Preschool Activities with Teach Me Mommy

Construction Paper Campout

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Camping can be a big part of your family’s summer. Whether it is in the wilderness or your own backyard, get your preschooler excited for camping, by creating this unique piece of art work.

What you’ll need:

• One 12" Square sheet of paper
• 12" x 6" Square for the Water
• 12" x 4" Green Sheet of Paper for the Tent
• Red, orange or yellow colored paper for the campfire
• Scissors and glue
• Colored pencils or crayons
• Materials for decorating

What to do:

1. Your preschooler will place the sheet of green construction paper down in front of them, and start their camping site by cutting out different color paper and glue it to their green construction paper.
2. The blue piece of paper will be used to create a dam or pond. To give the edge a more realistic water look, your child could add a curved outline to the dam. Next, glue the blue paper to the green sheet. The blue paper would indicate a "dam" or "pond."
3. Next, fold the green piece of paper in four equal parts, length wise.
4. It is helpful to fold back a "foot" at both ends, to make the "stand up" tent more secure.
5. They can use small pieces of sticks for the "logs" around the "fire." The red paper will be used to create a fire.
6. Next, glue small pieces of shrubs, grass or twigs on the green sheet of construction paper, creating their "camp site."
7. Your child can explore their creativity and add "fish" to their "pond", "animals" or "people."

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Bubble Painting

Here is a messy and fun painting adventure for your preschooler.

What you’ll need:

• Non-toxic colored paint
• Paper (non-absorbent paper works best)
• Plastic straws

What to do:

1. The children will suck the runny paint up with their straws, and blow it in different directions onto the paper, creating patterns. Make sure they don’t suck it all the way in and swallow it.
2. They could use one color and add white for different tones, or they could use different colors.
3. Repeat several times with different colors of paint.

Remember, for bubble painting the consistency of the paint needs to be runny as well as easy to suck up a straw, so you may want to add a little water!

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Bean Bags

You can make your own beanbags very quickly and enjoy a fun bean bag game with your child in no time.

What you’ll need:

• some scrap fabric (2 pieces of 5" x 5" works great)
• needle and thread (or sewing machine)
• bag of dried beans

What to do:

1. Sew (with a machine or by hand) the fabric together around all 4 sides, leaving about 2 inches of it un-sewn.
2. Turn it inside out and fill with as many beans as you like.
3. Stitch those last 2" inches of fabric together to close it up.
4. That’s it. You’ve got yourself a bean bag!

Make a few and start a game with your preschooler. Hang a bell or some type of bulls-eye on the branch of a tree or the bar of a swing set. Try to ring the bell or hit the bulls-eye with your bean bags and keep score of who gets the most rings or hits.

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Creating Blot Pictures

weegeebored

What you’ll need:

• Paint (runny, two colors)
• Paper
• Black marker pens

What to do:

1. Drip the paint, both colors, onto their white paper.
2. The children will then fold the paper in half, and smooth all over.
3. Open out and see what interesting picture you have created.
4. For extra effect, they can out line their creations with a black marker pen.
5. A variation to try: drop a few blobs of runny paint onto a piece of paper and tilt it to form rivulets.

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Flying Saucer

inkynobaka

Another fun activity to do at the park or your backyard is throwing around a flying saucer.

What you’ll need:

• 2 aluminum pie pans (disposable type)
• stapler, glue
• sequins, beads, glitter, buttons, etc.
• pipe cleaners (optional)

What to do:

1. Using one aluminum pie tin, place it upside down on the other one. Staple them together around the edges.
2. Attach sequins, beads, buttons, glitter and any other decorations desired to make the flying saucer look as though it were from Mars.
3. The pipe cleaners may be used to make strange looking Martians to accompany the flying saucer.
4. To make them fly, throw the "saucer" in the same manner as you would a Frisbee.

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Moon Chart

July 20th is the anniversary of the first moon landing! Celebrate by talking to your preschooler about the moon and teaching them how and why it changes shapes. A fun activity is to create a moon chart.

