•Sunflowers These two are really neat. They are geared towards the age groups we all work with. There are pictures available too. Just go to the Young at Art section of Moms Online. I am putting a link to the picture of the finished products at the bottom of the description. This is a link to the main Young at 'Art (Keyword to: aol://4344:856.Yart.7564695.519328305) screen. •"Hands-full-of-Sunflower" is a project that I learned from a fellow child care provider. This project incorporates a special "signature" from each child -- their individual handprint shapes. Not only are the little hands in the craft cute -- using a special item that reflects each child's personally fosters self-esteem and sparks a sense of ownership. They can see themselves clearly reflected in the craft. This large sunflower "reaches" to the sun and has real sunflower seeds on its face, an extra tactile dimension to the creation. We have hung our "Hands-full-of-sunflower" from the ceiling in my daughter's room, but they could also be displayed in a deep flower pot full of pebbles or packing peanuts... use your imagination! TITLE: Hands-full-of-Sunflower ESTIMATED COST: $2.50 if you have the paint, $5.50 if you buy paint ESTIMATED TIME: 1 hour (about 45 minutes is drying time) LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: Easy SUPPLIES: Paper plate Paper towel tube Paint brush Glue Stapler Sunflower seeds Eight cutouts of child's closed handprint Two green construction paper leaves Green tempra paint STEP 1 Paint paper towel tube with green paint. I use powdered tempra and mix it with water, placing the marble in the jar is to help mix the paint. Let the tube dry. STEP 2 Staple the eight hands around the lip of the paper plate. STEP 3 Place glue in the center of the plate and pour sunflower seeds on top. Discard the ones that did not stick... and eat them! It's also fun to scatter different things for "seeds" into the center of the flower -- buttons, sparkly beads, pebbles, dried beans, peanut shells. FINALE Staple the painted tube to the back side of the paper plate. Glue the two leaves to the green "stem" of the flower. PROJECT CHALLENGES The main challenge with this craft is the stapling part. When stapling the tube to the plate, you may wish to staple one end of the tube shut first and then staple the plate to the tube. A heavy duty stapler will work best for this, however, the hand-held one pictured in the photos will work with a few tries. This link will take you to a picture of the finished project: Hands full of sunflowers FINALE (Keyword to: aol://4344:856.sunhand5.7566235.522188090) This will take you to the step by step pictures: Hands-full-of-Sunflowers (Keyword to: aol://4344:856.Yart05b.7566226.522185300) •"Curly Sunflowers" was submitted by a Moms Online regular, KLGRAY1. Her second grade class made these sprightly creations in May, and everyone was pleased with the results. This is a great project for children of all ages. These paper plate flowers have warm faces and a crazy "curly" stem that winds down as it dances in the breeze. I would have loved to see the sight of a classroom full of these happy guys. Thanks Kristie for the wonderful idea! ESTIMATED COST: $1.50 if you have the paint, $3.50 if you buy paint ESTIMATED TIME: 1 hour (about 45 minutes is drying time) LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: Easy (littler kids may need adult help with some of the cutting) SUPPLIES: Paper plate Circle of green construction paper Paint brush Black marker or crayon Yellow tempra paint Hole punch String or yarn STEP 1: Paint paper plate with yellow paint (or in some flower-type scheme of colors). I use powdered tempras and mix them with water, rather than the pre-mixed kind. It's cheaper and easier to mix up paint just enough for a project rather then open a huge jar of potential spills. Helpful Hint: Put a marble in the jar of paint. It will help mix the paint and keep out the lumps. STEP 2: Cut a wavy line in the green construction paper circle spiraling into the center. This will be the stem of the flower. FINALE Once the plate is dry, draw seeds around the outside edge of the plate and a face in the center. Staple the stem to the bottom and hang the string through a hole punched at the top. If you feel inspired, glue feathers or tissue paper around the edges of the plate for "petals." Cloth scaps also work well... imagination can only improve this project! This will take you to the finished project: Currly Sunflower Finale (Keyword to: aol://4344:856.curlsun4.7566230.522187235) This will taaake you to the step by step pictures:Curly Sunflowers (Keyword to: