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These flash cards go with the song

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Children Story Books Read aloud |  DANNY and the DINOSAUR

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Practice Learning patterns with Dinosaurs

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Learn Patterns with Dinosaur toys - Playmobil Dinos Learning math patterns for kids

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Nursery rhymes for children & baby songs - kids learning colors, shapes, ABCs & more

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More and Less - Learning Comparison for Kids - Basic Education and Preschool Learning

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9/8-9/11

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10 Little Dinosaurs | Kids Songs | Super Simple Songs

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Number Identification: Recpetive and Expressive

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Video Conference @ 10:00=10:30 Tuesdays with the  Room 3 team.

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Ask the kids to read along with their fingers. Then go around the room and pointing out things that are different colors. make is a game!

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Shape Identification: Recpetive and Expressive

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Please access Ms. Jessica's Speech Page for Language and Speech Resources. We are lucky to have her teaching our kids!

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Please access Ms. Caleh's OT page for OT resources. SHe is amazing!

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Uppercase Letter Identification: Receptive and Expressive

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http://www.kimochis.com Kimochi means "feeling" in Japanese. Kimochis® plush characters and feelings look like toys, but they are actually TOOLS. Kimochis® are tools to help teach children (and adults!) how to communicate feelings in positive ways, which builds confidence, self-esteem, and emotional intelligence. Change the way your family and school communicates!

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Hi! Hope you all are safe and healthy.  

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Hi! Hope you all are safe and healthy.  

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This padet is used in conjunction with  Classjojo and will be updated weekly (every Monday) Again, please contact me with any qeustions or concerns @ eparti@nhusd.k12.ca.us and we can set up a meeting time.

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Red Light, Green Light | Freeze Dance and Stop Song by Super Simple Songs

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Play Good Morning song to get everyone ready for learning time! Yay!

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Color Identification: Receptive and Expressive

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Welcome to Ms. Alexa's Speech Room Padlet

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Welcome to Ms. Alexa's Speech Room Padlet

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Please access Ms. Alexa's Speech Page for Language and Speech Resources. We are lucky to have her teaching our kids!

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See It, Say It, Sign It | Letter Sounds | ASL Alphabet | Jack Hartmann

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"Emotions" - StoryBots Super Songs Episode 8 | Netflix Jr

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This weeks theme is: Dinosaurs

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Learning Shapes - Dinosaur Shapes - Shapes with Baby T-Rex - Shapes Animation for Children

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My Yellow Car | Learn Colors! | Super Simple Songs

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Hello Hello! Can You Clap Your Hands? | Original  Kids Song | Super Simple Songs

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Learn SIZES for KIDS! (Small Medium and Large for Preschool) | Learning Videos for Toddlers

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Sesame Street: Monster Rainbow (ROYGBIV)

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The Shape Song Swingalong | Barefoot Books Singalong

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This song goes together with the alphabet image above.

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We are very fortunate to have a great team that loves working and playing with your kids. We all miss them very much!

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I See Something Pink | Colors Song for Children | Super Simple Songs

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What's Your Name? featuring The Super Simple Puppets | Greeting Song | Super Simple Songs

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Good Night Good Night Construction Sight

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Good Night Good Night Construction Sight

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What is your name? Who are your friends?

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What is your name? Who are your friends?

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The Singing Walrus - English Songs For Kids

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Shapes song for kids | The Singing Walrus

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Fun Play-dough mats to use at home! You can practice the words on the worksheet if appropriate for your child.

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Fun Play-dough mats to use at home! You can practice the words on the worksheet if appropriate for your child.

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Art is unlimited, when you first hear the words "color mixing", you might automatically think art. Art is a great way to explore color mixing. It be done in many other ways. Today, we offer you some new ideas to color mixing for kids. Hope you enjoy it.
1. Brush watercolors onto doilies and watch the colors overlap
For this particular activity, you can used paper doilies on a vertical surface, like we did when we made our colorful waterfalls. The doilies are a bit delicate, perfect for light watercolors. When finished, you realized how lovely they would look strung across the classroom. A simple, fun art activity! Enjoy it right now!
2. Colored water and medicine dropper
In this activity, we prepared 3 little cups of water mixed with food coloring. You'll only need about 1-2 drops of blue and red, whereas about 5-6 drops of yellow is needed. Put a medicine dropper (or you can use pipettes) and a few plastic shot glasses on the tray for him.

