Push-Paint Fall Trees

Today's project was very simple, but beautiful. We started with a tree trunk and a few branches that I traced onto white paper.

Then they colored it in with a brown crayon.

Then I set out paint in fall colors and put sticks in them.

The kids scooped up a little paint with the stick and dabbed it on their paper near the tree.

Then we placed another piece of paper on top of the tree and pushed the paint around under our fingers.

When we peeled back the top sheet of paper, our beautiful fall tree was revealed.

For another push-paint project, check out our monsters!

Jingle Jangle Scarecrows

I taught the kids a new song today.

When all the birds are sleeping and the sun has gone to bed,
Up pops the scarecrow and this is what he said,
"I'm a jingle jangle scarecrow with a flippy floppy hat.
I shake my hands like this and shake my feet like that!"

(Update: If you know that song, you probably sing Dingle Dangle, but I learned it as Jingle Jangle and that's what stuck!)
The kids love acting it out, especially the "up pops the scarecrow" part when they get to jump into the air after crouching down during the first line. I found this wonderful scarecrow coloring sheet many years ago (probably 10 or so):

It was my inspiration. I decided to make parts of a scarecrow based on this picture so the kids could put one together. But I made it bigger. Much bigger. Almost life-size. Well, kid-size. So I got to work free-hand drawing everything but on a larger scale. A hat, scarf, head, arms, legs, and body. I put everything on the tables for the kids to pick and choose their own colors. Then we got started putting everything together.

For the hat, I cut along the line so the head could slip inside. You only have to put glue on the bottom edge of the hat.

Then you glue the head to the top part of the scarf, and the scarf to the body. Leave the top part of the scarf above the body so your scarecrow has a neck. Then glue on the arms and legs and put on a face!

For the face this year, I had buttons, wiggle eyes, and stars, apples, and sunbursts made with paper punches. I also had markers out if the kids wanted to draw the face. Then I flipped them over and used yellow crinkled paper strips from the party store...

...as hay/straw. I just taped it to the backs of the arms and legs (and a little under the hats!) so it looked like straw was poking out.

And then to make it a true jingle jangle scarecrow, I tied a yarn belt around the waist and attached a jingle bell.

Here's what they looked like all put together:

And here's one of my kids holding his up so you can see how big they are:

I lined them up and down our hallway outside of our room.

So cute, I tell you. So cute! And it all started because of that coloring page I saw. You can find that here.

Variations: In the past I have used red yarn for the kids to make a smile. I've also had squares of plaid material available for the kids to make patches and pockets. Another thing I've done every year except this year was use brass fasteners to attach the arms and legs so they move. (I didn't have enough for everyone this year.) I've also used a pumpkin shape for the heads, but after putting the hat on you couldn't even tell it was a pumpkin so I didn't do it again. A circle is much easier to cut out over and over again. And I've even used real straw before. Boy, was that messy! But it looked awesome.

Sponge-Painted Leaves

We started our Fall theme today! I love fall and I have so many cool projects to share with you this week. First up is beautiful leaves. I traced a few different kinds of leaves onto paper and put out red, yellow and orange paint with sponges. The kids dipped the sponges in the paint and blotted their paper with them.

I had them each make two (the second being the flip side of the first so they would match up when I put them together). They didn't have to worry about staying in the lines because I was planning on cutting them out.

When they were dry, I cut them out and matched them up back to back and stapled them. Tape or glue would work as well, but the edges got pretty curly so I felt staples would be best. If they didn't quite match up right, I just trimmed them.

Then I hung them off the lights on our ceiling so it looks like leaves are falling in our room!

I've been doing this project for years and it only occurred to me today as I was cutting them out to just have the kids paint plain paper and then trace a leaf shape on it afterward. That way you could cut both at once (back to back) and they would match up every time. Ahhh, next year...

Fun Fact: The red, orange and yellow color of leaves is always there, even in the summer. It is the chlorophyll in a plant's leaves that makes them look green. But in the fall, the chlorophyll breaks down and the green color begins to disappear. That's when the leaves' other colors show through.

