Preschool Powol Packets

We made these fun pirate swords as part of our Letter P Day! Pirate Swords make excellent props for pretend play and creating them is a great fine muscle motor exercise!  Once everyone had made one, four of the six children announced, "I am Jake!" (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates), one girl declared, "I am Izzy!" and one little boy observed, "No one is Cubby!"  Then we all joined forces to make a map and find our treasure that had been hidden by the nefarious Captain Hook!  "P" is for "Pirate!" You can make your own easy pirate swords too! Simple Supplies: cardboard cut in the shape of a sword (I used an old diaper box.) aluminum foil, torn in pieces about the size of a piece of paper Easy How-to: 1.  Give each child a sword and several pieces of aluminum foil. 2.  Let them wrap their sword to make it nice and shiny!!  They may need help poking a hole in and wrapping the handle.  I didn't even use tap

The 100th Day of school is almost upon us, and I am joining with 19 other bloggers to bring you the Celebrate the 100th Day! series, full of resources and ideas to celebrate 100 days of school! Today I'm sharing an activity that is perfect for helping young children see and feel just how much 100 is.  It can also be adapted to helping younger children conceptualize 10 and older children visualize 1000 and more.  Additionally, it strengthens fine motor skills, exercises analytic reasoning, and adds a multi-sensory aspect to math!  And it can easily be adapted to fit a small home daycare (like mine!), a homeschooling family, or a classroom!  *Also, I am including a history extension that I prepared for my 6-year old!* So, let's get started! You will need at least 100 interlocking blocks .  We used mega blocks like those below, but you may need more than one package (affiliate link): If you are expanding the lesson for older children, you will want 10 piece

Mythological Creatures are fun for preschoolers to play with in so many ways! As the last Monday in January, today is Poppins Book Nook, and the theme is Greek Mythology.  At Preschool Powol Packets, we focused on Mythological Creatures.   Here is a short primer on Mythological Creatures : Centaur:   head and torso of a man, body and legs of a horse Charybdis:   a sea monster that can make deadly whirlpools when he breathes in Gorgons:   three sisters with snakes for hair.   Medusa  was famous for turning people to stone if they looked at her. Griffon/Gryphon:   body of a lion with head and wings of an eagle Hippocampi:   sea creatures that had fronts like a horse and backs like a fish tail Hydra:   a snake with many heads (actually destroyed by Hercules) Manticore:   a monster with the body of a lion, a head of a man, and a spike-shooting tail Phoenix:  a red bird that bursts into flames when it dies and is re-born of the ashes Sa

Preschooler Behavior Management can take on so many faces that I could devote an entire blog just to that subject.  I could give you tips for communicating with preschoolers, tips for preventing bad behaviors, tips for encouraging good behaviors, how to deal with melt downs, and more.  (Actually, towards the end of each month this year I will have a behavior management post!)   Today, though, I am sharing one easy tip you can implement any time you need it and see immediate results.  It is simply this:  Go outside. Take your child (or children) and walk out the door.  Hand him a shovel and let him dig.  Hand him a hose and let him spray.  Or let him search for a stick.  Or even just let him breathe in fresh air while he screams and runs in circles!  You can create fun play stations or let your children create their own!  Your preschooler behavior management just got much easier! Research actually shows that outdoor activities help your child regulate emoti

Love is in the air!!  Science projects, pipettes, explosions, reactions, and colors are super popular around here, so we had a love-potion-mixing Valentine Science Experiment Day!   My preschoolers loved  mixing the different potions, and once they discovered which combinations made which reactions, they repeated their favorites over and over and over!  The scooping, pouring, and using spoons and pipettes are excellent fine-motor practice.  The experimenting and analyzing help develop cause and effect concepts.  And the fizzing, foaming color is just fun for everyone!!   You can also have a Love Potions Valentine Science Experiment Day with your preschoolers...or older kids! Everyone loves a little love explosion!  Here's what you need: Simple Supplies: little cups to hold all the potions fancy cups for your Valentine brew (we used candle holders) pans, buckets, or a sink to catch the explosions red Kool-Aid green Kool-Aid vinegar dish soap re

My preschoolers loved putting these Peek-a-Boo Penguins together, and the fact that they used recycled materials was an extra bonus! The truth is I rarely throw away egg cartons, and I have enough right now that we could do an egg-carton craft a day for weeks!  Since we've been talking a lot about penguins during the last week or two, I thought this craft would be a hit...and it was! First, let's give credit where credit is due!  Originally, I was going to glue two egg carton cups together with the flat parts touching, but my 6-year old thought they would look better like this.  She was right!  Plus, you can hide goodies inside, like these fruit snacks (peek-a-boo!): Making these Peek-a-Boo Penguins is so easy, you'll want to build a whole rookery!  More  Preschool Penguin Crafts Simple Supplies: egg carton cups foam sheets or construction paper wiggly eyes black & white paint glue & paint brushes Easy How To: 1.  Prepare the pieces:  

Even though we have gorgeous temperatures outside today, I still love to talk about snow in January and February!  These books are all fabulous for preschoolers and go wonderfully with snow crafts, discussions, and experiments. I have a bookshelf in our playroom that could easily hold 200 books, but I only put out about 20 at a time.  I like to rotate them every week or two.  This makes it easier for children to access the books, re-read them, and become familiar with them.  Reading the same book to your children more than once lets them become familiar enough with the story line that they can re-tell and analyze the events in it.  Even young preschoolers like to "read" books to themselves and others.  You can also discuss different aspects of the story, characters, events, and illustrations on each read-through.  We will be putting out winter and snow books this week! Here are 20+ snow themed books for preschoolers!  Each picture is an Amazon affiliate link

I just love these lanterns that my preschoolers designed themselves today! We started this morning out playing with lights and shadows, and then the kiddos continued to play with their little lights on and off throughout the day.  Late in the morning they took the lights to the craft table and started to create these lanterns.   You may have to pick up the little lights, but the rest of the supplies can vary and are most likely something you have sitting in a drawer!  Go on...let your kids make some light!  When you're done you can march them about in a parade, practice standing on one foot while you hold them, talk about shadows (Groundhog Day is in a few weeks) or just let your children take them into dark rooms and make their own light! Simple Supplies: battery operated "tea lights" (you can get these at the dollar store or from Amazon) paper towel tubes, cut in half "scratch" paper stickers tape Easy How-to: 1.  Stuff s