A compilation of the best ideas I've seen for an awesome detective classroom theme.

You will love these Olympic-themed party ideas, from food to backyard games and lots of kid-friendly crafts! Who else is super excited about the Olympics starting? We cannot wait! Especially since it's now been 3 years since the last Olympic games. As a family, we decided that we're going to have an Olympic-themed party for the opening ceremonies, and my kids are already brainstorming ideas. There are so many fun ideas that we found, we just had to share with you guys. Which one of these ideas is sticking out to you? I want to make them all! This isn't

The end of the year is within reach (2 more weeks) and we finally got to let loose a little bit now that testing is over. Can I get an amen?! Last week we learned all about camping and I can't wait to share our fun with you. Please know, this post does contain affiliate links which means that I earn a small amount when you make purchases from some of the links shared on this page. However, my promise to you is that I am only sharing my honest opinions and I will never promote something I do not believe in or love. We started by brainstorming background knowledge. I split my kids into groups and each had a different topic to discuss. We made an anchor chart and added to it each day as we learned something new. Although I am not an expert camper by any means, I was surprised to learn that the majority of my students had little to no experience with the great outdoors. We also read lots of camping and summer camp themed books. Here are few of my favorites. You can click each book image to be taken right to the book on Amazon. Their favorite part was when they got to bring in towels (aka "sleeping bags") and flashlights to read with. Seriously, they would have read all day long if I let them! On the last day I set up a tent and campfire and the kids took turns reading around the fire and inside the tent. Sidenote, the "campfire" was pretty much like a never ending STEM challenge. I must have built and rebuilt that darn thing 20 times. I used rolled brown paper bags for the logs (and a lot of tape!), construction paper flames, mini glass gems as rocks and to weigh it down, and a shallow pan to put it in. When I create it again next year I am going to try to cover the logs in wood grain contact paper. I also had to tape some of the logs and flames in place so it didn't tip over (can we say real life Jenga?). We made special snacks two of the days. The first day we made campfires using mini marshmallows as rocks, small and large pretzel sticks as the logs/twigs, and gummy peach candies as the flames of the fire. I also saw online where people used candy corn flames and potato stick twigs but I couldn't find those so we worked with what we had. I gave the same ingredients to each child and let them use their imagination to build their campfires. I love how different they each came out! One little one even had marshmallows roasting over her fire. We also practiced How To Writing and made s'mores. We wrote down our ingredients and the steps to make their treats. They then followed their directions and enjoyed the snacks. Instead of regular marshmallows, I gave each child a spoonful of marshmallow fluff to spread. While it was a little messy (one kid got fluff on his head, don't ask hah), it worked well since we don't have a microwave in the classroom to melt regular ones. To tie in art we made Handprint Campfires. First they ripped brown construction paper into logs for their fire. Then, I painted their hands with yellow, orange, and red paint and they stuck it to their paper. You should have heard the giggles from the ticklish paintbrush :) While it all looks like fun and games, I swear we did real work too! Students each picked their own animals to research and used classroom books and online sites like Pebble Go to find facts. After they wrote a paragraph, they created talking animals using the ChatterPix Kids app on our iPads. If you have never used this app before it is AMAZING! Kids took pictures of their animal (or screenshots from an online search), added a mouth, and read their paragraph aloud. The iPad app then makes it look like the animal is talking saying their story. They are also able to save their clip and upload it to our class Seesaw site. Here is one of my little ones' stories. In writing, I found adorable camping themed napkins from Oriental Trading and stapled blank paper inside. The napkin becomes the book cover. My kids used the napkin books as inspiration for their camping themed stories. So cute! In math we used mini marshmallows as manipulatives for addition practice and solved camping themed word problems which can be found here. For added decorations (and a movement activity), I printed pictures of woodland animals from online. I laminated them and hung them around the room. My kids went on a "Nature Walk" to see how many wild animals they could find. They loved it! They recorded everything they found on a clipboard and blank lined paper. Well, that about sums up our week! We had so much fun and I am glad I could share some new ideas with you. If you are looking for more ideas, I have an entire Pinterest board for camping themed classroom ideas. Enjoy! Have you had a camping themed unit in your classroom before? To save these ideas for later, be sure to use the pin below :)

Do your kids love playing with cars? These free printable roads make playing with cars even more fun!

These all about me activities are perfect for your all about me theme in preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten. They are low-prep and lots of fun!

