When my older kids were little, we were a preschool home. We sang nursery rhymes, read toddler books and did preschool crafts. But now that I have elementary school children who do things like figure improper fractions and narrate and sound out sentences, my preschool-aged children get lost in the shuffle. Sure, they're there with us every step of the way, crawling across my lap while I teach spelling and read history books aloud, but all those fun activities I did with my older kids when they were this age are harder to get to this time around.
As our school year is winding down, I've purposed to be more intentional with my littlest ones. I began by pinning a few fun ideas on my Pinterest "Kid Crafts" board. About once a week, I set aside time for Preschool Hour. Our first project was puffy paint. Benjamin (3) claimed the yellow paint and filled his paper with dots.
It looked so intriguing that Owen (5) asked if it could also be Kindergarten Hour-- his words, not mine. Apparently Maddie (7) thought it was good enough for Second Grade Hour, too.
Alaine (19 months), however, did not care for the selected preschool activity and cringed every time the paint bags came near her. Her favorite phrase right now is, "I sceered." which she uses for anything she wants to avoid. Instead, we switched to watercolors. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.
The following week was beautiful outside so cloud dough was the activity of choice. Despite the serious faces, it was a huge hit! It was easy to make and easy to clean up (unlike sand!). Made with flour and oil, I expected it to feel greasy, but it was surprisingly light and fluffy and easy to brush off. (The dog licked up anything we missed.) Any oil would work, but I used baby oil so it would also smell good.
I had planned to try sidewalk paint next, but the weather turned cool and puddle-y so we got out cookie sheets and magnetic letters this week.
The elementary school kids couldn't stay away for this one either.
Our next Preschool Hour activity will be fizzy fun (as long as I can figure out where to get a couple of medicine droppers).
Linking to...
We're definitely a preschool home and have lots of preschool activities going on. Our kids love the cloud dough! We've also done the sidewalk paint, in fact we made it almost daily last summer, until we moved.
ReplyDeleteOh that sounds so fun! I have a hard time being intentional with me kids in this area {and I don't have elementary school kids to blame!}. Thanks for the encouragement. The cloud dough sounds great!
ReplyDeleteWe've totally geared our mornings to cater to our littles. You know I'm not big on "activities" ... but we read stories, play outside, draw, and watch Disney jr together.
ReplyDeleteYes, that means we're doing bookwork during naptime now...but we had been struggling with naptime anyway and it was way past time for a change (also very in-CM and more "what works")
I've been interested in the cloud dough since you pinned it a few weeks ago. We may have to try it.
*you need to add a Pin It button at the bottom of all your posts. You're blog is really growing, Kristin. It makes me happy, and very excited for you.
Love,
kathi
Great post. I know around here we run into the same problem. You've given me some great ideas and a great starting place. I'm not a big "activities" person so half of the problem is me. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteKristin, thanks for visiting my blog. I've added your blog to my list to read. These activities look fun. Did you find medicine droppers? You could ask your local pharmacist, they probably have some.
ReplyDeleteI ended up finding some at Walmart. I checked one Walmart and all they had were medicine spoons, but the second Walmart I checked had some. It was a smaller store so I was surprised. :-)
ReplyDelete