Beat The Heat!

It's pretty HOT in New York! (Hot might be an understatement.)  So I've been looking around on Pinterest and other blogs and found some summer activities to stay cool! 

 Indoor Bubble Blowing!

Play Create Explore's site has a bunch of fun ideas! One being indoor bubble blowing. All you have to do is get a bowl add some washable paint and dish detergent to warm water. Oh, and don't forget the straws.

But Fun Baths has to be my favorite idea. Giving your child a new fun themed bath every once in awhile is a good way to extend knowledge through exploration!

Build a Sand Castle!

Make "Moon Sand" using the recipe provided by Sherry and Donna for days you can't make it to the beach. Cover it and save it for another day!

Put on Your Bathing Suits!

Hit the park and run through the sprinklers, fill up some water balloons or check out Clumst Crafter's Water Blob Tutorial. She also posted a simple D.I.Y. for staying cool and having lots of fun - Water Bombs. It is so much easier than refilling water balloons!

Sidewalk Creativity!

Growing a Jeweled Rose posted the ingredients for Chalk Splat! Watch what happens when you spray some vinegar on your artwork. There are also a bunch of other sidewalk art ideas featured on the post. 

Through Pinterest I found another summer activity  - Ice Chalk. And there are a bunch of ways you can have fun with it. Like color mixing...

Playing With Food!

Get your pasta and create Octo-Ice! Great for sensory play and it's something different! 

Crystal provided other sensory play ideas and I am loving the Freezy Dough! It's great because you can extend learning through pretend play! 

Shells and Play Dough

Make your own play dough using some flour, salt and water for practicing motor skills. Add some food coloring or kool-aid for colored play dough. Add some summer themed toys like shells and dolphins! 

Or create Beach Dough Creatures! It's really cute!

If you bake the dough you can make Shell Imprint Fossils.

Build a Tent and Camp!

Check out some Camping Themed Activities.

Simple Little Home went all out on an indoor camping experience! I love that some learning activities are included in all the fun. 

Too busy gazing at the stars? How about learning about constellations and creating Marshmallow Constellations!

Or HAVE AN INDOOR CAMPING PARTY! I love this! 

Ice Cream!!

What better way to stay cool in the summer than ICE CREAM! Make Ice Cream in a bag! This looks like a fun and easy experiment.

I made an Ice Cream color activity for secondary colors. Make red, blue and yellow ice cream scoops and brown, orange, purple, and green cones. (I'd highly suggest laminating them, so they are durable.)

Ice Cream Dough! Great for pretend play! And it looks so real! 

 

More pretend play by using this tutorial to make an Ice Cream Play Set! And a color matching game!

I am fully aware of the overuse of exclamation points! I couldn't help myself. Happy Summer! 

** I used Dreamlike Magic and Ashley Hughes clipart. 

Classroom Management

Happy Wednesday! So I have been out of the classroom since school ended and I'm going though withdrawal :( . Anyway, as I reminisce on the glory days (with some challenging ones along with it), I thought I'd share this Classroom Management idea I came up with during school. After Circle Time the group separates and goes to different centers for Center Time. Before they can leave the Circle Time rug they have to make a decision on where they want to go. Sometimes it's hard for children to make decisions on their own, especially when they are used to someone telling them what to do, so, I thought a visual of the different centers would be helpful. I made this Center Time Board for the preschoolers.

I made little gingerbread men shaped people and wrote their names. The red ones are the Jumpstart members. (I worked with Jumpstart and our uniform was a red Jumpstart shirt.) Before they could go to the center of their choice they had to place their gingerbread man next to the center on the board. If they chose to change centers during Center Time they had to move their man again. This helps keep track of where each child should be and helps manage how many children are at each center so it doesn't get too hectic. (Dramatic Area and Art were really popular in my classroom. We made a rule that there are only suppose to be four kids at Dramatic Area at a time and 4-6 at the other centers.)

I used a poster board and lots of index cards. I drew and colored everything on the index cards, cut everything out and then glued it onto the board. The gingerbread men have Velcro on the back of them and near the centers are about 5 Velcro spaces.