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3rd Grade Dream Boxes | Elementary art projects, Classroom art projects, Elementary art classroom

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Feb 8, 2016 - 3rd grade is finishing their Dream Box project, which is inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. and artist Joseph Cornell more about him here: http://www.josephcornellbox.com/lifeart.htm Student chose a dream they have for themselves or the world to make the world a better place. They added various materials to make their …

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Red Ted Art - Make crafting with kids easy & fun

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Oh I am a bit of a hoarder of Shoe Boxes.. I don't know what it is about them, I just love them - they come in that perfect "little size", you can put things IN a shoebox, shoe boxes stack neatly and they come in all sorts of colours. We particularly shoe boxes, as a gift set packaging - we love to decorate our shoe box and fill it with crafty goodies as birthday presents.. but we also like to craft with them. An in honour of our love for the humble shoebox, we have once again, pulled together a set of wonderful shoe box crafts for you!!! Check out these clever clever ideas - from handy home tidy hacks, to fun toys and games for kids! Which is YOUR favourite shoe box craft?!

Shoe Box Tidies & Gift Sets

A great way to keep all those chargers in order.. make your own Charging Station out of a shoebox!
Clever Ribbon Storage solution! Shoe box desk tidy! Shoe box erm.... shoe storage!

We LOVE using our Shoebox as GIFT SETS!
Shoe box display boxes
Shoe Box Toys

A lovely guest post from Along Came Cherry, sharing this Shoe Box Laptop for kids

Self contained " Shoe box toy crafts " - bedroom and storage in one!

Shoebox Table Football!! What fun!!

Create Shoe Box MONSTERS!

Shoe box suitcase (great for any Paddington Bear fans!)

Shoeboxes as a Learning Tool
Shoebox Abacus Shoe box paper or ribbon weaving
More Shoe Box Weaving! Use fabrics or wool!
Shoebox Instrument
Shoe Box Dolls Houses

Making shoebox dolls houses, is probably one of the most "common" uses for a shoebox craft.. and here we share some cute ideas!
Shoebox Bedroom
Shoebox Dolls House - another bedroom idea.

Polka Dot Cafe - so cute to have a cafe for the dolls to go and visit!

I love the idea of creating one shoe box room at a time.. and then bringing them all together to make one fabulously big DOLLS HOUSE! That would make for one of those fabulous "ongoing" projects with your family!
Or go the other way and divide one shop box into little rooms.. a perfect Mouse House!
Shoe Box "Play Scenes"
Shoe Box Small World Play - My Little Pony. Little Red Riding Hood Story Box LOVE this little Shoe Box (split level) garage!
Shoe Box Dioramas & Theatres

Shoe Boxes make GREAT Puppet Theatres (especially since you can store your puppets inside!)

Shoe boxes are great for school projects and "Dioramas" - little scenes. Here we have a Mr Men diorama for the School Egg Decorating competition!
Artic Box Puppet theatre/ diorama The "classic" Shoe Box Aquarium!
Sooo, I hope you have enjoyed these shoebox craft ideas and that you are inspired to get GET CRAFTY!!!

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30 Shoe Box Craft Ideas - Red Ted Art - Make crafting with kids easy & fun

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Oh I am a bit of a hoarder of Shoe Boxes.. I don't know what it is about them, I just love them - they come in that perfect "little size", you can put things IN a shoebox, shoe boxes stack neatly and they come in all sorts of colours.

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Start upcycling some cardboard boxes, or just your cereal boxes, to make a whole town!
This is a wonderfully arty post written by Justine of The Lone Home Ranger.

I was not the crafting sort before I had kids. Even after my first daughter came along, I admittedly looked at art projects as a necessary evil. I would remind myself of the connection between art and high brain function as I sighed and pulled out the cotton balls and glitter. Perhaps part of my reluctance was a feeling of ineptitude. It seemed to me that all the other moms were out there sewing dolls out of recycled dress fabric they had saved since they were a little girl, or building complicated dollhouses that didn't come out of a box with instructions. How could my paint-by-number projects measure up?

Then I read the post on the Power of Moms called Your Children Want You! I was struck by the author's reminder that our kids don't care if we don't design rocket ships out of two-liter bottles the way all the Pinterest moms seem to do. Our kids want us to spend time with them and try our best, and that is as far as the desire goes. I was inspired to think of a project we would both enjoy and that wouldn't feel daunting.

Then I remembered a post by one of my favorite bloggers, Jenny at {Dinner: A Love Story}, in which she discusses her feelings about craft projects and shares an idea for a project involving cereal boxes. I was so relieved to find a craft project with less fuss. I even had the cereal boxes we would need; since my daughter has started preschool, I save every piece of cardboard that passes through the house (egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, cereal and tissue boxes) because it seems they never can get enough. The rest of the materials I came by at craft and dollar stores.

Another reason the cardboard town idea appealed to me is that it fits with what I am learning about the Waldorf and Montessori methods of education. The Waldorf principle encourages toys to be made from "simple materials drawn from natural sources" (from Wikipedia) to facilitate growth of a child's imagination. Both Waldorf and Montessori philosophies involve sensory play, and I knew this project would involve plenty of tactile objects to stimulate the senses. Montessori education focuses on building a child's independence by removing limits set on what they can do, so I also did my best to follow my daughter's creative direction and let her do as much of the project by herself as she safely could (e.g. paint yes, hot glue no).

I didn't bother following any instructions. This is my kind of art project, in the sense that creativity reigns and there are no rules. We knocked it out in three sessions, and she has gotten hours of play out of it already since. Her creativity abounds, and she is coming up with ideas for how she wants to take the project further. I like that it can both feel finished quickly but also be added onto, meaning we don't need to start a completely new project when we are looking for art time to fill up a rainy day.

Because my daughter is only four, I decided I should use the acrylics by myself, but I thought of ways she could help paint too. I started by whitewashing the boxes with white acrylic paint. When the boxes were dry, she used Crayola washable paint (affiliate link) and sponges to paint them the colors she wanted; it was fun to let her experiment by combining colors to see what new colors could be made.

My favorite elements of the town are the knickknacks we got from the dollar store, like little birds and butterflies and un-smelly potpourri that we used for rocks and leaves.
Justine Uhlenbrock is an urban homesteader, a minimalist mom, a writer, and a doula-in-training living with her husband and two young girls in Arlington, Massachusetts. She is passionate about sustainable living, health, frugality, and her quest for real food and family heirloom recipes. She blogs at The Lone Home Ranger

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Cardboard Box Town Craft and Art for Kids

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Start upcycling some cardboard boxes, or just your cereal boxes, to make a whole town! This is a wonderfully arty post written by Justine of The Lone Home Ranger. I was not the crafting sort before I had kids. Even after my first daughter came along, I admittedly looked at art projects as a necessary evil.

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It's time to gather up all those empty cereal boxes! I've pulled together a mega list of 30+ Super Creative Cereal Box Crafts and Cereal Box Projects for Kids. Inside this really fun list, you'll find cereal box cars, flowers, pretend play props, art projects and tools, cereal box animals, and more. I have even thrown in a few life hacks for fun, too :)

30+ DIY Cereal Box Crafts and Cereal Box Projects

Cereal box crafts and cereal box projects can make you feel good about yourself. Sounds weird, right? But by upcycling one of the most common things thrown in the trash, you're giving it another life as a craft. You'll love this mega list of cereal box projects... animals, cereal box vehicles, ceral box home hacks, cereal box flowers, and more! Please note, I have provided links for supplies to help make these projects easier and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This is at no cost to you.

Car and Boat Cereal Box Crafts

Who knew you could make things that move with a cereal box? And they make the best props for wheel play too.

And you'll need some garages, roads, and bridges for these vehicles too!

Animal Cereal Box Crafts

Awww, so cute! That's what they'll say about these adorable cereal box animal crafts. Except for the dragon, and that one will make them go whoa!!

How to Easily Cut Cardboard (even lots of it!)

With all this cardboard, you might want some special cardboard cutters to make the job faster and easier. Here are two of my favorites, one for adult use and one for kids. We survived cutting parts of 70 cardboard gingbread houses last year for the first grade at my daughter's school because of these tools. The ZipSnip makes quick work of bulk cutting cardboard into smaller pieces (it's a motorized tool). Then there's Klever Kutter, a kid-safe tool that makes cardboard projects easier for young hands. Both are super-valuable additions to any makerspace. Or home.

And did you know that the Cricut Maker can cut cardboard? It's a crafting dream for parents and makerspaces... I'm working on some more STEAM learning templates for it now. Cereal box projects, here I come!

Pretend Play Cereal Box Crafts

You don't need expensive costumes and playspaces when you've got cardboard! Check out these fun pretend play props made with cereal boxes.

By the way, you might have noticed a bunch of box crafts from Pink Stripey Socks. She has an amazing upcycled craft book called Epic Carboard Adventures!

Plant and Flower Cereal Box Crafts

Plants made out of cereal boxes is kind of like taking the cardboard, full circle, right? And better than putting it in the garbage can. And one of these even can be used to grow real plants!

Cereal Box Art and Art Tools

Empty cereal boxes are one of my favorite art supplies and it's extra cool that you can make art tools like looms from them, too.

Gifts and Cereal Box Crafts for the Home

No one will know that you got their gift out of the recycling bin!! It outs a whole new spin on regifting. Plus empty cereal boxes are great for adding some organization to your office or home, too.

More Budget Friendly Projects for Kids

Here are some more ideas for when your crafting and learning budget is tight.

20+ Amazing Rock Projects for Kids - Kids love collecting rocks. Might as well put them to good use 🤣

STEM on a Budget- STEM activities don't have to be expensive! Try these for some inexpensive science, technology, engineering, art, and math fun.

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30+ Super Creative Cereal Box Crafts and Projects for Kids

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Gather up all those empty cereal boxes! Here's a mega list of 30+ Super Creative Cereal Box Crafts for Kids. Inside this creative list, you'll find cereal box cars, flowers, pretend play props, art projects and tools, cereal box animals, and more. Even a few life hacks, too.

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Fun and frugal recycled art materials makes these 75 recycled art projects for kids rad! Use them at home or in the classroom!

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It's after the holidays and I have a pile of cardboard boxes that have taken over my house because I tend to hoard them to make fun forts with the kids. In fact, the most popular present my kids received this year was a cardboard pirate ship

from a company called Box Creations. We usually order the kids one every year and they last for months but I also reinforce the edges with some heavy duty duct tape. However, if your not looking to spend the money and rather make one yourself I've rounded up some ideas from around the web for repurposing those boxes into fun projects for the kids!

15 Cardboard Box Projects For Kids
Click the links to see full instructions for each idea.
2. Cardboard Mailbox - From ikat bag

3. Train Tunnels - From Celebrate Every Day With Me

4. Pretend Play Hair Salon - From Childhood 101

5. Cardboard Castle - From Impressed Inc.

6. Hot Wheels Car Garage With Ramps - From Frugal Fun 4 Boys

7. Cardboard Train - From Sean Walker Photography

8. Drive In Movie Cars - From Not Just A Housewife

9. Cardboard Slide - From The Contemplative Creative

10. Light Cave - From Kendall Rayburn

11. DIY Rocket Ship - From Lemon Lime Adventures

12. DIY Cardboard Easel - From Art Bar Blog

13. TV - From Petit and Small

14. Food Truck - From Estefi Machado

15. Cardboard Skeeball - From Beau Baby
Make sure to follow I Heart Arts n Crafts on Facebook and Pinterest!

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15 Super Fun Cardboard Box Projects For Kids - I Heart Arts n Crafts

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It's after the holidays and I have a pile of cardboard boxes that have taken over my house because I tend to hoard them to make fun forts with the kids. In fact, the most popular present my kids received this year was a cardboard pirate ship from a company called Box Creations.

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It's time to gather up all those empty cereal boxes! I've pulled together a mega list of 30+ Super Creative Cereal Box Crafts and Cereal Box Projects for Kids. Inside this really fun list, you'll find cereal box cars, flowers, pretend play props, art projects and tools, cereal box animals, and more. I have even thrown in a few life hacks for fun, too :)

30+ DIY Cereal Box Crafts and Cereal Box Projects

Cereal box crafts and cereal box projects can make you feel good about yourself. Sounds weird, right? But by upcycling one of the most common things thrown in the trash, you're giving it another life as a craft. You'll love this mega list of cereal box projects... animals, cereal box vehicles, ceral box home hacks, cereal box flowers, and more! Please note, I have provided links for supplies to help make these projects easier and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This is at no cost to you.

Car and Boat Cereal Box Crafts

Who knew you could make things that move with a cereal box? And they make the best props for wheel play too.

And you'll need some garages, roads, and bridges for these vehicles too!

Animal Cereal Box Crafts

Awww, so cute! That's what they'll say about these adorable cereal box animal crafts. Except for the dragon, and that one will make them go whoa!!

How to Easily Cut Cardboard (even lots of it!)

With all this cardboard, you might want some special cardboard cutters to make the job faster and easier. Here are two of my favorites, one for adult use and one for kids. We survived cutting parts of 70 cardboard gingbread houses last year for the first grade at my daughter's school because of these tools. The ZipSnip makes quick work of bulk cutting cardboard into smaller pieces (it's a motorized tool). Then there's Klever Kutter, a kid-safe tool that makes cardboard projects easier for young hands. Both are super-valuable additions to any makerspace. Or home.

And did you know that the Cricut Maker can cut cardboard? It's a crafting dream for parents and makerspaces... I'm working on some more STEAM learning templates for it now. Cereal box projects, here I come!

Pretend Play Cereal Box Crafts

You don't need expensive costumes and playspaces when you've got cardboard! Check out these fun pretend play props made with cereal boxes.

By the way, you might have noticed a bunch of box crafts from Pink Stripey Socks. She has an amazing upcycled craft book called Epic Carboard Adventures!

Plant and Flower Cereal Box Crafts

Plants made out of cereal boxes is kind of like taking the cardboard, full circle, right? And better than putting it in the garbage can. And one of these even can be used to grow real plants!

Cereal Box Art and Art Tools

Empty cereal boxes are one of my favorite art supplies and it's extra cool that you can make art tools like looms from them, too.