Water Gems Sensory Fun

After seeing this awesome idea on I Can Teach My Child, I couldn't wait to do something similar with my class. Our theme was Colors last week and on Friday we discussed the colors blue and purple. So I brought in a big bucket of purple water gems.

I found them at Michaels by the vases. I saved a lot of money by buying the kind you need to add water to. On Thursday night I dumped them into a container and added the appropriate amount of water. They had to soak for several hours, but when they were done I was so happy with the results! Not only was the color beautiful, but the amount of beads I had was so much more than I imagined! I was worried that I should have gotten two bags, but one bag was plenty. (And it was way more than when you buy the pre-made ones. I probably would've had to buy about 5 or 6 containers of those to get the same amount!) I strained the water out and rinsed the beads to make sure they wouldn't stain. The water looked like grape juice! When I got to work on Friday, I hid small animals in the tub.

I pushed them down so you couldn't see them at all. Then I made little cards with pictures of the animals that I hid. I just drew them quickly by hand, nothing fancy. The kids took turns picking a card and they had to find the animal that was on the card. It was so fun! And they loved playing in it.

And so did my husband! OK, and so did I!

Glittery Starfish

What has arms but no legs, and feet but no toes? Starfish (or sea stars)! Today's colors were blue and purple. I taught the class about starfish. Why, you ask? Because there are some beautiful blue and purple starfish out there! Our project was very quick, but oh so pretty. I took a black and white picture of a starfish and taped it to the table. Then I put a piece of wax paper on top of it.

Then the kids followed the star with glue, first outlining it and then filling it in. And I stuck a paperclip in one of the arms.

Then they had a blast dumping glitter on top. This was one time when I actually encouraged them to pour a lot on.

I let them sit like that all day long. At the end of the day, I very quickly dumped off the excess glitter. The glue was still very runny, so it had to be fast.

It will take all weekend to dry. Probably longer. But you'll know it's dry when it's mostly clear underneath.

Then just grab the paperclip and slowly peel the starfish off the wax paper. Last year we made these during our ocean them and I hung them on the wall with tacks.

(Aren't the orcas cute? Someday I'll blog about those.)
This would also be a neat and fun way to make ornaments. Just remember to put the paperclip in so you can hang them.

Fun Fact: As long as a starfish has at least one arm, and a central part, it can survive. If an arm is lost, it can be regenerated. It's takes about a year for an arm to grow back.

Hoppin' Frogs

Today's color was green and I taught about frogs. But not just any frogs. Red-eyed tree frogs. My favorite. animal. ever. Since I love frogs, I've done many froggy crafts over the years. But this time I decided to do something new. So I searched the internet and found this. First I drew a frog. Well, half of a frog on a folded piece of paper. Then I cut it out and opened the paper and traced that frog onto another piece of paper.

The circles on the bottom are the eyes. Then the kids painted the frogs, and of course I put out a bunch of colors.

In the afternoon when they were dry, I put out strips of accordion-folded paper and some frog feet.

The kids glued on the legs, feet, and eyes. Here's how they turned out.

When I hung them on the wall, it looked like they were hopping!

They turned out better than I thought they would!

Fun Fact: Red-eyed tree frogs rest with their legs pulled in tight and their eyes closed. When a predator approaches, the frog opens its eyes and puts its legs out, revealing a bunch of color which startles the predator.

**I linked up to Show-and-Share Saturday,  The Sunday Showcase and ABC'S Blog Hop!**

Bear Puzzles

Today's color was brown and I taught about bears (the Alaskan brown bear and the grizzly, to be exact). Our project was very simple. I found a picture of a bear coloring page and the kids used crayons to color it.

No, that's not all. It wasn't that simple! After they colored it I drew lines on it, dividing it into 6 pieces or 9 pieces (depending on whether they wanted an easy puzzle or a harder puzzle).

I didn't measure or anything to get even squares. I just eyeballed it. Then the kids cut on the lines.

When the picture was all cut up, they picked out a piece of colored construction paper, put their picture back together again...

...and glued the pieces on the paper!

See? Simple! And yet lots of fine motor practice!

Fun Fact: Bears stand on their hind legs not to get ready to charge, but rather to get a better look or smell. The Alaskan brown bear can be ten feet tall when standing!