Monday, 16 May 2016

10 fun and engaging activities for the summer holidays!

The summer heat has become unbearable and to step out of the house is really not an option. So how do we keep our little ones occupied constructively to avoid the learning loss? I have gathered 10 super easy ideas for you all to try, in the comfort of your home. All of them have been kid tested and approved, so you wouldn't have to worry about them not being a hit with your kids. They are low prep and wouldn't consume too much of your time.

Make puppets! Always works with kids and they can be used for story retelling or singing or enacting. In this picture, we made pig noses after reading "The Three Little Pigs". We used egg cartons, painted them with pink paint, attached ribbons and then
pretended to be pigs.

Dinosaur fossils will get your little paleontologists super excited . Read THIS POST on how to make them.

Nothing like the old charm of pretend play and kids thrive on it. Set up a dramatic play area for your kids-whatever they fancy, doctor's clinic, a pizzeria, an ice cream vendor etc. Click 
HERE to read more about it.


Get your little chefs to come up with recipes of edible animals. Here we made a spider with Oreo cookies, M&M's and chocolate sticks.

Do a letter match with magnetic letters. Put up an alphabet sheet on the fridge and let children match the magnetic letters. Get your alphabet sheets from HERE.

Keep the hot temperatures down by freezing some ice cubes with paint and letting children paint with them. It will give them a great sensory kick!

Another amazing idea to beat the summer heat is to make blue colored jell-o with the kids. Involve them while making the jell-o. Add gummy fish or fish crackers to turn it into an ocean snack.

Make a huge cutout of a cow and attach a rubber glove at the back. Make tiny holes in the rubber glove and pour some milk from the opening. Teach children to milk the cow. Great activity to teach new vocabulary words like udder and concepts of how the milk reaches us from the farm.

Books are the best boredom buster. Read several books and invite children to become authors and create their own stories using simple story maps. You will be amazed by their creativity.

Invite children to make words with magnetic letters-real and nonsense words should be allowed. In the picture below, I gave the little boy a muffin tray and lots of letters to play with and make his own words. This really promotes thinking and encourages children to read words without any pressure.


Hope you find the ideas useful. If you try them out, do let me know.

Wednesday, 4 May 2016

Mother's Day Gift Idea!

Mother's Day is around the corner and I have come up with a sweet gift that is absolutely low prep. 

Just print out the cards and use any heart shaped candy/cookie to place on the heart shape. If children want, they can even color in the heart to make it more personalized.

 I wrapped up the cookie in a plastic wrap and secured it with a scotch tape.

Get it for free from my TPT STORE.
Mother's Day Freebie!

Do check out my other Mother's Day Unit too!
Mother's Day Activities

Friday, 29 April 2016

Sight Word Musical Chair Game!

 End the boredom of your kids by playing the musical chair sight word game. Its a low prep game and all you need is few chairs, some paper to write the words on and music. The kinesthetic learners will have a blast with this game as they will get an opportunity to move around while learning. And the best part is that nobody loses as children will get to sit on different chairs with different words, every time the music plays. 

Just play the music and let children move around the chairs. Once the music stops they have to sit on the nearest chair and read the word. Continue till the game holds children's interest.

You can replace sight words with any concept that you want to focus on- numbers, alphabet, blends etc.

 

A quick indoor game for the hot summer days. Play it and make learning fun!

Monday, 18 April 2016

Recycling Sorting Mats

After the concept of recycling is discussed with children, I follow up with this activity to ensure that the concept is stuck with them. I give children, pictures of recyclable items. We name the pictures and discuss how we use them.Then I encourage them to sort the pictures into plastic, paper, glass and can bins.


You can also simply print out the mats and ask kids to sort the pictures. It can be an individual activity or a group activity or you can place them in your centers.


Grab them from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.
Recycling Mats- Earth Day!

Don't forget to check out my other posts.


Earth Day Activities!

Earth Day Song!

Thursday, 14 April 2016

Pinterest Picks!

I am linking up with inspiredowlscorner.blogspot.in to share 3 great pins I found on pinterest.


This fabulous 3D plant craft will teach children about the different parts of a plant.The finished plants  will look great on a display and will make a great visual treat.
Parts of a Plant ~ Nice twist with the roots!:


This activity is a  great hands on way to teach children about pollination. Perfect to compliment your 'bee's unit.
Teaching pollination with Cheetos - brilliant! - from Little Warriors - Great science project for zoology!:


If you are looking for an art project for Earth Day, check out this pin. Children will not only enjoy making the mobile but will also get an opportunity to think of ways to take care of planet Earth.
Classified: Mom: Kids Craft- Earth Day Mobile:


Tuesday, 12 April 2016

Earth Day- Garbage Truck Craft

Earth Day is around the corner and we have been reading some great books to find out different ways in which we can take care of Planet Earth. Reducing waste and throwing trash in the bin is one of the key points we talk about.We discuss in detail about what is trash and why we shouldn't throw it around.

We also discuss who collects the trash, when we throw it in the bin? That's where this fantastic book" I Stink" by Kate and Jim Mc Mullan comes in.

Its about a garbage truck and how it helps us.The book is like an autobiography of a garbage truck where the truck talks about himself in a hilarious way.

The book is also great for discussing what goes in trash and what can be recycled.

A simple book that will teach children how trash reaches the landfill.

We make a garbage truck craft and draw things that can be collected by the truck.

Get the template of the craft from my TPT STORE.

We sing this cute song to remember that trash goes in the bin.

Check out my other posts for some more Earth Day ideas.


Earth Day Activities!




Wednesday, 6 April 2016

Earth Day Unit!

It sounds ironical but as I am growing older I  think I  am becoming attention deficit. My wavering focus and fickle mind is surely not helping me to concentrate on one thing. I say that because I so excitedly started work on my bee unit for which I had some fabulous ideas but then when I got up today morning, I had this great desire to create something for Earth Day. So the bee unit when on the back burner and am not sure weather it will see the light of the day for some time now. Because along with the Earth day unit, I also got some ideas for 'Mothers Day' and 'Back to school'. But the good news is that it didn't take me too long to put everything together for the Earth day unit and I completed it with full focus.So maybe I mustn't worry too much about ADD!

And if you are looking for some interesting literacy activities for Earth Day, grab this unit right away.
Earth Day Activities!

The unit has posters in color and black and white which you can use for discussion and coloring respectively. 

Print the emergent reader to use during independent reading time or guided reading. Children can color the pictures if they like. On the last page, they can write and draw one thing they would like to do for Planet Earth. Few glimpses of the book:



The unit also contain puzzles.

An activity sheet to recap the whole unit. Cut the pictures at the bottom of the page and match with the correct sentence.


This unit is on sale this week as I am linking up with Kelly and Kim's Kindergarten.

Hop over to my TPT Store to get this unit for a 20% discount, only for this week.