We created a color mixing chart for him to use as a guide. He mixed 3-4 squeezes of each color into an empty shot glass. When he discovered the new color, he would place the correct color on the chart below:

For toddlers, you can create a simplified version with only 2 colors to mix

Note: Keep in mind some food coloring do stain clothes and hands. So, be carefully!
3. Acrylic paint and paper
Put the primary colors acrylic paint on a palette, mixed the colors directly on watercolor paper. Mixing directly on paper is much more difficult and requires a lot more work from a child. You can still see some of the primary colors but I think that creates a nice effect.
4. Milk, food coloring and liquid dish soap
Materials need:
A bowl
½ cup of milk
Dish soap
Cotton swab
Food Coloring, more than one color
Pepper (optional)
Instructions:
- Pour the milk into the bowl. Be careful not to move the bowl, you want the milk as still as possible.
- Put one drop of each color in different places in the milk.
- Put just a tiny amount of soap on the end of the cotton swab, then touch it to one of the colors. WOW!
- Let the experimenting begin!
- To clean up, just pour the milk down the drain. (Do not drink it)
How it Works:
Milk has fat in it and the food coloring floats on top of the fat. The fat is all connected with bonds. Think of it like the little pieces of fat all holding hands with each other. Dish soaps are used on greasy or oily dishes because it breaks the bonds in fats allowing them to separate. When you add the dish soap to the milk, the fat separates and moves making your magical milk art!
Extra Experiments:
Does the temperature of the milk have any effect?

Try whole milk and skim milk.

Sprinkle pepper on the milk before you add the soap, what happens to the pepper?

Have fun!
5. Color mixing to create shades
First, created a simple hand-drawn template include - 7 long rectangles on a piece of paper. Then, started by painting some un-mixed green paint in the middle rectangle.

Then, squeezed some white paint and asked him to mix it with his brush, then paint on the next rectangle. We did this 3 times so that the green would get lighter. You can see that the more white paint I squeezed, the lighter the green got.

Note: To create lighter shades, we had to squeeze quite a lot of white paint to get a discernible shade difference.

We started a clean bowl of green for darker shades and repeated the process.
6. Rainbow in a Bag: A Color Mixing Experiment
Combine 1 cup cornstarch, 1/3-cup sugar, and 4 cups cold water in a large pot.

Heat and stir constantly. Once the mixture begins to thicken, remove it from the heat and continue to stir for another minute. Divide the mixture into 2 bowls and set aside to cool. Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl (one red bowl and one yellow bowl for example). Put some of each color mixture into a Ziploc gallon bag (and seal with duct tape if necessary). Let the child mush and mix the two colors together. Hang in the window to let the light shine through.

Notes: We divided our mixture into three bowls for red, yellow, and blue, so that we could try mixing orange, green, and purple.
We used sandwich bags and didn't need the duct tape.

This color mixing experiment was lots of fun-squishy and sensory! And the bags of colored gel looked great in the window with the light shining through! Kind of like stained glass. Let's practice it with your child at home right now. Have fun time!
7. Mixing Colors: Color Array Using a Tray and Pipettes
In this activity kids will explore color mixing in an organized arrangement using liquid watercolors and pipettes.

We practived mixing colors using liquid watercolors. And we did it in a more organized fashion, creating and array of colors.

Use your pipette to transfer colors by following the array organization. So put a little red from first compartment in the top row into each compartment below it. Then put a little magenta from the left column in with the red and see what happens. Do this with each color below magenta to see what they look like when combined with the red.

Continue mixing the colors by following where each row and column intersect.

You can follow our art for kids pinterest board below:
8. Playdough Color Mixing Activity Inspired by Little Blue and Little Yellow
Here's a fun color mixing activity using playdough! The hands-on, sensory activity for kids is inspired by Leo Lionni's popular children's book, Little Blue and Little Yellow. It's such a wonderful story and really lends itself to so many extension activities. In this story two friends, Little Blue and Little Yellow, are so excited to see each other that they hug. They mix and turn green and run around playing and having fun. This causes a few problems once it's time to go home. And it such great way to encourage a school and home connection.

Playdough Color Mixing Activity

If you are a kindergarten teacher, you can teach them mixing blue and yellow playdough to make green! The kids always loved to explore the mixing of colors with this hands-on playdough activity.

After explore the activity in the classroom, you can put together little baggies containing a little yellow and little blue ball of play dough for the students to take home. Then, to retell the story using the little balls of play dough with the parents.

Have fun!

