Updated Cool Down Corner and Magic blankets

In my  previous post I talked about the cool down corner in my room.  Just to review when my children get upset I walk them over to the cool down corner and tell them to sit there and calm down and that I will come and talk with them when they do.  I am trying to teach them to go to the cool down corner on the own when they are upset but right now few of them do it. This is what our cool down corner looks like:

It is in a corner of the room and has a book shelf in front of it to give it a more private feel but it is still easy to supervise.  The two large cushions came off of my couch. You could easily make your own using fabric and foam from a craft store.  The small cushions are chair cushions purchased from Walmart.  The blue bin has several calm down items in it.  It has two calming jars.  A pair of noise canceling head phones.  A few stress balls and squish balls.  It also has two pin wheels that can be used to help children to learn deep breathing. Something else I keep in the cool down corner even though it isn't pictured is one of our Magic Blankets.

It is a weighted blanket but we call it a magic blanket because it works so well at calming the kids down and helping them get to sleep at naptime.  The one pictured is one I made.  It isn't very difficult if you have a sewing machine.  The materials to make this one cost me around $24. It is a two pound blanket for each additional two pounds of weighted material it cost an extra $10.  I am thinking of making some to sell on etsy or some where.  If you are interested send me an email by clicking here.

Sensery tub Tuesday- Baking soda and Vinigar Volcanos

Last week we read the book when Sophie Gets angry.  We talked about what we do when we get angry.  One of the pages in the book compares Sophie to a volcano so we made aking soda and vinegar volcanos.  The kids loved to watch the mixture flow out of the test tubes we used.

Fabulous Food Friday- Animal Cracker Cages

I haven't been on here to update my blog in a while so I am putting my Fabulous food Friday activity from two weeks ago on here now.   We were reading the book Zoo Looking by Mem Fox.  Our theme for the week was of course Zoo Animals.  The kids had a pretty fun week.  Thursday the children brought in there stuffed animals from home and we made a pretend zoo.  Friday for Fabulous food Friday we built cages for our animal crackers.

 

As you can see from the pictures our cages were built out of marshmallow and pretzels.  The first picture is my creation the second is one of the children's.  

Kenetic Sand

Hey guys it is Sensory tub Tuesday.  I make a lot of my sensory items but it doesn't all ways have to be complicated.  One store bought sensory item I love is kinetic sand. I prefer the original one I have tried both the original and off brand of it.  The original one has a better texture and flows more freely.  I bought my sand at Walmart for around $15.  I found molds at five below for $5. My kids have had a blast with it.  One of the molds is a car shape the children enjoy making the cars then pretending to be monster trucks and smashing them.

Sunshine Crackers

Hi guys.  I has been a crazy week for me which is why my fabulous food Friday activity is just now being posted on Sunday night. So this week our theme was weather.  We talked mostly about rain and even played out side in it.

 

So by Friday we were ready for a little sunshine! Our Fabulous food Friday activity was sunshine crackers.

Ingredients:

Ritz Crackers

Whipped Cream Cheese- it makes it easier to mix up

Pretzels

red and yellow food coloring

 

Method-

Mix red and yellow food coloring into cream cheese to make it orange.  Have children spread the orange cream cheese on the Ritz crackers with a butter knife.  I gave each child three crackers because we eat it with their two o'clock snack so they don't need a full serving. After they have finished putting the cream cheese on there cracker have them place pretzel sticks around the cracker to look like rays of sunshine.





Preschool Dollar Tree Haul!!

I am just now getting around to uploading this video even though I recorded it last weekend.  I hope you enjoy it.

Weather Sensory Bin

Hi guys it is Sensory Tub Tuesday! Our theme for this week is weather. So this is our weather sensory bin:

The cloud dough is make from flour and baby oil. I didn't measure it out. I started with a whole bottle of baby oil then added flour until it formed a nice dough.  The blue stones are from the dollar tree and they represent the rain drops.  The umbrellas are from party city.  They had sharp ends at the bottom so I had to cut them off.  The kids seemed to enjoy this activity and made everyone's hands feel soft and smell awesome.

Easter Bunny Treat Bags

My center is closed Friday for Good Friday so our Easter party will be tomorrow.  Today we have worked on treat bags for the kids to take home.  I took brown paper bags and cut the top to look like bunny ears.  Then I drew a bunny face on the front.  The kids colored the front of their bags and glued a cotton ball on the back for the tail.

Easter Sensory Bin

In my class on Tuesdays I introduce a new activity to our sensory bin.  This week it is dyed rice with Easter eggs.

How to dye rice-
Materials-
Rice
Food Coloring
Rubbing Alcohol
Ziploc freezer bags one for each color you want to make
Wax Paper

Method-
Take one of the Ziploc bags and add two table spoons of rubbing alcohol.  The add ten drops of food coloring.  Shake the bag to mix the food coloring and rubbing alcohol.  Add 1 1/2 cups of rice to the bag.  Shake the bag to mix the rice with the food coloring.  Continue shaking and squeezing the bag until all of the rice is colored.  Then take the rice and dump it on to the wax paper.  Spread the rice out and leave it out overnight until it is dry.  Store the dry rice in a Ziploc container.

Velcro Blocks

This week I have added home made Velcro blocks to our manipulative center. 

