Valentine Silly Slime!

When I was teaching preschool, the children loved to play with homemade goop / silly slime.  I made it a few times each school year for the kids to enjoy.  It can be a bit messy so I had the children put an over sized t-shirt or apron on over their clothing.  I also gave each child a tray / cookie sheet to keep their small batch of slime on while they played with it.

I came across this recipe for Valentine Slime.  It's the same recipe that I used but I usually added food coloring to white glue and sometimes I added glitter too.  I like the ides of buying colored glue and also adding confetti for some extra Valentine sparkle!   Enjoy!

Lot's of Snow!

Here in Michigan, we are getting dumped on with snow!  Today is a snow day at our house.  Usually on snow days, my kids love to go outside to build forts, sled down our side hill in the yard, and make snow art.   I fill several plastic spray bottles with water and food coloring.  My kids go outside and spray paint designs in the snow.  My yard usually fills up with neighbor friends too so it's nice to have a few spray bottles handy.   Today (and tomorrow) it's too cold to go outside.   When my kids were toddler and preschool age, I used to bring the snow inside.  I also used to put snow in the sensory table bins when I taught preschool.  At home,  I used a big plastic Rubbermaid style bin or filled the bathtub with snow.  Just have the kids wear mittens, put towels on the floor and let the fun begin.  Snow ice cream is also lots of fun to make and eat.  Here is a recipe that I posted awhile back for some yummy snow ice cream.   Another fun thing to do is have an easy arts and crafts day.  Coffee filter snow flakes are always fun and easy to make.  They look pretty hanging in the windows.  Homemade play dough is great for keeping those little hands busy on indoor days too.  I recently saw a recipe for super soft play dough.  The ingredients are 1 part conditioner to 2 parts corn starch.  You can also add a couple drops of food coloring if you want to add color.  Put the conditioner in a bowl and add the corn starch.  Stir together and then add the food coloring and work it through with your hands.  I suggest wearing some latex or vinyl gloves so your hands don't get stained.   I have not personally tried this version of play dough but it sounds like it would be worth a try.   Happy snow day fun!
 

Snow Cups!

Most kids love snow cones and Italian Ice treats in the summer.   For an easy winter treat give snow cups a try!   I scooped some fresh, clean snow off the deck and poured some cranberry juice over the top.    My kids thought it was the perfect afternoon treat.  They enjoyed eating their flavored snow cups outside where it would not melt.

Outside Snow Art!

Do you have snow where you live? We have snow and plenty of it. We had a snow storm a few days ago which gave us a snow day on Friday and plenty of snow for the weekend. I filled some plastic spray bottles (I bought new bottles from a dollar store) with water and food coloring. I gave the kids some rules such as no spraying people, clothing or anything other than the snow and the trees. Then I let them loose in the yard to go make some snow art! I helped them build a snow fort earlier in the day so that made for some extra special fun. They even painted a snow chair in the fort. My kids and several neighbor friends joined in the outdoor snow art fun and it kept them all busy for a long time! Easy art with no mess / clean-up and everyone was happy.

Silly Snow Day Superstitions

Last night my twins wanted to flush ice-cubes down the toilet and make a wish for a snow day.  They have some new Lego's that arrived via UPS yesterday and they have big plans to play with them today.  They went all out and flushed ice cubes down 2 of our toilets and made a double wish.  Well, guess what.....it's a snow day!  Yeah for snow!  They will be so excited.

What silly snow day superstitions have you heard of?  I've also heard of sleeping with a spoon under the pillow and wearing pj's inside out & backwards.   I'm not at all a superstitious person but I am a fan of having fun and being silly.  I think we'll make some snow ice cream today :)

Snow Ice Cream.

One of our all-time favorite winter activities is making snow ice cream.  We've not been very fortunate in the snow department of late but when it does come we are sure to make some.  Rather than repeat the recipe you can click here to see an older post about this fun and delicious treat.
Do you have any other "cool" ideas for snow food?  Leave a comment below!

The finished product!

Winter Fun with Homemade Snow Ice Cream!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! Okay, well maybe I don't actually scream but my kids did start bouncing up and down shouting for joy when I told them we were going to make snow ice cream.

