Our PreSchool Blog

We have so much fun using paint dotters in the Toddler classroom. And this is a great activity to strengthen their fine motor and hand-eye coordination skills.

Today we drew a few pumpkins on butcher paper.  Inside our pumpkins we drew small circles for the toddlers to dot on.

 For some great paint dotters project ideas check out http://www.brighthubeducation.com/preschool-crafts-activities/80373-dot-arts-and-crafts/.

We had so many delicious apples left over from yesterday’s sorting activity we decided to put them to good use.  After reading the book, The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall the students sliced apples, followed a recipe and made their own Apple Crisp.  After cooking their delicious creations, the children enjoyed them as a snack!  Cooking with children is a wonderful way to practice following directions, build basic math skills. sequencing, hand-eye coordination, and building fine motor muscles.

Sensory bags are so easy to make, and the kids love them!  These bags are filled with purple gel and spiders to match our spider theme.  To make it, you can fill any size sandwich baggie with hair gel then add food coloring and squish it all around.  Next, add items of your choice such as glitter, confetti, or small objects.  But the fun doesn’t have to stop there.  You can make sensory bags with many different materials.  For more sensory bag ideas check out http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2012/07/fun-with-sensory-bags.html.

We made Scorpion’s out of straws and beads using a Q-tip to draw on the glue.  Gripping the Q-tip and controlling a tracing movement is a great way to strengthen the “pincher grip.”  Making our fine motor muscle tone stronger will help us to be able to prepare for the task of writing.

Practicing making the letters “A” and “B” with playdough…

Our small groups on Monday:

{group #1}

We started our “Handwriting Without Tears” curriculum this week! Our first activity was introduced in whole group time and practiced in small groups. The children had to practice forming the letters “A” and “B” with magnetic wood pieces. We talked about “big lines” “curved lines” “small lines” etc. This helps the children break down writing out a letter into simple steps. For an “A” we say: “Big Line, Big Line, Little Line!”

{group #2}

This group was centered around our shape of the month: RECTANGLE! Check out the various ways we made rectangles!

{group #3}

This group focused on our numbers for this month {1 and 2} as well as one-to-one correspondence and fine motor development. The children had to roll the die {which only had one or two dots on each side}, count the dots, and put the corresponding amount of beads into their bowl.