To make the blocks I took a regular set of blocks and added three to four pieces of industrial strength Velcro on the sides.

Jump, Frog, Jump! Sensory play

In my classroom I introduce a sensory play activity on Tuesday that the children may use for the rest of the week. Last week our book of the week was Jump, Frog, Jump!.  Our sensory bin was filled with orbeez.  Then I found a plastic animal for each one in the book.  I added a stick for the tree branch and a boat then I added all of our water toys.

Space Saving Circle Time Calender

If your classroom is anything like mine there is not enough space for everything you would like to have.  This includes in my classroom wall space. We have children's art every where and teacher made decorations.  We have our job chart and visual schedules. We have all kinds of stuff on our wall. One thing that we don't have enough room for on our wall is our circle time calendar.  We have one displayed on one of our walls but it is too far away to use during circle time.  Thus came the idea for the space saving circle time calendar.

 

To make my calendar I started out with a tri-fold poster board.  The month and days are stuck on to the calendar with Velcro pieces.  The days of the week and the three envelopes to hold the calendar pieces are hot glued on.  You cants see it in the picture but I ended up having to put pieces of Velcro on the envelopes to keep the contents from spilling out.  

Dirt Cups "Cooking" Activity

I am trying something new at work where each Friday we do a "cooking" activity. I think my kids are picking up on the patter too because as soon as I started siting things down in the classroom my kids sat at the table.  This weeks cooking activity was dirt cups.
So what do you need?
5oz Dixie cups- one for each child
packages of chocolate pudding mix- I used 3 small packages and it wasn't enough for 17 kids
Oreos-  I used a whole pack to make 17 dirt cups
Gummy Worms
Milk
Plastic baggies

Directions-
Make the pudding mix according to the package directions. Give each child a plastic bag with two Oreos in it.  Have the children smash the Oreos.  Let the children spoon some pudding mixture into a Dixie cup.  Then have children pour their crushed Oreos on top.  Then have the children pick out one or two gummy worms to place on top.  Set the cups in the refrigerator for at least 5 mins before serving.

Spring Words Letter Match

I was too tired to post yesterday so I am going to post yesterdays and todays activities today.  Yesterday we did the spring words letter matching activity.

The idea was that the children would get the card then search for the letters on the different clothes pins.  Then place the matching letter close pin over that letter on the card.  That was the idea but.....

My children decided using the clothes pins to make claws was a better idea.  Then some of them decided to use the clothes pins to make a fence.

So how was this activity made?
The cards were made using publisher and internet coloring page images.  Then the letters were written on clothes pins.

Cool Down Corner

In my classroom I am trying a new guidance technique.  When one of my children gets upset I tell them they need to go to the cool down corner.  Our cool down corner is in a tent in a corner of our classroom.  The tent has a large bean bag in it and several seat cushions on the floor.  Also in the tent is a bin of "cool down" items.  These items include two calming jars, three homemade stress balls, a pair of noise canceling head phones and a back massager.  I am still adding things to my cool down corner and I will post them as I add them.

Saint Patricks Day Fun: Leprechaun Mud!

Our sensory activity for the week was Saint Patrick's Day themed.
LEPRECHAUN MUD

Ingredients:
1 roll of cheap toilet paper
1 grated bar of ivory soap
1 cup hot water
10 drops of green food coloring

Method:
Unroll the toilet paper and place it in a large storage container.  Pour the grated soap on top of the toilet paper.  Take the cup of hot water and add the food coloring to it. Stir the water and food coloring.  Pour the mixture on top of the toilet paper and ivory soap.  Mix the ingredients with your hands. Make sure the toilet paper soaks up all of the water. The mixture is then ready to play with.

This Weeks Theme: Spring!

This week in my classroom we are talking about spring since Friday is the first day of spring.  I started out the week by telling the kids that we were going from  the winter season to spring season.  I taught them this song sung to the tune of London bridges:
Spring and Summer, Fall and Winter
Fall and Winter
Fall and Winter
Spring and Summer, Fall and Winter
The Four Seasons.

Activity Number One for the Week:
SAVE THE BABY BIRDS:

The birds used in this activity were made by hot gluing two pompom balls together then gluing wiggly eyes and a small felt triangle on the top pom pom.  The nest were made by rolling the sides of a paper bag down.  Each nest has a different colored number in it. The colors match the color and number of birds that go in the nest.  To start out the activity I talked to the kids about how birds build there nest and start having babies in the spring.  I show the children each empty nest and ask them what color the number is in each nest. I then give them each a few birds. I tell the children that the baby birds accidently fell out of there nest and they need our help getting back in to the right nest.  I explain that the birds go in the nest that has the same color as the bird.  The children use the tweezers to pick up the birds and place them in the nest.  'After all of the birds have been sorted I have the children count the birds and we talk about the number that is in the nest and how it corresponds to the number of birds that live in it.

Introduction.

Hello to all.  I guess I should tell you a little bit about myself.  I am a preschool teacher in North Carolina. I have been working in child care for three years and am pursuing my Associates Degree in Early Childhood Education.  I am starting this blog to keep a record of my teaching endeavors in my new classroom.  I plan to post my weeks activities on here and discuss how well the ideas work.  I know that some of the activities will be big flops but that's ok.  I hope that this blog may become a resource for other teachers.