Creating collages is one of the simplest types of art! Not only are collages open-ended, but they also encourage creativity while strengthening fine motor skills. This particular collage is perfect for your fall theme because it includes colors we see in leaves during that season. After a nature walk, pointing out the various colors, invite your toddlers to learn how to work with glue while creating collages with torn pieces of construction paper....
Five Little Candy Canes Activity for Circle Time What You Will Need for this Candy Canes Activity Five Candy Canes FREE Printable (Scroll Down Towards Bottom of This Page for Link) If you’ve been following Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds for awhile, you know how I love to use circle time to build skills. Last week I shared my Christmas bells counting printable, where I displayed them on my flannel board while singing bell counting songs....
Inside: This toddler valentine sensory bin is a hands-on sensory delight, with frozen hearts of different sizes. We added bug tongs for an extra fine motor challenge that the children loved! Last year I came up with a fun frozen hearts activity that our preschoolers loved. This year, while planning for our 2 year olds, I wanted something similar, but more appropriate for their age. I froze water in different sizes of heart molds and tinted some of them different shades of red, while leaving the others clear....
Note: This post was created when I taught 3 and 4 year olds in addition to 2 year olds. I used this class helper method with my 3 and 4 year olds. How to have a class helper in preschool…I’ll be honest here. This took me a very long time to figure out. I thought giving every child a job each day would rock! Um, no. It was just too much for this age group....
Disclosure: This post reviews products provided free of charge from Discount School Supply. We have been purchasing many of our supplies from Discount School Supply since 1999. This post contains affiliate links. Preschool Small Groups Why preschool small groups are important: Small groups is an important time to teach skills. We play many games that include numbers and letters. We work in our journals, thread, and work with scissors to strengthen our fine motor skills....
I love reinforcing skills in hands-on ways. Especially if process (open-ended) art is involved. Process art is especially important for toddlers because it’s all about the experience, not the outcome. Anyone who’s watched a toddler knows that’s what’s most important. They are in the moment, loving the action, and then when it’s over? They’ve moved on. This is why I chose using paper tube stamping for a toddler circle art activity....
The kids are home from school. It’s only day two and already they are bickering, needing something to do, that’s preferably screen-free. I’ve got you covered! Here is my favorite collection of easy and fun ideas that you can put together for your kids over winter break. They will also work with babysitters, grandparents, and child care centers! Get the materials ready ahead of time and you are ready when the first “I have nothing to do” is said....
Rainbow Process Art with Toddlers What you will need to paint rainbows: Bubble wrap Brayers Tempera paint White paper, cut into arches Setting up this rainbow activity: Place the bubble wrap on a table. I taped ours down so it would not move. Pour paint into containers. Add brayers to containers. Invite your toddlers to paint! Let them roll the various colors of paint onto the bubble wrap. We did not get concerned about it being in “rainbow order”....
Inside: Put together a preschool St. Patrick’s Day watercolor activity with tissue paper shamrocks! This idea combines color mixing with fine motor as the paint is squeezed from pipettes. Fun! Okay, everyone, you know how much I love watercolor art. Well, I found a way to turn a color mixing lesson into vibrant St. Patrick’s Day watercolor shamrocks. Remember my popular waterfall art? This uses the same method, but on a flat surface, not upright....
Inside: Looking for a super easy toddler valentines activity? How about making prints? This process art method involves lots of painting on a textured surface and then pressing a big heart on top to make a print. Perfect for young children! You’ve probably noticed that many valentines crafts are not geared for toddlers. They might say they are for this age group, but one look tells you otherwise. These activities are way too complicated and usually have a desired outcome....
Toddler and Preschool Shapes Theme (Colors, Too!) We also added a variety of Duplos to our train table for some fun building. Shapes and colors are part of our toddler and preschool day throughout the school year. However, we decided to kick off the year with a shapes and colors theme as an introduction. Each of our learning centers provided an invitation for play and exploration, including our shape and color window blocks, stamping chunky shape sponges at the easel, and hopping in and out of agility hoops....
Inside: After reading the book Mouse Paint, try this fun toddler color mixing art activity. A fun way to explore the colors of the rainbow! There are so many fun and easy ways to introduce toddlers to color mixing. It can be done in a bag, with paper tubes, with brushes, with cars … seriously, I could go on and on. After reading the picture book Mouse Paint, I wanted my toddlers to see what would happen when the mixed red, yellow, and blue....
Toddlers can be very curious about how things work. In fact, you might hear “why?” a lot. This is a good time to give them opportunities to investigate, finding answers to those “why” questions. Simple, hands-on science exploration should be a part of your toddler curriculum. Simple, short ideas that work with their shorter attention spans. Today I’m going to share 10 easy science activities for toddlers that you can easily add to your home or classroom....
35+ of the Best Toddler Summer Activities Water Play Pom Pom Water Play – Toddlers love pom poms, so why not add them to a bin of water, along with cups? (Busy Toddler) Summer! Oh, how we love summer! I’ve been collecting fun summer activities for toddlers just for you that are perfect for home. And I love this collection! Our toddlers love to be busy : creating pouring dumping moving and moving did I mention moving?...
While planning for November, I was amazed to find so many Thanksgiving craft ideas for preschoolers! During this month we do a lot of different turkey crafts that work on our fine motor skills, strengthen our color recognition development, and that allow us to be as open-ended as possible so that we can be creative. We focus on the thankfulness part of Thanksgiving with our 3 year olds. This is a great time to help our youngest preschoolers learn how to reach out to others, to express gratitude for what is given to them....
More Literacy Ideas Creating a literacy-rich preschool environment is important, and it can happen in a variety of fun ways. While a reading and writing center are important, you do not need to limit literacy activities in those areas. Teachers, take a look around your classroom. How can you add letters with blocks? What about play dough? How can you engage the children in small and large groups? What about adding fun activities related to favorite picture books?...
Inside: Fun Preschool Valentine’s Activity Using Frozen Hearts – Discover what happens when you paint with frozen hearts, especially as they start to melt. A bit of science at the art table! We love adding a bit of science to our art, and this frozen hearts Valentine’s activity is a perfect example! Our preschoolers were a bit baffled when at first the paint was so frozen that nothing happened. They kept turning it upside down to see if it looked any different....
You want to do crafts with your children, but you don’t want to once again search for materials for that activity. First of all, it takes your precious time to hit the local craft store. Secondly, if you are on a budget (which many of us are), you don’t want to purchase one more thing that you might only use once. Not to mention, finding a place to store these new materials....
Outdoors The most successful toddler classroom schedule is simple but well thought out. The teacher takes time to observe how the children use the materials. The teacher notices what they are interested in, what is working, and what is not. The teacher is careful about balancing active and quiet times and tries to have as few transitions as possible, understanding that too many changes can be disruptive to a young child....
Right as we start back to school, the spiders become very visible. They are hanging out in our outdoor area, even inside the playhouses. Some of the children will scream and ask that we remove them. We decided this was a good time to invite our toddlers and preschoolers to learn more about spiders, and how useful they can be. During October, one of our preschool science activities is learning about spiders....
