Putting the Pretty In Preschool
Finding Beauty In Everyday Early Childhood Experiences
One Spring I was greenhouse shopping, and a ledge of sweet potato vines caught my attention. The sales clerk suggested that the leaves looked like dinosaur footprints.
That thought stuck with me, and soon after I picked two uniquely colored sweet potato vines to add contrast to the flowering plants on my deck. I was also eager to use some leaves in dinosaur themed nature play.
[Read more…] about Dinosaur And Sweet Potato Vine Activities
Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and every mom deserves to be treated special. Here is an easy Mother’s Day craft that is bound to hit the mark. A key chain or brooch makes a lovely addition as a gift.
Flower and butterfly paper punches
Craft paper with gold, cream, silver and grey tones
Metallic sticker beads
Template with the word MOM
Glue stick
The birds are chirping, and there is excitement in the air. Everyone seems to have a skip in their step. I think it is because Spring has come early to our city and… it’s the Easter long weekend!
Here’s a couple of easy bunny art activities that will add some hop to the skip, and be sure to keep everyone’s good mood up.
One in a thousand baby green sea turtles lives to become an adult. Sea turtles face many challenges in trying to survive. Here’s how they get their start in life.
At night, baby green sea turtles scurry to the ocean from the deep hole they dig out of. They hatch from eggs deposited by their mother (also at night) on a sandy beach above the high tide line. The small, white eggs are buried in a blanket of sand to keep them warm and hide them from predators. The eggs are left alone to incubate for 50 -70 days.
The temperature of the nest determines the sex of the turtles. Warmer eggs become males; cooler eggs become females. Both males and females can dig out of the same nest, because the temperature can vary in different parts of it.
The hatchlings hurry to the ocean in the dark when it is less likely that they will be eaten by crabs or shore birds like gulls or herons. Most babies do not make it to the ocean. Even if they safely make it to the water, they could be eaten by birds hovering above the waves or predatory fish lingering close to shore.
The topics cat, pumpkin, and mouse are delightfully intertwined in the featured storybook and calendar art activity!
Reading the book Pumpkin Cat by Anne Mortimer gave me the idea for this calendar art activity. In the story two unlikely friends, (a cat and mouse), are paired. Cat wonders how pumpkins grow, and mouse shows the various stages of pumpkin growth. At the end of the story mouse carves out a jack-o-lantern as a surprise for cat. The last page of the book gives detailed instructions about how to grow a pumpkin.
Preschoolers love, love, love to mix paint colors, and I like some unique art for memory albums and/or classroom display. The orange/fuchsia diptych art quilt entitled “Now” by textile artist Laurie Brainerd provides just the right inspiration for children to color mix and have an interesting finished project. The unique paper shapes add interest to the paint project.
