Fall Leaves

We have been learning all about fall for the past few weeks now, so of course making beautiful fall leaves was so much fun for them! My son actually made this craft two years ago around this time with hi teacher and I loved it so much I had to do it with my little ones.  I cut out the shape of a leaf in the middle of construction paper the night before and typed out a little saying " All the leaves are falling down. Orange, Yellow, Red and Brown" which they glued on at the end.

 The children came up to the table in groups of three to paint their "fall leaves". Each child got a paint brush and yellow, red or orange paint. We rotated the paint around until all three children got a chance to paint with the fall colors. I was careful with how much paint they used on the paper because I wanted to send home their leaves the same day, a little paint can go a long way. I love how bright and vibrant each one came out!

Once the paint dried I glued the brown construction paper  on top and had the little ones glue on the poem. We talked more about what happens to the leaves in the fall and how our leaves look like so many outside our classroom window.

During story time I read the book, Let It Fall and looked at some real leaves that I collected outside that morning. I love this book- it talks all about fall, then at the end of the book it introduces the winter. Great collection by Marann Cocca-Leffler, definitely check it out.

My two beautiful children enjoying the last few weeks of this beautiful weather outside before the winter. Look how colorful the tree is behind them. Definitely a picture for our holiday card.

Turkeys and more!

November is off to a good start in our classroom. This month we learn about the colors yellow and brown, squares, thanksgiving and so much more! 

My class made these adorable turkeys last week. I found the original idea from Grant Ever After. I had the children sponge paint with orange, brown, and yellow tempera paint. The next day the children glued the pieces together to make the turkey's body and then glued them on. So cute!! 

We made fall decorations for the classroom windows too! My children made the acorns and leaves, and another teacher added her students turkeys to make it the perfect fall window.

 She did a great job with the turkeys, right? Once she laminated the turkeys she let them glue two eyes on to complete it. 

The leaves were made with coffee filters and powdered tempera paint. The children sprinkled powdered paint onto the coffee filter then sprayed it with water using a spray bottle. I let the coffee filters dry and then cut out leaf patterns, laminated them and taped to window for all to see! Each leaf was a little different which I loved, just like my little one's- no two alike.  :)

 Acorns completed our window decorations. I had the children place yellow, gold and beige tissue paper squares onto laminating sheets. Once the sheet went through the machine I just cut out the shape of an acorn. The children then finished the acorn  by making horizontal and vertical lines using the side of a popsicle stick dipped in brown paint.

Scarecrows are such a fun craft to do with the children this time of year. I found this idea on Pinterest, but I could not find the original link. If anyone knows where this adorable scarecrow originated from please let me know so I can give them credit for it. 

My daughters class made these adorable scarecrows this week. I love everything her teacher does with her classes. Her creativity and love for teaching really shows in everything her little one's create. I'm so happy that both of my  children had the opportunity to be a part of her class.

I made these scarecrows, that I found on Buzzing About Second Grade, last year with my two's but it was way too much work for my little ones.

I love our bulletin boards for November. We made corn, using red, orange, yellow, brown and white square pieces of construction paper (which is it shape of the month) and then glued on the husk to finish them off. I found a quote that I based this craft on about the colors used in the corn representing God's plan for us. Being a religious preschool I try to incorporate the word of God and religious meaning into as much as I can whether that is through crafting, story time or hands on activities. 

 For our hallway bulletin board we made a turkey! The children each decorated a feather, individualized by their name, using colorful feathers. The verse reads, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." Perfect way to celebrate Thanksgiving.

 

This is our hallway bulletin board from last year. Scarecrows and corn are very popular in our preschool this time of year :) 

This is my son's bulletin board. They did corn and attached to each ear of corn is a sentence or two about what they are thankful for. Love what my son said.

Some other fun things my own children and our students have made so far this month are:
 

Handprint spider and lacing web!

What a fun craft this was. I knew I wanted to do something with spiders for October so I have been looking around for a while. Last year I did marble painting to make a web on construction paper and then used a spider like below. While I liked that craft I knew I wanted to work more on fine motor skills with them and that's when I came across this! I found this on Mom Endeavors, and just modified it a little bit. It did take several days to complete the end result really shows off all their hard work! 

