Melted Crayon Art

The canvas we used for this project was another rummage sale find and another of Miss Tammy's ideas. We started by hot-gluing crayons along the top of the canvas. We wanted ours to look like a rainbow so we arranged the crayons accordingly, but you could arrange them however you like. 

 We used a hairdryer to melt the crayons. It took a little while for the crayons to get hot enough to melt but once they started melting it was pretty cool to how they dripped and splattered. 

Each of the children took a turn holding the blow dryer. As the crayons melted, we talked about why they were melting and what they looked like.  

 The wax splattered on the wall behind the canvas and on the table underneath, so we had to stop and put some foil down to protect those areas. 

 We left some of the crayon unmelted because we liked the look of our art just like this but the crayons could be melted all the way if you like. We hung the finished product in our classroom along with some pictures of the children creating it. 

Noise Makers in the Playground

Our new teacher, Miss Tammy, came up with this wonderful playground idea last week. 

We bought some used baking sheets and pots at a rummage sale. Most of them did not have holes in them, so I drilled a hole in the top of each one. We used zip ties to attach them to the wire fence in the playground. 

 We also found wooden spoons at the rummage sale. The children used the spoons to hit the pots and pans. Because they are all different shapes and sizes, each one makes a different sound. We attached the spoons to the fence with string so they wouldn't get lost. 

 Now we have lots of noise beautiful music in the playground all day!

Simple Graphing

I read about this activity at teachpreschool.org and since our class is into counting and sorting I decided to give it a try. I used plastic bowls instead of baby food jars for the graphing materials because I didn't have enough jars in the classroom. The graph sheets I made on the computer. They are modeled after the ones used on the Teach Preschool blog. 

 Each child chose two bowls and arranged the materials from one bowl in the first column on the graphing sheet. 

Then they arranged the second set of objects on the other side of the graph. 

 After arranging the materials, the children estimated which column had more objects. 

 Then we counted each set of objects. 

 The children really enjoyed this activity and continued to work with it throughout the day. They loved choosing from the variety of math tokens and arranging them in the boxes on the graph. 

Windy Days

Last week, when we made our train conductor hats, some of the children wore them outside. The day was fairly windy and the hats quickly blew off of their little heads. Occasionally, when a child stooped to pick up a hat, it would blow away again before she could get her hands on it. Of course chasing hats across the playground is great fun so we started looking for other things that the wind would blow. We noticed that it was blowing the hair on our heads but everything else in the playground was too heavy for this wind. We decided to bring the scarves from the dress up area outside to see if they would blow, and they did!

At first we ran around the playground holding the scarves, but then we tried tying them to the fence. Every time a gust of wind blew the scarves into the air, the children screamed and cheered. 

We tried tying the scarves all the way at the top of the fence. When the wind blew, the scarves would blow up into the air and the children would jump and try to catch them. When there was no wind the scarves would lie flat and still and we wondered where the wind had gone. 

Because everyone was so interested in the wind, I brought a fan to school the next day and we made wind in the classroom. We experimented with different toys to see which ones the wind would blow. 

It did not blow the train or the play food. 

But it did blow streamers, blankets, mittens, and paper. 

Later we took the streamers outside. At first there was no wind. 

 But we waited and soon the streamers were blowing!

 This is a wonderful example of how emergent curriculum works. We had actually been planning to learn about cars this week, but when the children showed interest in the wind, we seized the moment and changed our plans.

Trains, Trains, Trains

We have been doing so many train activities over the past week but I haven't had much time to blog so I decided to put five of my favorites in one blog post. 

1. Freight Train

This activity I found at teachpreschool.org. After reading Frieght Train by Donald Crews, we set up this train center on one of our tables. 

I used painters tape to make the track and photo copied a picture of the freght train from the book and taped it to the table. I cut out construction paper rectangles for the train cars and set out a bowl of glass stones that the children put on the bottom of the cars for wheels. Most of the children followed the pattern in the picture when they lined up their train cars. 

2. Shape Trains 

For these trains, I cut lots of shapes out of different colored construction paper. I gave the children glue sticks so that they could create their own trains using the precut shapes. 

We also used painters tape to make a railroad track on the side of our castle and taped the trains onto the track.  

   

3. Cardboard Box Train Cars

 We used shoe boxes and small packing boxes with the top flaps removed for this activity. Each child cut up pieces of construction paper and glued them to their boxes. Our class loves to use scissors so the cutting portion of this activity lasted a long time. We did finally get around to gluing the paper scraps onto the boxes. 

After attaching strings to each box, we tried tying all of the boxes together but the children each wanted their own box. In the end, everyone pulled their own single car train around the room filling it with toys along the way. 

 4. Painter's Tape Train Tracks

We went through a lot of painter's tape this week mainly because of this activity. With the children's help, I put strips of tape on the rug all over the classroom and we drove the toy trains on them. Our track went under chairs, around shelves, and even up the door!

 5. Train Conductor's Hat

I found the directions for making these hats at 4crazykings.blogspot.com. We used construction paper for ours (the children chose their own colors) and we added a band with the child's name across the front. Before cutting and folding the papers, the children colored them with markers. 

Train Buffet

This morning we set up a train buffet for morning snack. Before the children arrived, I used painters tape to make a train track around one of our classroom tables. 

 When it was time to eat, I set out different snacks in bowls around the the track. We told the children that these were stations where they could load their trains. 

 For the trains, I cut the tops off of several egg cartons and cut the bottoms in half lengthwise. When it was time to eat, we gave each child a section of egg carton and showed them how to chug around the track, stop at each station, and load their train with food. 

 The children enjoyed this so much that snack time went on for over half an hour as they returned to the train buffet for seconds and thirds. It was such a big hit that I think we will have to do it again tomorrow!

Train Whistles

These can be made with recycled items that you probably have laying around the house. 

For each whistle, we used:

- 1 toilet paper tube or 1/2 of a paper towel tube 

- 1 small square of wax paper

-1 rubber band

The children decorated their paper towel rolls with markers. When they were finished, I poked a small hole near one end of the roll with scissors. 

We used the rubber band to secure the waxed paper to the same end of the roll that I had poked a hole in. 

We hummed and tooted into the open end of the whistle to make a kazoo sort of noise. We lined up our classroom chairs to make a train and went for a ride while blowing on our new whistles. Just beware, these toys can be loud, especially when a room full of happy children are using them. 

Sailboats

After reading Sail Away by Donald Crews, we made these simple sailboats.

For each sailboat we used:

- one paper plate

- one drinking straw

- one 9" by 6" piece of paper 

- a small lump of air dry clay

First, we poked a hole at each end of the piece of paper and pushed the straw through the holes to make the sail. 

 Then we put the lump of clay in the center of the plate and stuck the sail in it. 

 We didn't wait for the clay to dry because the sails were standing up pretty sturdily and because we were anxious to sail our boats. 

Our sensory table is too small for sailing boats this big so we brought in the wading pool that we use for water play in the summer. 

 I gave each child a straw and showed them how to blow through it to make wind so that the boats would sail. 

 We had lots of fun sailing our boats and even gave our little people a ride. 

Later, we put a plastic plate in the water and put all of the little people on it to see if it would sink. 

 It didn't sink so we added more toys to see how many it would hold...

...until it capsized.