We had a lot of new snow and I knew that my kids would enjoy making and eating snow ice cream. It's really fun and easy to make. All that you need is clean snow, milk, vanilla extract and sugar. You can adjust the amounts to your liking. We made a lot because we wanted to test out some different flavors and we also wanted left-over ice cream. We put about 10 cups of clean snow into a big bowl (it melts fast when you bring it inside) and mixed in 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 1 cup of milk and about a 1/2 cup of sugar. We just mixed it all together with a spoon. You can adjust the amount of milk and snow until you get the consistency that you like and adjust the amount of sugar to your desired sweetness. We enjoyed the vanilla ice cream first and then we experimented with adding a little baking cocoa for chocolate ice cream. We placed our left over vanilla ice cream in the freezer.

Later in the day, my kids wanted to surprise daddy with our yummy after dinner dessert of snow ice cream. Our left-over ice cream still tasted great and we sprinkled "malted milk" on top for some extra goodness. If you haven't tried snow ice cream before, give it a try. It's easy and fun for the kids to make and even more fun to eat!

Fun Valentine Party Games for Kids!

I'm currently in the process of planning a children's Valentine party. I know that coming up with themed party games can be challenging so I'm going to make it easy whether you want to host a classroom Valentine's party or a party at home with your children and a few little friends. You could even do some of these games one on one with a child at home.

Heart Hunt: This is super easy. Simply cut out a bunch of paper hearts. Hide them all over the house/classroom or even outside if you are in an area with mild weather (it's snowing here). Let your children have fun finding all of the hearts. It's basically just like an Easter egg hunt but with hearts.

Candy Heart Towers: Set a bowl of candy hearts and a timer on a hard flat surface. See how high the children can build their heart tower before the timer goes off. This can be a competitive game or not depending on the age of the children and what they would enjoy. Really, everyone is a winner because they can keep and eat their candy hearts.

Candy, Candy, Heart!: This is a game that is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers as it is played just like Duck, Duck, Goose. Just replace the wording with Candy, Candy, Heart!

Estimation Jar: Fill a jar full of candy hearts or any type of pink/red candy. Make sure to count out how many you put in the jar! Let each child take a guess at how many pieces of candy are in the jar. Whoever guesses correctly gets to keep the jar of candy. Another option: If you don't want to let just one child win the prize, just give the winner a round of applause and then everyone can share the candy inside.

Famous Pairs: This is always a fun game. I remember playing this when I was a child. Make a list of famous pairs that your particular group/age range of children would recognize. You name one half of the pair and the children have to guess what goes with it. Some ideas: Peanut Butter & Jelly, Mickey Mouse & Minnie, Snoopy and Charlie Brown, Bert & Ernie, Jack & Jill, Hansel & Gretel. You get the idea.

I hope you enjoy one or more of these Valentine's Day party games with your kids. Have fun playing!

Homemade Baby Food Jar Snow Globes and Christmas Goody Bag Ideas

I'm a Kindergarten room mom this year and I'm in charge of party planning. I have a small budget to work with and I was trying to think of some inexpensive but cool gifts to put in goody bags for the children. I was able to "go green" a bit by recycling some baby food jars that were given to me. The friend who gave me the jars also gave me the idea to make snow globes with them (thanks Carrie!). To prep the jars, I soaked them in hot soapy water and the labels came off quite easily. I dried each jar and lid and then got to work on my project.

I bought some small evergreen trees to stick in each jar. I had envisioned using snowmen but the craft store didn't have any on the day I went so I went with the trees as they were only $1.99 for 12 count packages. I used floral clay to stick the trees to the inside of each lid. The finished snow globes will sit lid side down. Next, I filled the jars with about two teaspoons of glitter. Then I filled the jars with cold tap water stopping about a 1/2 inch from the top. I used a hot glue gun to seal the lids. I put the glue around the inside rim of the lid and then twisted it back onto the jar. Once this is done, let the jars dry lid side up overnight. Resist the urge to shake them or turn them over before they are dry. I did not resist the urge (I'm very impatient sometimes!) and as a result I ended up having to redo the seals on about 75% of my jars due to leakage. Not fun and quite messy! The finished product turned out cute and I think the kids are really going to enjoy these. I will wrap them in newspaper (another "green" move) to help prevent breakage.