Gifts and Cereal Box Crafts for the Home

No one will know that you got their gift out of the recycling bin!! It outs a whole new spin on regifting. Plus empty cereal boxes are great for adding some organization to your office or home, too.

More Budget Friendly Projects for Kids

Here are some more ideas for when your crafting and learning budget is tight.

20+ Amazing Rock Projects for Kids - Kids love collecting rocks. Might as well put them to good use 🤣

STEM on a Budget- STEM activities don't have to be expensive! Try these for some inexpensive science, technology, engineering, art, and math fun.

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30+ Super Creative Cereal Box Crafts and Projects for Kids

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Gather up all those empty cereal boxes! Here's a mega list of 30+ Super Creative Cereal Box Crafts for Kids. Inside this creative list, you'll find cereal box cars, flowers, pretend play props, art projects and tools, cereal box animals, and more. Even a few life hacks, too.

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I'm one of those people that collect random things in hopes that one day I may use it for an art project. Well this past week I finally did it! I got an email from another art teacher in my county a couple months ago asking if anyone wanted a bunch of small boxes; naturally I said yes. Upon receiving them, I assembled one of the boxes and began brainstorming what I could do with them. Unfortunately, I didn't come up with anything so I just put them away in my storage closet.

This past week I had to come up with an art lesson to do with my 3rd-5th graders. The way my rotation works is that I see each grade-level every day, but see the same group of kids for an entire week. So of course it just so happened that the last week of art, I got my first groups again and had nothing planned to do with them (they'd already completed all the projects my other classes had)! Lucky for me I have an astounding ability to come up with a lesson the day of (sometimes they end up being my very best).

That's where my idea for memory boxes came from. I pulled out the box of small boxes I had received and gave out one to each student (I did this with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade). First we assembled them, then began coloring them with Crayola color sticks (very similar to Prismacolor art stix - but way less expensive). These actually covered the boxes surprisingly well and best of all there was no paint clean-up! Students took about a day-a day and a half to completely color their box. Once they were finished I had them decorate their boxes anyway they wanted to with ribbons, rhinestones, sequins, and buttons. I had to help most of them hot glue something onto their box... but the students were also able to use Turbo Tacky glue to attach a lot of the decoration.

Once students were done decorating their box, I had them begin writing on strips of paper sized to perfectly fit in the box. Their task -- write one memory they shared or compliment they had for each student in their class.

I figured this would be a great (and happy) way to end the school year! And the kids LOVED it!! :)

There were, no joke, like 15 YOLO boxes. SMH.

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I'm one of those people that collect random things in hopes that one day I may use it for an art project. Well this past week I finally did it! I got an email from another art teacher in my county a couple months ago asking if anyone wanted a bunch of small boxes; naturally I said yes.

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Information and Resources
Please see our webpage ( www.cvcsd.stier.org/CoronavirusInformation.aspx) for information and resources (including district updates, food pick-up sites, and social-emotional support).

Summer Meal Distribution at Chenango Valley High School
Beginning Tuesday, June 30, through Thursday, August 27, the district will be distributing free meals for kids and teens 18 and under from our Chenango Valley High School site on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. For additional regional summer meal distribution information, click here.

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Information and Resources Please see our webpage ( www.cvcsd.stier.org/CoronavirusInformation.aspx) for information and resources (including district updates, food pick-up sites, and social-emotional support). Summer Meal Distribution at Chenango Valley High School Beginning Tuesday, June 30, through Thursday, August 27, the district will be distributing free meals for kids and teens 18 and under from our Chenango Valley High School site on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m.

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Creative Mum Life | Done-for-you learning kits | Printable activities

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Description

KiwiCo create hands-on science and art project kits, delivered monthly for kids aged 0-16+

Everything produced is designed by experts and tested by kids.
How It Works:
1. Pick a Line

Offering projects for every age and interest!
Choose from:

Panda Crate 0-24 Months (Explore & Discover)

Koala Crate Ages 2-4 (Play & Learn)

Kiwi Crate Ages 5-8 (Science, Art & More)

Atlas Crate Ages 6-11 (Geography & Culture)

Doodle Crate Ages 14+ (Art & Design)

Tinker Crate Ages 9-16+ (Science & Engineering)

Eureka Crate Ages 14+ (Engineering & Design)

2. Delivered Monthly

Choose your plan and the first crate ships in 2 days. Pause or cancel anytime.

3. Serious Fun!

Science and art projects inspire kids to become creative problem solvers.

Enriching - kids are sponges for STEM projects and this is the perfect solution to keep them engaged.

Creative - Materials and ideas without pre-programmed results. We love the open-ended opportunity for creativity

Convenient - No time to research and buy supplies? We love that everything comes to our door and we can start right away!

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KiwiCo - Science and art project boxes - Creative Mum Life | Done-for-you learning kits | Printable activities

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How It Works: Offering projects for every age and interest! Choose from: Panda Crate 0-24 Months (Explore & Discover) Koala Crate Ages 2-4 (Play & Learn) Kiwi Crate Ages 5-8 (Science, Art & More) Atlas Crate Ages 6-11 (Geography & Culture) Doodle Crate Ages 14+ (Art & Design) Tinker Crate Ages 9-16+ (Science & Engineering) Eureka Crate Ages 14+ (Engineering & Design) Choose your plan and the first crate ships in 2 days.

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It's after the holidays and I have a pile of cardboard boxes that have taken over my house because I tend to hoard them to make fun forts with the kids. In fact, the most popular present my kids received this year was a cardboard pirate ship

from a company called Box Creations. We usually order the kids one every year and they last for months but I also reinforce the edges with some heavy duty duct tape. However, if your not looking to spend the money and rather make one yourself I've rounded up some ideas from around the web for repurposing those boxes into fun projects for the kids!

15 Cardboard Box Projects For Kids
Click the links to see full instructions for each idea.
2. Cardboard Mailbox - From ikat bag

3. Train Tunnels - From Celebrate Every Day With Me

4. Pretend Play Hair Salon - From Childhood 101

5. Cardboard Castle - From Impressed Inc.

6. Hot Wheels Car Garage With Ramps - From Frugal Fun 4 Boys

7. Cardboard Train - From Sean Walker Photography

8. Drive In Movie Cars - From Not Just A Housewife

9. Cardboard Slide - From The Contemplative Creative

10. Light Cave - From Kendall Rayburn

11. DIY Rocket Ship - From Lemon Lime Adventures

12. DIY Cardboard Easel - From Art Bar Blog

13. TV - From Petit and Small

14. Food Truck - From Estefi Machado

15. Cardboard Skeeball - From Beau Baby
Make sure to follow I Heart Arts n Crafts on Facebook and Pinterest!

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15 Super Fun Cardboard Box Projects For Kids - I Heart Arts n Crafts

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It's after the holidays and I have a pile of cardboard boxes that have taken over my house because I tend to hoard them to make fun forts with the kids. In fact, the most popular present my kids received this year was a cardboard pirate ship from a company called Box Creations.

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Self Portrait Shadow Boxes - Meri Cherry

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Lately I've been receiving the most wonderful emails from readers that have tried different projects I've posted over the years. Since our self portrait shadow boxes are perhaps my very favorite art project for kids, I thought I'd share these pics with all of you. Maybe you'll be inspired to give this idea a try.

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Inside this post, there are over 65 awesome cardboard box activities and crafts for kids!
Full disclosure?
I included a few posts that use empty toilet rolls too...

I know. Toilet rolls are not technically a box, but I just couldn't pass up sharing these awesome TP posts with you too.

In fact, that's how this post came together.

As a busy momma myself, I love sharing fun kids activities here at Happily Ever Mom that you can do RIGHT NOW. Without having to run to the store.

See, I'm willing to bet that...

You have at least one Amazon Prime box hanging around (or you will in the next 48 hours- HA).

And, at least one kid who will happily empty a toilet paper roll for you.

Yes?

Or, is it just my kids who like to decorate the bathroom by unrolling endless amounts of toilet paper? If you're like me then let's take those boxes and rolls to put them to AWESOME, fun use.

To make it easy for you to find what you need, I've divided these posts into two major categories:

Then, I further subdivided the posts into categories with similar themes like building, painting, etc.

Ready??

Grab your cup of coffee and let's get started with kid's activities...

Here are the 4 subcategories to check out below under "activities": baby/toddler, indoor, learning, and building.

Baby/Toddler Cardboard Box Activities

Fun Indoor Activities

Learning Activities with Cardboard

Building Activities

Here are the 3 categories to check out below under "crafts": paint activities, cardboard crafts that kids can play with, and fun cardboard box crafts.

Paint Activities with Cardboard

Cardboard Crafts for Dramatic Play

*Check out both swords. Each one has a different design!

Fun Cardboard Crafts for Kids

I absolutely love this list of cardboard box activities and crafts because you can do them with your kids right now!

Well, unless you need a box...

In which case, you may need to click over to Amazon Prime.

Because you need a little something for yourself AND a box for your kids to play with right? 😉

*win/win*

Have fun!

~Katie

More Fun Activities from Happily Ever Mom

Katie Joiner is a happy work-at-home Mom. When she's not busy saving her cats from the kids and trying to figure out what's for dinner, she can be found taking photos, laughing with her kids, and figuring out whether or not she can sneak in another Starbucks. Kids 7, 4, & baby <1. Come over and say hi at her FB page, @Happilyevermom, or , her favorite spot, Pinterest.

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65 Awesome Cardboard Box Activities and Crafts for Kids

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Full disclosure? I included a few posts that use empty toilet rolls too... I know. Toilet rolls are not technically a box, but I just couldn't pass up sharing these awesome TP posts with you too. As a busy momma myself, I love sharing fun kids activities here at Happily Ever Mom that you can do RIGHT NOW.

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This elementary science experiment creates a wave box that demonstrates how earthquake waves can travel through a variety of materials as they travel away from the focus of an earthquake where the rocks first rupture.

All earthquakes produce P waves and S waves. P waves travel through solids, liquids and gases. In this simple science experiment you will see how P waves travel through different solids causing paper clips on a string to vibrate.

Materials

Directions

1. An adult should supervise the making of the wave box.

2. Remove one side of a cardboard box.

3. An adult should punch a hole in the top and bottom of the box using a nail or ice pick.

4. Tie a string so it runs from the top of the box to the bottom of the box.

5. Start by tying a string to a paper clip on the outside of the box at the top.

6. Thread the string through the bottom of the box and tie the string to a paper clip on the bottom of the box.

7. Place 4 or 5 paper clips on the string inside the box.

8. Place the box on a table or some other object you can strike to make it vibrate.

9. Strike the table hard enough to cause energy waves to travel through it to the box.

10. If you have struck the table hard enough the paper clips will start to vibrate back and forth.

11. Move your box to other surface and see if you can make the paper clips vibrate on these surfaces.

12. Change the experiment by using a different thickness of string.

13. Change the experiment by using different sizes of paper clips.

More Links to Science Activities

Gravity Experiment, Topsy Turvy PlantsHave fun growing tomatoes upside down in this fun experiment.

Elementary Science Experiments, Bird FeedersStudy the feeding habits of wild birds in your back yard or porch area in this interesting experiment.

Science Experiment, Mentos ExperimentHave fun creating a geyser of diet coke in the fun and exciting experiment.

Science Experiments, Great Ice Cube RaceThe great ice cube race tests the time it takes for different shapes of ice cubes to melt.

Water Cycle Experiments, Acid RainLearn what happens when acid rain falls on objects made of calcite in this experiment.

Elementary Science Experiment, Earthquake WavesCreate your own wave box that makes paper clips jump when earthquake waves pass through them.

Earth Science The links on this page include information on the Earth, the Rock Cycle, Volcanoes, experiments, activities and much more.

KIDS FUN SCIENCE BOOKSTORE

Check out Myrna Martin's award winning textbooks, e-books, videos and rock sets. The Kids Fun Science Bookstore covers a wide range of earth science topics. Click here to browse.

Sign up to our monthly newsletter and receive our FREE eBook containing 3 fun activities that don't appear in any of our other books!
The Kids Fun Science monthly newsletter will include the following: current events, weird and fantastic facts, a question of the month, science trivia and the latest new content from our website.

We respect your privacy and you can be assured that we will never share your email address or use it for any other purpose than to send you our newsletter.

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Elementary Science Experiment, Earthquake Waves

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This elementary science experiment creates a wave box that demonstrates how earthquake waves can travel through a variety of materials as they travel away from the focus of an earthquake where the rocks first rupture. All earthquakes produce P waves and S waves. P waves travel through solids, liquids and gases.

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Science experiment for kids to learn about sound waves | Science experiments kids, Science experiments, Sound science

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Sep 15, 2013 - Science experiment for kids to learn about sound waves

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Cardboard pizza box

Box knife or scissors

Aluminum foil

Clear tape

Plastic wrap

Black construction paper

Newspapers

Ruler or wooden spoon

Thermometer

An adult to help with cutting

7 Steps to Build Your DIY Solar Oven

The heat from the Sun is trapped inside of your pizza box solar oven, and it starts getting very hot. Ovens like this one are called collector boxes because they collect the sunlight inside. As it sits out in the Sun, your oven eventually heats up enough to melt cheese, or cook food!

How does it happen? Rays of light are coming to the Earth at an angle. The foil reflects the ray and bounces it directly into the opening of the box. Once it has gone through the plastic wrap, it heats up the air that is trapped inside. The black paper absorbs the heat at the bottom of the oven, and the newspaper makes sure that the heat stays where it is, instead of escaping out the sides of the oven.

Your pizza box solar oven can reach about 200° F on a sunny day and will take longer to heat things than a conventional oven. Although this method will take longer, it is very easy to use, and it is safe to leave alone while the energy from the Sun cooks your food.

Pizza Box Solar Oven Cooking Tips:

We made a cheese roll-up by melting cheese on a corn tortilla. It took about 45 minutes for our cheese to melt and the tortilla to become soft. The internal temperature of our pizza box solar oven was 125° F.

If you do not want to wait long to have a solar-cooked dish, try heating up something that has already been cooked, like leftovers, or a can of soup. Putting solid food in a glass dish and liquids in a heavy plastic zip lock bag works well. You can also pre-heat your oven by setting it in direct Sun for up to an hour.

