Putting The Pretty In Preschool – Page 68 – Finding Beauty In Everyday Early Childhood Experiences

Apple Theme Activities

August 8, 2020 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

Apple themed art, sensory and baking ideas for early learners.

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Apples are a handy educational resource. Whether these fruits are picked from a tree, given by a neighbor, or purchased from a store, they shine in early learning projects. Read on for engaging apple theme activities, and projects inspired by them.

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Apple Toothpick Sculptures

Slice up green, red, and yellow apples into small pieces. Dip the chunks in lemon juice to prevent browning, and pile them on a tray. Add toothpicks.

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Invitation to build an apple chunk and toothpick sculpture. Green, red, and yellow apples are used in this construction challenge.

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Early learners enjoy the challenge of creating a structure with toothpicks and apple pieces. They can work by themselves or collaborate with an adult or child.

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Apple chunk and toothpick sculpture. Yello, green, and red apples are used to make a colorful structure.

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Paint Chip Apple Art

Cut apples, stems, and leaves from green, yellow, and red-themed paint chips. Invite your little learners to glue the shapes to a neutral background using a glue stick. The ombre color schemes in paint chips are so attractive in art.

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Rodin Inspired Painted Apples

Early learners love the opportunity to paint fruits or vegetables. The primary colors used for these crab apples are inspired by an Auguste Rodin painting. Gold glitter sprinkled on top adds glam.

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Apples painted in primary colors and sprinkled with glitter. This art activity is inspired by an apple painting by Auguste Rodin.

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Apple Prints

Slice apples in half in two different ways:

vertically from the stem down
horizontally in the middle of the apple

Children enjoy seeing the star-shaped center of the horizontally cut apples.

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Apple print set up with apple halves, black and metallic tempera paints, and gold glitter.

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Offer tempera paints on trays in traditional or unexpected colors. Ask your little learners to dip apple halves in each paint color and press them on a large piece of sturdy art paper. Featured below are black and metallic gold apple prints, with gold glitter sprinkled on for a finishing touch.

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Black and metallic gold apple prints with gold glitter for the finishing touch.

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Apple Fruit Stand

Keep a lookout for apple-themed play props at Dollar stores and art supply stores. Before long you will have a nice supply of accessories for an apple fruit stand.

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Apple Pie

Use ready-made pie crust dough and apple pie filling to make it easy for your little learners to help bake an apple pie.

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An early learner can easily help make this apple pie. It is made with a premade pie crust and apple pie filling.

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Bird And Apple Small World

Apples aren’t only tasty food for people. Many animals, including birds, love them too. This small world is an invitation for early learners to play with rocks, logs, leaves, apples, and bird figurines.

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Small world with apples, bird figurines, tree blocks, rocks, and leaves.

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There are so many apple theme activities available to choose from. And because they are plentiful in fall, they are a popular topic to introduce at the beginning of a new school term. For more apple exploration ideas, check my Pinterest board “Apple Activities For Kids.”

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What is your favorite apple activity? Share in a comment below.

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More Apple Activities

Watercolor Apples With Markers

Apple Print Activities

Apple Playdough Tray

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[Read more…]

Sea Star Activities And Facts

August 3, 2020 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

Sea star theme activities for early learners. Art, sensory, and math activities featured. Sea star facts and links to resources included.

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Sea stars have no trouble taking the spotlight along the sea edge or in an aquarium. They are stunning ocean creatures and come in a huge array of colors. And these sea star activities for early learners? They deliver.

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Follow me on Pinterest for more activities.

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Ten Fast Facts About Sea Stars

Many sea stars live in shallow water; all live on the ocean floor.
Five-armed sea stars are common, but some have 10, 20, or even 40 arms.
Just like octopuses, sea stars can grow back a lost arm.
Sea star eyes are at the end of their arms and look like red spots.
Up to thirty-five years is how long sea stars can live.
Sea water gets pumped through sea star bodies instead of blood.
Hundreds of tube feet on the underside of their bodies help sea stars move, hang on to rocks, and pull away.
Sea stars have soft bellies and tough spiny or leathery skin on their backs.
Clams, oysters, and snails are foods these carnivorous creatures eat.
Their bright colors allow sea stars to blend in with their surroundings, and help scare off attackers.