What you’ll need:

• 8 sheets of yellow cardboard paper
• A circle stencil
• A pencil
• Glue and scissors
• One sheet of black cardboard
• Glow-in-the-dark stars or golden sticker stars
• Glitter for decoration

What to do:

1. Trace the circle stencil shape onto the yellow cardboard paper. Cut out the moon shape and glue it onto the black cardboard paper.
2. This will indicate the first phase: the new moon.
3. Only a quarter of the moon will be visible. Glue the rest of the cut out moon pieces onto the black paper, after cutting out.
4. The second phase is called the "waxing moon." Two quarters of the moon will be lit.
5. In the third phase the whole moon will be lit, and is called: full moon. A full moon is seen every 28 days.
6. The fourth phase is known as the "waning moon." Three quarters of the moon is dark during this phase. The moon has a crescent shape.
7. A complete cycle of the moon could be recorded over a period of a month.
8. Decorate the moon Chart with stars, glitter, glow in the dark stars, and so on.

A visit to a planetarium might add to this learning experience. An evening under the stars will also do the trick. Enjoy, and explore their creativity!

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Ice Boats

Making ice boats is another fun activity to enjoy water during the summer.

What you’ll need:

• A milk carton, the plastic-coated paper kind
• 12 toothpicks
• colored construction paper
• ice cube tray
• a plastic dishpan or other container for floating the boats in (your bathtub works too!)

What to do:

1. Cut 12 squares from the clean milk carton, each should be a little smaller than the top of an ice cube.
2. Stick a toothpick into the middle of each square.
3. Fill the ice cube tray with water.
4. Float each square in a square of the ice cube tray, with the longer end of the toothpick sticking up, and place in the freezer.
5. Cut small paper sails out of the colored construction paper.
6. When the ice is frozen, pop out the ice "boats".
7. Put a sail on each toothpick and you’re ready to launch your own fleet!

tags: activities, fall

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Bagel Bird Feeder

Many craft stores have bird feeder kits that you and your preschooler could paint or decorate yourselves. Pet stores and other big stores will sell bird feed. It can be a fun activity to glue together and paint the "nicer" wood bird feeders from the store. However, it is also great to make your own at home.

What you’ll need:

• Bagel or stale bread (or even a paper towel roll)
• String
• Honey or peanut butter*
• Birdseed

What to do:

1. Smear honey or peanut butter on all sides of the bagel or bread.
2. Dip or roll the bagel in the birdseed.
3. Tie string to it and hang it up for the birds to enjoy.

So your kids can enjoy the birds that come to eat, try to hang it near a window they can watch from inside.

* Keep in mind that honey is fatal to hummingbirds so do not use it when feeding these birds. Also corn meal or lard should be added to peanut butter to keep the birds from choking on it.

tags: activities, fall, summer

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Water Painting

Two of my preschooler’s favorite things are water and painting. One of my least favorite things is washing faces, hands and clothes after he paints his masterpieces. One idea, as a break from the cleaning up, is to water paint.

What you’ll need:

• Large paint brushes (4" or bigger make it that much more fun)
• A tote or bucket full of water
• A few outside surfaces to "paint"

What to do:

My kids love to pretend they are painting the garage, the sidewalk, the swing set and their bikes. It also keeps them cool, as inevitably they "paint" each other. And best of all? Apart from some possibly wet clothes, there’s no mess to clean up!

tags: activities, summer

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The Quick Fun Fan

Can it get any hotter? Here’s a quick craft activity to help you cool off during these dog days of summer.

What you’ll need:

• a paper plate
• Tongue depressor
• Glue, tape or stapler
• decorations

What to do:

Make a fan by attaching the tongue depressor to the back of the paper plate with glue, tape or stapler (if using glue, be sure to allow drying time). Decorate as desired and enjoy the cool breeze it creates when fanning yourself.

tags: activities, summer

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