I will be putting the snow globes and Reindeer Food from my previous post in the goody bags along with a few dollar store finds (Christmas Pencils and Christmas Erasers), a candy cane and homemade cookie treats. I'm pleased with my budget friendly goody bags. The goody bags themselves are also going to be homemade. The kids will each decorate their own goody bags ahead of time using a plain paper lunch bag and some Christmas cut-outs, crayons, markers and glue.

Magic Reindeer Food!

I was busy last night assembling 21 reclosable bags of Magic Reindeer Food for a classroom full of Kindergartners. It's an easy and fun little project that I thought you might enjoy doing for your children or classroom too. It's perfect for preschoolers and early elementary children who have fun believing in Santa and the reindeer.

To make the Magic Reindeer Food I used about 4 tablespoons of dry oatmeal per reclosable bag and then mixed in about 2 teaspoons full of glitter. I mixed a few colors of the glitter together for extra color. I then attached a note to each bag telling the children to sprinkle the magic reindeer food on their lawn on Christmas Eve night. The smell of the food will help guide the reindeer to their house. Be sure to verbally explain to the children not to eat the food themselves as it does have glitter in it! Last year on Christmas Eve just before bedtime, my husband took our kids outside all bundled up in their PJ's and they sprinkled the mixture onto our snow covered lawn. We're looking forward to doing it again this year.

Christmas Books for Preschoolers

I want to share with you a list of Christmas books that I enjoy reading to my kids year after year. For your convenience, I will make two lists. One list will be the traditional Christmas books and the other list will be Christian / Religious or have mention of religious material. Also be sure to check out our Christmas lesson plan (on sale now for only 99 cents) for some fun arts, crafts and activities and crafts.

Traditional Christmas Book List
(Hover your mouse over the title to see a preview from Amazon.com)

Clifford's Christmas (Clifford, the Big Red Dog)
by Norman Bridwell

The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy'>The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy by Jane Thayer

Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve?
by Jan Brett (*Note, this may not be appropriate for younger preschoolers as it is a Norwegian legend with trolls and a bear.)

Christmas Stories and Poems'>Christmas Stories and Poems by Lisa McCue

Twelve Days Of Christmas - Pbk'>The Twelve Days of Christmas Illustrated by Susan Swan

Merry Christmas Mom and Dad (A Golden Look-Look Book)'>Merry Christmas Mom And Dad by Mercer Mayer

The Dog Who Found Christmas (Picture Puffins)'>The Dog Who Found Christmas by Linda Jennings

The Polar Express'>The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

Bear Stays Up for Christmas'>Bear Stays Up For Christmas by Karma Wilson

If You Take a Mouse to the Movies (A Special Christmas Edition) (If You Give...)'>If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Joffe Numeroff

Oliver All Alone'>Oliver All Alone by Christine Harris

Corduroy's Christmas (Lift-the-Flap)
by B.G. Hennessy

Frosty the Snowman'>Frosty the Snowman by Jack Rollin's

Christian / Religious Christmas Book List

amy and the special snowflakes'>Amy and the Special Snowflakes by Grandreams Books Limited

The Littlest Christmas Tree: A Tale of Growing and Becoming'>The Littlest Christmas Tree (A tale of growing and becoming) by Janie Jasin

The Tiny Star'>The Tiny Star by Arthur Ginolfi

The Christmas Story with Ruth J. Morehead's Holly Babes (Pictureback(R))
by Ruth J. Morehead

THE CHRISTMAS BOOK A GOLDEN SHAPE BOOK BY DONNA KELLY~1977'>The Christmas Book by Donna Kelly

The Stable Where Jesus Was Born'>The Stable Where Jesus Was Born by Rhonda Gowler Greene

The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale'>The Tale of Three Trees (A Traditional Folktale) Retold by Angela Elwell Hunt

This Is the Star'>This is the Star by Joyce Dunbar

Legend of the Candy Cane, The'>The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg

Legend of the Christmas Tree, The'>The Legend of the Christmas Tree by Rick Osborne

The Parable Series: The Pine Tree Parable'>The Pine Tree Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs

Winter field trips and Christmas outings.