AWESOME {FREE} construction themed preschool printables!! Games, math, language arts, and more! Perfect for preschool and kindergarten!!

Check out these awesome summer printable preschool worksheets! You'll find both Math & Literacy activities that are quick & easy for your little kids! They're a fun, no prep way to get your preschoolers thinking!

Awesome! 52 preschool themes! Great for kindergarten too!

Check out these awesome spring printable preschool worksheets! You'll find both Math & Literacy activities that are quick & easy for your little kids! They're a fun, no prep way to get your preschoolers thinking!

Are you exploring feelings with your preschooler? Add these emotion centers and activities to your plans! Great for preschool and pre-k.

Throw an awesome jungle theme party with these fun safari game ideas

Looking for some fun construction themed party games for your construction birthday party? Here are awesome construction party games + activities.

Using our My Five Senses preschool mini book and some popped popcorn, you have a great activity to help youngsters learn all about sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. Make sure to check out more five

Olha que legal esta ideia de nicho para você fazer em sua casa. São lindos nichos de palitos de picolé em formato hexagonal

I Like Myself activities, free worksheets, crafts & comprehension questions for preschoolers to accompany Karen Beaumont's book and build positive self-concept

An expressive, easy and impressive penguin art project, these adorable penguins are quite easy to complete in two, 40 minute sessions using basic art

Aren't these goofy pumpkin faces the cutest? I've had this pinned on Pinterest for a couple weeks now. They come from artsy_T Flickr stream, and I guess she makes them with her Kindergarten class every year. We read

Puddle jumping gross motor game is a fun way to get the kids moving this Spring!

So way back in September we studied all about our five senses and I made a little recording sheet for an anchor chart activity I saw on pinterest from Spotlight on Kindergarten. I made a similar anchor chart and then gave my students some popcorn and we brainstormed ideas while we ate. {any excuse for food in the classroom is ok with me!} Here is our chart we came up with...... Then, I had my students fill out the sheet below choosing one word for each of the five senses from our chart. It's a freebie for you so click on any of the pics to download the recording sheet, as well as colorful graphics for an anchor chart or whatever else you might need. My students then picked one word to write on the popcorn shapes and then we displayed them out in the hallway. This bulletin board was thrown up in a hurry...don't judge. ;) Happy Monday!

Don't miss these ocean themed games for kids! Add them to your summer preschool lessons about the ocean. They're great for birthday parties, too!

It's Antarctica Day on the 1st of December and we're all set to learn about this continent with some awesome Antarctica Day Activities for Kids!

The Best Rainforest Printable Activities, Perfect for a rainforest theme unit study, kids activities & animal habitats, Rainforest Ecology, climate, Rainforest animals, layers of the rainforest printable, rainforest printable book, free printable rainforest worksheets, rainforest worksheets for kindergarten, printable rainforest animals

Free Summer themed Printable Pack featuring 37 activities for toddlers & preschoolers. Math, literacy, prewriting, scissor skills, visual discrimination, puzzles and more!

Throw an awesome Stranger Thing themed party with these themed games and ideas.

There are certain units in art class that take on a life of their own and just GROW! My Cave art unit turned out even better than I had anticipated and grew into a Pre-K – Grade 5 theme due…

Objective: Students will be able to create alliterations based on the poem “Bleezer’s Ice Cream” By Jack Prelutsky. Vocabulary: Alliteration Time: Approximately 1 hour and 30 minu…

Thank you for subscribing to the Pink Oatmeal email list! You now have access to Pink Oatmeal's Freebie Library! No account is required to access freebies from the freebie library. Save your password and use

It’s time for The Kids Craft Stars monthly craft challenge! Every month we have a challenge between a few blogger friends and I, to in-cooperate a different craft medium or technique into a simple kid craft. This month’s

Free set of printables to go along with Magnetic Tiles. Includes two levels of difficulty. Builds problem solving skills.

I am so in love with my classroom theme this year! It was a blast to pull together, though it took a lot of work. I'm sure the princip...

This week has been just a little crazy with the announcement of the new Pokemon Go app… the hubby and I are obsessed! We started playing in an attempt to get the hubby outside and walking around more but it’s definitely a fun (free) way to hang out together in the evening. Unfortunately it’s also […]

When my daughter became interested in space a while back, I put together a fun space unit with lots of fun space activities for kids. I used resources from all over the internet to plan our awesome