Valentine’s Day Preschool Math!
Valentine’s Day is a fun time of year full of sweet cards, cute hearts, and sugar-high children running around like maniacs. Is it crazy that I don’t really associate the holiday with romance anymore? My husband and I exchange cards and small gifts, but it’s really about the kids. Each of the kids made cards for the other children, telling them something they like or admire about them. Not only do their creative juices flow, but it feels so great to hear people tell you what they like about you. Plus, it’s proof that they like each other in some way or another, right? 
Valentine’s Day is also a fun opportunity to incorporate cute treats into learning math. How so, you ask? Quite simply, conversation hearts make wonderful counters for preschool hands. I picked up several boxes of conversation hearts at the commissary yesterday. Derek was so excited for his project. He was asking to do it before breakfast. He had no idea what the project was, but he wanted those candies!
I split a piece of paper into 10 sections and asked him to put that number of hearts into each box. For example, one heart went into the 1 box and 8 hearts went into the 8 box. He did awesome up to 5, then got sidetracked after that. With a little bit of urging and several attempts, Derek mastered the concept and had a good time practicing his counting! One-to-one correlations can be hard for preschoolers to grasp and this is an easy activity to strengthen those skills.
Next, we worked on color patterns. I began a pattern for him and he completed it. He wasn’t sure exactly what to do at first. With some practice he got the hang of it. We’ll definitely continue working on patterns.
The conversation hearts mysteriously disappeared throughout the project. Hmmm…. I wonder what happened to them?
Derek also practiced his fine-motor skills today, cutting out heart-shaped valentines (with mom’s help) and decorating them with stickers. I loved it because it kept him actively engaged. He had fun too. My Derek Valentine is covered with lots of bright stickers and crayon pictures. Ethan’s is brown with one sticker. At least he expresses himself right? Derek was thrilled to put his cards into each child’s valentine’s bag.
I love holidays of every shape and size. They provide us with constant inspiration, project ideas, and preschool themes.
Happy Valentine’s Day!!! I hope you get a bug-sticker-covered Valentine from someone you love too.
Three Kids with Hammers and Nails= Three Unique Dinosaur Creations and a Roaring Good Time
Woodworking teaches kids to follow directions, enhances fine motor skills, teaches patience, boosts self-confidence, and results in a creation they can be proud of. That is why we love Lowe’s Build-and-Grow workshops Today my three little builders created ferocious T-rexes. They had so much fun!
Even Derek is an avid builder!
What do I do next, Daddy?
Look who is building without crying!
My most beautiful builder
Hubby was home today and I talked him into coming to help with the class. He came and tried convincing me he’d be most helpful walking through the store with Bella. That would be helpful, but not as helpful as directing three children with a woodworking project. I brought snacks for Bella and while she wasn’t happy to be in the stroller, she did stay there and eat her snacks. Three young children each building a rather complicated project is quite a challenge!
Each child laid their supplies out in front of them and we all read the steps together, one at a time. Hubby and I helped the kids line up their parts and start the nails, then the kids nailed them the rest of the way. We did one step at a time and made sure everyone was done before moving to the next step. This teaches the kids to work together and also to be patient. They talked each other through the more difficult parts of the project. They also worked on sorting and size comparison to find the correct size nails from their bags.
The project was a bit complicated, but we made it through without having to re-do very many parts. The only child who was a bit to anxious to get ahead was Alex, who nailed the wrong piece of dinosaur onto the wrong side of the wrong part. Ooops. Mom fixed it and told her to listen and wait for the rest of the kids to finish.
Ethan's "Special" Dinosaur
Look what we made!
The kids were all very proud of their dinosaurs and covered them with stickers. Like their own personalities, each child’s dinosaur was all very different. Bella wanted her own dinosaur too. Perhaps in a few months we’ll let her try as well. That seems super young, but Derek began his first woodworking class at age 2 when Hubby was deployed. It’s a fun and important part of all of their educations.
The best part of the class is that each kid comes home with a new, free toy. They’ve been playing with their dinosaurs for the last few hours now, roaring happily and stagingbattles between the warring tribes of dinos. I think it’s a win-win situation. They learned a lot AND they have something new to play with.