The children each started with a white paper plate and a choice of green, orange, or purple fluorescent tempera paint. After the children's plates dried I used a hole punch and made 8 punches around the plate. Depending on their age and time allowed for each child to complete the craft you can make as many or as few punches around plate as desired. I tied black yarn to one of the holes, long enough so that the children can lace it through all holes to create the web (I tried lacing it myself a few times to make sure I was giving them enough yarn to work with).  Once the children finished lacing the webs we painted their hands with black tempera paint and created a spider on white construction paper. Once dried I cut out their little tiny spiders. They finished the project off with two googly eyes on the spider and gluing the spiders onto the webs. It was definitely not a simple craft but well worth all the time and effort.

Go Away, Big Green Monster

One of my favorite preschool books is, Go Away, Big Green Monster, by Ed Emberley. It is a great book that shows that certain things aren't as scary as they appear. The children help to turn the pages of this die-cut book and watch the Big Green Monster grow. Then, when they're ready to show him who's in charge, they'll turn the remaining pages and watch him disappear! I LOVE IT!

 After reading this book with the children we re-created our own big green monsters! I had the children start with a piece of white paper (I folded it in half) and blue, green and purple washable paint. Each child got to plop globs of paint onto the paper then fold over the other side to cover the paint. Using their hands they pushed the paint around underneath the paper until they were happy with how it looked.  I loved how each one was a little different- making every monster unique, just like them. :) 

Once the paint dried I cut out the faces and let the children decorate them using the parts of the face as described in the book. They loved how their monster's faces came out and so did I!

 

 

Celebrating Halloween

What a spooktacular time for my little ones! To celebrate Halloween in our classroom the children dress up in their costumes, sing the cutest Halloween songs, pick pumpkins and end the special day off with a Halloween party! My own two beautiful children dressed in  costumes for their classroom parties too!

The day before Halloween the children painted wooden frames green (I purchased them from the local arts and craft store for $1.00 and used a 25% off entire regular priced order so they were $0.75 each!) Once the frames dried the children glued googly eyes on and a cute "Happy Halloween" sign in the top corner. My daughter got to make one too- she was SO happy in her princess costume!

The children even got a spooktacular sensory bin! I cooked pasta the morning I used the sensory bin in the classroom. Once the pasta cooled off I added a little bit of EVOO so it wouldn't stick together and then dyed it green. I bought some fun little extras to throw in at the local dollar store too!

 We also went bowling using a pumpkin and toilet paper I transformed into ghosts!  I saw this idea on Jeanetics, Fall Party ideas, simple yet so FUN! 

We decorated our class door for our Halloween party too. I found most of these cute Halloween cuties from A Cupcake for the Teacher. I LOVE her blog! 

Of course October wouldn't be complete without our Five Little Pumpkins craft (It is the peom that I have been practicing with my little one's since the first day of school!)

I cut the pumpkins out of orange card stock paper and found these mini wooden sticks in my classroom closet. I used white school glue to show the children where I wanted them to place the wooden sticks, five pumpkins and the poem- and they did the rest and what a great job they did!! As each child came up to do this craft I recited the poem with them, so you could imagine by the end of the day how I couldn't get the words out of my head :)

The children also got to create pumpkins using a piece of pool noodle and their fingers to add some details. 

 For the party the children made Halloween bags to put all their goodies in! The second picture of the bags all lined up was from two years ago. I realized that since the parents bring in so many things that the bags needed handles so this year we modified them slightly. :)

Some other cute Halloween crafts from my own two children. I LOVE the triangle witch since we taught the children about triangles in the month of October. Very creative!

 

 My kids each made a mummy with black eyes.

 My son and daughter made these bats out of egg cartons with their teachers, but I've seen this craft all over Pinterest- my FAVORITE place to find ideas. 

 My daughter made this adorable Halloween banner with her teacher last week. I have seen this project on Pinterest a lot this month. My daughter was so proud of her work that I hung it right on the fire place.