Fun, Rainy Day Project with Your Kids

Today, we got out the Crayola clay and some food coloring. We squirted some food coloring onto the clay and then "kneaded" it until the color was all over the clay. Then I gave the kids some different things to put on their creations! This was a great activity today. The kids experimented with making colors and just being creative! Great rainy day project! The food coloring did "stain" their hands a little so if that would bother you or your child, you could always have them wear some gloves or wrap the clay in plastic wrap while they are "kneading" it.

Have the kids work with a cookie sheet so you don't get the mess on the table.

These are great little creations that will dry with time!

St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Project for Kids

Grea activity to do with the kiddos around St. Patrick's Day! I used crayons to make a rainbow on paper. Then, I took my circle hole punch and punched out circles from colored paper for each color of the rainbow (this takes a little while). Then, I had the kids glue the circles to the correspoding color on the rainbow I drew. At the end, we glued cotton balls to the ends of the rainbows for clouds. This is a great activity to work on fine motor skills and also finding and identifying colors! And what kid doesn't love to make rainbows!

 

 

 

St. Patty's Day "Magic" Project for the Kids!

This is a real easy one to do and it will teach the kids that by mixing colors, you can come up with new colors (good primary color lesson)!

Have your child cut out a shamrock shape that you have given them (or do it for them if they are too little). Then, put some yellow paint and some blue paint on the shamrock. Give your child a paintbrush and tell them to mx the colors together! The kids will love this! It is like a magic trick! A new color will appear and the other two colors they started with will disappear! AMAZING!

Easy St. Patty's Day Math Activity to Teach Numbers, Counting and Much More

This is an easy activity to set up for the kiddos to do! It helps with number recognition, counting and even shapes and colors.

I cut out 5 pots of gold from black construction paper. Then I cut out some "gold" from yellow paper. I took some mailing labels that I had and wrote the numbers 1-5 on them. I also used a square hole punch to cut out green "leprechaun" squares. I told the kids that the leprechauns had left us a project they needed up to complete.

The kids glued the "gold" (yellow construction paper) on the top of the black "pots of gold". Each child had 5 pots of gold.

These are the green leprechaun squares (using square hole punch).

I wrote the numbers 1-5 on these "circle" mailing labels.

The kids glued green squares onto each pot of gold. Since they had 5 pots, one pot had one square, another pot had two squares and so forth up to 5 (it is hard to see the lime green squares on the yellow paper in this picture).

This is a better picture to show them gluing the squares on the pot.

The child then counted the squares on the pot and then had to find that corresponding number on the mailing labels and put it on the pot.

It really was a fun project for the kids and it took some time for them to do. I would love to hear what kind of St. Patty's Day activities you are doing with your kids!

Outdoor Egg Carton Hunt for Kids

I can't remember if I have blogged this before, but this is such a fun outdoor activity to do with the kids!!

Paint the inside of an egg carton with different colors and let dry over night.

Have the kids head outdoors and hunt for different things in nature that corresponds with the colors in the egg carton.

It is always so neat to see what they come up with at the end of the hunt. Even the "hard" colors can be found!

Yarn Art - Great Project for Older Kids!

We started with a foam board. We put glue on the bottom and used green yarn to make the grass.

Closer look at the grass.

We then added some green stems.

I thought it would be easiest to make circular flowers, but the kids wanted to draw some that they would then "fill" with yarn. She was drawing a tulip for this one.

Here she drew the circular shape, but added some petals.

This was one of her finished flowers.

We started with the circular pattern on the inside.

She loved the look of it that she decided to cover the rest of the it with a different color in the circular pattern. Trying to do the petals and the tulip turned out to be pretty hard for their little fingers.


I took a picture of the final board, but I must have erased it. It turned out really cool. She had at least six flowers on it! I thought this would be fun to do for adults too! You could make some pretty amazing artwork!!!!! The possibilites would only be limited to how much yarn you had. Happy yarn crafting!

Rainbow Caterpillar Behavior Chart

I wanted to come up with a "behavior chart" this summer for the kids. I thought a rainbow caterpillar would be cute. I cut out circles of each color of the rainbow. I made his head white. Each morning, I will have a trivia question for the kids to answer and then they also have to find our "Benny the Bee" (something I started last summer that they keep begging to bring back. I just colored a picture of a bee and I hide him around the house each night. Then, each morning they find him). When they have done both of these things, they need to put their clothes pin (they will each have a clothes pin with their name on it) on the caterpillars head (start). This is where they will start each day and depending on how they behave, they will move their clothes pin accordingly.

This is what I made the colors represent:

White = Start
Red = STOP! This means they have not had a good day at all
Orange = WARNING!
Yellow = Slow Down
Green = Your headed in the right direction
Blue = Keep up the great work
Purple = WOW! You are doing fabulous!
Pink = OUTSTANDING!

I like this idea because it gives the kids a "visual" on how they are doing. They will want to work hard to watch their pin climb the caterpillar.

It is a magnetic wall under the caterpillar and Mr. Potato Head has invaded that space at the moment!