aol://4344:856.Yart05a.7566225.522185240) • I'm A Little Sunflower (Sung to the tune of "I'm A Little Teapot") I'm a little sunflower. Sit cross-legged on the floor. I'm so small. Soil, sun, and water On the work soil, pat the floor. Make me Tall. On the word sun, round your arms overhead. On the word water, wiggle fingers, pretending to sprinkly the soil. When I get all grown-up, Sit up on knees; then stand with hands You will see on hips. That I'm as big as I can be! Stand tall with arms outstretched. The kids love watching the flowers grow and singing the song. • SAM THE PIZZA MAN Hold both hands out, palms up Sam the Pizza man put a pizza in a pan dot the air and rub tummy And he put a lotta sausage on the top. (that's good) Now I know if he would only put index finger on chin Add the pepperoni, shake head yes He would have a nice-a pizza! Serve it hot I would!!!!! •Scribble Art Have the children scribble on a piece of paper with black crayon. Then have the children use other colors to color in the sections between the scribbled lines. They will be surprised at the colorful picture they end up with. •Little Skunk’s Hole I stuck my head in a little skunks' hole , and the little skunk said "Oh bless my soul" " TAKE IT OUT , TAKE IT OUT REMOVE IT !!!!!!!!!! " Well i did not take my head out of the little skunks' hole and the little skunk said "Oh bless my soul , TAKE IT OUT TAKE IT OUT REMOVE IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!" PSSSSSSSSSSSST I Removed it tooooooo late . I work with 3 and 4 year olds and they LOVE this song everytime we sing or say it they just laugh and get a kick out of it ! •Straw Painting For each child place a small drop of tempera paint in the center of a large piece of paper. Give each child a straw and have them blow (lightly) the paint around the paper to make a design. •Skipping Teach the children how to skip. Show them how to Jump and kick on alternate feet or to setp and hop on alternate feet. •Slippery Snakes Materials: 1 1/2 cups apple juice, one 3-ounce package any flavor gelatin, 1 envelope unflavored gelatin, 5 ice cubes, 2 self sealing plastic bags. 1. Pour half of the apple juice into a saucepan. Heat until boiling. Remove from heat. Add flavored gelatin and stir. Pour remaining apple juice into mixing bowl. Sprinkle it with unflavored gelatin. 2. Stir gelatin and juice in mixing bowl. Add to hot juice, add ice cubes. Stir until ice cubes melt. Refrigerate about 10-15 minutes. Put half of the apple gelatin into each plastic bag. Close and seal. 3. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Cut about 1/4 inch off one corner of the bag. Hold the bag over the baking sheet, slowly squeezing the bag to form snake shapes. Repeat with remaining mixture. Chill for 2 hours. • Mr. Lion and his Sneeze Mr. Lion said, "I am going to Sneeze!" (Point to self) So he put his head down between his knees! (put head down between knees) He opened his mouth and out it flew (open mouth) A GIANT SUPER LOUD....ACHOOOO!!!! (kids sneeze loudly) The jungle floor jiggled and the trees all wiggled (kids wiggle and jiggle body) And the birds were flown to Bombay (make flying motion with hands) And the elephants were tossed every which way (slap hands on knees) Mr. Lion looked up and roared (have kids pretend to look up) "Oh my, a windstorm just passed by! •SALTY SURPRISE paper watercolors paintbrushes salt shaker water 1) Let the child paint a picture using regular watercolors. 2) Allow the child to shake salt on his painting while it is still wet. 3) When the painting dries it will sparkle!! •Tie Snakes (especially appropriate for the rain forest theme) take one of dad's old/ugly ties- the busier the print the better. cut open on of the ends, and fill 2/3's all the way will polyfill (that pillow stuff). then, insert either a hanger you have made straight or a length of medium-light gauge wire. fill the rest of the way, and sew/glue/web-iron the tie closed again. the wire or hanger seems pretty important to giving the body some shape and letting you give it that "s" shape, but I guess you could skip that part if you had to. now, add googly eyes and the long tounge with the "v" shape at the end, and you have a rain forest andaconda! young ones should be able to most of the project! We did this craft for our Fathers Day Gift one year, the parents thought it was so cute, we left out the wire as it has a tendency to poke through the ends. When making your snake leave the tag on the underside, the children put the snake around their neck and put their finger through the tag to make them move. (we used dowling to poke the stuffing down the