Other recipes you may want to try are making baked potatoes, rice with vegetables, chocolate fondue, s'mores, and roasted apples with cinnamon and sugar.

Even on partly cloudy days, there may be enough heat and light from the Sun to slow cook a special dish. Here are a few tips for having success with your solar oven:

Stir liquids (if you're cooking something like fondue, rice, or soup) every 10 minutes. You can rotate solid food every 10-15 minutes as well, so it cooks evenly.

Reposition your solar oven when needed, so that it faces direct sunlight. You should be checking periodically on your oven, to make sure it is in the Sun.

Make sure that the foil-covered flap is reflecting light into the pizza box, through the plastic-covered window.

To experiment further with solar cooking, make your own solar purifier with this science project!

For more ready-to-go science projects, see Solar & Alternative Energy Kits.

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How to Build A Solar Oven | Science Project from Home Science Tools

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Capture solar energy (heat) from the sun in this collector pizza box oven and use it to cook food! Complete science project for ages 9 and up!

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At Home Science on a Cold Day

It sure is cold in Chicago with -20 degree temperatures outside. Since we are all trapped inside, we thought it would be helpful to share three at home science ideas which will keep your kids off the screens, interested, and learning.

Fort Building - Project #1

A fort can be a special place to read a book, play games, share stories with friends, or keep us warm in this cold weather. The cool thing is this project is filled with hidden science (stability, measurement, design trade offs, cross bracing) and most importantly fun.

Build a fort, you can do it! Take some of your blankets, old amazon boxes, nearby furniture, and a cool lantern to create a space that is warm cozy and insulated from the freezing weather outside. It is also a magical place for imagination, creativity, and a place your kids can call their own.

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At Home Science Experiments Everyone Can Do - Kids Science Labs

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At Home Science on a Cold Day It sure is cold in Chicago with -20 degree temperatures outside. Since we are all trapped inside, we thought it would be helpful to share three at home science ideas which will keep your kids off the screens, interested, and learning.

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Easy Fine Motor Activity for Toddlers | Toddler fine motor activities, Fine motor activities, Toddler activities

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May 13, 2013 - This simple activity uses an upcycled cardboard box and wooden dowel rods to create plenty of opportunities for fine motor development and problem solving.

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Set up this simple matching upper and lowercase letters activity using a recycled box! This fun, hands-on letter recognition activity is a great way to also work on fine motor skills with toddlers and/or preschoolers!

post contains affiliate links.

Working on letter recognition and matching with your little one? Get rid of the flashcards, worksheets, and other nonsense and grab an empty box!! Ha!

Random, but haven't you ever noticed that kids can have plenty of "toys" all around them, but bring in a box from the garage and they simply cannot stop playing with it?! The box then becomes a car or space ship, a bed for a stuffed animal, or a fun "toy" to push around the house?!

Have you had the same experience? Well anyways, this simple, hands-on matching letters activity can be re-used over and over again.

Matching Upper and Lowercase Letters

This letter recognition activity also works on those important fine motor skills. It can be set up various ways depending on your child's skill level: alphabetical order, uppercase/ lowercase letter recognition, sequencing, etc! With just a few minutes of prep you'll have a great activity focusing on the alphabet and fine motor skills!

How to Work on Letter Recognition

Take a few minutes to prep this activity away from the kids as you'll be using a knife to puncture slits in the empty box; grab that empty shoebox or Amazon box from the trash pile and upcycle it for this fun matching letters activity.

On one side of the box, puncture 26 holes-- large enough for your child to insert a craft stick.

Above each slit, write a letter of the alphabet.

Go in alphabetical order... or choose to write the letters in random order.

Next, have your children help adhere the foam letter stickers to the top of each craft stick.

If you do not have foam letters, just write the letter on the craft stick with a marker.

I made up this fine motor alphabet activity to work on upper and lowercase letter recognition and matching for my 3 and 5 year old. However, you could easily make this activity to work on just lowercase letters or uppercase letters. Set this activity up to meet the skill ability of your child.

On the box above each slit, I wrote a lowercase letter. Your letter matching box is all done! Now it is time to learn and play!

How to Use This Upper and Lowercase Letters Matching Activity

Once the box and craft sticks are ready to go, have your child match the letter on the craft stick to the letter on the box by pushing the craft stick into the slit.

Continue until all the letters have been matched!

After your child has used this as a simple letter recognition activity, spice it up by turning it into a fun game:

Put the letters sticks in a simple rice sensory bin...

Set the timer and see how fast your child can match all the letters...

Hide the letter stickers around the house for your child to find first, and then match the letters to the box....

My littles just LOVED this matching upper and lowercase letters activity! Such a great and simple fine motor activity for little hands!

More Letter Recognition Activities You Might Like:

Another fun way to work on these fine motor skills and ABC's is using LEGOS, too!
Or try this ABC Basketball Game to add some movement to your learning activities!

We love simple ways to learn and play! If you try this activity today, I'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment or post a picture on our Facebook page!

This letter recognition activity is:

Works on Fine Motor Skills!

Works on Visual Discrimination!

Reinforces Letter Matching Skills!

Is versatile! Can be set up for a variety of other concepts, too! In the Fall, we switched this activity up and used pumpkins to work on number recognition >> Check out our Number Sequencing Pumpkin Patch!

Before you go!! Looking for ideas to teach your preschooler?? Check out our Preschool Lesson Plans!

If you have a preschooler and are searching for more fun lesson plans all ready planned out for you, check out our latest collaborative project: - Explore a variety of themed hands-on activities! Click to learn more about what each 20 Preschool Unit Lesson Plans that can be purchased in a bundle or individually.
Each unit contains 25 ideas in math, reading, art, science, circle time, etc. etc!!

- Build vocabulary and early literacy skills with songs and games!
- Get learners ready for school with printable pages!
preschool unit offers! We have themes from Around the World, Dinosaurs, Transportation, Colors, and more!!!

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upper and lowercase letter matching with a box!

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Upper and Lowercase Letter Matching with a Box!

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Set up this simple matching upper and lowercase letters activity using a recycled box! This fun, hands-on letter recognition activity is a great way to also work on fine motor skills with toddlers and/or preschoolers! post contains affiliate links. Working on letter recognition and matching with your little one?

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Anyone else have an Amazon addiction? Make a sorting drop box after your next delivery.

Ah, the simple drop box. You've been a good activity to me, old friend, but you needed an update for a now 3.5-year-old who was ready a little more from you. So I made you into a sorting drop box and poof.... You have life again.
Ever wish you had simple activities like these at the ready each day? Check out Playing Preschool: my 190 day activity program.
Have you ever made a drop box?

Get on it immediately. There are lots of variations but the idea is simple: take an object, cut a hole in it, and let your toddler shove items through the hole.

We've done it with playing cards.

We've done it with crayons.

We've done it with pom pom balls.

It's always a hit. My friend even made one with poker chips! The drop box is universally loved.

But I needed a little more for my 3.5-year-old.

I made a "card slot drop" for my daughter when she was 19 months old and it was the love of her life. When she was two, I switched it to crayons.

Now that she's 3.5, we needed a little sorting challenge to add to the mix so welcome to the activity family our "Sorting Drop Box".

The Materials List

(this list contains affiliate links. Read more about these links in my disclosure policy.)

I started by taping up my box to make sure everything was strong and connected together. I did make sure that the bottom piece of tape was easy to remove so that I could get my index cards at the end of this...but that's coming.

Here's how I made a sorting drop box:

I took a stack of brightly colored index cards and used them as my inspiration. This is what Kate would be sorting.

In my box, I cut 4 questionably made slots for her to drop the cards. I did make these only big enough for the cards to go in vertically as an extra spatial awareness challenge.

Around each slit, I colored with marker a border to match one color of index cards.

Then I handed her the box and said, "This is a sorting drop box. I need you to sort the cards into the box."

And away she went!

She hammered down for 20 or so minutes sorting these cards then had me restart the project for her to play again. I simply undid the loose tape, grabbed out the cards, and had her begin again.

That's the thing about simple activities - they don't need to be fancy to be the bestest (real word, promise).

Grab a box and get to making!

We all know you have an Amazon box lying in your garage just waiting to use for this activity (or maybe your latest order doesn't come until tomorrow, but still...). Grab a box out and get this activity made!

It's one fantastic way to make it to nap time.

When will you build a Sorting Drop Box?

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Sorting Drop Box Fine Motor Activity - Busy Toddler

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Ah, the simple drop box. You've been a good activity to me, old friend, but you needed an update for a now 3.5-year-old who was ready a little more from you. So I made you into a sorting drop box and poof.... You have life again.

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Looking for a quick and easy way to entertain a toddler? This golf tee push activity is perfect for you. I love a good quiet time, simple toddler activity (see my card slot drop and pom pom push activities - they'll back me up on this).

With just a quick second of prep, golf tee push can entertain a toddler for a long enough to drink a cup of hot coffee. Doesn't that sound delightful?

Set up Golf Tee Push in just seconds!
(this list contains affiliate links)
Setting this up was actually really fun. My other toddler (3 years old) actually poked all the holes into the shoe box for his sister using a golf tee. He loved this and was so proud of the project he made for sister (20 months). I added a few more holes and we were ready to go.

This activity was an instant quiet time win for my toddler! She loved pushing the golf tees through each tiny hole on the box. This toddler shoe box was the perfect size for her and the activity!

It may seem like a simple activity but this Golf Tee Push is full of learning.

Here's what my toddler is doing:

Fine motor skills

Hand-eye coordination

Spatial awareness

I loved doing this activity with my toddler and loved how independent she was doing it. Of course, as with all toddler activities, she was well supervised.

But supervised doesn't mean I was an active player. I sat on the sidelines and watched, sipping my hot morning coffee, and enjoying a quiet break from rowdy toddlers and 8,478 life questions.

Try making this golf tee push activity today!

Grab a box, poke some holes, and make your toddler a golf tee push activity. It's a perfect quiet time activity and great for rainy days stuck inside.

Think your toddler would like this activity?

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Golf Tee Push: Fine Motor Skills Activity - Busy Toddler

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Looking for a quick and easy way to entertain a toddler? This golf tee push activity is perfect for you. I love a good quiet time, simple toddler activity (see my card slot drop and pom pom push activities - they'll back me up on this).

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Jul 11, 2015 - This was the invitation to play that I had set up for the kids. A cardboard box with holes poked all over, and pipe cleaners. This was the end result 🙂 They all had so much fun creating a work of art with pope cleaners, all while working on their fine motor ... Read More about Using Pipe Cleaners for Fine Motor Develo…

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A few years ago, I created a simple and fun clothespin color matching for my daughter with recycled cardboard. This was one of my daughter's favorite fine motor activities between the ages of 2 and 4 years old!

Now that my son is 2.5 years old, he is working on color recognition and strengthening fine motor skills everyday. I can't believe how fast he is growing! Already, he can play with big sister's old activities!

Color matching, pegging, and combining these 2 skills

In this post, I'll share:

1. Tips for teaching colors to toddlers

2. Benefits of pegging activities

3. Considering when a child is developmentally ready for certain activities

4. Implementing language into activities and important translations

5. What you need for clothespin color matching

6. How to set up this activity

This post has some affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, I earn a small commission which supports this blog at no additional cost to you. Please see the disclosure policy for details.
1. How to teach children colors

Color introduction through descriptive observations

From infancy, be specific when describing items that your child encounters in daily routine. Children naturally learn through conversation about everything in their little world!

For example, tell your child you are going to put on his or her BLUE shirt and BROWN pants. You can also point out that daddy is also wearing a BLUE shirt and BROWN pants and show excitement about matching (and twinning!).
Related: Usborne Big Book of Colors Plus Color Learning Activities
In addition, when we see a black piece of paper or a black computer, I'll show my toddler that the color matches our black hair.

While it's helpful to narrate so kids learn the language, I also want to stress that we should remain quiet at times so kids have a chance to think, observe, and discover colors on their own.

Focus on a few colors at a time

When a child is between ages 1 to 3, you can spend a few weeks or months focusing on just one or two colors at a time with plenty of repetition.

Some parents start with the primary colors, then secondary colors, and then review the whole rainbow.

2. Clothespin color matching: Benefits of pegging activities

Instead of buying toys and activities that your child will outgrow, clothespin color matching is an easy-to-make project that can benefit your child's development.

Toddlers and preschoolers are in the prime stage of learning colors, and this activity encourages visual discrimination by matching.

In addition, toddlers and preschoolers are learning to use their hand muscles in complex ways. They want to squeeze, pull, grasp, and pinch everything!

Manipulating clothespins hones in on those practical skills and paves the way for pencil grip and future writing.

3. Clothespin color matching: When is a child ready for this activity?

Consider a child's developmental level

A few months ago after my son mastered the basic colors of the rainbow, I was excited to take out this clothespin activity from storage!

Initially, the activity was frustrating for him. Although his little fingers could open large clothespins and chunky kitchen bag clips, these mini clothespins were difficult to manipulate. He complained, "I don't like this, Mommy! Hmmph!"

I realized that he was not yet ready for the activity, but I didn't have large clothespins to replace the mini ones. Therefore, I put it away and found other fine motor activities that excited him, like this bottle cap activity!

Now, the clothespin color matching activity is the perfect challenge for his level - not too hard and not too easy!

Trial and error is normal when introducing activities!

I wanted to share our experience, because many parents are worried when their child doesn't seem interested in an activity.

In reality, they might not be developmentally ready for it or they are focusing on developing other skills. Sometimes, we need to set the activity aside and let our children come back to it later. On the other hand, an activity might be unappealing if it's too easy.
Related: Fun & Educational Chinese Activities - A How-To Guide
Sometimes it takes time and trial and error; keep observing your child and be flexible with expectations!

At the very least, this activity costs almost nothing and is recyclable!

4. Implementing language into activities

Since Chinese is one of my children's 3 languages, I included Chinese characters with this activity for word exposure.

Mandarin Chinese is a minority language for our family, which means that my children rarely meet other people who speak Chinese. In addition, we don't see Chinese characters unless I introduce them at home.