Easy Easter Busy Book for Toddlers/Preschoolers

Work on colors: Cut out squares from cardstock. Have colored egg shapes cut out for child.

Have child glue an egg to each square piece of cardstock.

Finished egg pages.

Work on numbers: Have child put Easter stickers on square sheets of cardstock and write the number on bottom of page.

I put all pages together and put a hole punch in the top left corner. I then put a key ring through it all which makes it easy for the kids to flip the pages, but it also leaves the option to add too the booklet depending on what the child is working on (letters, animals, simple math, etc.) I thought these booklets would be perfect to take to church on Easter to help keep the kids calm and occupied. Happy Easter! 

Cute Valentine Craft That Teaches Colors!!!

I made this book to help teach colors! It was very easy to do and the kids loved to "hunt" for the colors they needed. I stapled papers together to make a booklet. Then, on each page, I drew a colored heart. I cut little squares from construction paper. I put the squares in a pile so the kids had to "hunt" for the color they needed for each page. They glued the squares inside the hearts to fill them up. This way, they are able to keep the booklet and go back through it and learn the colors! Fun project!

Easy To Make Booklets to Help Teach Shapes and Colors

Color and Shape Booklets:
A Fun Tool to help teach your child shapes and colors!

These are two booklets I made to help teach colors and shapes to the kids. They were really easy to make and the kids love to do them! For both booklets, I cut white paper in half. For the "Color Booklet", I wrote the color word on the page and then made some blocks of that color at the corners of the pages. I cut out squares of colored paper to go along with the color of the pages. I lay the colored squares on the floor and the kids need to put the right colored squares on the corresponding color page. For the "Shape Booklet", I colored a different shape on each page. I cut out shapes from black construction paper and they play it just like the "Color Booklet". I put the shapes on the floor and they go through each page and put the right shape on its match. I put these books together with a brad so that the pages were easy to move back and forth. These are a cinch to make and the kids love them! I store them in gallon size Ziploc bags. Another great thing about these booklets is that the kids can do them on their own!!!

An Experiment That Teaches Different Colors

I was trying to come up with some more ideas that parents could do at home to help teach a child colors. Children love experiments, messes and things that change - so I thought what about changing plain white marshmallows into different colors??? In bowls, I mixed food coloring with a little water. We then put the marshmallows into the bowls and stirred them and let them sit for about 20 minutes. When we came back to check on them, they changed into the different colors!!!! The kids thought it was magic!!!


Try this at home and experience the "magic"!

Teaching Your Child Colors, Shapes, Letters and Numbers

How Do I Teach My Child Colors/Shapes/Letters/Numbers?


At the age of two, I started teaching my kids these things. I started off just introducing them to these things, but before I knew it, they were picking up on it and telling me their colors and letters on their own! As I have said many times before, I am a huge believer in consistency and doing things over and over with your child until it is clear to them. I am also an advocate for trying out new things and making learning fun for kids. Mix things up! Get creative! Get them involved in a game and/or a project where these things are being used. This creates a situation where your child is learning and having fun at the same time !

Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Go outside! What colors and shapes can you find in nature? Collect sticks and put them together to form letters, numbers and shapes.



• Field Trip! In the grocery store, how many different apple colors are there? What different shapes are in the aisles?



• Flowers! Try and find all the colors of the rainbow in the flowers?



• Reading a book to your child: What colors are on the pages? What shapes are in the pictures?



• Getting your child dressed in the morning: Talk about what colors he/she has on.



• In the car: Look at the passing vehicles - what color are they? What shapes are on the buildings? Can you find an "A"?



• Cooking: Talk about the color in the foods you are preparing. Cut the vegetables into shapes. Making pancakes? Make them into shapes and letters. Add food coloring to batters to come up with new colors.

Projects and crafts are another great way to get your kids having fun while learning!

Here are some ideas:

• Have your kids paint different letters, numbers, shapes - let them experiment and get messy!


• Have them cut out different shapes (great for scissor skills too) and put them together to make a picture.


• Have your kids mix paints together to see what colors they can make.


• Use letter, number and shape cookie cutters as stencils.


• Stickers are a lot of fun for kids. Make a sticker album out of a notebook and the kids can put the letters on the corresponding page.


• Use alphabet cereal to make words. Spell their name.

The project possibilities are endless! You just need to find out what your child enjoys doing and run with it!!



In every thing you do, try and attach a color/shape/letter/number to it. That way, you are making it fun and interesting and not such a bore to learn. As with anything, don't do it so much that your kids' ears start ringing when they hear you mention a "circle" or the color "blue". At first, it will seem like your child is not even paying attention and that he/she is not retaining anything you are going over, but then one day you will be somewhere and your child will say, "Look mom, that truck is green!" Sweet success!




















One thing about teaching a child something new, repetition and making it fun are two main components to them catching on. Repeating colors and talking about colors over and over is the perfect way for your child to understand and get the colors down. Making it fun The main thing is do it over and over and over again. You can teach colors wherever you are: grocery store, looking at flowers, reading books, flashcards, in the car, outside, etc. You just have to go over it all the time and soon, your child will be in the car someday and say that is a green truck! AAHHH - satisfaction.