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Art is unlimited, when you first hear the words "color mixing", you might automatically think art. Art is a great way to explore color mixing. It be done in many other ways. Today, we offer you some new ideas to color mixing for kids. Hope you enjoy it. 1.

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Here Comes The Fire Truck | Kids Songs | Super Simple Songs

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Paper Plate Dinosaur - Pick a project that suits your mood and resources that are available. Or make your own!  Send a picture when finished. We would all love to see them!

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A great craft idea for kids! These super cute paper plate dinosaurs will have you kids roaring like a dinosaur, inspiring imaginations and play!

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Dinosaur Project -

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Dinosaur Stomp Painting: This process art activity could not be any easier or fun. This is an EASY kid craft to use during a dinosaur theme week that works well with any age.

When it comes to art activities for kids process art projects tend to be our favorites! This activity could pair well with some of other process art posts such as DIY Texture Paintbrushes, Homemade Scented Paint, or even our DIY Textured Finger Paints!

This week while we have been exploring Dinosaurs I knew I wanted to do something to tie in some art projects. It seems like we have been on a pretty strong science kick lately and haven't done much for arts-n-crafts. I just honestly have not wanted to take the time to set up a craft activity- lazy I know. Then I came across this dinosaur painting activity and knew it was something simple that we could easily do!

Meatball is absolutely loving the whole dinosaur theme - we have them driving cars, taking baths, eating spaghetti...they have become one of his can't put them down right now toys. So today we painted with dinosaurs.

It turned out pretty awesome! Gotta love simple fun!

Personally when it comes to activities like this I prefer to just use a large sheet of easel or butcher paper to cover the entire area. Add a little duct-tape to keep the paper in place and we are good to go. My kids like to make messes...

If you are looking for some fun dinosaur coloring sheets to paint on and cut out make sure to swing over to Itsy Bitsy Fun (one of my favorite places to find FREE printables).

Once set up is taken care of step back and let your little one have fun making their dinosaur stomp into the paint and across the paper!

Meatball experimented with stomping, swirling, and sliding.

We played around with color mixing.

Pretended to jump in orange mud puddles...

Counted foot steps.

Experimented with using different parts of the dinosaurs to paint with - the stegosaurus tail was a favorite!

We painted until our dinosaurs were falling over tired...

And then moved on to meshing and squeezing our hands in what paint was still left, making a beautifully colorful mess!
This activity was SO much {simple} FUN!!!!
Recommended Dinosaur Books for Activity:

Find all of our Dinosaur Book Recommendations here!

KEEP READING!

Looking for kid activity posts similar to this one? Then be sure to click through the below links or head over to our Facebook fan page to continue the discussion!

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Dinosaur Stomp Painting: This process art activity could not be any easier or fun. This is an EASY kid craft to use during a dinosaur theme week that works well with any age. When it comes to art activities for kids process art projects tend to be our favorites!

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8:00-10:00 - IEP/Prep
10:00-10:30 -  Whole Group Instruction
10:30-10:45 -  Break
10:45-11:15 -  Group A
11:15-11:30 -  Break
11:30-12:00 - Group B
12:00-12:30  - Staff Break
12:30-2:00  - Teacher Parent Communication

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This week, we roared, we played, we marched, and we had a lot fun!! :)
We were DINOSAURS!!

My kiddos loved the dinosaur crafts we made and couldn't wait to show their parents!! :)

On Monday, we had two crafts. We did make the dinosaur headband, but, since the kiddos didn't have much activity with it, we decided to let them paint up a dinosaur coloring sheet! We presented each child with their very own Dinosaur name!! :) Headbands were made from green construction paper, cut into strips and diamond shaped triangles. We used tape so it wouldn't hurt their heads. The "spikes" were glued on at the fold of the diamond shape and again glued together from the tip of the diamond to form the spike!

On Tuesday, we had a roaring blast hatching our dinosaur and dancing to the Dino Diddy Ditty Dum Ditty Do Song!! :) The egg was made from posterboard, and bingo dabbers. The baby dinosaur was colored by the kiddos.

For Wednesday, we had fun making Pterodactyls! These were made from a half regular sized paper plate. The pattern was found on thecrafttrain.com There were many free patterns on this site!! We used tissue paper to cover the back of the plate.

On Thursday, we painted some fingertips and created some rainbow dinosaurs!! We marched around like Dinosaurs. One of our favorite Dinosaur Songs is "What Do You Think of That?" This is a Laurie Berkner Song!

