)

Colored Tissue

Chalk

Tape (packing, duct, masking, clear, etc….)

Food Coloring

Tempera Paint

Water Colors

Brushes (different sizes)

Swabs

Paper / Styro (not as earth friendly) – Plates, Cups, Bowls

Lunch Bags

Stamps / Stickers

Rubber & Sponge Stampers

Washable Ink Pads

Straws

Toothpicks

Glitter

Sequins

Buttons

Felt

Scrap material

Contact Paper

Wiggly Eyes

Grommets

Brads

Paper Clips

Feathers

Pipe Cleaners

Doilies (paper)

Stapler

Staples

Hole Punch (various designs too)

Rubber Bands

Index Cards (various sizes)

Eyedroppers

Colored Pencils

Spray bottles

Craft Sticks – all sizes – mini, Popsicle and tongue depressors

Old magazines and catalogs

Sand (colored too)

Pebbles / Rocks

Shells

Cotton balls

Pom Pom style balls

Egg Cartons

Foam Peanuts (the starch based packaging ones are biodegradable and stick together with a little dab of water)

Paper baking cups

Paper towels

Poster board

Streamers

Yarn, Thread, String

Ribbon & Lace

Smocks or large old t-shirts / button up shirts

Bubbles

As you can see – the list can be quite extensive – but adding items to the area is easier to manage if you add items only as you need them and keep the leftovers for later projects.