Therefore, I try to make our minority language as fun and relevant as possible by including Chinese in these activities!

Important vocabulary in Chinese, Pinyin, and English

For parents who are learning a second language with their children like me, the translations below are in simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, and Hanyu Pinyin!

1. Colorful clothespins

2. Cardboard (eg, tissue box, cereal box, packaging material)

3. Black Sharpie marker

4. Colorful Sharpie markers

5. Clothespin color matching: what you need

Take out your collection of colorful clothespins (eg, pegs), grab some markers, and find any piece of cardboard or paper.

1. Color spots on edge of paper or cardboard. I made 3 different cards - one with all colors, one with primary colors, and one with secondary colors

2. Label each colorful spot with corresponding character: 红, 橙, 黄, 绿, 蓝, 紫 (hóng, chéng, huáng, lǜ, lán, zǐ/red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)

3. Clip clothespins to matching color

4. Discuss which colors are primary (红, 黄, 蓝) and which are secondary (橙, 绿, 紫)

Voilà! Now you have an easy color and word learning activity!

6. Clothespin Color Matching: How to Set up the Activity

Have you tried Clothespin Color Matching with your child(ren)?

If you try this Clothespin Color Matching activity, let us know! Leave a comment and don't forget to tag a photo @chalkacademy or use the #ChalkAcademy hashtag on Instagram and Facebook!

More hands-on learning activities for children

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Our Hands-On Activities Library is organized by topic for your convenience!

Happy playful learning, friends!

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Clothespin Color Matching: Fine Motor Skills Meets Color Recognition!

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A few years ago, I created a simple and fun clothespin color matching for my daughter with recycled cardboard. This was one of my daughter's favorite fine motor activities between the ages of 2 and 4 years old! Now that my son is 2.5 years old, he is working on color recognition and strengthening fine motor skills everyday.

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You know me, I thought I'd share with you a fun and educational activity that is also great for recycling some of the everyday things you might already have in your home. This is a simple, fine motor threading activity using straws and cardboard tubes.

Fine motor threading activity using straws and cardboard tubes

Ever since learning about the dangers of plastics to our Earth, I've had this terrible guilt over a packet of straws sitting in my pantry cupboard. Ugh, it's horrible.

I actually don't even remember buying them, so I have changed my thinking and have decided to repurpose them as loose parts suitable for educational activities. They will not have one use, but many.

Brilliant. Check this out...
To do this activity you will need -
Cut each of the cardboard tubes in half or abut 10 - 15cm long.

Depending on the capability of your child, ask them to punch holes into the cardboard tubes using the hole puncher.

Using a hole puncher is really great for fine motor development. It strengthens the smaller muscles in the fingers and palm of the hand. Important for when they are learning to write with a pencil or draw.

The activity and it's purpose is simple, much like my previous post.

Present them with the straws and ask them to thread them through the holes in the cardboard tube. In one side and out the other.

They begin to look a little like crazy and colourful spiders after awhile.

Boo (aged 3 years) discovered that she needed to bend the end of the straw to stop them from slipping out. The was a great discovery and only learnt through her own experience of doing this activity.

This activity does open itself up to challenging your child and their problem solving skills.

I've got my eye on this similar idea from Babble Dabble Do.
Is this an activity your child would enjoy?
This is a super simple activity that you might like to set up for your child. It reuses some of the things you already have in your home and turns them into wonderful, handmade teaching tools (or toys).

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Fine motor threading activity using straws and cardboard tubes - Laughing Kids Learn

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If you want an activity that is simple to set up and engaging for your toddler, try this fine motor threading activity using straws and cardboard tubes. Children develop their fine motor skills, concentration and problem solving skills with this handmade teaching tool or handmade toy. Fun for toddler to make too.

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Here are ideas for improving fine motor skills in Pre-K/ Preschool children. Find additional fine motor activities here.

Find more fine motor ideas on the Fine Motor Skills Resource Page

Fine Motor Skills is one of the main areas I sought to improve in my Pre-K classroom this past year (2008-09). I think fine motor is an area which is often overlooked, yet it is so important. Fine motor skills are the foundation children need before they learn handwriting, in order to have proper pencil grasp and control of a writing instrument.

My goals were to increase the fine motor materials available in our classroom environment, and to plan activities and materials that are interesting and fun so that children would be motivated to use them and would choose them during their free choice time. Most of these activities use "found materials" that can be borrowed, donated, or purchased inexpensively, rather than commercially produced and sold in an educational catalog. Below are several of the fine motor skills activities my class did this year. A few of these ideas were borrowed from Montessori (and I've noted those below).

Water Drops with Suction Cups

The little suction cups on the bottom of these bathtub shapes become mini bowls when turned upside down and used in this activity. (These were purchased at the Dollar Tree.) Children use a finger grasp to squeeze one drop of colored water into each little bowl on the dish. [Idea borrowed from Montessori]

Beads with Suction Cups

These are the same bathtub shapes as in the above activity. Children use their thumb and forefinger to grasp each little bead and place it on a bowl on the shape. The beads are pony beads purchased from a craft store. [Idea borrowed from Montessori]

Clothesline

Children use their fine motor muscles to squeeze the clothespins to clip each piece of clothing to the clothesline. I tied a piece of thick string to the handles of a wooden tray to make the clothesline, and used mini clothespins (although the regular sized clothespins can be used as well). The clothes are Barbie doll clothes purchased at a dollar store. As an alternative, you could cut out shapes of shirts and pants from felt.

Clothespins on a Box

Children squeeze the clothespins and clip them to the sides of the box. To make the activity more interesting, I wrote letters on dot stickers and placed the dot stickers around the sides of the boxes. I wrote letters on the clothespins so the children would match the letters on the clothespins to the letters on the boxes. Other skills could be used, e.g. colors, numbers, beginning sounds. This is similar to activities where children clip clothespins to a paper plate or cardstock circle; however, in my experience, those were flimsy and awkward to use, which is why I like the box better. Any sturdy box could be used (shoe box, postal box). The boxes in this picture were stacking gift boxes that held chocolate covered nuts (a Christmas gift), and they worked out perfectly.

Nuts & Bolts

These larger nuts and bolts can be purchased individually at hardware stores. The cost is usually no more than $0.40 to $0.50 each. Children use their fingers, hands, and wrists, coordinating both hands while grasping and twisting the metal nuts onto the bolts.

Sewing/Lacing Cards

These can be purchased or made with poster board and a hole puncher. Use shoe laces or plastic lacing. Tie one end of the lace to one hole of the card. Children lace the string through each hole. These can be made to match different themes or holidays.

Plate Sewing

Tie lengths of yarn to plastic yarn needles, and knot the end. Children "sew" the yarn on a styrofoam plate by pushing the needle in and out through the plate.

Stringing Cut Straws

Cut plastic drinking straws into small pieces, about 1-inch. (Cutting the straws is another great fine motor activity for kids.) Tie yarn to a plastic needle, or use plastic laces, and knot the end. Children string the straws onto the yarn or lace.

Stringing Beads

Children string pony beads onto pipe cleaners.

Bean Gluing

Children draw a simple picture on a piece of construction paper with a pencil. They trace the pencil lines with glue and glue the beans onto the design. Gripping the beans with their fingers is good fine motor practice.

Seeds and Tweezers

Children pick up different types of seeds with tweezers and sort them by type into the cups.

Unifix Cubes or Interlock Cubes

Children push the cubes with their hands to hook them together. Unifix cubes connect on one end and can make a long "train". Interlock Cubes connect on different sides and can make different things, for example the dogs the children were making in the photo.

Mosaic

In advance, cut construction paper into 1-inch long strips. Children "snip" the strips into smaller pieces and glue them onto their paper to make a mosaic. This activity is great for children who are not yet skilled with scissors, but need cutting practice because they can snip the paper with one cut.

Eyedropper Art

Children use eyedroppers to drop liquid watercolor onto a coffee filter or paper towel. (I use Colorations Liquid Watercolor from Discount School Supply.) If liquid watercolor is not available, you can color water with food color. Also see my blog post for adapting this activity for holidays or themes.

Paper Clips

The children in my class are always wanting to use paper clips because they see me use them, so I set up this activity in the fine motor center. I cut squares of colored construction paper and placed them on the tray along with colored paper clips. Children stack the papers (all of the same color) and clip them with the matching colored paper clip. This was challenging for some children to manipulate the paper clip, but they loved doing it, and it gave them an opportunity to use paper clips with permission.

Dot to Dot

I printed out the Geoboard Dot Paper from the Math Their Way website for this activity (I used the size on the second page). I added Pip Squeak markers, which are great for young children because they are short. Children draw lines with the markers to connect the dots on the paper.

Toothpick Punch

To do this activity, cut squares of construction paper (I cut mine 6×6 inches). Draw a numeral, letter, or simple shape with a Sharpie. I placed a stack of these papers in the fine motor center, along with toothpicks and a carpet square. Children place the paper on the carpet square and use the toothpick to punch holes all along the black lines. When they are done, they can hold their paper up to the light and see the light shining through the holes. Kids enjoy it and it's great fine motor practice!

Pinching Sand

Sand art is a great fine motor activity because children can pinch the sand with their fingers to apply it to their art work. Provide a simple outline (or have the children draw one), a small bowl of white glue, a small bowl of colored sand, and a "glue brush". I buy the cheap paintbrushes with stiff bristles that are sold in a package for $1 at dollar stores. These brushes are not a good enough quality for painting, but they make great glue brushes. Children paint the glue on their paper with the brush, pinch some sand with their fingers, and sprinkle it over the glue. Place a pan, tray, or paper plate on the table for children to shake off the excess sand.

Insect Wrapping

Children wrap the plastic insects with pieces of white yarn ("spider webs"). When they are finished wrapping all of the insects, they unwrap them and place the yarn back in the bowl. We do this activity during a study of bugs and spiders.

Birds Eating Worms

Cut pipe cleaners into smaller pieces and shape them to make several "worms". Place the worms on a brown carpet square (this represents the dirt). Children use a clothespin as a bird beak and catch the worms with their beak. As they catch worms, they place them in a basket until all of the worms have been collected.

Marbles and Melon Scoops

Children scoop the marbles with melon scoops and place them in the ice cube tray. This ice cube tray was found at a kitchen discount store. Also posted at Fine Motor in the Sensory Table. See my blog post for a Halloween adaption to this activity.

Pouring

Children pour something from one bottle to another. I started out having them pour popcorn seeds. They can later try pouring sand, and then water.

Color Mixing

Children mix primary-colored water to make secondary colors. The bucket in the middle is for dumping the water when finished, or to start over. Also posted on the Sensory Table page.

Knobbed Puzzles

Children exercise the fingers used for a pencil grasp when picking up puzzle pieces that have knobs or pegs.

Legos

A bit obvious, but should not be forgotten.

Play Dough

An old stand-by. Also see my webpage for more play dough activities.

Peg Boards

Another old stand-by.

Additional Fine Motor Posts

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Here are ideas for improving fine motor skills in Pre-K/ Preschool children. Find additional fine motor activities here. Find more fine motor ideas on the

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Friends I'm over the moon excited to share with how to set up a Post Office in the Dramatic play or Pretend center. It's inexpensive to set up and the best part is that it gets students WRITING during play! I'm going to tell you easy ways you can embed a ton of writing, reading, and math into their play at the Post Office. Set up a Post Office for a Valentine's Day theme or a Community Helper theme.

Post Office Set Up

If you look at our Post Office in the photo above you can see most of our Post Office! We have our packages, envelopes, scale, and mailboxes on the shelf to the right with the checkout stand, and the writing table in the middle. There is another shelf on the left side which I'll show you in a bit.

On this shelf the envelopes and boxes are sorted by size to get students sorting and using math vocabulary during play. The small and medium boxes I purchased at Walmart and the envelopes were from the Dollar Tree. Students can weigh the mail using the scale (yep, more math)!
There are student mailboxes and a large post office mailbox as well. The customers put their mail in the big box and the clerks sort the mail into the student mailboxes. By adding student names, students are developing their letter and sound knowledge!

I'm sure you want to know how I made the big mailbox, right?! First I took a big box and cut off the top flaps. Then I spray painted it blue and put a red stripe around it with Duck tape. To make the top I cut a piece of blue poster board the same length as the box, and attached the poster board to the top of the box creating an upside down U shape. Lastly, I added signs to each side. Super simple!

Student mailboxes! These are absolutely AMAZING and my students LOVE them. It gets even my reluctant writers writing with no prompting from me. I made the mailboxes with cardboard soda boxes, so start collecting soda boxes teacher friends if you want to do the same! To make the mailboxes, tape together the cardboard soda cases one row at a time. Once you have each row taped together, tape the rows together. If you don't like how crazy the outside looks, cover it with duck tape or spray paint the mailbox (totally optional). Last, make student name tags for the front and tape to the top of each box. Add photos to help younger students recognize the names of their friends!

When I taught full-day preschool, some years I had 23 kids total so I made a giant set of student mailboxes with 25 slots! This lasted about 5 years. I didn't have these out all year, I put them out in the Library center around Valentine's Day and they stayed in the classroom for the rest of the year. You can't have a Post Office without a mail truck so make one with a shopping cart! The mail carrier can deliver the mail to their friends as they play in other centers.
Dramatic play clothes can be super expensive. Purchase inexpensive blue child size x-large t-shirts from Walmart or Target and place a U.S. Post Office tag on it. Each shirt only about $4 and my students loved them!
Post Office in Action

Remember how I said there was a shelf on the left side of our Post Office? Well, this is it! It's packed with various kinds of writing templates (cards, letters, postcards), purses, wallets, and stamps for customers to use during play.
There is also a "take a number" sign so students have to practice waiting their turn to check out. It's a simple way to sneak even more Social skills into their play because let's be real, pretend play is packed with social skills activities! Students are sharing, taking turns, waiting, solving problems, role playing, and interacting with their peers the entire time.

