Tear-ific Artwork to Write About

One of my favorite art projects to do with kids, to develop the little muscles in their hands, is to have them tear apart little pieces of colorful construction paper and glue them onto a template to make a beautiful work of art that I usually help little ones write a sentence about.  One example is a fall picture that all you need in order to make it is crayons and construction paper:

You can have little ones tear apart little pieces of their favorite color construction paper (or seasonal colors) until the shreds fill a paper plate.

Then, have your little one help you come up with a template; mine was simply made up of a tree trunk and a circle for the pumpkin.

On top of this template apply a thin layer of glue…..I use rubber cement (or spread regular glue with a small paintbrush).

Before the glue dries, let your little one assemble the paper pieces onto their picture.

Finally, ask your little one to help you write a sentence about your picture.  For example, “I like the Fall” or “The leaves are falling.”

If you and your little one make your own Tear-Art please share on The Mommy Teacher Facebook Page:

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A Book about how “Jack” is feeling

Oh, so many uses for such a simple pumpkin template.  Yes, I have yet another use for that simple pdf that I made by copying a pumpkin di-cut, and todays activity idea develops social-emotional skills and reading skills.

All you need to do is print the template, talk with your little ones about feelings that we have and brainstorm a list of them (sad, mad, silly, happy, etc.).  Then, try to make a Jack-O-Lantern expression that matches that emotion.

After doing that, cut them out, have your little one try to help you write the word that sounds out that feeling “/s//a//d/” and put all the jack’s together to make a book.  Give it a title and tah-dah, you have a Book about Jack.

Accomodate each page description with whatever your little one is capable of or interested in.  Your little one might like a more creative description under each jack expression like “Jack-O-Silly”  or your little one might want to make a repetitive book that says “Jack is…” on each page.  Let your little one make it his/her own!

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Your Library Read-Aloud Experience

I will be posting a reading activity tomorrow and will be having a giveaway SOON, but I wanted to ask a Mommy Teacher Question for Mommy (and daddy) teachers to share their read-aloud experiences:

Have you been to a read-aloud at the local library or something similar?  What was your child’s response?

All of our little ones are different….with different interests, behaviors, attention spans, personalities, activity levels, developmental skills, etc. and I QUICKLY learned that if I want my active little 17 month old to learn library manners it is going to take some familiarity and practice!

I have attempted to take Sean Patrick to the weekly library read-alouds, for children his age, TWICE now; although he was slightly more interested the second time, the first visit still cracks me up.

This little child LOVES to read.  Tonight, our power was out and he sat on my lap as I read him TONS of books (using a bright headlamp) for an hour.  He reads to himself in the back seat of the car, and asks me to “read pweease” all day.  And he loves music too.   HOWEVER, when the librarian was leading fingerplays and reading a big book, Sean Patrick wanted nothing to do with it.  He wanted to run around the library, pulling books from the shelves, and he stopped in front of each person to direct their attention to himself.  Don’t get me wrong, these are also typical behaviors of my 17 month old, BUT I found it comical that he didn’t ALSO focus his energy on the read-aloud for more than 1 minute.

So, out of sheer curiousity, and just for fun, I’d LOVE to hear about your read-aloud experiences either in a comment or on my facebook page:

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More Pumpkin Games

Today you can use the same pumpkin template that I made for you on Monday to play even more games focusing on skills that you are working on with your little one.

One great way to accommodate practicing new skills, depending on what your little one needs to work on, is by using two-sided cards.  On one side you might write the word of problem you want your little one to practice “solving” and on the other you could write the answer.  This is so that little ones can “self-correct” and check to see for themselves if he/she guessed correctly.  This game is as simple as having your little one pick a pumpkin, read the number word (or solve the problem like counting the number of dots) and turn it over to see if the number matches the word or amount (or addition problem).   If he/she is correct, he will place the pumpkin in the “pumpkin patch” (a shoebox, on a cutting board, or any defined space you choose).  If he/she is incorrect, he will place the pumpkin in the bottom of the card stack, with the goal of eventually placing returning all of the pumpkins to the pumpkin patch.

Or, you can always have your little one order the pumpkins (letters, numbers, number words, from biggest to smallest number amounts, etc.) or otherwise allow your little one the chance to come up with a fun way to use and practice their new skills.

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Simple Pumpkin Game

Today I thought I would introduce a “card game” that you could play with your kids using a  simple pumpkin template that I made.

For this game, print the pumpkin template onto orange paper (or cardstock) and cut them out either in squares or on the outside of the bold, black outline.  Then write a number, sight word, letter, shape, or any skill you are focusing on at the time on the back of most of the cards.  On about 1/5 of the cards write the word “boo” or some other fun seasonal word that is memorable for your child.  Place the cards down with the pumpkins facing up.  Your little one will pick up a pumpkin and tell you what is on the back of the pumpkin. If your little one names it right, he/she will keep the card and then you, or another player, will take a turn. But, if he/she cannot identify what is on the back of the card, he/she will have to put the card back (after you have re-taught him/her what that skill was). If your little one picks “Boo”, encourage your little one to put ALL of his/her cards back; making it very light-hearted and funny that he/she has to “start over” because of that silly “boo.”

Game Tip* Explain the rules FIRST, have a practice round second, and then play a real game third so that the rules are understood and applied by your little one before the game officially starts.

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