This post will share many fun Dr. Seuss things we have done this week! We made the Big Book Cat In The Hat, Cat In the Hat, What do You S...

Combine art and science in this fun and easy activity for kids using baking soda and vinegar. It’s one of our favorite science experiments for preschool and kindergarten! Follow our Science for Kids Pinterest board! I’ve done this art and science activity with all of my after school kindergarten classes, and it always seems to …

Is your child an ice cream fan? How about arts and crafts? If so, why not combine these two into some fabulous ice cream crafts?! These 25 ice cream crafts for kids will keep them

Next came our "apple basket" name activity. Every student had a 'basket' (a paper sack with a handle and their name printed clearly on the front) Uppercase apples were in one 'orchard', and the lowercase apples were spread face-up on our rug. A visit to the uppercase orchard started the hunt for their names. After they 'picked' their uppercase apple and put it in their basket, we moved to the rest of their name! They were so excited that they could find their letters, and that they got to keep the apples with the letters of their name. My hope is that some of them will take it home and work on spelling and recognizing their own names as well as learning the letters in their names...it is a fantastic activity!

Q-tip painting printable templates are a creative way to engage in art without needing brushes or specialized equipment. By dipping Q-tips in paint, you can follow these templates to create beautiful pieces of art that encourage fine motor skills development..

I can’t really say we love “winter” here in Texas…specifically, south Texas. There’s not much winter here to speak of. We have a few cold snaps here and there, but at this very moment, my 5-year-old is chasing our new dog outside…in his shorts…and nothing else ;) Now that’s MY kind of winter!!!!!! We’re bringing …

This stunning Fall Leaf Batik is fun for kids of all ages to create! Come see how we made them in our children's art studio in Charlotte, NC.

Grab these free printable shamrock templates for your St. Patrick's Day crafts! Printable shamrock outlines in all sizes and green shamrock templates.

We read the poem Down Down Down and made fall trees. We also learned the sight word the and wrote it to tell about the fall leaves falling o...

A deck of cards is all you need for this simple no-prep card counting math activity from Alisha! A deck of cards is such a versatile tool and can be used

You'll need: -a paper plate -black pipe cleaners -white cardstock -red paper -scissors -glue -a black marker Are you stuck in a rut with nothing to do? Bored on a Friday and feeling so blue? Perk up, my dear friends, for here’s something new. From Scarletta Press: a fun craft for you! It’s ever so easy and terribly fun. You’ll grin from the start and won’t stop ‘til you’re done! Some paper, a marker, and one stick of glue. And it takes just a minute…okay, maybe two! So take a small break to put a book in your way; join our celebration of Read Across America Day! 1. Draw your hat and bow tie, then cut them out 2. Cut out the center of the paper plate 3. Draw your stripes and cut them out 4. Glue the stripes to your hat 5. Glue the hat, bow tie, and pipe cleaners to the paper plate. (We also added a string to keep the mask on, but you can just hold it or put it on a stick as well.) For more information about NEA's Read Across America Day, please click on your favorite image from Nora and Josh around the office! The NEA website contains all sorts of Read Across America goodies, including a Live Stream from New Jersey's big event, an event locator, and other crafts for your and family and friends. From Us to You: Read On!

Take the stress out of school lockers! Use this free download to help your child open a combination lock.

Celebrate the beautiful colors of the fall season with this simple fall windsock craft. Toddlers and preschoolers will love watching the red, yellow and orange colors of the season catch in the wind after making

Find all the apple activities for preschool you need in our weekly plan. Engage your child in comprehension, literacy, math, science, art, & sensory play.

