Building Houses

This week in preschool we are learning all about "The Three Little Pigs".  In talking about their houses, we tried making our own houses with marshmallows and toothpicks!  The kids even tried blowing down the houses down, like the Big Bad Wolf!

Dinosaur Fossils

We made our own fossils, and you can too!  They're so easy!

All it took was a batch of home-made playdough (no food coloring added or needed).  Each student got their own bit of playdough to play with and push small play dinosaurs into, when they were finished they did one final press of a dinosaur into their playdough then we cut around it and left it out to dry.  They loved taking home thier own 'fossil'.

My playdough recipe:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 tbsp cream of tartar

2 cups boiling water

2 tbsp veg oil

Put 2 cups of water in a container in the microwave and heat until boiling.  In the meantime, mix the flour, salt and cream of tartar in a large bowl.  Once the water is boiling, pour in to the flour mixture along with the veg oil.  Stir until incorporated and then finish incorporating all ingredients with hands.

Dino Excavation

I was trying to think of 'different' fun things to do with Dinosaurs in preschool and thought it would be a fun sensory experience to excavate dinosaurs from ice.

Each student got a small frozen dinosaur, they would then put on safety goggles and with the help of a teacher they hammered the ice until it would crack/break, then they would run it under luke warm water until the ice came off -- and for all of their hard work, they got to keep their dinosaur!  The kids LOVED the activity!

Apple Turkeys

For our kids activity this year I went back to my roots -- when I was a kid.  I remember one or two of my teachers making 'Apple Turkeys' with us and I loved it, so I knew the kids would too!  They were a hit!

They're pretty easy to make!  Everyone just needs an apple, some toothpicks (little ones get help from an adult) and some candy and treats to stick on the toothpicks to make a turkey!

We filled bowls with the candy/treats/toothpicks for the kids to have easy access!

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends!

Turkey Cookies

We are gearing up for Thanksgiving!  We made these lovely turkey cookies in preschool last week! 
The student's loved them, and I really like having them follow a recipe themselves!  I make my recipes simple enough so they see what order to go in, and since 99% of them are not reading yet, they can "read" the recipe by following the pictures in order. (I covered the Peanut Allergy square with a sticky note if it wasn't needed - if it was needed then I had that student find what was different). 

Items needed: Fudge Stripe Cookie, Nutter Butter Cookies, chocolate chips, candy corn, piece of twizzlers pull apart licorice.

If you want the recipe, you can print this one off, or I can e-mail you the pdf.

Feed the Penguins!

This week in my preschool class, we are learning about PENGUINS!  I thought it would be fun to feed the penguins since we're also working on counting, 1:1 correspondence and numeral recognition.  So, I found a cute penguin picture, added a number to each of 10 penguins, printed and laminated them (for easy cleaning).  The kids just had to find the number on their penguin and 'feed' the penguin that many fish (goldfish crackers).  Once they 'fed' a few different penguins, they got to eat the goldfish themselves.  The kids loved it!

Graphing Gummy Bears

I made a quick graphing page in Microsoft Word and we did some Graphing with Gummy Bears in preschool! So fun and such a great [and sometimes yummy] academic skill to teach! I also laminated each graph so they could be cleaned and re-used!

Pudding Paint

What's more fun to finger-paint with than PUDDING? Nothing, I tell ya!

This week in preschool we're focusing on the book, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" So, we painted a Brown Bear with pudding!
Just mix or buy pudding [easy] and get painting!
We mixed ours with water because of allergies to dairy!

Pup Cakes

I made these for my Dog's birthday party and they were a hoot!I got the idea from this greatest cupcake book of all time!Here's what you need: cupcakes, frosting, mini marshmallows, tootsie rolls, decorative things (the recipe calls for black jellybean for the nose, I think mini m&m's for the eyes and a pink circus peanut for the tongue but I didn't want to buy a whole bag of m&m's and jellybeans just for the brown/black ones so I used chocolate chips for the eyes, a chocolate covered peanut for the nose and a pink airhead for the tongue). Simplify! ;)

Here's what you do: put a dollop of frosting and 3 mini marshmallows where you want the 'nose' to be. Then cover the marshmallows and rest of the cupcake with frosting and add the face parts! Eyes, nose, tongue! The ears are flattened tootsie rolls. We put them in the microwave for a few seconds to soften them and then rolled them out with a rolling pin.

What do you think? Do they look a little like my dog?

Easy Monkey Bread

Here's an easy version of Monkey Bread - sweet and delicious! And what kid wouldn't love to help make this yummy treat!

Here's what you need: Refrigerator Biscuits, Sugar, Cinnamon, Melted Butter






Here's what you do: Pour sugar into a bowl and add cinnamon to taste. Open package of biscuits, dip each one in melted butter and then in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place each biscuit in a muffin tin. Cook according to package directions (450 degrees for 8-10 minutes).

Bones Dipped in Blood!

Here's what you need:






Here's what you do:
Open the breadsticks, separate and place on a cookie sheet. Cut about an inch into the middle of each end and curl the ends down to the sides of the breadstick and press down so it doesn't unroll. Bake according to the directions on the package (without twisting the dough). Dip in blood (marinara sauce) and enjoy!

Dog Chow Anyone?

Not just kids, but the Young Women in my ward (church) love this "Dog-gone" good snack! ;) They're also called MUDDY BUDDIES!

What you'll need: 1 bag milk chocolate chips, 1 cube butter, 1 cup creamy peanut butter, 1 box Rice Chex, 2-3 cups powdered sugar.




What you do:
Melt the chocolate, butter and peanut butter in a sauce pan on the stove or in the microwave. Pour over 1 box of Rice Chex (opened and in a large bowl, of course). Move mixture to a large bag or large ziploc bag. Pour powdered sugar in, put on some good music and SHAKE IT! If it's not covered enough to your liking just add more powdered sugar and SHAKE IT SOME MORE!

Jelly Fish

What you'll need: Hostess Sno Ball (They sell them in pink and I've seen a no-name brand for cheap at wal-mart), Twizzlers Pull-n-Peel (or thin licorice rope), cherry sour balls (also come in cinnamon (cheaper brands found at wal-mart).








Pull apart eight or so pieces of the licorice and place on a plate, place a pink sno ball on top and cut a sour ball in half and place on top for the eyes. Great for the Spongebob fans as well! ;)

Pig Pancakes/Waffles

What you'll need: Mini Pancakes or Waffles, Bananas, Chocolate Chips






I used the mini waffles (kids love stuff that comes small!), then sliced the banana in coin looking slices and placed one on top as the nose along with two chocolate chips (up-side-down) as the eyes and quartered the round slice of the banana and put two on as the ears.

Octopuses!

What you'll need: Hot Dogs, Water, Ketchup, Goldfish Crackers.





Cut the end (leaving about an inch or so uncut) of a hot dog in half, turn and cut in half again making four pieces (or 4 long legs), cut each of those 'legs' in half making 8 legs. Place the cut hot dog into a pot of boiling water. The hot dog will cook and as it does it usually turns up-side-down and opens up. It is done when the legs curl up. Take it out and let it cool a bit on a paper towel. Place on a plate and add ketchup eyes and goldfish around to decorate.

Cookie Turkey

What you'll need: Fudge Stripes Cookies, Nutter Butter Cookies, Mini m&m's, icing.







Stick a Nutter Butter cookie on a Fudge Stripe Cookie with icing. Add m&m eyes and decorate with icing. You could even add a candy corn for a beak instead.