tie. •SNAKE SUPPER. (Sorry--the author is not coming to mind (sigh), I'll try to find it!) This book is similar to the Hungry Caterpillar as it builds from page to page and it doesn't take long at all for the children to "catch on" to the rhythm and join right in. • How about another... The Very Greedy Python... Eric Carl and ummm Buckley I think. It has a wonderful caidance and rhythm. •SWANS IN THE PARK (tune:"rock-a-bye baby") Swans glide across the pond in the park, With feathers so white and beaks that are dark. They spread out there wings and take to the air. The swans fly away, but I don't know where. •A SALAMANDER I saw a little creature that was slimy, smooth, and wet. I thought it was the oddest thing that I had ever met. It was something like a lizard, but it had no scales at all. It was something like a frog, but it didnt hop- it crawled. So I took it to my teacher and she told me right away, " I see you brought a salamander into class today." •Squirrel facts: Sizes-----5" (pigmy squirrel) to 36"(giant squirrels) Food------nuts, seeds and buds Stores food. A squirrel will bury it's food away from the tree or place where it was found. They use their strong sense of smell to relocate food. Kinds: red, grey, black, grey, flying Flying Squirrel---glides from higher to lower tree branches by means of a blanket-like membrane of furry skin stretched between it's long forelegs and hindlegs. It's flattened tail is used to glide their parachute-like glides. • Nut sorting: Basket of nuts with shells, divided container for sorting, tongs to pick them up with. Children can sort. (expansion: add a dice, the children roll dice to see how many to pickup, provide a chart with nut that is opened, children can see what's inside) • Add nuts to the sand table for burying. • Use nuts like marbles for painting. • Make squirrel tracks; Cut a potato or use foot pads(glue onto linoleum) into paw prints. Use potato like a stamp. If you use the footpads you need to roll the paint on with little paint rollers. • Books: Nuts to You • This Little Squirrel This little squirrel said, "Let's run & play." (point to each finger in turn) This little squirrel said, "Let's hunt nuts today." This little squirrel said, "Yes, nuts are good." This little squirrel said, "Yes, they're our best food." This little squirrel said, "Come climb this tree." (hold forearm up, hand open; run fingers of other hand to top fast, ending with thumb & forefinger making a circle) "And crack these nuts, 1-2-3." (clap) • Gray Squirrel Gray squirrel, gray squirrel, Swish your fluffy tail. Gray squirrel, gray squirrel, Swish your fluffy tail. Wrinkle up your little nose, Hold a nut between your toes. Gray squirrel, gray squirrel, Swish your fluffy tail •Another Book: Squirrels by Brian Wildsmith • Games: "Autumn Short and Long Path Games from More Than Counting In the short path game, two identical game boards have a squirrel sticker on one end followed by circle labels. The game movers are acorns mounted on wooden disks. A die or spinner is used for the children to decide how to move. In the long path game, one game board has a path of circle labels (some marked with acorns) between a squirrel and an oak tree. Small toy squirrels are used as the movers and dice are used for the children to decide how to move. A basket of acorns is available for children to collect at the end of the game or when they land on acorns. If you're familiar with More Than Counting, you know these are just ideas that can be used with their format of open math games. I actually made two short path boards with a squirrel on one end and a tree on the other (I used stickers and laminated) with round labels in between. I use tiny baskets as movers and have acorns available for collection along the way. • PAPER TOWEL ROLL SNAKE I think this would be good for Earth Day. Recycle those p.towel rolls! Start at the end of the paper towel roll & cut in a circular or spiral line like the one that is already on it.When you get to the end cut out a head shape.Now cut the tail into a tapered shape .Now the snake can be put on your arm>it will wrap around.Let the kids paint.I hope you can understand this.You are really cutting a head & tail shape on each end of the cut paper towel. •Donut Spiders buy those small ( i think hostess) chocolate covered donuts......have each child count out 8 pretzel sticks...then they can stick the pretzels around the outside of the small donut for spider legs!!!!! *Also see ideas in these files: Themes, Library Extenders, Any Day /Everyday Activities, and Dramatic Play/Prop Boxes for more activities that may start with your focus letter.