Continuing the Christmas theme I want to share with you some ideas for fun field trips and family outings. These are things that should be available in most regions without too much of a drive. Even if all of the ideas are not available in your area, I hope they will give you some inspiration to find something fun for you to do with your children. Most of our links are around the Midwestern United States but most areas will have similar attractions within a days drive. If you have any great Christmas or winter field trip ideas please comment below and share them with the rest of us.

CHRISTMAS/WINTER FIELD TRIPS:

Live Nativity Scene. These include live animals that the children may be able to pet afterwards. Many times churches and farms will offer this during the holiday season. It is often free or fairly inexpensive. Below is a link to one of these types of events. http://www.critterbarn.org/site/c.ihKMIWPDIqE/b.4170339/k.9424/Live_Nativity.htm

Christmas Tree Farm. This is a fun field trip for students looking to get a tree for the classroom. We also enjoy doing this trip with our family. Some farms offer wagon rides and even meals or snacks (hot cider and doughnuts, etc.). http://www.lenderink.com/treeFarm.html

Botanical Garden. They may decorate for the holidays. The garden in the link below has an amazing display of "Christmas Traditions Around the World". They have many trees representing various countries. Frederik Meijer Gardens.

Ballet Production. Of course there is the large ballet that is offered in the bigger cities but often you can find ballet schools/organizations offering less expensive ballet performances designed for children and families. We attended "Twas the Night Before Christmas" last weekend and it was wonderful. My kids were even able to go on stage after the play to meet the cast and sit on Santa's lap! http://www.careballet.org/

Christmas Train. These trains go by many names but are almost always a magical experience that shouldn't be missed. They vary by price and length of ride so be sure to look around. If you are near the Midwest our favorite is Crossroads Village and Huckleberry Railroad. It is amazing!

Carriage/Sleigh Ride. Whether in a city or out in the countryside these are fun for the whole family and create memories that last a lifetime. http://www.chicagocarriage.com/

School/Church/Theatre Productions. Opportunities abound to find inexpensive, child-friendly plays and musicals.

Bookstore / Library. In addition to the library, I know that large bookstores such as Barnes and Noble also offer storytime and crafts. I'll bet some smaller local bookstores do this too. They usually have holiday themes this time of the year. It's free and fun.

Malls. Take your children to walk through the mall. Malls, especially larger ones usually have many Christmas decorations up and it's fun to walk through and look at the displays. Bring a camera becasue if Santa is there, the kids can sit on his lap and you can take a picture.

Drive Through Light Displays. Look in your local newspaper to see if a ballpark, stadium or neighborhood is advertising drive through light displays. Sometimes you pay a fee per car load and sometimes you are asked to give a donation to help offset the expenses.

Bakery Tour. Check with your local bakery to see if they are offering holiday baked goods. I know that Krispy Kreme usually has holiday doughnuts. This is a fun fieldtrip year round but extra fun to watch holiday treats being made. Even more fun to sample them!

Zoo. You may not typically think of going to the zoo in the winter but it's actually a really fun time to go. The rates are usually reduced or even free. It's a gret chance to see how the animals react to the cooler weather and the zoo is less crowded. Some zoos even decorate for Christmas and offer special holiday hours. http://www.czs.org/czs/Brookfield/Zoo-Home.aspx

Nature Centers. Learn about wildlife in winter, get a local history lesson and take part in fun activities such as candle dipping.

Craft Fairs. Craft Fairs can be a lot of fun for little ones. I give my kids each a couple of dollars to bring to the craft fair. They enjoy being responsible for their own money and I encourage them to look at the things at all of the booths before buying. They can "booth shop" without buying and then go back once they have seen everything and made a decision. This also gives me a chance to look around without hearing "mommy, I'm bored, can we go now".

