Shoe Print Monsters

This week's theme is Monsters! I actually call it "Wild Things" after the book Where the Wild Things Are. After reading the story and acting it out a couple times, we headed to the art table to make monsters out of our shoe prints. (I got the idea for this here.)

That big ol' foot is mine. The kids' are much cuter. The main thing I want to get across this week is that monsters are only in our imaginations and they don't have to be scary. They can be anything we want them to be. So we started with a shoe-print rubbing. I actually did this for the kids because they were having trouble holding the paper on their wobbly shoes.

After I cut it out, the kids glued it on paper and used markers to turn it into a monster.

Check out these creatures:

We had some great wild things!

End-of-Year Display

Here is another idea for a class display. I've used this during graduation in May as well as at the end of summer. I don't have a picture of my display, but it's pretty simple. I used the poem called "Just Playing." There are a few versions out there, but the one I used appears further down in this post. I divided the poem into paragraphs, printed them out, and taped them onto bright green paper.

Then I took pictures of the kids doing things that corresponded with what's mentioned in the poem. For example, kids building with blocks, painting, playing in dramatic play, running on the playground, using a magnifying glass to look at bugs, and so on. Then I taped those pictures to colorful paper as well and hung them up next to the appropriate paragraph. The parents just loved it. Here's the entire poem:

When I'm building and stacking the blocks,

Please don't say that I'm "just playing."

For, you see, I'm learning as I play.

I may be an architect some day.

When I'm getting all dressed up, setting the table, or caring for babies,

Don't get the idea I'm "just playing."

For, you see, I'm learning as I play.

I may be a mother or father some day.

When you see me up to my elbows in paint, standing at an easel, or molding clay,

Please don't let me hear you say, "He is just playing."

For, you see, I'm learning as I play.

I may be an artist or inventor some day.

When you see me sitting in a chair reading to an imaginary audience,

Please don't laugh and think I'm "just playing."

For, you see, I'm learning as I play.

I may be a teacher some day.

When you see me combing the bushes for bugs or packing my pockets with things I find,

Don't pass it off as "just play."

For, you see, I'm learning as I play.

I may be a scientist some day.

When you see me learning to skip, hop, run, and move my body,

Please don't say I'm "just playing."

For, you see, I'm learning as I play.

I'm learning how my body works.

I may be a doctor, nurse, or athlete some day.

When you ask what I've done at school today, and I say, "I just played."

Please don't misunderstand me.

For, you see, I'm learning as I play.

I'm learning to enjoy and be successful in my work.

I'm preparing for tomorrow.

Today, I am a child and my work is play.

A similar thing I've done is a Dr. Seuss display. I chose certain parts from Oh, the Places You'll Go and did the exact same thing as above. I made the title with large stencils and printed the rest on my computer.

I just chose the parts I thought were appropriate, changed KID to KIDS, and added a little personal note at the end. I went though all the pictures I took from that year and displayed a whole bunch. Here are the parts of the book I chose:

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to great places!

You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

Any direction you choose.

You're on your own, and you know what you know.

And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.

About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."

With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,

You're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

You'll be on your way up!

You'll be seeing great sights!

You'll join the high fliers

Who soar to high heights.

On and on you will hike,

And I know you'll hike far,

And face up to your problems,

Whatever they are.

And will you succeed?

Yes! You will, indeed!

(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KIDS, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

I hope these inspire you to put together a wonderful end-of-year display!

Summer Display

This display is for the end of the summer, but it takes a bit of planning so I will show it to you now. I made it about 5 or 6 years ago. I only took a picture so I'd remember it. I never thought I would want to show other people, let alone blog about it. So forgive me if my photo is subpar. I totally copied this idea, but instead of using Tinker Toys, I used straws.