Check out these two little learners writing out letters using the word cards for support! Now that is a meaningful reason to write and draw.
Once the customer is finished writing their mail and placing it in an envelope, it's time for a stamp! I created colored stamps to sneak in more math so now students are sorting the stamps by color. Put scissors and masking tape in a bucket near the stamps so they can attach it with tape. Why tape you ask? Students LOVE tape and it's great fine motor work!
Put a scale next to the mailbox so students can weigh their mail, which is a fun way to use measurement tools.
The last thing a customer has to do is check out. I'm always looking for meaningful reasons for students to write his or her name so I added a "sign here" space on the Post Office order form.
I hope your mind is racing with ideas on how to set up a Post Office in your own classroom after reading about mine!

<< Want all the Post Office printables with step by step teacher directions? Grab my Post Office Dramatic Play pack HERE >>

If you love dramatic play like me and know how powerful learning through play is, grab the Dramatic Play Bundle! It's packed with 22 different Dramatic play themes you can do in your classroom. Each theme includes labels, a parent note, signs, orders or reports, printable props, teacher direction pages, classroom photographs of the theme in action in my classroom and more!
>> Grab the Dramatic Play Bundle HERE <<

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Post Office Dramatic Play - Pocket of Preschool

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Friends I'm over the moon excited to share with how to set up a Post Office in the Dramatic play or Pretend center. It's inexpensive to set up and the best part is that it gets students WRITING during play!

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Doing a transportation theme? Change the Dramatic play center into an Auto Shop! Your students will LOVE pretending to be a Mechanic. Plus it's super easy to embed a ton of math and literacy learning experiences into their play!
This post contains affiliate links.

In my classroom we use a center theme for about a month. I slowly add props all month long to keep students engaged and excited. We also read books and watch YouTube videos of mechanics to build background knowledge. This photo was taken at the end of our Auto shop theme.

Students can help make many of the props for the Dramatic play center. We made our cars out of boxes! It was simple. First We cut off one side flap and taped the box closed. Next we cut a hole and taped one side of the flap to the top to create the hood. Be sure to tape only one side so students can open and close the hood. I cut holes in the bottom for students to stick "parts" and wires through. We also made "lifts" using hollow blocks so students could roll under the car on a scooter board just like a real mechanic! So FUN!

Don't worry about buying a ton of props for this theme. Grab a few tools from the blocks center and some funnels and goggles from the Science center.

You can make your own fluid bottles! Put water and food coloring in a few empty soap bottles. Then hot glue and tape the lid on. Now students can pretend to fill the windshield washer fluid, engine fluid, brake fluid, and power steering fluid!

Need mechanic shirts? Find or buy a pack of plain white shirts. Just smear black paint on the shirt and you have mechanic shirts! Easy!

Need car parts? Have students make their own car parts using pipe cleaners, beads, and foil. This is great fine motor work too!

Now I know you are wondering about the oil..... It is empty! I washed it out best I could and hot glued the lid on just to be safe. I also added some bungee cords and plastic tubing I found at the Dollar Tree. Students colored paper towel tubes and painted a small box for a car battery (bottom right corner). Students sculpted foil to create larger car parts too.

I cut tires out of black poster board, head lights from yellow paper, and tail lights from red paper. Then added Velcro so students could put the tires, head lights, and tail lights on and off the car.

This is our Receptionist desk complete with a cash register, appointment book, and auto shop forms. The waiting room was next to it so customers had a place to wait while their cars were being fixed.

Our little mechanics LOVED fixing the cars AND Students collaborated and problem solved together during play!

I just love to sneak in tons of Literacy experiences into their play. Students don't even realize they are learning and doing work! Students helped make the signs for the Auto Shop. I created Mechanic reports and customer information pages for students to fill out during play to embed more reading and writing.

In the waiting room there is a book bucket so customers can read as they wait. There is also an appointment book!

It's super easy to add math experiences into the Auto Shop too. I made the tires different sizes so students had to match the tires. Students are exploring time and identifying numbers when they make appointments, pay, and use the cash register!

Want ALL the Auto Shop printables? Go grab Auto Shop Dramatic Play HERE. I have everything made for you including labels, signs, parent letter, teacher idea pages, prop patterns, prop lists, and more in this pack!

Go read about all my favorite transportation themed centers and activities HERE. Plus grab my FREE road number mats too!

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Auto Shop Dramatic Play - Pocket of Preschool

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Doing a transportation theme? Change the Dramatic play center into an Auto Shop! Your students will LOVE pretending to be a Mechanic. Plus it's super easy to embed a ton of math and literacy learning experiences into their play! This post contains affiliate links.

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25 DIY Pretend Play Kits | Kids pretend play, Dramatic play preschool, Pretend play

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Aug 16, 2016 - To help your kids find purposeful play ideas, make your own pretend play kits with this list of 25 ideas.

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Each week, we focus on a different sound/letter in our kindergarten classroom. This week, to explore the sound/letter Pp we turned our normal home corner area into a Pizza Shop Dramatic Play Space. I love using home corner as a basis for dramatic play centres as many of the resources you need are already there, eg. cutlery, plates, dolls. It was super easy to make other items needed for our pizza shop and the items we made were either low-cost or no-cost because we used recycled items or items that were laying around.

We arranged our home corner furniture to give our pizza shop a front area to order and make pizzas. This area was made using our dress up box as the base and we put pizza bases, toppings and a cash register on top.

We set up a dining table inside our pizza shop so we have a space to eat our pizzas. The children sit down themselves and pretend to eat pizza, or use dolls and teddy bears as their customers.

Of course, no pizza shop is complete without play pizzas. To make these, I cut pizza bases out of cardboard from a thick cardboard box. I used a stanley knife to cut these and made them away from any children. Next, I cut red felt in the shape of a circle (slightly smaller than the cardboard base) and glued this to the cardboard using super glue. To make toppings, I cut a range of coloured felt into different shapes. We recycled old Italian Herb shakers and glass jars to keep these toppings in.

Just like the pizzas, our pizza oven was made using recycled materials too. This pizza oven was made by placing two nappy boxes on top of each other and then covering it in brick paper. We cut a semi-circle in each box, making sure it was wide enough for the pizzas to fit through. We added some flames to the back of the boxes using printed pictures and red cellophane.

Our pizza shop also features some menus and labels with relevant words. This helps create a print-rich environment where children can engage with literacy in meaningful ways.

While we explored the sound/letter Pp through engaging with our pizza shop, there was also a range of other learning opportunities.

Literacy learning (exploring the sound/letter Pp and having a print-rich environment)

Self expression through dramatic play

Cooperative play skills (sharing, turn taking, negotiation)

Numeracy learning (Counting and exchanging money)

Language and vocabulary development (engaging with others and using language appropriate for the context e.g. taking pizza orders)

Fine motor skills (applying toppings to pizza)

Exploring familiar roles through dramatic play

Developing an awareness that items can be recycled or reused in play

Please note, this play space was for children aged 3-5. Supervision needs to be present at all time. If you are using glass jars in your play space, you need to consider your child's individual capabilities.

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Each week, we focus on a different sound/letter in our kindergarten classroom. This week, to explore the sound/letter Pp we turned our normal home corner area into a Pizza Shop Dramatic Play Space. I love using home corner as a basis for dramatic play centres as many of the resources you need are already there, eg.

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Make your own fire truck out of cardboard boxes for excellent Fire Truck Dramatic Play!

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We have been on a pizza kick at my house. My kids are crazy for pizza of any sort, so we extended our pizza exploration into other areas. We created a DIY Magnetic Pizza Manipulative that we use for subitizing, addition, and patterning. I am currently working on a set to use for repeated addition. It is such a fun and easy way to play with your food! You can see the DIY directions here.

You can get the Pizza pack here.

We had received a package with a huge box in the mail and decided to turn it into a pizza oven. My kids were ecstatic to be able to make and use their own brick pizza oven. Our house turned into a gourmet pizza restaurant.

All you need to create this pizza oven is:

- One smaller box to hot glue inside and create the oven.

- A hook for your pizza paddle

First, you will cut a rectangular hole in the front of the large box. This will be your opening to the oven. Only cut three sides of the rectangle, because it will still be attached at the bottom. This will allow the front of the oven to open and close.

You will create a box inside the box to create the oven. ***UPDATE*** After lots of use, this particular design failed. Instead of creating a box, just use a small box. It is sturdier and easier to attach. Hot glue (use a lot) the smaller box to the inside of the pizza oven and tape it with metal duct tape. This creates a very sturdy inside to your pizza oven. I will post pictures of this soon. ﻿

Use duct tape to attach the cardboard to the inside of the box. You will attach it to the large box on all sides of the box.

Cut the two sides of the box about 2 inches longer.

Fold the edges of the box over and affix with tape.

Here is the completed inside of your oven.

Next, you will create the front of the oven. Cut a half circle to attach to the rectangular opening.

Create a handle by cutting two small lines with a razor blade.

Fold the two edges of the handle and insert through the holes. Leave about 1-2 inches to fold over on the back.

Fold the edges of the handles over on the back of the drawer.﻿

Tape the handles down on the back of the drawer.

To make the outside of the oven, attach the half circle to the rectangular opening. I covered it in duct tape for a more durable oven.

Cover the outside of the drawer with duct tape.﻿

Cut out white construction paper to make the white background surrounding your oven.

I rounded the rectangles of the edges.

I cut out rounded rectangles for the logs and drew lines down the middle with a Sharpee.

The flames are made with red, orange and yellow construction paper. I traced the red flame onto the orange paper and made it about 1/2 inch smaller. I traced the orange flame to create the yellow flame, by cutting it about 1 1/2 inch smaller.

I added packaging from laser toner to the top of my oven for decoration.

To make a pizza paddle, cut out a rounded rectangular shape with a handle.

I cut out another rectangle to affix to the pizza paddle. This strengthens the handle for more use. ***UPDATE*** With lots of love and use, this pizza paddle got a little ratty. So I just covered the entire pizza paddle with duct tape. This looks cool and makes it very sturdy!

Use play food or make your own pizzas out of paper to use in your oven.

Have a pizza party in your home or class! I hope your kids love it, too!

Leave me a comment to know what you think! I love hearing from you!

I linked up with 4th Grade Frolics: Monday Made It!

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dramatic play Archives | Differentiation Station Creations

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We have been on a pizza kick at my house. My kids are crazy for pizza of any sort, so we extended our pizza exploration into other areas. We created a DIY Magnetic Pizza Manipulative that we use for subitizing, addition, and patterning. I am currently working on a set to use for repeated addition.

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Dramatic Play
We blasted off to space in our rocket ship and rocket packs. They had so much fun and played so well together, I kept it out both weeks, although I had only planned on using it the first week.

Week 2 I added other cardboard vehicles. I transformed diaper boxes into cars and planes. I learned that spray paint does not cover them, but at least turns the baby heads different colors :) I simplyt attached elastic straps for their cars and some wheels. My daughter did point out that Daniel Tiger's cardboard cars looked better. I guess I was just leaving more room for imagination (which ended up being good, instead of lazy, because some kids pretended the cars were trains).

Blocks
Dramatic Play carried over here, but the first week it was smaller, so I had out a variety of large cars, trucks, trains, and boats.

I also added this shape game week 2.

Art
We played with lots of cars!
We drove cars on playdough.

We drove cars through paint.

We drove cars through shaving cream.
And took one break from the cars to make rocket packs too. One of the kids mentioned making one with his mom and adding stickers. So I checked my "beautiful junk" stash and had enough for a rocket pack for each kids. I added some felt flames and a little coat of spray paint, then they got to dress them up with space stickers.

Small Manips
I had a cool felt play area, perfect for this unit, dropped off on my porch from a neighbor this week! It fit perfectly on our new round table too. The kids loved it.

We played with transportation lacing cards (thanks Dollar Tree).

We played with transportation file folder games (thanks to cards from Dollar Tree).

Week 2, I had a different car rug out with the big chunky cars, planes, trains, and boats.

We also played with a Thomas matching game.
We re-enacted The Little Engine That Could with the flannel board story.

We had a book on cd, called Big Heli and Little Heli.

Writing
Transportation and construction stickers.

Transportation stamps

Outside
We had some inside days with temps below 10 degrees, and the days we did go out were snow days!

Snack
Our 2 transportation-related snacks were:
Banana Airplanes
Each child got half a banana, pretzel sticks for wings, and mini colored marshmallows for windows and they each creatively created their own airplane.

We watched part of a Mighty Machines movie about Airplanes as they ate.

Apple Boats
Each child got half an apple and pretzel sticks to make a sail and put it together themselves.

Large Group
Day 1, we learned and read about Boats, then played Will It Float? with many classroom objects. It was fun making predictions, then charting our results.

Day 2, we read about different types of transportation, then wrote in our journals about different types we've used and like.
Day 3, we read The Little Engine that Could, then retold the story with our flannel board.
Day 4, we read about construction vehicles, and made patterns with vehicle cards.

Small Group
Week 1: Transportation Math
Our mom volunteers helped the kids practice counting with dump trucks by counting blocks into them. I found it here on pinterest. We had the printable dump truck, but they liked using a real truck.
I helped them practice patterns with these cards that are also a free printable. I was very impressed that EVERY child can correctly extend a pattern. I tried to have the older group create their own patterns and we weren't as successful, but they tried and I'm proud of where they are, cuz they're right where they should be. We'll keep practicing!
Week 2: Transportation Literacy
Our mom volunteers helped the kids play this letter parking game. I wrote the alphabet in "parking stalls" on box lids, and the kids drove cars into the stalls that matched the letters the moms had on flash cards.
I practiced letters and sounds with them at our "alphabet center." We've used it to practice our small and capital letters, but today we used pictures to sort by beginning sounds. To tie it into transportation, they "flew" a big airplane to the chart with their picture, and had to land it in the right letter.

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Dramatic Play We blasted off to space in our rocket ship and rocket packs. They had so much fun and played so well together, I kept it out both weeks, although I had only planned on using it the first week. Week 2 I added other cardboard vehicles.

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Train made out of card board boxes in my dramatic play center #train | Dramatic play preschool, Transportation preschool, Transportation crafts

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May 10, 2016 - Train made out of card board boxes in my dramatic play center #train

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Keeping my 15 month old toddlers busy is truly a full time job. But the good thing about toddlers is that they are easily entertained and entertaining them can be easy once you know where to start.

My go-to activity for my twins are cardboard tubes.