If you live in the United States, I found another great resource for great winter field trips. You can find your state and then look for places to go in your area. They also offer recipes. http://pickyourownchristmastree.org/index.htm

Happy Holidays! Enjoy!

Making Easy Advent Calendars for Kids

I remember having fun with an Advent calendar when I was a little girl. I can't remember exactly what the calendar looked like but I do remember that each day we opened a little numbered door on our "calendar" and found a small surprise hiding in there. We received something little (like a sticker or piece of candy) each day until Christmas.

If you are looking for an advent calendar to do with your kids, I found a few that you could easily make or print. My favorite is the baby sock advent calendar because it's absolutely adorable.

Bubble Wrap Advent Calendar from Family Fun

Printable Advent Calendar from The Toymaker

Christmas Tree Advent Calendar from DLTK

Baby Sock Advent Calendar from Martha Stewart

Kids Countdown to Christmas Activity

We put our Christmas tree up over the weekend and now each day my kids ask me "mom, how many more days until Christmas?" They are so excited! Does this sound familiar to you too? I've decided that we need a fun and easy way to count down to Christmas. I'm going to cut strips from red and green construction paper and have my kids help me make a festive paper chain. The chain will have one link for each day until Christmas. Each day they can remove a link and count down the days left until Christmas.

Holiday Sale!

We are running a special holiday sale at Lesson Plans Plus. Please check out our website for more details on this great offer.

Fun Field Trip Ideas

If you are in need of some fun field trip ideas (and who isn't during a long, cold winter), check out our newly updated Field Trip page on LessonPlansPlus.com. We have compiled a list of our favorite field trips for young children as well as links to some other great resources. Now go get rid of that cabin fever...Enjoy!

An Indoor Winter Picnic

If your weather is anything like mine, being outside is no picnic ;-) The arctic breeze is blowing through the mounds of snow. My kids love to have picnics and in the Summer, we eat outside all the time. About a week ago we packed up a picnic lunch, spread a blanket out on the living room floor and we enjoyed an indoor picnic. Part of the fun of a picnic is letting the kids help make and/or pack up the lunch. Having an indoor picnic is always a special treat for my kids because it's not something that we do very often. As we were having our picnic lunch, I had an idea, or as my kids would say, "a GREAT idea". For our next indoor picnic we are going to create Spring. We'll spend the day before making flowers and butterflies and other typical Spring crafts. We will decorate the room with our artwork, spread out our blanket and enjoy eating our picnic lunch inside our little Springtime retreat (as we watch the snow fall outside). It will be fun and something different and my kids can hardly wait. The great thing about our inside picnic is that the paper bugs won't try to eat our lunch! I love how preschoolers find such great joy in the simple things.

Weekly Challenge: Enjoy an indoor picnic with your children and make it extra fun by decorating the area with some fun artwork ahead of time.

Indoor Winter Activities

It's freezing cold here so my kids have not been able to play outside in the snow for several days now. I've been trying to bring some of the outdoor fun inside. I thought you might like to try some of these ideas with your kids too.

~ Ice Skating: Use waxed paper and rubber bands or masking tape. Tape or attach a piece of waxed paper around each foot (preferably with a sock on the foot). Put on some music and watch your children skate.

~Fill your sensory tub (I just use a big plastic bin) with snow. Put mittens on the kids, give them a few gadgets and toys to play with in the snow and they will be happy for awhile. You can also provide magnifying glasses for the children to observe the snowflakes.

~Make Snow Play dough: It's actually just regular homemade play dough with some silver glitter but we like to pretend that it's snow play dough because it sparkles like the snow. You can find a play dough recipe on the Lesson Plans Plus website.

~Simple winter science experiment: Bring a container of snow indoors. Once the snow melts, add food coloring to the water. Place the container back outside until the water freezes into a colored block of ice. Bring the container back inside. The children can observe the changes as the ice melts.

~Bird Feeders: Another fun activity for kids is making bird feeders. Roll a pine cone in peanut butter and then roll (or sprinkle) the peanut butter covered pine cone with bird seed. Tie a string around the pine cone and hang it outside for the birds and squirrels to enjoy. Be sure to hang the feeder in a location where your children can easily see it by looking out a window.