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Sea Star Activities

Sea Star Sensory Tray

Sea stars purchased at a craft store, and seashells, smooth rocks, and gems arranged in blue-hued water make an inviting sensory tray for early learners to explore.

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Sea star sensory tray with different sized sea stars and rocks, shells, and gems. The base for the sensory tray is blue water.

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Sea Star Counting

Colorful sea star counters and a ten frame give little learners hands-on counting practice. Download the ten frame here.

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Taste Safe Playdough And Sea Stars

This no-cook, easy-to-make playdough recipe is taste safe. Anyone with a sweet tooth will love it.

You will need:

1 cup store-bought vanilla frosting
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup icing sugar
yellow and red food coloring

Mix and knead the frosting, cornstarch, and icing sugar in a bowl. This should make a moldable dough. If the playdough is a little sticky, knead in a bit more cornstarch. If the dough is dry, add a spoon or two of frosting.

Divide the dough into a large and small lump. In the smaller lump, knead in a little yellow and red food coloring. Place the playdough pieces on a tray along with sea stars, sea star molds, shells, stars, and chocolate chips. (Read on to find out why chocolate chips are on the tray.) Any ocean-themed loose parts you have handy will work.

Invite your early learner to explore the playdough and loose parts.

Sea star sensory play invitation using taste safe playdough.

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The recipe makes enough playdough for one or two children to use. Multiply the ingredients if more little learners are participating in the activity.

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Playdough Chocolate Chip Sea Star

Yes, there are starfish named “chocolate chip sea stars!” These sea stars come in a variety of colors but always have dark brown spots on top. They grow up to 15 inches / 38 centimeters in size and make good pets.

Invite your little learner to mold a five-armed chocolate chip sea star with the vanilla playdough. Then encourage adding little dots of orange-red playdough to the top of the starfish, and pressing in chocolate chips. This will complete the sea star.

Chocolate chip sea star made with taste safe playdough.

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This sea star is featured in the engaging picture book “I See Sea Food: Sea Creatures That Look Like Food” by Jenna Grodzicki.

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Sea Star Art

Taste safe painted sea star inspired by the pink short-spined sea star.

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The two-ingredient paint recipe used in this art activity has previously been featured in my Octopus Theme Activities blog post. It works well in sea star art too. This project is inspired by the pink short-spined sea star. Click the link below for a video tutorial.

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View a Sea Star Art video tutorial.

Video tutorial featuring a taste safe painted starfish inspired by the pink short-spined sea star. This is an all-ages art activity.

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Fun Fact: Pink short-spined sea stars don’t mind getting dirty. They can be spotted in sand or mud, or on rocks and coral.

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Sea Star Sorting

A purchased package of sea stars provides an opportunity to order these star-shaped creatures from largest to smallest, or vice versa. The gigantic sea star included below is a garage sale find.

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Invitation to order sea stars from largest to smallest.

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Sea Star Observation

Although it is tempting to pick up sea stars, they should not be touched, poked, moved, or taken out of the water. It is best to observe them in an aquarium or while snorkeling.

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If you live near the ocean, there are likely many opportunities to see sea stars up close. But whether you do or don’t, the blog post “19 Bizarre And Beautiful Starfish Species” is a good read. It is packed with fascinating sea star facts and photos. Viewing the article is a good follow-up to the hands-on sea star activities featured in my post.

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[Read more…]

Northern Lights Squish Painting

July 22, 2020 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

Northern lights inspired squish and string painting. Facts about northern lights included. An all-ages art activity to celebrate nature's dazzling light show.

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Northern lights, or auroras, are nature’s majestic light shows sent from the heavens to earth. They are spectacular to view and stunning in photographs or art. A northern lights squish painting project celebrates the vibrancy and uniqueness of this natural light display.