Make sure you save a few of them and keep them handy in your kitchen.

They can be life savers when you just need a few minutes to prepare dinner or help out another child with homework.
Simply tape them to the wall, window, fridge or cupboards and have them drop crafts sticks or pom poms or squeeze pouch caps down it!

If you have a bit more time and want to occupy them for longer set up this fantastic drop anything sensory bin!

How To Set Up The Drop Anything Sensory Bin

Grab your large sensory bin. Tape a few cardboard tubes along the inside of the bin using masking tape.

I found that it was easier for my toddlers to grab items to drop when the cardboard tubes were separated with enough space for them to reach in and grab items.

My twins also like to climb into the sensory bin and this one was no exception so I found that I had to change the orientation of the cardboard tubes as they moved around.

When Mr. A climbed in, I changed the cardboard tube so that he could drop items through it and have them land on the outside of the bin.

It created a bit more mess but he a absolutely loved it!

Drop Anything Bin

I filled the sensory bin with lots of cork, dried pasta, craft sticks and paint sticks.

These are all things my toddlers like to pull out of my arts and crafts cart and play with.

You can also add crayons, markers, squeeze pouch caps, pom poms or any small toys they like to play with.

This is a busy sensory bin you can set up easily that will entertain your toddler long enough for you to get a few things done.
Fine Motor Fun

This activity was simple the best!! It was truly a life saver when brought it out. Mr. A had decided to skip his afternoon nap and he was extremely tired and cranky.
But I know my son and he cannot resist a good drop activity and this one did not disappoint!

He loved it! And when Ms. N woke up she was equally as engaged with it as well!

The great thing about this activity is how it works on your toddlers' fine motor skills and spatial awareness skills.

In order to get the items such as the cork and paint sticks (which were my son's two favourite items to drop down) down the cardboard tubes your toddler is forced to turn the object around in their hands first before successfully dropping it down.
You will be surprised at how quickly they pick up on how to do this and how pleased with their success they will be!
Happy Playing!

Supplies

(This post and list contains affiliate links for your convenience. If you make a purchase using one of these links, I may earn a commission. Please visit my disclosure policy for more information.)

WILL YOU TRY THE DROP ANYTHING SENSORY BIN WITH YOUR TODDLER? Pin it for later!

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The Drop Anything Sensory Bin for Toddlers - HAPPY TODDLER PLAYTIME

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Keeping my 15 month old toddlers busy is truly a full time job. But the good thing about toddlers is that they are easily entertained and entertaining them can be easy once you know where to start. Make sure you save a few of them and keep them handy in your kitchen.

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It's all about alphabet activities for our Playful Preschool Series this week on Growing Book by Book. We've done a few activities this month to work on alphabet recognition and this week we have an alphabet sensory bin activity to support our theme-

Learning the alphabet takes lots of repetition. This activity provides an opportunity to practice naming letters with a fun sensory experience.

ABC Activities: Alphabet Sensory Bin

Why We Chose This Activity

The weather is cold and I needed a fresh activity to engage the kids. I looked around the house, grabbed some items on hand and, voila, the alphabet sensory bin was created!

I love that it was super easy to put together, educational and lots of fun for the kids. Bonus points because the seeds can be given to the birds when you are done!

Preparing the Seed Sensory Bin
Materials needed: large plastic container, bird seed, magnetic letters, 7 cardboard tubes, a marker, spoons or scoops (optional)
1. Fill the container with bird seed.

2. On each cardboard tube write a letter that your child needs to practice. Place the tubes in the bin. These will be he birdhouses.

3. Scatter the magnetic letters in the bin. You could also do cut-outs of letters. Little birds, with the letters written on them, would be cute.

4. If you are using spoons or scoops, place those in the bin too.

Playing with the Bin

Introduce the bin to your child. Let them explore on their own or you can give them this creative prompt.
The letter birds are hungry and need their bird feeders filled. Fill each letter bird house and then fly the matching letter bird to the house to eat!
If your child knows their letters, you could work on letter sounds instead.

For more alphabet activities, check out our ABCs & 123s book.

Keep reading. Visit the links below for more great seed and nut activities from the Playful Preschool team.

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It's all about alphabet activities for our Playful Preschool Series this week on Growing Book by Book. We've done a few activities this month to work on alphabet recognition and this week we have an alphabet sensory bin activity to support our theme- Learning the alphabet takes lots of repetition.

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I love using sensory bins with preschoolers because it's such a motivating way to develop fine motor skills through play! This construction truck themed sensory bin was a big hit with our preschool co-op this past week. The kids used little trucks to lift and load up beans, and we used cardboard to create some fun toys for scooping and pouring.
This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
We used our PVC pipe sand and water table for this sensory bin. It works so much better, in my opinion, to keep the bin off the floor. Of course there will be beans to pick up when the kids are done, but I think that having the tub elevated reduces the mess.

I used black beans for the bin filler, but you could also use gravel.

The little yellow trucks came from this set of Caterpillar mini trucks.

The larger dump truck is a Playmobil 123 truck - that is their toddler/preschool line of toys. Very sturdy!

I used a cardboard box to make a ramp. The kids could pour beans down the ramp to load them into a dump truck. So much fun! They also enjoyed driving the trucks up and down the ramp.

Here's a photo of the ramp so that you can see the design. I chose a wide, flat cardboard box and cut off one side with a utility knife. I used hot glue to attach more cardboard as legs, and the whole thing was surprisingly sturdy! It withstood a morning of 10 preschoolers playing with it, and now my kids are still using it at home.

My husband built this toy out of a child's size shoe box and a couple of paper towel rolls. You can pour beans into the top, and they come out the tube at the bottom.

I wish I had gotten some photos while it was in progress! The design is simple, so hopefully you can figure it out. My husband cut round holes on two sides of the box using a utility knife. The holes should be the same size as your cardboard tube. Then, he taped two tubes together at an angle inside the box. Once the tubes were secure in the box (more tape) he covered the outside with duct tape just to make it look better.

I chose black beans for the tub filler to look like rocks or gravel. You could also just use gravel.

I love it when they are "hard at play!"
Have fun playing! Need more ideas with construction trucks?

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Construction Truck Sensory Bin - Frugal Fun For Boys and Girls

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I love using sensory bins with preschoolers because it's such a motivating way to develop fine motor skills through play! This construction truck themed sensory bin was a big hit with our preschool co-op this past week. The kids used little trucks to lift and load up beans, and we used cardboard to create some ...

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Construct a super fun and engaging rainbow rice sensory bin for your toddler or preschooler. It takes a little time to create but will entertain them for days!
If you follow me on Instagram you know that I love using cardboard tubes for activities. They are free and versatile and can be used with just about anything and for some reason toddlers and preschoolers just love them!

For this activity I combined a few tubes together with duct tape and added coloured rice. It was an absolute hit with my then 2 year old. She played with it for several days making it well worth the small engineering effort it took to get it to work.

I encourage you to give this one a try and you will forever be known as the best mom, dad, grandma, grandpa or caregiver ever. Make sure you take lots of photos of it so that you can marvel at your own genius!
Looking for other sensory bins using rainbow rice? Check out these fun ideas:

How to Make Tubes & Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin

Supplies

To make rainbow rice you'll need:

For each colour use 1 cup of rice, 1/2 tsp of vinegar and several drops of food colouring. Combine everything together in the ziplock bad. Seal it carefully and mix contents throughly. Lay a piece of parchment paper on a few baking sheets or line a few Tupperware containers. Spread each colour of rice out on the parchment paper and allow it to dry over night.

Making Cardboard Tube Maze

There are many ways to set up the tube maze. I will show you how I did mine and you can adjust it for your space, tastes and needs.

First Set Up

The lower structure has two funnels and is secured to the sensory bin with duct tape.

Take one cardboard tube (paper towel roll) and use scissors to make two small holes at each end and insert the wooden dowels or wooden sticks inside. Secure the sticks to the tube with duct tape.

Using the scissors create four quarter sized holes on the top and bottom of the cardboard tube (see picture above).

Take either two toilet paper rolls or cut a paper towel roll in half and secure them to the bottom of the cardboard tube underneath the holes you just made.

Insert two funnels into the top part of the tube (see above and below pictures for reference).

Use duct tape to secure the sticks to the bottom of the sensory bin.

Second Set Up

To make the second structure I used a wrapping paper cardboard tube that was longer than a paper towel roll. If you don't have a long tube available you can tape two paper towel rolls together.

Use the scissors to cut the end of 3 paper towel rolls on one side and then use the duct tape to secure them all together as picture below. You will have to play with the angle so that the rice follows through all of them. Secure this maze to the long cardboard tube using the duct tape.

Attach another funnel to the top of the maze using duct tape.

Use duct tape to secure the entire structure to the sensory bin.

Time to Play

Once you have secured both structures to the sensory bin (lots of duct tape is needed to do this!), you can add the coloured rice and measuring cups and then let your little one play!

Rice will go on your floor. Using masking tape a plastic sheet to the floor in order to minimize the mess.

Tips and Problem Solving

Here are some tips I learned from doing this activity with my two year old:

1. Make sure you set out the rules for sensory bin play up front. Tell your toddler or preschooler that the rice is to stay in the bin as much as possible. But remember rice will come out of the sensory bin. To help you with clean up tape a plastic tablecloth underneath the sensory bin to catch the rice that comes out. Secure the plastic tablecloth to the floor using masking tape. That way you can relax a bit and let them enjoy their play.

2. Keep the duct tape handy. You may need to do some touch up here and there to each structure so keep the duct tape handy. I found that as she played the structures occasionally became unstable. I had to re-secure each structure a few times using the duct tape.

3. Use funnels with large holes. One of the funnels I used did not allow for the rice to flow easily. Instead of letting her get frustrated by it, I switched it out and made a funnel using paper.

4. Set the activity up in a spot out of the way. With all the effort you put in to make this amazing activity you will want them to play with it for more than just one day! Set it aside in an out-of-the-way spot in your house so that you can pull it out easily again so that they can play it with for a few days.

Playing with the Tubes & Rice the next day

WILL YOU TRY TUBES AND RAINBOW RICE SENSORY BIN WITH YOUR LITTLE ONE? Pin it for Later!

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Tubes & Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin - HAPPY TODDLER PLAYTIME

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Construct a super fun and engaging rainbow rice sensory bin for your toddler or preschooler. It takes a little time to create but will entertain them for days! If you follow me on Instagram you know that I love using cardboard tubes for activities.

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It's the time of year when everything gets a little bit more spooky...well not so much yet for my little ones, but in stores everywhere we are seeing ghosts, goblins and villains. I like to make Halloween more of a fun celebration and not so gory, especially for my little boys. So, we're going to learn about the letter 'H' and play with our Halloween sensory tub.

I couldn't find a ton of things around the house for the letter 'H' but this will work and still be good for discussion. You can use whatever you can find for these alphabet boxes.

Now for the fun part...according to Troy and Wes who LOVE sensory tubs!! Here's our Halloween sensory tub!

Here's what is including in this tub:

*black beans

*white beans

*jack-o-lantern erasers (Target)

*plastic bats (Dollar Store)

*plastic insects

I didn't want to go overboard and add too much or add anything too scary. The textures in this tub are fun and the boys love it!

Wes likes to climb in the tub! This time I split the sensory tub into two tubs because we were having problems sharing 🙂

Try this sensory tub out with your kids...they will love it!

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Letter 'H' Alphabet Box & Halloween Sensory Tub

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It's the time of year when everything gets a little bit more spooky...well not so much yet for my little ones, but in stores everywhere we are seeing ghosts, goblins and villains. I like to make Halloween more of a fun celebration and not so gory, especially for my little boys.

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The benefits of sensory play are undeniable and the sensory bin is often one of the most popular learning centers in a preschool classroom. Whether you have students with food allergies, policies against using food in sensory play, or just want something that you can use year after year, try these non-food sensory bin ideas for some amazing hands-on, sensory fun and learning.

Non-Food Sensory Bin Ideas

Safety Reminder when using Sensory Bins

As a caregiver, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your children. Contact your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities shared today are to be performed with adult supervision. Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies). Observe caution and safety at all times.

Rainbow Pom Poms

Fill the sensory bin with a variety of rainbow pom-poms. Choose poms that vary in color, size, and texture. As children play, they will naturally start to notice and comment on the properties of the poms.
"Look! This yellow one is big!" "I found a sparkly one!" "This blue one is so tiny!"
Add tongs for fine-motor practice and dry, empty water bottles for extra eye-hand coordination work. Look for water bottles that have a wide-mouth opening to make it easier to remove the pom-poms. Label each water bottle with colorful duct tape and write the color words on each one.

Another option for the pom-pom sensory bin is to add this set of Learning Resources Crayon Sorters. Each cardboard crayon tube includes 6 objects that match the color. Dump all of those little objects into the sensory bin and mix them up! The students will dig through the pom-poms to find and sort the objects by color.

Learning objectives: color sorting and identification, hand-eye coordination, and oral language/vocabulary development.

Shredded Paper

Shredded paper is a cheap, easy, and readily available sensory bin filler! Recycle paper and use it right from the shredder or purchase small bags of decorative shredded paper. A little goes a LONG way if you choose to buy the decorative variety!

Choose lightweight things to hide in the shredded paper sensory bin. In the picture above, we chose autumn-colored shredded paper and silk fall leaves. We cut out lots more leaves onto red, orange, yellow, and brown cardstock. On each leaf, we wrote a student's name on one side and glued a small picture on the other side.

To use this sensory bin, the children dig through the paper to find their names. They can check to be sure that it is really their name by peeking at the photo on the back! They can also find the names of their friends and teachers. It is such a fun way to practice important name recognition skills.

Learning objectives: name recognition, letter identification, social-emotional friendship development

Kinetic Sand

Kinetic sand is one of those wonderful, mysterious substances that every preschool classroom needs. It can be purchased at the craft store, at Target and Walmart, and online.

There are so many fascinating qualities in kinetic sand: the way it pours, the way it packs together, and the way it just sticks together for easy cleanup.

