Porcupine Playdough Art

This week we are learning about nocturnal animals. First up was the porcupine. The kids got a kick out of the words porcupettes (baby porcupines) and prickles (a group of porcupines.) After learning all about them, they went to the playdough center to start their creations. I also put out toothpicks. They had fun creating little porcupines. Some just rolled the playdough into a ball and added the toothpick quills.

Others tried to make more details by making a head, body, tail, and legs.

Another child used the toothpicks to carve out a face. So creative!

They couldn't take these art projects home, so I took a picture of each of them with their porcupine creation.

Fun Fact: Porcupines can't "shoot off" their quills, as once thought. They only get pulled out when stuck on something. They can also grow a new one whenever they lose a quill.

From Caterpillar to Butterfly

A few weeks ago my co-teacher did a bug unit. A parent of one of our kids brought in an Insect Lore ladybug and butterfly kit. I've done the butterfly kit many times with my class (although it's been a few years) but I've never done the ladybug kit. I ordered everything online with the coupons that came with the kit. It didn't cost me a cent. When they arrived, I set them up in our classroom for everyone to see. I put a "Please do not touch" sign next to them as well.

First there were caterpillars in a cup, but once they made their chrysalids I moved them to the butterfly garden.

The ladybug larvae stay in their dome the whole time (until we release them).

It's a wonderful thing for the children to experience. To go along with this, I made a poster of the life cycle of a butterfly. Again, I've only done the butterfly kit in the past and I made this poster years ago. That is why I don't have one for the ladybugs.

There's a song called "Pretty Butterfly." It goes to the tune of "Up On The Housetop."

First comes a butterfly

Who lays an egg.

Out comes a caterpillar

With many legs.

Oh, see the caterpillar

Spin and spin

A little chrysalis to sleep in.

Oh, oh, oh, look and see.

Oh, oh, oh, look and see.

Out of the chrysalis, my oh my,

Out comes a pretty butterfly!



I put that song on the poster as well as pictures of each stage. Then I made an arrow and the kids get to move the arrow when the butterfly begins a new stage in the cycle.

If you've never done one of these kits with your students, you should think about it. You can reuse the domes and gardens year after year and just reorder the caterpillars or larvae. The children are just amazed at the whole process!

**For an update on the butterflies, click here and scroll to the end of the bat post!**

Dramatic Play Pyramid

When we learned about ancient Egypt, I put a pyramid in the dramatic play area. I made it several years ago (with the help of my brothers!) and it's still in great shape. We used a refrigerator box. Three sides of the pyramid are all one piece and for the last side, I taped on a half-sized triangle. That way I could see what was going on in there at all times!

I had little lanterns in there and some books about ancient Egypt. Two kids at a time could go in the pyramid to read the books. Later in the week I put paper on the inside walls and the kids drew on them, just like the Egyptians did.

Egyptian Pyramids

The last Ancient Egypt craft we did involved pyramids. I got the idea from here but I thought they were a tad plain as is, so I let the kids color on the paper before gluing on the Life cereal.

I explained to the kids that they were going to make Step Pyramids, which were the first pyramids built by the Egyptians.

And when we were done, there was plenty of cereal to eat with our afternoon snack!

Egyptian Mummy Masks

Oooh, I loved this project! It did take quite a bit of work on my end, though, but so worth it! Here's a glimpse:

I thought of this project after seeing King Tut's death mask. First I ordered some cheap plastic masks from Oriental Trading. Then I traced around them onto posterboard and then drew an oval shape around that.

I cut it out and taped the mask to the inside.

Some of the masks came a bit crushed, but once I taped it to the posterboard you couldn't even tell. I taped it in about 8 places so there would be no gaps. (Sorry these pictures aren't so great.)

After making all 24 (yes, we have a full class!), I took them out to the garage to spray paint them gold.

I wonder what the neighbors thought as they walked by! The first 12 I just sprayed normally, but then I went out and bought a spray attachment and used it on the second set of 12. What a difference! It sure saved my fingers! I have to thank my husband for helping me with the spraying. Even though the garage door was wide open, the fumes were getting to me so he took over.

They dried within minutes. I was able to stack them up right away. This is what they looked like when the kids got them.

I set out some acrylic paint and let the kids decorate them any way they wished.

We had some very surprised and impressed parents at pick-up time! Aren't they great?! And on a side note, later I played "Walk Like an Egyptian" and took pictures of all the kids dancing walking!

Egyptian Scratch Art

Yesterday we talked about all the drawings and carvings the Egyptians did on the tombs and on the inside of the pyramids. I ordered some scratch art paper from Oriental Trading and asked the kids to first scratch their name in it, and then to make a drawing that tells a story. Here are some of the finished pieces:

I love all the pyramids!

Ancient Egypt

We started our Ancient Egypt unit today. We made two small crafts. The first one is a cartouche, which is a name plate. The child's name is written in hieroglyphics and placed in an oval. I printed out the names using this website, cut them out, and put them on colored construction paper.

Then I set out some gems for the kids to glue on around the name. This first one still has wet glue.

I mentioned to the children that they could put them on their bedroom door or on their bed. They were pretty excited to do that!

The other craft was an amulet, or lucky charm. I went to Michael's and found some beads that looked kind of "Egyptian," if you know what I mean. They looked like they had hieroglyphs on them or carvings that Egyptians would have made.

Then I put out a bunch of beads and some elastic string and the kids made their own bracelets.

Sorry about the horrible picture. It's hard to get a good shot when the project is on a flat table that reflects the huge lights from above.