For Friday, we traced the shoes of our children, and they were all able to create their very own dinosaurs! They used some shape stickers, they were able to choose if their dinosaur stood tall or had four legs and crawled on the ground. They also had to name their dinosaur and tell us what their dinosaur liked to eat! The kiddos also chose if their dinosaur had a curvy tail or a straitened tail. Every once in a while you run into technical difficulties. The one picture was turned, and shows turned in my pictures, however, it's showing up side ways, I'm not that savvy with this problem, so sorry about that!! :)

Next week, we will have Fire Safety week, then we will begin our Manners Theme! Getting ready to practice those Manners as we come to school on the last day of the month, in costume and visit each classroom, practicing our Manners as we receive treats and candy! :) The next couple weeks after, we will begin some holiday crafts!

Many Blessings, please count each of them, they surround you!
Sherry :)

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This week, we roared, we played, we marched, and we had a lot fun!! :) We were DINOSAURS!! My kiddos loved the dinosaur crafts we made and couldn't wait to show their parents!! :) On Monday, we had two crafts.

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Friday's maybe could be a cooking activity day for you and your kids. Make something fun. Attached are some examples.

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Cooking can help young kids learn and practice some basic math concepts and build language skills. And reating meals with you can help build their self-confidence and lay the foundation for healthy eating habits.

It may take a little flexibility and some simple prep work. But with the right expectations, your time in the kitchen with your preschooler can be an adventure you'll both enjoy.

How Cooking Can Help Preschoolers

Bringing kids into the kitchen can be good for them in a number of ways. Cooking can help:

Build basic skills. Help build basic math skills by doing something as simple as counting eggs or pouring water into a measuring cup. You can ask what comes first, second, and third or count together as you spoon dough onto a cookie sheet. When you read a recipe together, you introduce new words to your child's vocabulary and promote literacy. Following steps in the recipe can work on listening skills.

Encourage an adventurous palate. Preschoolers are picky eaters, and bringing them into the kitchen to cook can help get them to open up to new tastes. When your 3-year-old plays chef, she might sample dishes she wouldn't try if you just served them to her. So encourage kids to taste new ingredients you're working with and talk about what they like and how healthy foods make a body grow.

Help young kids explore with their senses. Kids learn by exploring with their senses and the kitchen is an ideal place to do that. Invite them to listen to the whir of the mixer, pound dough and watch it rise, smell it baking in the oven, and finally taste the warm bread fresh from the oven. If it smells good, looks appealing, and is easy to eat they may just be willing to try it!

Boost confidence. Preschoolers love to show what they can do and working in the kitchen provides opportunities to gain a sense of accomplishment. If they helped assemble the pizza, let them know that their help was important. You could name the pizza or another dish after your child. Serve "Jalen's Pizza" or "Ella's Salad" for dinner tonight. Even if the results are not exactly what you expected, praise their efforts.

Ideal Jobs for Preschoolers in the Kitchen

A few tasks in the kitchen are particularly well-suited to kids ages 3 to 5. The key is to give them "jobs" that meet their skill level and are something they enjoy. So if your child loves to pound, bring out the bread dough and let your preschooler pound away.

Here are some other ways kids can help:

stirring pancake batter

tearing lettuce for salad

adding ingredients

assembling a pizza

helping you "read" a cookbook by turning the pages

Getting Started

From riding a tricycle to getting dressed, preschoolers are learning how much they can do all by themselves.

So look for a few cooking-related activities that your child can do independently or with just a little help from you. Simple tasks like pouring liquid into the bowl, sprinkling cheese on top of the casserole, or using cookie cutters are a good fit for most preschoolers.

Don't plan an elaborate project - 5 to 10 minutes might be all your child wants to spend on an activity. Start small and keep it fun.

As kids grow, they will develop the skills, attention span, and interest to do bigger cooking jobs, like squeezing the juice out of a lemon, measuring ingredients into cups and spoons, and beating eggs or mashing potatoes.

Preschoolers will also enjoy learning with you. For safety reasons, you should be in the kitchen with them at all times, supervising and monitoring progress.

Spending time in the kitchen with your kids can foster an interest in food and cooking that will last for life!

Date reviewed: November 2021

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It may take a little flexibility and prep work, but time in the kitchen with your preschooler can be a culinary adventure you'll both enjoy.