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Ten Facts About Northern Lights

Northern lights are dazzling neon light shows visible in night skies.
Electrically charged particles from the sun interact with gases in the earth’s atmosphere to produce the auroras.
Charged particle collisions with oxygen in the upper atmosphere cause green dominant auroras; collisions with nitrogen in the slightly lower atmosphere cause blue or purple-red auroras.
Northern lights can also showcase pink, blue, orange, or yellow colors.
The dancing lights are seen over 200 nights a year in northern skies.
There are different kinds of northern lights. They can display as arcs, shooting rays, coronas, or patchy and pulsating lights.
Remote northern places with clear, dark nights are optimum aurora viewing locations.
Yellowknife, NWT, and Fairbanks, Alaska are two prime locations for observing northern lights.
The best time to see auroras is from October to May.
Northern lights can occasionally be seen from airplanes, especially on polar flights.

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A squish and string painting art project. An all-ages art activity that is northern lights inspired.

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Northern Lights Squish Painting Art Activity

This art activity is inspired by the colors and shapes of northern lights.

Materials To Collect:

12 x 12 pieces of black fade-resistant construction paper
bright green and magenta tempera paints
paint containers
disposable plate
spoons
long pieces of string or yarn

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Fold 12-inch by 12-inch pieces of black construction paper in half. Set out bright green and magenta tempera paints.

Invitation to paint northern lights with a squish painting technique.

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Invite your child to spoon both paint colors onto the paper.

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Ask your early learner to fold over the paper and rub a hand over it.

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Encourage your child to open the paper and admire the art. It is always exciting to see the designs created.

A finished squish painting art project ready to let dry. An all-ages art activity that is northern lights inspired.

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Offer string to add interest to the art activity.

Invitation to paint northern lights with a squish and string painting technique.

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Ask your little learner to drop magenta paint onto the paper, and lay a string in green paint. Pressing over the string with a spoon is helpful to make sure the string is paint-soaked.

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Next, ask your child to lay the string on the paper in a serpentine shape.

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With one hand lightly on the folded paper, have your child pull out the string slowly and carefully.

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The art will be stunning.

Northern lights inspired squish painting with bright paints and a string. An all-ages art activity,

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View a Northern Lights Squish Painting video tutorial.

Northern lights inspired squish painting art project with bright green and magenta tempera paints. An all-ages activity to celebrate nature's light show,

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Northern Lights Paint Project Variations

The paint colors can be adjusted. A bit of yellow can be added to green paint to add vibrancy, and a drop of white can be added to magenta paint to brighten it.

Paint colors can be varied by introducing turquoise, red, or pink.

A longer string can be used.

Paint can be dripped and paint-soaked string can be applied more than once on each art project.

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Northern lights add ambiance to long, dark, cold northern winters. They add excitement to camping trips or backyard wiener roasts. They are a spectacular subject for art projects.

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Squish and string painting art projects. This is an all-ages art activity that is northern lights inspired.

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Canada Day Sensory Bin

June 27, 2020 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

Canada Day rice-based sensory bin with red and white items perfect for little hands to explore.

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On July 1 each year, our country celebrates Canada Day. Festive decorations are typically red and white, with a good dose of maple leaves. This design scheme is patterned after the Canadian flag. So here’s a red and white Canada Day sensory bin incorporating our Canadian flag, maple leaves, and lots of red and white. The tactile bin is perfect for little ones to help celebrate our country’s birthday.

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Items in The Canada Day Sensory Bin

brown rice
red measuring cups
Canadian flag trinkets
maple leaf themed baking cups
miniature party hats
white pompoms
red feathers
maple leaf-shaped ice cubes
play food apples
heart-shaped toothpicks

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This Canada Day-themed sensory bin is easy to put together and promises loads of enjoyment.

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What day of the year do you celebrate your country’s birthday? Is there a favorite sensory bin or activity you offer? Share in a comment below.

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Related:

Canada Day Sensory Play

Spin Painting Maple Leaf Art

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[Read more…]

Reptile Theme Activities

May 4, 2020 by Annette Kaminsky 7 Comments

Reptile-themed art. science, small world, and pretend play activities for early learners. Topics include snakes, turtles, and lizards.

