By Gigi on March 15th, 2017
Art is always a hit with my kids, but especially 3D collages. They seem to inspire a higher level of creativity, allowing the children to build on, up, and around. In addition, 3D collages look amazing when displayed on bulletin boards, and they help to meet the art materials requirement on the Environmental Childhood Environmental Scale Revised (ECERS-R).
I was ready to present another type of this art form, and Zoey was ready for something Easter. We were deep in the aisles of Hobby Lobby when Zoey spied these little guys.
Chicks, eggs, and buttons..oh, my! That’s all it took – we knew we had to have our students make 3D Easter collages. To introduce this activity, we will be reading There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick!
MATERIALS USED:
-Egg cartons
-Tacky glue
-Crinkle paper grass
-Plastic eggs
-Small glitter eggs
-Colored buttons
-Chicks
-Ribbon
-Yarn
-Colored macaroni
-Felt pieces
-Construction paper squares
-Pipe cleaners/fuzzy sticks
-Pom poms
By Gigi on March 15th, 2017
Not only is graphing with jellybeans a yummy way to spend some time, it’s also educational; there are so many learning concepts packed into this small activity. Obviously, the main is graphing. But graphing is just the umbrella that covers several mighty and oh-so important math principles. In this particular instance, the children must rely on their color knowlegde to sort and classify the jellybeans. After placing the candy on their graphs, they will use their counting skills (one-to-one correspondence) to count and match the number of beans, in a row, to its corresponding number below.
Hello, number recognition!
Graphing also incorporates the concept of more/less/same. Ask your students questions like, “Do you have more red jellybeans or more purple jellybeans – or are they the same?” Children often struggle with the definition of the word ‘less’, so it’s best to emphasize that, “Less means not as many.”
Just a note to add: Many of my fellow teachers ask me about my policy with eating the candy. My own rule is that after the activity is completed, the child may choose ONE special jellybean to enjoy. The rest are bagged up and labeled (by my assistant) and placed in the parent box to take home.
Download the Jellybean Graphing printable here.
By Gigi on March 13th, 2017
Here is a St. Patrick’s Day activity (free printable) that will allow children to practice their visual discrimination skills. Opposed to comparing a small group of 3D objects, children must rely on their visual discrimination skills to identify differences and similarities of images. It is important for them to hone these skills in order to strengthen their alphabetic knowledge; they will need to spot the differences between letters. For examples, “b” and “d”, and “m” and “n”.
For younger learners, it may be best to work with one line of pictures at a time. Try covering the others with a piece of paper.
Once the child has determined which image is different from the rest, have him/or cover it with a marker. Gold coins work very well and are always popular! For further visual discrimination fun, check out the I Spy book series on Amazon.
Download the free St. Patrick’s Day visual discrimination activity here.
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