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Fossil Play Dough

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How to make fossil dough - The coffee ground dough is made using simple ingredients, including cold coffee and coffee grounds and all ingredients are easily found in your home. The dough will last for at least a month if stored in an airtight container.

This simple, no-cook dough will keep your children busy for hours. The children I worked with always called it fossil dough because of the texture and its ability to make wonderful imprints of their dinosaurs.

Additional Posts That Made Interest You:
Recipes for Art / Dinosaur Theme / Hatching Dinosaur Eggs

Mix everything together, except the coffee. Slowly add coffee until the mixture comes together. Knead the dough on a countertop. Store in an airtight container. This recipe does not air dry well.

Watch my YouTube video to see how it is made:

Additional Categories To Explore

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How to Make Fossil Dough | Nuttin' But Preschool

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How to make fossil dough - The coffee ground dough is made using simple ingredients, including cold coffee and coffee grounds and all ingredients are easily found in your home. The dough will last for at least a month if stored in an airtight container.

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Send a picture when finished. We would all love to see them!

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Pre-Writing Skills: Please access Ms. Caleh's blog for resources.

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This can help with documentation of progress with color identification.

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Enjoy making some cookies with your kids and let them help. Smell different ingredients and make up your own recipe.

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For the last day in the Play, Craft and Learn with Dinosaurs series, I made these dinosaur fossil cookies, which my son had to excavate before he could eat them!
The following post contains affiliate links, which means that at no extra cost to you I can make a tiny bit of money to help support this blog. Thank you!
To make the cookies I made some sugar cookie dough (I always use Alton Brown's recipe with great success). I made some small flattened rounds of dough and placed them on a silicone mat. It really doesn't matter if they are a little rough around the edges! I pushed a dinosaur figurine from our Safari Dino TOOB into each one, gently rotating it slightly to try and get as many of the details imprinted into the dough as possible.

The recipe suggested above made 24 large cookies. After removing the dinosaurs (!) I baked the cookies for around 20 minutes at 350F until they were just turning light brown. They weren't exactly dino skeletons but it was enough of a suggestion of a fossil for my just-turned-3-year-old!

Dinosaur Fossil Cookies for Kids! #dinosaurs #fossils #cookies #kids Click To Tweet

I thought that he should work for his fossil cookies so I decided to set up a dino dig. I dyed some sugar crystals yellow by placing them in a resealable bag, adding some yellow food dye and mixing it around. Then I placed a fossil cookie in a baking dish, covered it with the yellow sugar and provided my son with a brush. Let the excavation begin! He gently brushed away the sugar to locate the cookie.

And then he got to eat the cookie, of course!

This post is part of the Play, Craft and Learn with Dinosaurs series. Please check out the fun dino food ideas from the rest of the team!

Ice Cream Excavation with Chocolate Dinosaur Fossils from Lalymom

Footprint Dinosaur Cookies from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Snack-a-saurus from Makeovers & Motherhood

Dinosaur Egg Rice Krispie Treats from Mess for Less

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For the last day in the Play, Craft and Learn with Dinosaurs series, I made these dinosaur fossil cookies, which my son had to excavate before he could eat them! The following post contains affiliate links, which means that at no extra cost to you I can make a tiny bit of money to help support this blog.

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Various Learning Concepts: Smell

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Learning Numbers With Dinosaurs - Hatching Dino Eggs | Educational Videos For Kids | Learn To Count

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Need a super simple baking soda and vinegar volcano recipe? This one takes about three minutes to prep (and the kids get to help). It uses six common ingredients, and there is no mess to clean up afterward! If simple and no cleaning is music to your ears, you're in the right place. We've made this five times in the past two weeks, so it's definitely a loved activity here.

Want to see it in action? I have an awesome video of it near the bottom of this post!

I have always loved making volcanoes with my kids, but they can be time-consuming and require lots of prep. Well, "lots" may be stretching it, but in my world, if it's not simple, it doesn't usually happen. The sad truth is that while I've thought about making a volcano tons of times, I've only made it happen a few. I wanted to change that by making it a super easy process. I hope you absolutely love it!

And if you love these types of science experiments, you can see even more baking soda and vinegar experiments that are simple and so fun! They are also an awesome addition to a preschool curriculum.