Ha! I warned you the picture would be bad. I took the picture while the display was on my living room floor. I think I was kind of embarrassed back then to take pictures of my own displays at work. Not anymore! Anyway, I spent a few days taking pictures of the kids on our playground and at a park. Then I glued colored straws onto a big piece of felt. The sand castle was made out of sand paper (my sister Suzie actually made that!) and the sprinkler was made with glue and glitter. I added the title, "Summer playin' had us a blast!" It was a take on an ol' Grease song. Sadly, not everyone got the reference. Here are some close-ups:

I had fun making it, and I really loved it, but I don't think I would ever make another one. Now I try to put up displays mostly made by the children, not me. What do you think? Would you ever make one?

Dramatic Play Beach

This week my co-teacher's theme is Seashore Fun. To help out, I brought in my big beach umbrella. My parents were getting rid of it many years ago and I knew I'd be able to use it, so I snatched it up! We put out some beach towels, the sand from our sensory table, and some small buckets, shovels and scoopers. Then she dumped in some seashells.

The kids had a fun time pretending to be at the beach!

Marshmallow Eiffel Towers

Yesterday the class went to France! We talked about the Eiffel Tower and then the kids went to the art table to construct their own towers.

With toothpicks and mini marshmallows (we used fruity ones!) they could create any type of structure. It didn't have to look like the Eiffel Tower, obviously. As much as I hate to use styrofoam (that's all our center uses), it helped to have it as a base because you could stick the toothpicks in to support the tower.

There were some pretty creative structures!

And today I used those marshmallows as prizes when we had a quiz about all the places we visited in Europe this week. (Today we went to Spain, but our art project was just paper airplanes -- they colored the paper, I folded them into airplanes and then we flew them across the room -- so I didn't think it was blog worthy.)



Sun Prints

This is a great activity to do in the summer. I bought this Sun Print paper from Amazon. You can use any objects you want, but keep these points in mind: If the object is too light, it may blow away or move around. If the object is too thick, it will create a shadow. If you aren't fast enough when putting the objects down, or if you rearrange them, it will not work as well. You need to be fast! That said, this is how we did it. I took 4 kids outside at a time. They were able to choose some foam shapes.

I held onto the special paper, still in it's black pouch, while I explained the directions. As soon as I gave them their paper they were to put on their foam shapes, slap down their hand in the middle, and NOT MOVE! After just a few seconds you could see the blue paper fading to white. After about 2 minutes I grabbed the paper and flipped it upside down so it would no longer be exposed to the sun and we went inside. Then I filled a plastic container with water and rinsed the paper (following the instructions). During this time, the lighter blue changed back to dark blue and the dark blue shapes changed to white, or lighter blue. As they dried, they got darker and darker. These were the results:

I don't think they turned out as well as in the past. I've never used this brand before and I've never used foam shapes or hand prints before. In the past we've used heavier objects and did it in the shade so there wouldn't be shadows. Maybe the foam pieces were too light and that's why they aren't as white. Maybe some light actually got underneath them. I don't know. The kit does come with a plastic cover to put over your objects, so you can use flowers and leaves, but it only comes with one and I didn't want to take the kids outside one at a time. I do think these would be cool with stars and planets and other space objects. I would love to do it for my Space theme, but I always do that in winter. Yes, we have sun in winter, but we also have snow and very low temperatures. Not exactly the best time to do a sun experiment outside!

Mona Lisa Paintings

Continuing with our trip to Europe, today the Pre-K class went to Italy! I talked a little bit about the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci and his Mona Lisa. I found a coloring sheet of the Mona Lisa at Enchanted Learning.

The kids painted it with watercolors. When they were dry I framed them with construction paper. It was a little hard to do because once the paper was painted, it wasn't flat anymore. If I was patient, I would have flattened them overnight, but I was eager to put these on display. Before hanging them, however, I asked each child why Mona Lisa is smiling! I wrote down their responses and attached them to the frames.

I displayed them in the hall right outside our room.

It looks great and the parents loved the responses! And the kids got another stamp in their passports, of course!