Happy Friday everyone! I hope everyone had a great week! My week was pretty awesome. The corporate visit went very well (and my innovations in the classroom were much appreciated) and we had a blast with fairy tales! Here's a look at some of our favorite centers, art projects, books we read and more this week. Art Egg Carton Pig Snouts These turned out so adorable, and they were incredibly easy to make! All you need are egg cartons, elastic cord, pink paint, a hole punch and a black sharpie. The kiddos each painted a single egg carton cup pink. After they dried, they drew on two circles in black sharpie to look like nostrils. Then I hole punched the sides and tied the elastic cord, and voila! I now have twelve little piggies in my room. :) Literacy Pinto Bean Names This was great fine motor practice! On the day we focused on Jack and the Beanstalk, my kiddos used Elmer's glue and pinto beans to spell their names. Fairy Tales Writer's Workshop Unit of Study This week was definitely my favorite for writer's workshop! I am so proud of all the elements of a fairy tale that my kiddos were able to identify. I glued pictures of mentor texts in the windows of the castle. And I couldn't resist adding a dragon and a beanstalk. I love this anchor chart so much I'm going to have to bite the bullet and laminate it for an exorbitant price at FedEx Office, I think (the only place I have found that can laminate chart paper this big). :) The work my kiddos did this week was AMAZING! I am going to share another author. She is the newest student to my class and, I admit, I didn't exactly know what to do when on her first day of writer's workshop she drew scribbles and had no idea what she had written. Check out her newest story below! Ariel Got Stuck in a Ladder The princess got stuck in the ladder. The princess was stuck and the ladder fell in the water. The sunshine came up and the princess was happy that she found her friends! My next student author is also a newer student who was doing scribble drawings the first time he encountered our workshop. I just love the care he took with the illustrations in this book (you'll notice the angry expression on the prince's face and on the last page, the dragon has no head!) The Dragon and the Prince The dragon was getting to be alive. The dragon and the prince was both angry so they pretend to fight. Fight fight fight! And then the dragon's body fell off! My last student author featured here is also a newer student (I am so proud of how much they have grown since they started just a few weeks ago!). She started not knowing how to write her name and knowing only 10 letters of the alphabet. We are still working on building her letter recognition and letter/sound awareness, but her text comprehension is incredible! She has such a strong understanding of the fairy tale genre and that stories have beginning, middles, and ends. Last week she wrote a story about going to the park with her dad, in which the sky on the top of the page progressively got darker as the story went on and it became night time! Here is her most recent work below. Notice how her story starts with "One upon a time" and contains characters typical to fairy tales (the prince and princess). I love how she draws the princess with long hair and the prince with short hair! The Princess and the Tea Once upon a time there was a princess and her friend, and they were having a tea party. And there was a prince and he saw the princess and her friend drinking tea at the party. And they got married! Again, I don't write down the words to the story until they have told it several times with the same meaning, and I usually inconspicously record them with my phone while they read it during author share. I write down the story later when it's ready to be sent home, but I always ask my parents to let their kiddos read the book to them. :) Math 2-D Shapes Sort This week I introduced hexagons and pentagons. My kiddos had the most interesting way of describing pentagons- "That looks just like a barn!" I guess I never thought of it that way before! We practiced sorting shapes, counting sides, so on and so forth. We also played a neat guessing game called "Mystery Shape," in which one person secretly chooses a shape from different shapes laid out on the table and the other players have to ask questions to help them guess which shape it is. Players can only ask yes/no questions, such as "Is it red? Is it a square? Is it big?" so on and so forth. If I get some spare time (ha!), I really want to put together an adapted version of this Guess Who Shapes Game I found on Pinterest. :) Science Planting Magical Beans We planted magical beans (aka green beans, not allowed to use lima) from Jared's in planting cups and the kiddos recorded their observations in their science journals. They are working on drawing things as they see them (we call this using our scientist eyes). I recorded what they noticed below. We are so excited for these to grow! But, as my class kindly reminded me, this time I actually have to water their plants or they'll die. Whoops! Soft/Hard Objects Sort After reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears, my kiddos did this hard/soft sort activity. Each student had a pile with a variety of objects (popsicle sticks, pom pom balls, feathers, noodles, etc). They glued the objects onto the appropriate side of their science journal page. We did not get a chance to do The Three Little Pig's house construction test due to a field trip! I really want to do this next year. We are going to build houses out of straw, twigs and blocks and test them by trying to blow them over. Dramatic Play Dress Up & Castle Backdrop This is actually a scene I painted onto a twin-sized sheet from Walmart last summer, when I was the school-age program leader. It's a bit short, but it works great as a dramatic play backdrop! We also used the great dramatic play props I found at Dollar Tree over the weekend (wands, princess gloves, tiaras, etc) to spice up the center. They loved enacting their favorite fairy tales and coming up with their own! Puppet Theater This puppet theater is so easy to make and is a great enhancement to your classroom! We use this often for retelling stories, and it helps me assess their understanding of beginning, middle and end. To make, all you need is an Elmer's cardboard trifold display and box cutter. This week, we used these cute Jack and the Bean Stalk story retelling props (originally for felt board) from Vanessa at PreK Pages. Check out here entire Jack and the Bean Stalk ideas (including props above) by clicking here. Here are some of the books we read this week or had available at the Listening Center: Amazon.com Widgets And now for my Friday Freebies! I have two to share today. Firstly, here is an adapted version of the math journal shape sort activity we did after learning about pentagons and hexagons. Click on the picture for your copy! As you all know, I've been playing around with Photoshop and I just learned how to make patterns and backgrounds! I am so excited! :) To celebrate the accomplishment and the season, I created this set of free cute snowflake backgrounds for you to use in your personal or commercial use. Click on the picture to be directed to the freebie and terms of use at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. In other exciting news, my Pinterest followers have more than doubled since I linked up at Teaching Blog Addict! Don't forget to share your Christmas pinboards too! And don't forget to check out everyone else's great freebies! Have a great weekend everyone! :)