Baking Soda and Vinegar Volcano

How do you make the easiest volcano recipe in the world? Ingredients

1. Plastic cup (We tried a water bottle, but the plastic cup worked much better)

2. Water

3. 3-4 Tbs of baking soda at least (we usually do 4-6 which makes it extra foamy and will do 2-3 eruptions)

4. 1 tsp of dish soap

5. 1/2 oz to 2 oz of Washable Paint, depending on the intensity of the color desired

6. 1 cup (8 oz) of Vinegar to start with per eruption...then they'll be asking for more 🙂

Location: an area with pea gravel, sand, or dirt
Start off by combining the "base ingredients." Put the water inside of the plastic cup. Fill it about 2/3 full. Add the baking soda, dish soap, and washable paint. By using washable paint, you don't have to worry about any staining on the rocks (or little fingers) that food coloring might cause. I tried liquid watercolor as well, but it doesn't work nearly as well as the washable paint.

While you mix the base ingredients, have the kiddos make a mound out of pea gravel (or you could certainly do this with dirt). Once you have a mound, put the cup on top of it, and turn it into a mountain. How easy is that!

We give it a good stir just before adding the last ingredient. Now it's time for the eruption! Pour in the vinegar until it starts foaming over, pouring it's lava all over the rocks.

The pictures really don't do this justice, but our pea gravel mountain was just under a foot tall (30 cm).

Here's our bubbly red lava taking over the rocks. In the background here, I've been hearing "there she blows!"

It is also super fun to mix up the colors a little bit! We can pour the vinegar in about three times before we need to add more baking soda to our solution.

Baking Soda and Vinegar Volcano Video

Want to see it in action? Here's the video!

Since we can't get enough of this, here are some more snapshots of our other volcano eruptions.

What does it look like afterward? Here's a picture of ours once we took away the plastic cup. You can hardly even tell we did anything, and the rocks must be nice and clean with the baking soda and vinegar. If the washable paint doesn't come off the rocks right away, it will within a few days or the next rain.
If you want to see what this looks like with dirt, check out these fun volcano posts! Or if you have the time to make it a little fancier, here are some more great ideas:
So there you have it - the easiest volcano recipe ever...that you can make on a whim! If you are looking for more science experiment ideas, I highly recommend The Curious Kid's Science Book: 100+ Creative Hands-On Activities for Ages 4-8 .

Easy Backyard Volcano by Mom with a Lesson Plan

Erupting Volcanoes in Preschool by Teach Preschool

Build, Paint, and Erupt Volcano by Fun at Home With Kids

Erupting Volcano Dinosaur Printable from Fun at Home With Kids

Comparing Homemade Volcano Recipes by Still Playing School

How to Build a Volcano by Kids Activities Blog

Ice Volcanoes by Reading Confetti

Messy Play Fun with Shaving Cream from Fun-A-Day!

Erupting an Easy Homemade Volcano by Mom to 2 Posh Lil' Divas

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Easy Baking Soda and Vinegar Volcano Eruption for Kids

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Need a super simple baking soda and vinegar volcano recipe? This one takes about three minutes to prep (and the kids get to help). It uses six common ingredients, and there is no mess to clean up afterward! If simple and no cleaning is music to your ears, you're in the right place.

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Cutting

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Affiliate and Referral links are used below to promote products I love and recommend. I receive a commission on any purchases made through these links. Please see my disclosure policy for more details.

Have you ever wondered when you should introduce your child or student to scissors? It may be a lot earlier than you think. Today, let's look at scissor skill development for ages 2-6. Plus I have an easy checklist for you at the end of this post!

Skills Needed for Cutting Success

Cutting involves a lot more than just picking up a pair of scissors and learning how to hold them or open and close them.

Your child needs to be able to sit up appropriately and have good balance and stability. Slouching while cutting will not work. And when a child feels unbalanced, it will make holding the scissors very difficult.

They also need stable shoulders with wrist and finger control, including being able to isolate the thumb and the fingers in order to grasp and release the scissors.

Bilateral coordination, or using both sides of the body together is crucial to cutting. Using both hands together means the dominate hand opens and closes the scissors while the non-dominate hand or "helping hand" hold the paper and rotates it as needed.

Scissor Skill Development

Let's take a look at each stage of scissor skill development.
|| Holds Scissors
Between the ages of 1.5 to 2 years old, a child learns to hold scissors, often using both hands to open and close the blades.
|| Open/Closes Scissors
At ages 2-2.5 years old, a child learns how to open and close the scissors. They are NOT ready to use them with paper. This is a great time to practice with play dough, modeling clay, or continue to practice tearing paper.