Here are just a few accessories that you can add to the kinetic sand sensory bin:

beach molds (animals, letters, sandcastles)

seashells and ocean toys

cookie cutters

kitchen utensils (sieve, potato masher, slotted spoon)

cars, trucks, and trains

Learning objectives: shape identification, concepts of print, exploring measurement

Wrapping Paper

The sensory bin is the perfect place to practice important scissors skills. When young children are first learning how to use scissors, their little snips of paper can make quite a mess. Don't let them fall on the floor; just place the wrapping paper, ribbon, and scissors right into the sensory table. Easy-peasy!

Learning objectives: scissors practice/fine motor skills

Christmas Tinsel

Place small, decorative, cheap trees in the sensory table. Add plastic ornaments, garland, and tinsel. (Warning - a small bag of tinsel is plenty. There are 2 bags pictured above, which is WAY too much!) Students can work at the sensory table to decorate the tree.

Learning objectives: fine motor skills, creative process

Winter Scene

Fill the sensory bin with plastic vase fillers. These come in various sizes, shapes, and textures. We chose clear beads, snowflake shapes, and plastic ice cubes to make a winter scene.

Add bottle-brush evergreen trees, small pinecones, and little woodland animals.

In addition to the sensory fin, the students will engage in pretend play, act out winter scenes with the animals, and talk about the winter season.

Learning objectives: creative thinking, vocabulary development, science and seasons

Earth Day - Recycled Paper

This shredded paper is sold in the pet store and is often used as bedding for small animals. It comes in a variety of rainbow and natural colors and is fairly inexpensive. One small bag will easily fill a huge sensory table (like the one pictured, which is 24″ x 48″).

The best part about using shredded paper in the sensory table? Reusing it! After playing with this one, we repurposed it and used it to line our pet guinea pig's cage.

Learning objectives: learning about Earth and its resources

Water Beads

Water beads (also called orbeez or vase fillers) come in many different color assortments. They are tiny dry beads that need to be soaked in water overnight. Once they are soaked with water, they make for a slippery, fun material that pours, scoops, and bounces.

Add ocean animals, shells, small buckets and shovels.

Water Bead Safety reminder

Do not use loose water beads with children who might put them into their mouths. Water beads should be used under close adult supervision and by older children only. Younger children may enjoy exploring them in a sensory bottle like this:

Learning objectives: hand-eye coordination, scientific properties of water

Top Soil

Topsoil (not potting soil with added chemicals) or regular old dirt from the garden makes an inexpensive and intriguing sensory bin filler. Involve the students in digging it up and bringing it to the sensory table!

Accessory options:

inexpensive clay pots

artificial flowers

child-sized gardening gloves

small trowels

plastic worms

toy bugs, spiders

Learning objectives: explore capacity, hand-eye coordination, pretend play, creative thinking

Soapy Water

Have you ever heard the teaching advice that says, "Don't Overthink it!" Well, the soapy water sensory bin definitely falls into this category!

Soapy water is SOOOOOO much fun for the kids. Preschoolers will play with it for hours, washing the toys, dishes, and even school furniture.

How to make a soapy water sensory bin:

1. Add a squirt of Dawn dish detergent or tear-free baby shampoo

2. Turn the hose on

3. Fill the sensory bin with the full force water from the hose.

4. Watch the bubbles form!

5. Play and enjoy. Refill as desired

Add-in accessories. (Buy everything from the dollar store.)

sponges

dish brushes

wash clothes

funnels

sieves

cups

(and large beach towels for drying off afterward)

Learning objectives: capacity, properties of water, life skills

One of the biggest complaints (from adults) about the sensory table is that it's too messy. Messy play is GOOD for kids! But, we get it. These are helpful to provide a visual reminder about the expectations for play at the sensory bin. Print them double-sided and hang them at each center.

More sensory bin ideas and information:

Should children play with food in the sensory table? by Preschool Inspirations

Aquarium Rock Sensory Bin by Fun-A-Day

How to Dye Sensory Materials by And Next Comes L

Easter No-Food Sensory Bin by No Time for Flashcards

Sensory Bins for Younger Kids by Teaching 2 and 3-Year-Olds

Veggie Sensory Table by PreKinders

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The benefits of sensory pla y are undeniable and the sensory bin is often one of the most popular learning centers in a preschool classroom. Whether you have students with food allergies, policies against using food in sensory play, or just want something that you can use year after year, try these non-food sensory bin ideas for some amazing hands-on, sensory fun and learning.

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"Touchpoint" 4: I make cardboard cutouts of each of the numbers. On each of the touchpoints, I draw a circle with a m… | Touch math, Homeschool math, Preschool math

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Sep 6, 2013 - "Touchpoint" 4: I make cardboard cutouts of each of the numbers. On each of the touchpoints, I draw a circle with a marker. I set these out at the math center and the

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Math Fluency in Kindergarten! Wondering how to help your students achieve addition and subtraction fluency! These daily math practice skills are FAST! Easy to work into your classroom instruction now!

I am not sure about you all... but there are days (and weeks) where I just feel a little over my head. When that happens, it helps for me to organize a little.

Math Fluency in Kindergarten: Need for Speed

We jumped into our Need for Speed this week with full force. My students needed a place to keep their Progress Card. So I created a pocket in the front of their Math Journal.

The VERY last thing I need is another stack on my desk. I updated the packet to include these graphics. I organized all of the timed sheets into this box. Then I can just carry the box from table to table and quickly see which paper to hand out. File boxes are perfect for this.

We made equation rings to use for practice at home and at school. Binder rings can be found HERE

Math Fluency: Ongoing Progress Monitoring

They really love these time tests. If a student does not pass the timed section, I tell them, "Meet me at my table when we do math centers." Then I have 3-4 students who come to me and we work on these equations. I have been keeping a close eye... and everyone seems to really love this. I have watched those who struggle a little to see if they seem bothered. It might help that I have mini-marshmallows at my small group table. So far... so good!

Math Fluency: Practice During Center time too!

During stations they have more time to practice. I had one kid say, "In two days I will be at Need for Speed." I tell you, timers are so motivating!
Click here for the 1st and 2nd grade version.

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Math Fluency in Kindergarten! Wondering how to help your students achieve addition and subtraction fluency! These daily math practice skills are FAST! Easy to work into your classroom instruction now! I am not sure about you all... but there are days (and weeks) where I just feel a little over my head.

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We're celebrating Global Cardboard Day at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center! Join us on Saturday, October 5 from 11:00 am - 3:00 pm to build something amazing!

The Global Cardboard Challenge is celebrated by nearly 2 million people in more than 80 countries. The worldwide phenomenon started with a 9-year-old boy who used creativity and ingenuity to inspire people of all ages.

In 2012, Caine Monroy opened Caine's Arcade at the front of his dad's auto parts store in East Los Angeles. These weren't just any arcade games, they were made completely out of cardboard! Caine's cardboard creations were not only fun, they were functional.

Caine spent his summer working hard to create, build, and improve his cardboard arcade. At the end of summer, a filmmaker named Nirvan was visiting the auto parts store. When Nirvan found out that he was Caine's first and only customer, he knew that he had to tell the world about Caine and his amazingly creative cardboard arcade.

Nirvan used social media to spread the word about Caine's Arcade. Nirvan and Caine's dad surprised Caine with over 100 visitors who were all ready to play. Nirvan made a short film called Caine's Arcade, and it quickly went viral. Soon, children all over the world were imagining, playing, and creating with cardboard!

Caine is now 16 years old, he loves learning and creating, and he still inspires kids all over the globe. Caine plans to go to college to study engineering, and he is interested in designing video games. Caine helped show the world that if you can dream it, you can create it!

Global Cardboard Day is now celebrated every year on the first Saturday in October, in honor of the day that Caine shared his arcade with his first big crowd. We are excited to celebrate this special day here at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center!

Caine's ingenuity, imagination, and his experiences with sharing his creativity perfectly align with the values we hope to instill here at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center. Our vision is to give children high quality experiences that inspire a lifelong love of learning. At the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, we strive to provide opportunities for children to explore, create, discover, and learn through play.

The Global Cardboard Challenge is the perfect example of an important type of play known as creative play. Creative play is open-ended and unstructured. There are no directions or how-to guides. Objects, such as cardboard boxes, that are used in creative play are meant to spark imagination and ingenuity. We believe in the important role creative play has in development.

Providing the opportunity to play freely through creative play is a valuable approach to teaching important skills. In a survey of over 1500 CEOs, a majority cited creativity as one of the most valuable skills for the future. Making choices, planning ideas, and building and creating from scratch help develop critical thinking skills.

Another important skill learned in creative play is resourcefulness. Even with only a few materials, there are endless opportunities to build amazing creations. Materials used in creative play are recycled and most often free, providing access so that all children are able to engage in these meaningful play experiences. The Kansas Children's Discovery Center is committed to ensuring accessibility for every family, striving to remove barriers that prevent play.

Creative play also teaches teamwork. It is inspiring to witness children working together to build their cardboard creations. Children can communicate their ideas to each other, share the limited resources available, and collaborate to make their amazing creations.

The Kansas Children's Discovery Center strives to enrich the communities it serves and has hosted people from all 50 states and 23 countries! The Global Cardboard Challenge has also reached so many communities worldwide to foster creativity and bring people together to explore, create, discover, and learn.

We can't wait to celebrate Global Cardboard Day with you here at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center!

The fun doesn't end here, you can make your own cardboard creations at home! Don't have any cardboard boxes at home right now? You can use all kinds of cardboard. Check out our blog post where we give you some fun ideas to upcycle paper towel tubes.

These are just a few of the unlimited possibilities. What else can you imagine and create? We can't wait to see what ideas you bring to life with all types of cardboard and other recycled materials!

Want to learn more about Caine's journey and the Global Cardboard Challenge? Check out imagination.org and watch the short film "Caine's Arcade".

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We're celebrating Global Cardboard Day at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center! Join us on Saturday, October 5 from 11:00 am - 3:00 pm to build something amazing! The Global Cardboard Challenge is celebrated by nearly 2 million people in more than 80 countries.

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Dice, subitizing cards, center tubs, number lines - oh my! Our 1 st grade math routines require so many resources and manipulatives. While Donors Choose, Go Fund Me accounts, and school funds are great options, homemade math tools can be a simple, inexpensive way to stock our math toolboxes!

Today I've shared some of my favorite and most-used math tools and resources that I've made for students! While I shared some of my all time Guided Math favorites, these tools are a little more affordable. I've included blog post links and Amazon affiliate links for easy shopping and reading throughout.

Ideas for Using Math Tools

Even if you already have these math tools in your classrooms, there are so many uses and reasons to make small and more inexpensive sets.

Send Home with Students - These homemade tools are perfect for sending home with students. Perfect for at-home practice or resources for homework, you don't have to worry about these tools making it back to school!

Math Centers - Do you ever have multiple math centers that need the same supplies? Rather than choosing a different center, these homemade supplies are a simple and inexpensive way to make sure you have the materials in all of your centers!

Family Volunteers - I teach at a school blessed with many parent volunteers and university students. I love having a Math Toolbox ready for these awesome adults. Regardless of what we are learning about, I can add one of each of these tools and the adult and student are ready to learning and practice!

Guided Math - My guided math groups are big - honestly, too big but that's a story for another day - and sometimes getting 8 of one supply is expensive! These homemade math tools are inexpensive to make, which is perfect for this teacher's budget!

Bead Racks ($7.54)

Before a math training in June, bead racks weren't part of my math toolbox. My students saw them on DreamBox, an online math program, but we didn't have them in our classrooms so I did not teach with them! After seeing these in action and after finding this FREE e-book with math talks and activity ideas, I knew I needed to make them!

Using the box from my latest Amazon order, red and white beads, and some elastic string and I was ready to go! I made bead bracelets with 10 beads on them (5 red and 5 white). Then, I stretched them over the cardboard. I prefer this way, rather than punching holes in the cardboard, because it makes the bed racks easy to level. Math groups can easily add and take away groups of 10 to get a just-right number for them!

We use 5 red and 5 white because the fluency standards in Kindergarten is 5, so this becomes a benchmark. Once students have mastered 5, having different colors allows students to easily subitize 5 - doubling it, counting back, counting forward, adding other groups of numbers to it. (If you're looking for other ideas, check out this FREE 46-page Ebook from The Math Learning Center.)

Dot Cards ($3.99)

Subitizing is the ability to quickly identify groups of objects. As students are able to subitize and quickly identify dot patterns, they are learning number combinations. It's the perfect way to introduce composing and decomposing numbers without even writing numbers. Showing students dot patterns and asking what they see is a perfect number talk for beginning-of-the-year first graders. While some friends might immediately see 5, others may see 4 and 1, and some may still need to individually count the 5 dots. Regardless, it gives you - as the teacher - a glimpse into their math thinking and is a simply way to get students talking about numbers!

I quickly and cheaply made these dot pattern cards with half-sheets of cardstock and Avery circle stickers! Add a binder rings keeps the cards easy to storage next to my SMART Board. You never know when you might have a few extra minutes for a number talk, so I like to have talks handy!

Pipe Cleaner Number Lines ($2.39)

Using pipe cleaners, left-over beads from your bead racks, and these FREE number line templates, you can create simple number lines that meet the needs of all of your learners. Different than a traditional number line, these number lines offer a bit more tactile experiences for learners who need to physically move a marker along a number line.

Punching a hole at the top and bottom of the number lines, you slide the pipe cleaner and bean through the holes and fold the ends over. I did add a piece of tape to the back to keep our littles from being poked by the ends of the pipe cleaner!

Ziploc Number Lines ($3.32)

I love the above number lines for students who need to physically manipulate a number line and love the option below for learning-on-the-go. When we have random minutes in the hallway, parent volunteers working with students in our learning nooks, or outside math with task cards - this is my go-to number line. Plus, the materials couldn't be less expensive! Anytime I need more number lines or number lines with different numbers, I grab some baggies from my kitchen and bring them to school!

Using the baggie slider as a place holder, makes these number lines portable and inexpensive to make. Plus, these baggies can carry task cards inside the baggie, perfect for learning on the go or in different places! They are so simple to differentiate and if they are torn or wet, it's no big deal.

