Summer Fun for Preschoolers: Preschool Summer Days Octopus & Jellyfish

Today I am happy to welcome Nikki from Angels of Heart with some fun and yummy octopus and jellyfish crafts for preschoolers!   

This is the ninth (and last) week in the Summer Fun For Preschoolers series!  Thank you so much for joining us, and a huge thank you to our contributors!!  Click here for a list of all the weeks, and check out the contributors in the left hand sidebar!

Hi everyone on Preschool Powol Packets!   It is so great to be able to come by and share some of our preschool summer days. This summer our family of 7 is having a staycation.  We have been keeping busy with house cleaning projects, swimming at the local pool, visiting our library, playing at tennis camp and walking through our local parks with the parks program. My little Sweet Pea, who is 3, walked  almost a mile last week. That is amazing with such little legs. Preschoolers sure are movers!

This week we decided to take a look at the octopus and the jellyfish. We watched a few great videos on You tube. 

First we made Jellyfish in a bottle. Here is what you will need :

 * Plastic bottle (ours is a old Gatorade bottle)
 * Gallon ziplock baggie
 * Water
 * Blue food coloring
 * Rubber band
 * Pair of Scissors
 * second water bottle (optional)

I started out by filling the water bottle halfway. Then I took all of our supplies out to the porch. I imagined anything with water would be messy, and I guessed that pretty well. I added about 4 drops of blue food coloring to her Gatorade bottle and then closed the lid. Then it was Sweet Pea's turn. Her job was to shake the water. This was a great time of exploring as the blue began to mix with the water. Don't you love how everything with preschoolers is so exciting and new?!
                                                              

Next I had Sweet pea work her magic by opening that pesky ziplock baggie as wide as she could. I helped by pouring a small amount of water in. This will be used as the head of you jellyfish, so don't make it too large or it will have trouble fitting into the bottle. Once we had our desired amount Sweet Pea zipped up the baggie. Mommy's job was to put the rubber band around the "head."

This is what the baggie looks like now (below).  I then took my scissors and cut the bottom off the bag and the seams up to the rubber band. 

            

Sweet Pea was able to have a little scissor practice cutting tentacles for the jellyfish. This is a simple straight cut up to the rubber band. Sweet Pea is a cutter. She loves to cut paper into stripes and magazines. Working with the bag was different but all I had to do was pull the bag taunt and she did fine. 

 Now the fun part!  We stuffed the tentacles into our water bottle ocean habitat and then pushed in his head. Sweet pea needed a little help. We also found our jellyfish was a little big so I cut some more off the end of the bag to make him fit.

This is why we are outside: it was time to fill up our Gatorade bottle. Sweet Pea actually poured the water right over the top of the bottle!

We put the lid on, and our jellyfish was all set to show off.  My 16 year old tried to figure out how we did it--she kept thinking too hard and thought we did some sort of chemical reaction. My 13-year old son tried to make his own. I had to show them both how--be prepared if you have older kids they might want a jellyfish too!

Now time for a little moving.  You probably know that preschoolers are movers, and it's always great when an activity can get them moving. So we made some Octopus balloons. Here is what you will need:

* 1 Balloon
* Sharpie marker
* Streamers
* Glue or tape 

 This is a very simple craft. First blow up your child's balloon, of course Sweet Pea's is pink. Remember when playing with balloons to keep a close watch of your children so they do not put them in their mouth. Balloons are a risk of a chocking hazard.  Supervise your child.  Have your child draw what they think the face of an octopus might look like. 

 Have your little one help you cut your streamers into 8 pieces.  Glue or tape the streamers on the balloon. We glued ours on but if you have impatient preschoolers, tape is faster, and they can play right away. 

Here is our end result:  the pink Octoprincess. 

And then do what any preschooler would do... Dance.... sing..... and run........

       

     When you are all tired out sit down in the warm sun and enjoy this ice snack. He is really easy to make. 

You will need:

* a packet of kool aid

* a round container

* gummy worms  (Don't get the sour ones--they become quite mushy. I learned the hard way.) 

1. Mix the Kool-aid per the package. I didn't quite fill it as full with water as the drink mix asked so that it had a sweet taste when frozen.

2. Pour your Kool aid into your round container--we used a butter container.

3. Place the gummy worms in the kool aid but hang them gently over the side so that the legs hang over the side.

4. Place in a freezer over night.

5. To get the ice free you might need to run a little warm water over the outside of the container

6. Drop into a bowl and eat--a nice, fun, yummy summer treat.
          

   

         I had a great time visiting today. Thank- you for having us.


                                                                Warm Blessings,
                                                                        Nikki

Nikki Hinkle is the mother of 5 children, 2 step children and 3 Grandchildren. She have worked in the childcare field for years and currently works for her church as a nursery supervisor. She post all about her life which includes God, Home education, being a mom, and about caring for the home home. Her goal is to create a resource for other homeschool moms who are going through the same Joys, fun, challenges, and struggles. You can visit Nikki at Angels of Heart or on her Facebook page (the Facebook page is moderated--just mention you are from Preschool Powol Packets).

Thank you Nikki, and thank you to all the other contributors this summer!

What summer fun have you had?  Feel free to link to any summer fun posts here!

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I may share at any of these parties!