Remember to always encourage a "thumbs up" position while holding the scissors.
|| Snips Paper
Once the child has mastered opening and closing the scissors, they can move on to making small snips on the paper. They are not moving forward on the paper with scissors, just making snips. This can happen soon after or around the time they begin to open and close the scissors, so that is why the ages appropriate recommendations are the same.

However, some children may need more time before introducing the paper. It all depends on their skill level.

Check out my post, 5 tips for introducing scissors to Toddlers here.
|| Snips Paper Moving Forward
By the time a child hits age 3, they are able to make snips om the paper while moving the scissor forward across the paper (keep the paper size to about 6 inches long).
|| Uses Helping Hand
Between 3 and 3.5 years old, a child begins to use their "helping hand" or non-dominate hand to hold the paper and help manipulate it while cutting with their dominant hand. Remeber to encourage a "thumbs up" position while holding both the paper and scissors.

Check out my 7 ways to improve bilateral coordination post here.
|| Cuts Straight Line
By age 3 to 3.5, a child can move the scissors along a straight line that is 6 inches long. Their accuracy is still a work in progress, with most cutting within 1/2 inch of the cutting line.

By age 4, their accuracy improves and they are able to cut a 6-inch straight line within 1/4 inch of the cutting line.
|| Cuts Curved Line
By age 4, a child is able to cut on a curve line that is 1/4 inch wide, staying within 1/4 inch of the cutting line.
|| Cuts Circle Shape
Also by age 4, once a child has mastered curved lines, they are able to take on circle shapes of at least 6 inches in diameter. Their accuracy will start at around 1/2″ from the cutting line and improve to 1/4 inch from the cutting line as they continue to practice.
|| Cuts Square Shape
Between the ages of 4.5 and 5 years old, a child can cut out a square shape within 1/4 inch from the cutting line.
|| Cuts Complex Shapes
Between the ages of 5-6, a child can begin to cut out more complex shapes such as figures.

It's important to remember that all the recommended ages for each skill are the average age a child can master each skill. Some children may master them earlier, others later. I share the agest more so you can see which skills are age-appropriate, not that each skill should be mastered by these ages.

If you do suspect your child has a delay in fine motor skills, talk to your child's physician.

For even more information on scissor skills and all the developmental skills needed to be successful, check out The Scissor Skills Book. It is written by 10 pediatric Occupational and Physical therapists, including myself. We cover everything from typical development, adaptive strategies, tips for left-handed uses, and more!

Scissor Skill Development Checklist - Free Gift for Subscribers

I'd love to offer you a free printable download of my scissor skill development checklist. It has all the ages and skills mentioned above, along with a place for you to mark down when your child masters each skill.

It is free for subscribers, so first subscribe to my Growing Hands-On Kids newsletter and you'll get your free printable gift. I send weekly development tips, tools, and strategies just like this one to your inbox each week. Plus, you'll be the first to know about new printables, products I recommend, or any new products I create.

By downloading this printable, you are agreeing to the terms and conditions on my site.
References:
Dunn, Marsha Lee. Pre-scissor Skills: Skill starters for motor development. Communication Skill Builders, Inc., 1979.

Exner, Charlotte E. Development of Hand Skills" In J. Case-Smith (ED). Occupational Therapy for Children. Mosby: St. Louis.

Folio. M. Rhonda, Fewell. Rebecca R. Peabody Developmental Motor Scales. 2nd Edition. Austin. Pro-Ed. 2000.

Follow Heather | Growing Hands-On Kids's board Scissor Skills on Pinterest.
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Scissor Skill Development Checklist for Ages 2-6

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Get a free scissor skill development checklist for ages 2 through 6, perfect for teachers, therapists and parents to assess their child's cutting skills.

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This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
We're working our way through the alphabet, and we include a sensory bin idea for each letter. This week we took advantage of the (finally!) beautiful spring weather and made a volcanic sensory bin outdoors. Do you know how to make your own volcano? It's a fairly common science activity - but throw in some mud and it's extra fun.

Here's what we used to create a volcanic sensory bin for three kids (ages 2,4, and 6).

large container of dirt (we got it from our garden)

3 pint mason jars (you don't need the lids, as I found out)

old play dough

warm water

dish soap

food coloring

baking soda

vinegar

a container that kids can use for pouring

1. Set the jars in the dirt.

1. Use the playdough to form a volcano around the mason jars. I thought my kids would like this part, but they had a hard time getting the play dough to take the shape of a volcano. I helped.

