Easy Frankenstein Decorations

(4 1/2 Years)

Wild One asked that we decorate for Halloween during Labor Day- LABOR DAY- weekend!   That's right, early September and we are decorating for Halloween.  They were so excited when I told them that we could start putting up all of their decorations, I wish I had it on film.  They are hilarious!

Well, after we put up all of our decorations, I realized- I don't have a lot of Halloween decorations.  Which is just fine, because the next question from Wild One was to make new decorations.  It's time to open up my Pinterest board and search.  As soon as Wild One saw the Frankenstein decorations, from Allison at No Time for Flashcards, his decision was made.  

We save our cardboard tubes (paper towel and toilet paper rolls) for projects.  I'm so glad we had a bunch on hand, because these little guys are so much fun to make and are a perfect project for this age.  

Materials Needed:

Cardboard tubes (toilet paper or paper towel rolls)

Black markers

Green dot markers

Googly eyes

School glue

Scissors

Golf tees

Draw a black line around the tube, about a third of the way down the tube.  This will be the guide for their Frankenstein's hair.  Let the kids color in the hair.

 Use the green dot markers to color in the rest.

 Time to make his grin- remember the stitch marks.

Hee hee- a little sorting now.  There are four sizes of goggly eyes in there.  

 Add two drops of glue for the eyes. 

Affix the eyes to Frankenstein.

Make tiny slits in the hair with scissors.

Press down the hair.

I punctured holes for the bolts (golf tees), and then let them push the tees through the pre-made holes.

 
Little Miss decided her Frankenstein needed a white puffy skirt.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Let's Learn About the Number Four - Composing

(4 Years)

Little Miss and Wild One love using dot markers.  Therefore, whenever I can tailor an activity to include dot markers I do, because I know I'll definitely get them to want to work on whatever I've planned.  This morning one of our activities, besides Soak the Sight Words (again!), was working on composing the number four out of unifix cubes and then filling our work in using dot markers.  My inspiration for this activity is from Playful Directions, I found her on - well, you know where.

I modeled how to complete this activity with the number three.

We took turns pointing to the top of the page, the tally marks, the number in word form, in number form, and in dots (subitizing).  I modeled the different ways we can make three with two sets of cubes (they chose black and green).  We removed each cube, and used the same color dot marker to make a dot that represents each cube.  That's when Little Miss noticed a pattern.  Next to each row, we wrote the corresponding equation.  Little Miss then took over and began explaining how I should write the remaining equations.  

Before we began working on making the number four, the kids put the cubes back together in columns of ten.  Wild One counted each cube to make sure he had ten linked together.  Little Miss borrowed her brother's set of ten and measured it against her set to determine if she had the correct amount.

Together they discovered that they were missing just one cube.

Did you notice that Little Miss completed the left side of her sheet first?

 Little Miss wasn't done straightening her cubes when I snapped the picture.

She then removed one set of cubes at a time, and added the correct color dot marker to her sheet.

I think next time, we work on composing numbers I'll use two different objects instead of the same object in different colors.  When we discussed that 3 black cubes + 1 red cube = 4 cubes, and 3 red cubes + 1 black cube = 4 cubes, she said, "It's the same 3 + 1 = 4, why did we do it two times?"  If we use bears and cars, I think it may be easier to understand that the colors represent two different groups that we are adding together.  

What a busy morning!  Picnic breakfast, three rounds of Soak the Sight Words, swim lessons, imaginative play in the pool, read several books, worked on composing numbers three and four, and lunch.  Whew I'm wiped out!  Little Miss went straight to sleep during nap time.  Wild One decided he wasn't tired- even though he has dark circles.  He ran to the couch with a Cat in the Hat, Learning Library book and began "reading".  So cute!  

Magic (Sight) Words Race

(4 Years)

I love finding and trying sight word games for my little ones (they are getting so big - sad sigh). We've done quite a few sight word games in the past (type SIGHT into the Search Box on the right and it will bring you to the games that we've posted).  This one is another wonderful Pinterest find - who doesn't love Pinterest.   It's from Pre-KPages.com and it only takes minutes to set up, plus you don't need to buy a thing.

We repurposed one of our giant die, by cutting out circles, writing a sight word onto each circle and then taping them onto the die.  Above is a link to my FREE activity sheet (just click the picture of the bar graph).  Go ahead, grab a giant die or one of your wooden cubes, trace, cut, write, tape, print, play!

The kids really liked playing this.  In fact, we only stopped because it was nap time.  Yes nap time, they are FINALLY napping.  It only took four years!  I had to promise that I wouldn't put anything away and that they could play (don't you love it?  "Play") with it again when they woke up from their naps.

Since we have more than one preschooler playing the game, we played like this:
I modeled how to play- roll the dice, read the word, stamp the correct location on the bar graph (yadda yadda).
I pointed to one of the words on the bottom of the sheet and asked the kids, "how to you pronounce this word?"  Wild One said the word first, so he got to roll first.
When the die lands, I would point to that word and ask how to pronounce it, the one who answers correctly first gets to roll the die next (after they make a dot on their sheet).

While we were "playing", we practiced some introductory math vocabulary.  I asked which column had the most dots, the least dots, the same number of dots, which two columns when added together equal the number eight...

I asked what they liked about the game- Little Miss said the Dot Markers, being first (to get the correct answer) and rolling the BIG die.  Wild One said playing games.  I just love that we have another game that they want to play in our rotation.

More Sight Word Fun

(44 Months)

We have been having a lot of fun playing our sight word games (see here).  I've been trying to sneak in an extra few minutes of playing throughout the day here and there to reinforce those sight words.  We are only working on a few at a time.  I'm pulling the list mostly from the BOB books:
           the
           and
           is
           has
           said
           that
           his
           her

Last May, we worked on a b, d, p, q letter identification matching game (see here).  To help us practice our sight words, here is another activity and it involves stickers.  My kids love stickers!  It's almost guaranteed that if I create a learning activity that incorporates stickers, they are going to participate. By the way, this is quick and easy activity can also be used as a formal assessment (for those of you who need to document progress).

At first Wild One did not want to come to the table.  That's fine.  I knew the lure of stickers would get him there.  Sure enough, "What are doing?"

 Aaahhh, yes the elusive smile.  It amazes me how horrible I am at taking pictures, I can never get a smile picture that isn't blurry.

Heh heh heh, sticker lure worked!

Dot markers are another fun way to work on this activity.  Since we were on our way out the door this morning, I chose a less messy option.