If you haven’t tried Lowes’ Build-and-Grow Workshop, you definitely should. It’s free, twice-monthly, and so much fun. Next month we’re going to make valentine’s boxes and race cars. The kids get certificates and badges each time as well. The boys have the bad habit of pulling their badges off their aprons, but Alex has developed quite a collection. You can sign up online for their free classes. It’s so much fun! Perhaps we’ll see you there.
This is so cool!
Our Herd
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- New Experience #3: Build and Grow (52brandnew.wordpress.com)
When You Give a Baby A Marker….
What happens when you give a baby a crayon? Or a marker, pencil, or piece of chalk for that matter? For miss Bella, age 18 months, coloring utensils have long been a sought-for but forbidden object. To get her involved in learning time this morning, I took out some giant poster paper, set her on the ground, and gave her a crayon. Derek gave her another handful of crayons. Her eyes lit up and she smiled (behind her ever-present Binky), as if to say, “Seriously?”
I remember presenting Alex with her coveted first crayon and paper when she was 13 months old. Why the difference, you ask? Well… until recently Bella has had a penchant for eating crayons. Yes, eating them. She would stand on her tiny tip-toes and reach her little hand as far onto the table as she could to grasp a crayon left just a bit too close to the table’s edge by an unsuspecting sibling. She’d then run as fast as her wobbly legs would take her, pop an end into her mouth, and crunch. One of the kids or I almost always got it out before she could try and eat it. Still, she tried and tried again.
She tried to put the crayon in her mouth this morning too, but I said, “No eat, color,” and showed her how to scribble on the paper. She gave it a go and smiled brightly. She tried again, and again, and again.
The kids cracked up laughing when Bella tired of the paper and attempted to color her little toddler feet. She rubbed them harder and harder and tried several colors but, alas, they weren’t made to work on baby feet.
After a few minutes of crayons she waddled to the school supply big and pulled out the Rubbermaid container of markers. We tried one color after another (on paper, not feet). She had more fun opening and closing the markers than actually coloring, I think. She was so concentrated trying to get the tip of the marker into the cap and was very proud of herself when she accomplished her goal.
Why is coloring such a big deal? It builds fine motor skills and helps build brain connections. Coloring offers an opportunity for self-expression. When Bella colors, she learns about gripping things with her tiny hand, control, and coordination. She also learns to focus on an activity for a few seconds. When she’s older, it’ll be a great way to teach her about colors, shapes, and the world around her. That’s pretty big stuff for a tiny little girl.
How old where your children when they began to color?
My Little Bella
Bella went from coloring paper to trying to color her feet
Baby toes!
Mom, Look What I Made!
My Little Artist
It’s a Bright, Bright Sunshiny Day! Fun Hand Print Sunshine Craft
Who doesn’t love little kid handprints? I know I do. I love the hand print ornaments and projects my kids made in the past because their hands were so tiny. They remind me just how much my kids have grown. I know I’ll treasure these little mementos of their childhood forever.
This morning, we began our school day reading books about the sun. We had a blast with some cute spacey finger plays and had a discussion about our closest star and why it’s important to life on Earth. To tie in an art project, we made paper plate sunshines! They turned out super cute, were very easy to make, and used basic craft supplies. I couldn’t resist sharing this one!
Hand print Paper Plate Suns
Supplies:
Paper plates
Construction paper (yellow, orange, or red)
Pencils for tracing hands
Yellow paint and brushes or sponges
Markers or crayons for making faces
Scissors
Glue
Directions:
1. Paint the back side of a paper plate yellow. We used cut-up sponges and finger paint.
2. Trace your child’s hand on construction paper lots of times. I traced Alex’s hand more than Ethan’s because he has less patience when it comes to cutting them out. Cutting hones fine-motor skills and is very important!
3. Cut out handprints. Encourage kids to do this themselves. Practice makes perfect!
4. Glue the handprints to the paper plate. We glued ours to the front edges so that they peeked around the side. These are the sun’s rays.
5. After the paint dried, each kid drew a face or design on their sun.
That’s it! It’s easy, fun, and builds fine-motor skills. This project could easily be altered to make hand-print flowers too. Enjoy!
