Painting with Golf Balls in Coffee Cans

Coffee Can Painting With Golf Balls

You will need:

Clean coffee cans with lids (or other similar containers)

Paper that fits inside the can

Paint

Golf Balls

Spoons
A friend

Insert the paper into the can so that it presses against the sides. Have the preschoolers spoon the paint-loaded golf balls into the can. Secure the lid.

Find a friend and roll the can back and forth!

(This is a great friendship activity!)

Remove the lid and pull the paper out of the can.

This was done with our 2 year olds, but we've found all preschool ages to enjoy this activity!

Pajama Day!

At the end of each January we have Pajama Day. The preschoolers get SO excited when they arrive and find us wearing pajamas, too!

We make our own waffles for breakfast. I like them to do as much of it as they can themselves.

Scoop the dry ingredients into a cup.

Carefully add water.

Stir.

Pour batter onto the waffle baker and wait.

Add syrup, if desired. 

Then ask your preschoolers to take a picture of their teacher serving the waffles.

I had the preschoolers bring their blankets, too. We turned off the lights and I read a story. 

Happy Pajama Day!

Alphabet Box

I found one of these storage drawer containers at Goodwill a few years back and turned it into a letter drawer.  We've sorted and stored magnetic letters and letter tiles, but right now it is filled with letter stickers.

Last week the 3 year olds used them in their journals. They looked for letters in their names, and then asked how to spell other words.

My favorite: "Teacher Sheryl, how do you spell 'I love Mommy'?"

Just another fun idea for your literacy center!

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Paint Between Our Toes!

We celebrated the removal of our carpet by walking and dancing through paint this week in both our 2's class and our 3's class.

Some of the children were a bit timid at first...

But eventually they got the hang of it.

Slippery!

Foot prints were exchanged for slide marks as we tried to dance.

The best part was the foot soak at the end. Warm sudsy water.

And then, they insisted I take off my shoes and give it a try.

Do you know this is the first time in my life that I've done this? Yep!

The Feeling of Paint

This week we are exploring our 5 senses, and while I planned activities for many areas of the classroom that involves using our senses, I hadn't quite planned it for the easel.

It turned out to be a great place to explore the sense of touch for one little boy.

I stood back and watched as he spent a large amount of time squeezing paint from the sea sponge, watching it slowly drip down the easel.

His entire upper body was involved pushing the sponge up and down the paper, squeezing his fingers and watching the paint ooze out.

The sponge was finally dropped.

And it was his hands exploring the surface of the easel. The dried paint stuck to the sides.

And, finally, across the surface of the paper. 

And, suddenly, he was finished. Pleased with what he discovered. Ready to move on.

Literacy in the Dramatics Corner

I often place clipboards in different areas of the classroom. Often the preschoolers will stop what they are doing and draw a picture or make a sign for a project.

On Wednesday I added some paper mittens and a clothesline in the dramatics corner. They were interested for maybe 5 minutes.

I had also placed some clipboards on the table in that area. Two boys started drawing maps and decided the mittens needed to come down and their maps be hung instead.

I watched as other children joined, drawing maps and pictures, hanging them on the clothesline.

I had to add another line because they were having so much fun hanging their work!

Once again, I had an idea and they changed it.

I just love this!

Revisiting the Ice Table - All Week Long

I thought I'd follow up with the 3's when they returned 2 days later to revisit the ice table. All the animals and objects we placed on top were stuck to the ice. The children had great fun prying them off! 

Because we weren't sure if there would be any ice left on Friday, we saved some in a container and put it in the freezer. To play with on a later date.

We then put the melting ice table back outside to see how it would look on Friday (today). I unfortunately was not in class during the first part of the morning, so no pictures were taken, but imagine hammering the thinnest sheet of ice and squealing as it broke into many pieces.

This, by far, was one the best lessons on water and ice! And none of it was planned. Again, sometimes those last-minute ideas are the best.