Color Hunt

Here is a simple, fun activity to do with your kids: go on a color hunt! Take a camera and find things of each color. Take pictures, and put the pictures in a collage when you're done. To make it easier to keep track of what you've found, take a simple checklist like THIS ONE along with you. You'll find colors where you least expect them...

The Three Little Pigs

Here's a quick little project to do with your kids sometime! Read or tell the story of the three little pigs. A fun online version can be found HERE.

Then make the three houses! We used spaghetti noodles for the straw (yarn or actual straw would work, too), craft sticks for the sticks (toothpicks would work great; just watch out for the pointy ends!), and red paper rectangles for the bricks. For hanging, we attached all three houses to a piece of yarn.

If you'd like a pattern for the houses, click HERE.

It's also fun to make the houses in 3D--use yarn or straw (or noodles) for the straw house, get some sticks outside for the stick house, and use Legos or some sort of building block for the brick house. Then have the kids try to blow each one down! They have a lot of fun trying to "be" the wolf! (Incidentally, you can also make a wolf out of a hair dryer--cover the barrel part with brown or gray paper for the wolf's muzzle, and cut out a face with a hole in the middle to slide onto the barrel...and voila! You have a wolf that can actually huff and puff!)

If you'd like some patterning practice for little ones, here's a fun little sheet. Since we did this with a group of five, the second sheet has five cutouts for the "answers"--in case you're wondering why there are so many! :) (Since the preview on the download link isn't showing properly, here's what the sheets look like):

A Really Great Site

I stumbled across this website this week:

Fun4Kids

This gal has LOADS of GREAT book suggestions and projects to do with your kiddos. She usually posts a list of books and then TONS of great activities that relate to those books. If you're ever bored, or need ideas on a particular theme, or just want to change up your routine a little, check this site out!! It is a FANTASTIC resource.

Early Literacy in the Home

This month's KidStuff activity was about early literacy in the home--from birth up! I gave a presentation about different ways to promote literacy (in all facets) and then we made a craft. Here is the handout:

If you'd like a .pdf version of this handout, please click HERE.

Here are some links that may be of use, as well:
http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/LiteracyIdeas.htm
http://www.rif.org/parents/
http://www.walearning.com/Guide.html
http://www.kcls.org/kids/whattoread/booklists/Raising%20Readers%20Toddlers.pdf

Our craft was making our children's names out of tactile letters. We cut the letters from lots of different textures! My kids love theirs. The visual and tactile combo is really great for early learning, too!

If there's anyone in my area who didn't make it but would still like materials for the craft, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thanks!

Easter Coloring Page, 2009

The Easter Bunny's newest coloring page:

FYI, the Easter Bunny found the text and images for this activity HERE. :)

St. Patrick's Day Edible Fun

Our older preschool kiddos (ages 4-5) got to have little "pot of gold" snacks on St. Patrick's Day. Michelle found this idea on familyfun.com, though she used bowls instead of limes--much more practical, I say! The "gold" is just lemon-flavored Jell-o cubes (Jigglers). The kids loved these, and some even ate Jell-o when they previously wouldn't touch the stuff! :)

Our younger kids got to load up on some super sugary Froot Loops while they made these fun little rainbows, courtesy of http://www.kidssoup.com/. They had a lot of fun matching up the colors...and eating the goods! :) You can get this rainbow sheet HERE.

Shape Books

In addition to our church group, I also help with a home-rotating preschool. On St. Patrick's day, our little guys (2-3 years old) made these fun shape books. They love being able to see their names on the title pages.

The text is predictable, so they can "read" their books to everyone! They enjoyed being able to put the appropriate number of shamrocks on each page (we did numbers 1-5).

This is a great project for any holiday, or any other time of the year! Pick a shape or a theme, and run with it! Kids love having ownership, and they love to show off a book that they've made.

To download a copy of the templates we used for this book, go HERE. Thanks to http://www.abcteach.com/ for the shamrock shape!