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A Reptile Theme is THE WAY to encourage early learners to get more comfortable with animals such as snakes, lizards, and turtles. Little ones often have a fear of these animals, partly because of how they get depicted on television. Hands-on activities alleviate fear and encourage an interest in learning more about these creatures.

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Reptile Pet Store

An effective way to introduce a reptile theme is to set up a pet store pretend play center. Collect the following and display them on shelves and tables gathered for the store:

snake. lizard, turtle, frog, and insect figurines
baskets and cages
cash register and play money

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Reptile Store pretend play center. Snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs, and insects for sale.

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At first, your early learners may say they are afraid of animals such as snakes, lizards, and turtles. But after playing in the store and organizing, buying, and selling the animal figurines, they will warm up to them.

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Geometric Shape Snake Craft

Geometric shapes snake craft suitable for all ages.

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Cut out large, winding snakes from 12-inch x 18-inch pieces of construction paper.

Paper punch circles, squares, triangles, ovals, stars, and hexagons from bright colored cardstock.

Ask your little learners to use glue sticks to attach shapes to the snakes. Offer tiny sticker eyes for a finishing touch.

Purchased sticker foam shapes would also work well for this craft.

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Mounted together, these snakes make a dynamic display.

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Beaded Snakes

Early learners love using craft supplies like pony beads.

Offer pipe cleaners and a variety of pony bead colors.

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Invite your early learners to string bead colors of choice on the pipe cleaners. Wrap the ends around the first beads so the rest will stay in place. Ask your little ones to stop stringing beads about 4 cm from the other end of the pipe cleaners.

Set the snakes aside and add beads to make the snake heads. Glue on tiny craft eyes.

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Pony bead snake replica of a sedge viper.

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Showing photos of real snakes and discussing their colors and patterns encourages little learners to bead a patterned snake of their own.

Pony bead replicas of a sedge viper, butter corn snake, and Arizona mountain kingsnake.

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Painted Turtle And Lizard

Set out this two-ingredient taste-safe paint in red, green, yellow, and blue colors.

You will need: white corn syrup and food coloring.

Pour corn syrup into paint containers. Stir in a little food coloring. Add a paintbrush to each color.

Cut out cardstock lizards and turtles. Feel free to download the turtle printable below.

Allow your little learners to paint them.

Lizard decorated with taste-safe paint. An all-ages craft.

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Turtle decorated with taste safe paint. An all-ages art activity.

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Turtle template for art and craft activities.

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Turtle PrintableDownload

This printable is for individual or one classroom use only.

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This craft needs generous time to dry. It also looks stunning displayed.

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Reptile Sensory Tub

Reptile small world with snakes and lizards, and animals they feed on.

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This sensory tub is sure to delight your little ones. It includes:

leaves and a play grass base
rocks and wooden pieces
snake, lizard, frog, and insect figurines

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Wildlife Worker Photo Op

Hang up a treed party backdrop and set up a table with hats, snakes, and lizards nearby. Ask your little learners to pick a few props and stand against the backdrop. Take lots of photos.

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Wildlife Worker Prop Box

Use the photo op props shown above, and add eggs, gloves, binoculars, and pails. Set all items in a prop box for your early learners to use during play.

Reptile-themed prop box toys for pretend play.

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Family Night

An epic way to end the Reptile theme is to plan a potluck supper family night:

Display art projects on the walls.
Create a spot for a Wildlife Worker Photo Op.
Set out Snakes And Ladders-themed paper placemats, dice, and game chips on the dinner tables.
Assemble plants and beaded snakes in vases for table decor.

Pony bead replica of a burrowing asp snake used in table decor.

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Enjoy a potluck meal together.
Hire a guest to give a live animal presentation (that includes a snake and lizard) afterward. Having explored the topic of reptiles in a variety of ways, early learners are more receptive to being near live ones.

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Locally, Butterfly Wings n’ Wishes gives wonderful animal presentations.

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This reptile theme allows children to participate in engaging, non-threatening activities that help them gain knowledge about snakes, lizards, and turtles. As a result, they value these animals more.

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