Here's a STEM challenge that kids will love! Challenge kids to design and build their own working carnival games out of cardboard boxes.

Easter on it's way and you are going to want some fun Easter Bunny craft ideas to make with your kids. That's what you will find here, craft ideas kids will love making and each has an Easter Bunny t

So we think this is worth the wait. We do custom gift baskets for ALL occasions, but we think the baby baskets take the cake!!!!! What better way to say congrats than with a custom adorable baby gift basket?! We can also ship these anywhere! (excluding alcohol of course) They are the perfect cross between something ridiculously cute and yet still PRACTICAL that mom will actually use!!!! We thought this was HILARIOUS. Supposedly the mom has been very upset she has not been able to be "iced", so this was her BF's hysterical request. Adorable!!! Oh, and you can pick and choose items too so you can make them to whatever your budget is! Doesn't get better than that! XOXO, Nico and Lala

My preschooler always has so much fun with the alphabet matching activities I make for her. Today I am over at Artsy Momma sharing this Alphabet Apple Matching Printable for Preschoolers that is perfect for

Kids will love these hands-on, free printable Pumpkin Shapes Playdough Mats for a fun math activity for preschoolers in October.

Vocabulary worksheet containing (warning & traffic) SIGNS. It has two sections: Match words and pictures (matching exercise) and Write the Words (reading & spelling exercise). Second section: Walk here, No littering, Beware of sharks, No durians allowed (or some similar description) - ESL worksheets

Question of the Day is a fun activity to get kids learning RIGHT when they get into the classroom each morning. It is a great classroom management technique to get the school day on track right from the start.

Love How The Grinch Stole Christmas? Create your very own Grinch with a toilet paper roll for Christmas. Kids will have a fun time with this Christmas craft.

Social skills for students with Autism is hard to teach, but a must have! Here are 4 strategies to teach vocational social skills...| NoodleNook

I've been thinking about random embroidery designs and wondering if the following "doodles" would somehow be adaptable to embroidery... So I thought I'd stick them on here to see what everyone else thinks.I will admit I'm a doodler - on the phone, in meetings, wherever - I find myself doodling. Can

Kieran enjoying half term wet-weather craft... literally!

Cells- they are the basic unit of function and structure of life and tie EVERYTHING into biology. As we delve into genetics, photosynthesis, cellular respiration, these are all processes that occur inside the cell. Evolution

Kids love science! This easy science for kids is safe, exciting and has lots of learning mixed in too! Create fireworks for kids!

Use these smart ideas to make most of your anchor charts. Engage and delight your students with these fun and unique tips and tricks!

Here are some of the best edible science experiments for kids, AWESOME tasty science you can eat and that the kids will LOVE to try!