If you're looking to stock your classroom with lots of math tools but are cash-strapped, these are some of my go-to math tools! Are there other math tools you've made for your classroom? I'm always looking for new ideas and love to hear what works in your classroom.

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Math Tools You Can Make At Home - The Brown Bag Teacher

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Dice, subitizing cards, center tubs, number lines - oh my! Our 1st grade math routines require so many resources and manipulatives. While Donors Choose, Go Fund Me accounts, and school funds are great options, homemade math tools can be a simple, inexpensive way to stock our math toolboxes!

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Introduction: Cardboard Clock for Learning

Hi All,

This is a extremely simple project that kids can do and great tool for learning on "how to read time"

I know there are digital clocks, which is extremely easy to read..

But I am old school and wanted my son to make one...

This takes about 10 to 15 minutes and helps kids build some diy skills...

Add Tip Ask Question Download

Step 1: What Do We Need ?

Material
- Cardboard
- paper plates for younger kids
- Sketch pens
- paper pin,
- Scissors
- cutter
- paper tape

One can use decorative materials as well

Add Tip Ask Question Download

Be the First to Share

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Step 2: Clock

Draw a circle on cardboard and ask your kids to cut it along the lines.

Draw a crown and get to cut too..

Mark 12 equidistant points as shown and ask the kids to write numbers 1 to 12, draw eyes, nose and mouth

One can leave it to kids imagination to decorate as they like...

Younger kids who cannot cut, can use a paper plate

Add Tip Ask Question Download

Step 3: Hands

Now measure a popsicle stick for the hour and minute hands..

Cut then and make small hole using a paper pin.

Note that the popsicle stick can split.. try again... or use use think strips of cardboard

Colour the hands and fix it at the center as shown

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Step 4: Play Time

Set a time and play quiz ...
Enjoy time together

I extended with other kids in my apartment and they enjoyed...

Add Tip Ask Question Download

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Cardboard Clock for Learning: Hi All,This is a extremely simple project that kids can do and great tool for learning on "how to read time"I know there are digital clocks, which is extremely easy to read.. But I am old school and wanted my son to make one... This takes about 10...

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Not a Box | Creative curriculum preschool, Creative curriculum, Recycle preschool

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Jul 24, 2014 - Last week we chose to read “Not a Box.” This book is so fun to read for the kids, and the teachers! Basically, in the book the child has a box on each page, but has transformed it with …

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Multi cultural bulletin board | School bulletin boards, New classroom, School counseling

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Mar 26, 2014 - This Pin was discovered by Jacque Johnson. Discover (and save!) your own Pins on Pinterest

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The Family Center just completed our first book collection, for the Brooklyn Kindergarten Society. Marji Molavi, parent of Gray in the Blue Room, came to me with this idea and we met with Jim Matison, the Executive Director to discuss the project. Their programs serve more than 300 children, ages 2 to 5, and their families in five centers in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and Brownsville.

This felt like a wonderful, appropriate opportunity for our students to experience giving something they do not use anymore to someone else who can now enjoy the books. When I look at our library and the classroom book shelves and think about how important books are to children's development and learning, I am happy that we can now be part of giving children and families many wonderful stories to read and share.

The boxes (decorated by each class) were located outside my office, so every morning as I sat at my desk I watched the children add their "donations" to the boxes. It is so clear to me that they worked with their parents to pick these books that they were finished reading. They knew that we would be sharing the books with other children who will now have a turn to read them.

Some special moments and observations during the book drive include:

A child kisses the book before putting it in the box.

Each book is held, looked at thoughtfully for a moment and then carefully placed in a box.

Books are randomly tossed into the boxes.

Books are distributed slowly and carefully into all three boxes.

Books are opened and "read" a bit one last time.

"Can I keep this one?" to his father, but it goes in the box.

One girl enters carefully carrying a stack of about 8 small board books. She is balancing them and trying to get all the way to the boxes with them, but as one slides off the top and as she tries to catch it they all fall. After a moment of trying to pick them all up, she has a new plan. One by one, she carries each individually to the boxes and puts them in. Dad patiently watches and lets her work it out - beautiful!

As children put books in, they are noticing the books already there with interest. Amazing that they don't try to take them out.

It is so clear to me that our students do understand that they are sharing these books with other children somewhere. I am very proud of them - they are not so big that the books they are donating are too easy for them. Maybe they are duplicates, maybe their bookshelves at home are overflowing, maybe they have been read so many times it is okay to pass them along... whatever the reason they are giving them away to an abstract "other child."

This is the beautiful essence of Service in the Family Center - where the foundation starts being built. In years to come they will learn why there are children who do not have books in their homes. For now they are learning that they have the ability to give, to recognize that they are able to fulfill another person's needs. In the classroom it is passing along a toy or book to a friend who is waiting for it, bringing a tissue to a friend who is upset to help them feel better. Our collections for Room to Grow and now this one for the Brooklyn Kindergarten Society are giving them an opportunity to make an appropriate Service step outside the classroom.

The boxes are very full and what is equally important is seeing how this experience works for our children.

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Brooklyn Friends School | Family Center Initiates Book Drive for Brooklyn Kindergarten Society

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The Family Center just completed our first book collection, for the Brooklyn Kindergarten Society. Marji Molavi, parent of Gray in the Blue Room, came to me with this idea and we met with Jim Matison, the Executive Director to discuss the project.

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Make your own box houses for pretend play and a cozy play spot for little ones (at Ambrosia Girl) | Cardboard house, Kids painting projects, Kids room

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Jul 22, 2012 - Make your own box houses for pretend play and a cozy play spot for little ones (at Ambrosia Girl)

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Delight your little ones by building a cute cardboard playhouse with the below enlisted tutorials as guide. The playhouse will be a fun packed experience for the kids as they gather round it with playful anticipation.
Cozy Cardboard Playhouse
This splendid cardboard house was built from a giant cardboard box that originally held a gas grill. The interior packaging material of the appliance was put to good use. However, you can substitute that with your own handmade stuff.
DIY Cardboard Castle Playhouse
Let your kids live life king size in this majestic castle having a medieval look. If you have a baby girl, etch her name in the front prefixed with "Princess".
Bright Cardboard Playhouses
By nature, children are imaginative. You will be amused at the ideas they cook up on when nested in these colorful playhouses.
Bloomy Cardboard Playhouse
This playhouse made with 3 large packing boxes, 1 roll of black duct tape and ½ a roll of clear masking tape boasts of cozy chambers for the mailbox, doghouse and box windows with flowers. Playtime will be long with this splendid plan of playhouse.
Simple Cardboard Playhouse
Involve kids to make this simple roofed structure out of cardboard. You can use construction paper cut in circles to decorate this warm den. Complete with a doorknob made of old wine cork.
Cardboard Spaceship Playhouse
To space and back! Give wings to your child's imagination with this rocket cardboard playhouse. Involve the little ones to cultivate building skills in them.
Fun Cardboard Playhouse
If you are hunting for handmade gifting ideas for a kid's birthday party, this tutorial will offer you respite. Made with minimal supplies, it hosts a couple of slanting roofs, a bulky chimney and a gorgeous front door.
Fancy Cardboard Playhouses Collapsible Cardboard Playhouse
This foldable cardboard playhouse is perfect for small playroom floor spaces. When the kids are tired with it, you can simply collapse it down flat making room for easy storage.
Cardboard Playhouse for Cats
The big playhouse will house your pets comfortably. The multiple tiny windows have been given a charming touch by adorning with blossoms.
Country Cardboard Playhouse
Treat your kids to loads of fun with this stunning barn playhouse. You can allow them to draw and color cute farm animals on the cardboard for honing their creative skills.
Amazing Cardboard Box Playhouse
Presenting a dainty albeit cheap idea to keep children engaged for hours. Let them lounge comfortably in its interiors and indulge in high dose entertainment as fuel for their young minds.
Large Cardboard Playhouse
Bring on the holiday season in style with this lovely homemade Eskimo playhouse for your little ones. You can paint it in a color of your choice. White should fit the bill. Babies look as adorable cuddled in it as their soft toys.
Cool Cardboard Playhouse Decorated Cardboard Playhouse
Children love to build and embellish gingerbread houses. Allow them a twist in the festive activity with this pretty cardboard house as the base.
How to Make a Cardboard Fort Playhouse
With such wonderful plans up your sleeve, gear up for giving shape to your very own cardboard playhouse. Whether it's a party, family gathering or Christmas, the creatively done cardboard dens are sure to garner a lot of excitement.

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Delight your little ones by building a cute cardboard playhouse with the below enlisted tutorials as guide. The playhouse will be a fun packed experience for the kids as they gather round it with playful anticipation. Cozy Cardboard Playhouse This splendid cardboard house was built from a giant cardboard box that originally held a gas grill.

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Well... I say "how to make a guitar with kids" and a guitar we did make. But this is a musical instrument in the most generous sense - it DOES play different notes (we will try and explain the science behind it for you over on Life At The Zoo), but clearly this will not be an instrument you will learn to play music on. Interestingly, we do have a real kid's guitar and we now have this toy guitar and Red Ted loves playing with both equally. That, is what I call a result! Red Ted loves it so much we are considering getting guitar lessons for beginners.
Find this craft also on our German sister website: Gitarre Basteln Materials - a container (to help make the sound resonate), elastic bands of varying sizes and thickness, cardboard, a stick, beads (optional), tape and hot glue gun (you may get away without the hot glue gun, but just lots of tape).
RED TED ART TV

It was really easy to make. I probably did most of it though (sorry), but the kids were involved in every step of the process and rather excited.

1) Wrap your elastic bands around your container and tape in place, so they don't slide off whilst playing. Just to reiterate - the plastic container is a great way to help make those elastic bands REALLY resonate and make the guitar more musical.

2) Cut out a guitar shape from cardboard (we used the flap of a large box), including a hole for the strings.

3) Tape your container to the back of your cardboard. Then use a hot glue gun to help secure any remaining edges.

4) Glue your stick to your cardboard (or tape in place). We then added some pony beads as "tuners" to the guitar and glued in place with the hot glue gun.

And finished.. can you believe it?

Later... our white guitar cardboard proved irresistible and the kids started colouring it in!
Disclaimer: by joining the Kids Get Crafty linky - you give us permission to highlight any projects on Red Ted Art or share your craft ideas on Pinterest - I will always link to your site! If you have been crafty with your kid's be it at home, in the kitchen or outdoors, please link up! Join the Kids Get Crafty linky party!
Have you made a guitar for kids before? Or have you made other Musical Instruments? Come share!

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How To Make a Guitar with Kids - Red Ted Art's Blog

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Well... I say "how to make a guitar with kids" and a guitar we did make. But this is a musical instrument in the most generous sense - it DOES play different notes (we will try and explain the science behind it for you over on Life At The Zoo), but clearly this will not ...

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If you have not made a Cardboard Castle Playhouse for your kids yet, what are you waiting for? They will love to have one to play in.

You can make one as a surprise, or even have them pick out the one they think they would like to make (or have you make for them.)

Involve them in the process! Kids are super inventive and come up with the very best ideas. Plus, they will learn to make something along the way.

See more playhouse ideas here as well.
This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a small amount, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. All opinions are my own and I share things I think would be of interest to boys.
There is nothing, and I do mean nothing, like imaginative play. Setting up a playhouse is the perfect way to get them into using their imaginations. You may just be surprised at how often the playhouse gets used. Especially if you add a few new things once and a while.

By that I mean:

put some knight books and a blanket in there

play hide and seek and include the castle

get them some dress up clothes

make a sword and shield

Those types of things extend playtime and are so fun for them.

Cardboard Castle Playhouses

Let's take a look at all the awesome castles I found!

You are certain to find one that is just right for your family and if for some reason you don't one that is perfect, you can simply combine some of these neat ideas and design your own!

Large Cardboard Castle

This large castle might take up a good part of your living room!

With two entrances, cathedral style windows, battlements and a pretty amazing throne this is a dream castle for kids.

They will gather all of their knight (or princess) gear and move right in! Large Cardboard Castle Idea

Photo Booth Castle Playhouse

This is actually a cardboard photo booth castle but . . . if you set it up right your kids will find it to be a great playhouse as well.

I was thinking that all you really need are a couple of more boxes going back off of the front for stability. Or, you could make walls go all the way around in a square or rectangle as well.

Either way this fab looking castle is going to be a hit. Use it for a party and then keep it up for them to play with for a long time to come. Photo Booth Castle

Fort Castle Video

Don't miss this real life video of a guy and his kids building a castle. Not everything goes perfectly, but the end result is a castle they will all enjoy playing in.

Outdoor Cardboard Castle Playhouse

Here is an outdoor cardboard castle. It is nice and big as well as fantastic looking. The site is Mr. McGroovy and they sell connectors to put cardboard creations together. I have never used them myself so I don't have any comments on how the work.

However, the reason I included it is because the site does have some fab ideas and this castle is one of them. They give a lot of good instructional tutorials on how to work with cardboard.

In this case you will find out what boxes you need, and particularly how to paint a brick wall. It is a site worth having a look at. Mr McGroovy Castle

Fantasy Castle Playhouse

This looks like it was made with purchased cardboard boxes as there is no writing on them. You can certainly do that and it will look pretty great but you can also use the design idea and use what you can scrounge up.

There are not too many directions so you are going to have to figure stuff out yourself. I included it here for inspiration. Fantasy Castle

There is another castle idea in our cardboard playhouses for boys post below.

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Cardboard Castle Playhouses Every Kid Will Love

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If you have not made a Cardboard Castle Playhouse for your kids yet, what are you waiting for? They will love to have one to play in. You can make one as a surprise, or even have them pick out the one they think they would like to make (or have you make for them.)

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Which jobs involve boxes Posters | Creative curriculum preschool, Creative curriculum, Study creative

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Oct 12, 2019 - Which jobs involve boxes Posters by Preschool Productions | TpT

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Jan 17, 2012 - Jack in the Box...Finger Play Poem for Early Childhood also intelledance

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80 Best ECE Puppets and Finger Plays images in 2020 | Finger plays, Puppets, Preschool songs

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Jun 23, 2020 - Circle time ideas with puppets, rhymes, felts, etc... See more ideas about Finger plays, Puppets, Preschool songs.