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Panda bears.

A few times a month I like to do an activity I call 

"copy cat crafts." I will make a sample of the craft 

and then the kids copy it. This encourages hand 

eye coordination, listening skills and fine motor skills. I begin 

with pre cutting all the pieces and giving them to the kiddos. 

I sit with them as they build, encouraging them to find the 

pieces and place where they go. Today as we finished up our zoo theme 

we made panda bear masks. I cut  the ears into half circles and the eyes

 into ovals. I called out the shapes and had to kids glue them where they should go.

 They had fun not only building the masks but telling stories about their panda bear. 

They were so  excited to put their masks on and go on a panda bear walk!

Supplies needed

Heavy paper plates

large craft sticks(staple one to each plate

for the handle)

black paper cut into ears, and eyes

googly eyes

black pom poms

black markers

glue.

Giraffes on parade.

This week at Homespun Daycare I have been teaching a zoo theme. 

Today I googled giraffe templates. I printed and cut them out and set them 

aside. The kids love finger painting, and I love finger painting on cookie sheets.

(not only does it keep the paint contained it makes interesting prints). 

I found my cookie sheets at the dollar tree. I put yellow paint and a dab of red 

paint on each cookie sheet.Its always fun for the the kids to see their paint mix

up as they finger paint and create a new color! After they were done painting I laid

 the giraffes on the tray and gently pressed them into the finger painted design.
Then  I lifted them out and let the kids fingerprint brown spots on their  

giraffes.They finished up by adding  a googly eye. Each giraffe  looked so 

cute all lined up, ready for a parade!

Supplies needed

Pre cut giraffes

cookie sheets

yellow tempera paint

\red tempera paint

brown tempera paint

bowls for paint

googly eyes

glue

                       

Zz is for zebra.

Today at the art table we had fun with bottle brush sponges 

and marbles. Its all about the letter Zz this week in preschool.
 First you need a zebra template (just Google one) and then cut it out.
 My little guys love marble painting! Marbles are a great way to make
stripes on a zebra. So easy and lots of fun! You just
 take a shallow box and put your zebra in it. Add 3 or 4 marbles
off to the corner of the box. Squirt some paint on the marbles and
 have the kids hold the box as they roll the marbles across their picture. 

We added a blinky eye and and set them aside to dry. Next was time
to make a background for the zebras. I set out blue and green
 bowls of paint with the bottle brush sponges. These can be purchased through

DiscountSchoolSupply.com(They call them sponge paint wands).
Once the kids were happy with their sponge painted sky and
 grass we carefully glued the zebras on. Max let us know
his zebra escaped from the zoo and is never
going back! The kiddos were very please with
 their zebras in the grass! 

Supplies needed

Precut zebras

black paint

marbles

shallow boxes

googly eyes

green & blue paint

bottle brush sponges

white construction paper

glue

Playdoh creatures!

Today at the art table I decided to put out the

playdoh. Instead of cookie cutters I put out assorted sizes 

and colors of crafts sticks, googly eyes,colored pasta,cut up 

  straws and jewels. I added safety scissors, rollers,spatulas,plastic

 pizza cutters and the dough presses. The kids spent all morning making

funny creatures, animals and superheros.They had such

fun pushing the sticks and pastas into their dough! They loved that their 

masterpieces had eyes mouths and noses! They even used the pasta and 

jewels to make magnificent outfits! They had such fun at the playdoh table! 

Supplies needed

Playdoh ( I like to make my own.

There are lots of recipes on the Internet).

Assorted craft sticks, straws, pasta, jewels, googly 

eyes or anything else you think would be fun to use!

playdoh tools such as  rollers, dough presses, 

spatulas,  plastic pizza cutters, and safety scissors.