Valentine's Day Round-Up for Preschoolers!

Valentine's has ALWAYS been my favorite holiday. Even though I no longer have tiny littles anymore (my baby is 8!), I still love creating for the preschool and kindergarten aged crowd. They're just so fun! 

Below is a round-up of all the free activity ideas right here on Mothering with Creativity, as well as all the paid Valentine's items I sell in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Enjoy!

1. Celery Stamped Roses. Aren't these the cutest? All you need is celery, paint, and paper! 

2. 20 Things to do with Candy Hearts. This is the perfect compilation of activities to do with candy hearts (my fave candy!). You'll find math, science, sorting, and more! Totally free! 

3. Jell-o Sensory Play. I love making these Jell-O bins in Valentine's colors (pink, red, purple). Or, they can be for table-top sensory bin play-just add heart shaped cookie cutters! 

4. "I Have, Who Has...?" Card Game. This is a great game to play with a group of any size! If you have a smaller group of kids, pass out a couple cards to each participant. These are excellent for encouraging descriptive word usage.

5. CVC Themed Worksheet Set. If you have students working on vowel sounds or CVC words, these Valentine's themed worksheets are a cute way to practice.

6. Full Week Curriculum. Whether a teacher or a homeschooler, this set will get you ready for the entire week, all with a Valentine's theme! 

7. Activity Pack. If you are looking for variety, this pack is a great one! It has all sorts of preschool skills.

If you love Valentine's Day as much as I do, I hope some of these resources will help you to have a ton of fun with your little ones!  

Parachute Play Without a Parachute

This week my sister and law and nephews joined me for one of my Kindermusik classes that I taught.  Half way through the class, we were doing an activity that utilizes a parachute and some balls, which, of course, is every child's favorite!  Really, if you've never experienced young children giggling with a parachute, you have been seriously missing out.  Anyway, I don't actually own a parachute, so I use a huge King size flat sheet. 

I got out my sheet for the activity when my sister in law, Jenny, was suddenly so excited.  "What a great idea to use a sheet!  You should totally blog this!"  And so, because I've been seriously lacking in the blogging department lately (my apologies), I said, "of course I should!"  Thus, here we are now. Parachutes can be pricey, and so I highly recommend pulling out a bed sheet to be used as a parachute.

Parachutes are great.  They are fun and versatile.  Here are a few ideas to try when playing with your parachute AKA large bed sheet:

*Baby, momma, and daddy waves...use your hands to shake the sheet to make small, medium, and large sized waves.

*Squat & Stand...work those gross motor skills as you bring the sheet all the way to the ground in a squat, and then all the way up high in the sky on your tippy toes.

*Directional...pull the sheet out flat and tight as everyone walks to the left, right, center, and back out again.

*Rocket ship...place balls in the middle of your sheet and squat down to the ground.  Count backwards-10, 9, 8...blastoff!  Everyone lift the sheet up high on "blastoff" to send your balls high into the sky.

*Bouncing balls...make baby waves, or monster waves with balls in the middle.  How long can you keep the balls on the sheet without them falling off?

*Under the sheet...let a few people under the sheet at a time to enjoy watching the sheet rise and fall.

*Pop the bubbles...everyone sits on the ground and one person sits in the middle of the sheet.  The people around the edges shake the sheet while the person in the middle crawls around and tries to "pop" the bubbles.

Have you ever played with a parachute before?  What games do you like to play with a parachute? 

Fine Motor Development-Pom Pom Scoop

My 2 year old hangs out in the kitchen area while my older girls homeschool in the mornings.  He's always looking for ways to jump in and play, too.  I'm a huge learning-through-play advocate and so it's usually very easy to engage him in something that he'll not only love "playing" with, but will also encourage learning along the way.  

I keep containers (from the Dollar Store) stocked with different knick-knacks (also from the Dollar Store).  One of them is a pom pom tub.  I do add pom poms to the free art bucket for gluing or whatever, but this tub is specifically used for activities, counters, patterning, etc.  

For this activity, I just pulled out an extra yellow basket, and a couple different sized spoons.  I sat and played with him for a few minutes, showing him how I could scoop some up with my spoon and move them to another bucket.  It didn't take long before he decided that it looked like fun, too, and he jumped in trying out different spoons and moving them from different buckets.

This is a great way to encourage fine motor skill development.  Providing different spoons allows them to experiment and try it in various ways.  Plus, it's fun!  After a few minutes, the pom poms usually end up scattered in every which way, but he's a great cleaner and will usually pick them right up when he knows I have another activity for him coming.

Sometimes I will also provide an egg carton, and place one or two of each color pom pom in each spot and see if he sorts them out (he usually catches on).  

What other fun things do you like to do with pom poms?