2. Add warm water to the jars.

3. Squeeze in about six drops of dishwashing liquid.

4. Add food coloring (just for fun).

5. Add about two tablespoons of baking soda.

6. Slowly add vinegar - and watch your eruption!

We removed the icky play dough, and the kids had fun repeating the experiment five more times - that's when our baking soda and vinegar ran out!

The kids loved experimenting with different combinations of food coloring. This was an exceptionally pretty result.

By the way, I did explain that the "volcano" is the result of a chemical reaction between the baking soda and the vinegar which produces carbon dioxide - leading to bubbles.

I don't think anyone heard me.

Afterward, they were left with all this glorious mud.

They got right to work scooping it out.

Mud soup was on the menu!

Messy play is not my favorite thing in the world, but now that the weather is so nice I'm ready for the kids to start enjoying this sort of fun in the great outdoors. After six years of parenting I finally invested in rain boots this year (what took me so long??), and now I can stop freaking out about nice shoes getting ruined. Also, right after I snapped this picture, I sent my daughter inside to change out of her nice school clothes.

The fun continued for quite some time!

Need more ideas for learning fun outdoors? Follow me on Pinterest!
Follow The Measured Mom's board Outdoor Fun for Kids on Pinterest.
© 2013 - 2020, Anna G. All rights reserved.

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Make your own volcano: Sensory fun for the Letter V - The Measured Mom

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This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We're working our way through the alphabet, and we include a sensory bin idea for each letter. This week we took advantage of the (finally!) beautiful spring weather and made a volcanic sensory bin outdoors.

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I recently took my 9 year old to a preview screening of Disney and Pixar's latest movie, The Good Dinosaur and we both really enjoyed it. Since the kids are off school this week, we had a little free time so we came up with a craft idea based off the film.

In case you haven't heard of The Good Dinosaur, or are curious about my opinion of the film, here is my short synopsis and review:

"What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct?" That is the premise behind the film. As an alternative, Pixar presents us with a scenario where the dinosaurs have shifted from hunters and grazers to an agrarian society, where they raise and herd their own food.

The main character is a runt Apatosaurus named Arlo (voiced by Raymond Ochoa) who is forced into a perilous journey to face his greatest fears and "leave his mark" on the world both figuratively and literally (with his footprint). He eventually pairs up with an unlikely human ally and they both learn that they have more in common than you would think.

The movie was sweet and touching, and I admit it pulled on my heartstrings a few times. There were a few scenes (including a few on screen deaths) that may frighten sensitive kids, but my nine year old thought it was great. And although the storyline is somewhat predictable, there were enough humorous moments and action scenes to keep the story moving along.

For me the most striking part of the entire film was the gorgeous animation. Although the characters kept their cartoon-like feel with the large eyes and bright colors, the backdrops were amazingly detailed and beautifully rendered. Pixar animators have raised the bar with the photorealism they created on screen.

We viewed the movie in 3D but it almost felt gimmicky based on the breathtaking scenery which was strong enough to stand on its own.

If you are looking for a family friendly film over the holiday break, I would definitely recommend The Good Dinosaur. I'm not sure just how much it would appeal to the "older tween" set, but for the elementary school crowd I think you have a winner.

And when you get home from the film, get out your craft paint, since I have a quick and easy handprint dinosaur anyone can make.

The Good Dinosaur Handprint Artwork:

I used craft paint for this version, but washable tempera or fingerpaint would be a great choice since you are working with kids.

Put the handprint upside near the bottom of the sheet.

The thumb becomes the tail and you add on the head and neck with a paintbrush.

Then add toenails with a pen or marker.

Also add on the face (we gave him brown eyes just like Arlo has!)

And of course, we had to make more than one.. This one is his 'girlfriend' according to my 6 year old. (Who knew?!)

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The Good Dinosaur Handprint Craft & Activity Sheets

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I recently took my 9 year old to a preview screening of Disney and Pixar's latest movie, The Good Dinosaur and we both really enjoyed it. Since the kids are off school this week, we had a little free time so we came up with a craft idea based off the film.

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Play this song. Stop the video when it says "look outside". Have the children look outside and see if they can describe the weather. Attached are the different screen shots of this video and you can have them point to the correct one.

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How's The Weather? | Learn About Weather | Super Simple Songs

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1:1 Correspondence

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Clink on link and it directs you to an online calendar. It is also a great app

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See You Later, Alligator | Goodbye Song For Kids | Super Simple Songs