Candy Sorting (with Age Variations)

Sorting candy conversation hearts is a super fun task for young children.  All you need is candy hearts and a space to sort colors.  I made a mat with construction paper squares to match the colors in the bag. You could use colored bowls, cups, paper, etc.  

2 & 3 Year Olds:

Sort a handful of candy conversation hearts into a matching square or space color.

4 & 5 Year Olds:

Sort candy into appropriate spaces.  Then, to add some math to this fun, have your children chart their findings onto a graph or tally chart.  Ask questions like: Which color did you have the most of?  Which color had the least?  Did any piles have the same amount?  

Add in some sensory learning to this by having them close their eyes and taste one at a time.  Ask questions like: What flavor do you taste?  What color do think you are eating right now?

See?  Even candy can be educational ;)

See all my Valentine's Day activities, crafts, gifts, and projects HERE!

10 Weeks to an Organized Christmas: Christmas Kids Books

My kids LOVE books, especially my 5 year old.  Over the years, we have accumulated quite the Christmas/Winter book selection.  I keep our winter & Christmas books ready for reading in this cute little Merry Christmas basket!   I'm going to share my favorites with you here today!

My hands-down favorite book for Christmas time is actually a book for me that I use with and for my kids.  It's called the ADVENTure of Christmas: Helping Children Find Jesus in our Holiday Traditions.

As far as my favorite Christmas book to read to my kids goes, Santa's Favorite Story is my #1 pick.  It is a book in which Santa tells his favorite story-the story of Jesus!  If you've ever wondered how to allow your children to still have the fun of Santa while making sure they know the REAL meaning of Christmas, this book is a MUST.

This is the Stable is written like "This is the House that Jack Built".  It is all about the stable, dusty and brown, in Bethlehem town, where Jesus was born.  I love the pictures of this book and rhyming and repetition are especially loved by my 3 year old.

You may remember The Mitten by Jan Brett from your childhood-I know I do from mine!  It is a traditional Ukrainian tale with authentic, beautiful pictures.  After reading this book, create a mitten template from construction paper, punch holes around the edges, and allow your children to "lace up" their mitten with yarn.

The Hat is the original companion book to The Mitten, and it is also by Jan Brett.  This one, however, is based on a Scandinavian farm.  

If your children love the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, then they will fall in love with Jan Brett's The Three Snow Bears.  We even have this book on CD and my girls (and my kindergarten class) love it!

Snowmen at Night was a recent addition to our winter book collection.  It is about what snowmen do while we sleep, and explains why they look different or disfigured (ahem, melted) the next day!  So much fun, and written in a great little rhyme!  Teach your child to trace by giving them different circular objects and having them trace out a snowman!

Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm The Gingerbread Man! The repetitive line allows for even the youngest kids to join in repeating the story as you go!  Follow up this super cute book by making gingerbread cookies with your little ones!  

Mooseltoe is a follow-up book to the Moostache book!  It is such a fun book!  Make a mistletoe craft out of paper after reading this book.  Giggles will happen!

The Snowy Day, winner of the Caldecott medal, is great for those snowy days!  Use the book as a starter point for talking about how snow has to stay cold or else it will melt.  Play with ice cubes on the counter and watch them melt, or if there is snow, bring a snowball inside on a plate and time how long it takes to melt!

Written like "The Night Before Christmas", The Night Before the Night Before Christmas is a really cute little book about a family running around crazy trying to get everything done.  In the end, nothing works out, but it's okay because they realize Christmas is about love, not stuff.

Do you have any favorite Christmas/winter books?  What are your favorite Christmas books that help teach your child about Jesus?  What are you favorite snow/weather books?  I'm always looking for new ones to add to my collection!

View all of the posts in this Christmas series HERE.

Graduation Cap Cookies

Here's another Dollar Store graduation idea for you.  Everything you will need for this treat can be found at the Dollar Store!  I made them today for my kindergarten class that will be graduating tomorrow!  

You will need: 1 package of square chocolate covered cookies, 1-2 packages mini Reese's peanut butter cups, 1 tub of chocolate frosting, and 1 package of sour patch string candies. 

Remove the wrappers off of the Reese's.  Place them upside down on a tray.  Add a dollop of frosting, top with a square cookie.  Cut the Sour strips into thirds.  Add another dollop of frosting to the top of the square cookie.  Place one piece of the candy strip on top.  You've got yourself a candy graduation cap!

Note:  The Sour Patch strips that I used were round, and therefore, stiffer.  If you can find a candy that is smaller or flatter and more pliable, you may be able to get your "tassel" to actually hang over the edge.  Mine kinda stick straight out.  Whatever.  The kids won't care ;)

Serve them as is, or use them as a topper for a cupcake!

Check out my graduation crafts, too!