Preschool Powol Packets

This year's first Christmas Science Experiment is a fun new twist on an old favorite: Reindeer Toothpaste! One of the most popular activities on this blog is Elephant Toothpaste . It was originally a science experiment that I used to do with my high school students, but I started doing it with my preschoolers waaaaay back in 2011! Our readers loved it, and we have done a few variations on it over the years, including a geography lesson and elephant toothpaste in a pumpkin !  I was recently talking with my friend Sarah about some of our science projects and plans for Christmas--you can see some of her Christmas Science projects here and some of my Christmas Science activities here ! She has the most encouraging attitude and, even though blogging has been frustrating for me recently, she motivated me to share this fantastic Christmas science experiment with you! It has been super popular around our house already, and I hope you love it too! This recipe is a little

It's no secret that we love Christmas science  and  science experiments that go with books , so I am delighted to have Amanda visiting today sharing a book-based science project she did with her preschoolers!  Nothing beats the autumn season. I love all the learning that can happen with materials found out in nature during the fall season...counting acorns, sorting leaves, and just being outside without sweating your tush off. But Christmas comes in as a close second. We love reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas. (Image is an Amazon affiliate link.)     It has been one of our favorite holiday books since Sicily was a little bitty thing. One way I incorporate learning into our home is by planning super simple child-led activities around books. Related: Preschool Book Themes: How to Choose and Develop One For this book, we loved making a Grinch inspired slime. It is an easy way for the kids to get involved in some Christmas science. Sicily and Kade both helped po

It's no secret that we love doing dry ice experiments ! Not only are experiments with dry ice amazing to watch, they are also super educational. Watch the kids' eyes light up as you make a vortex launcher and shoot dry ice smoke rings across the table! Getting Ready The first thing we needed to do was make our dry ice smoke ring launcher. I gathered the following supplies: One empty 12- or 16-ounce plastic bottle Scissors Party balloon Duct tape Carefully, I cut the bottom of the plastic bottle off and discarded it. The plastic was a little bit sharp along the cut edges. If you are worried about that you can always file it down or carefully melt the sharp edges with a lit match. Next, I stretched a balloon over the cut end of the plastic bottle. It's important that the balloon is stretched tight, almost like a drum. We secured the balloon onto the bottle with duct tape. Once we had our smoke ring launcher made, we were ready to move on to the fu

When a child has had a negative experience, saying "Don't give up!" can feel trite. This is a fun object lesson that makes kids giggle...and gives you a chance to remind them not to give up! Our kids run into negative experiences all around them--sometimes it's a negative social experience, sometimes it's a school-work failure, and sometimes it's something else. I have been trying to teach my kids that they can learn  from any situation, but first you have to stand up and be willing to keep going!  I was reminded about this just yesterday when my son wrote this in his notebook, "Today I tried making a puzzle, but I failed." Yikes! I was a little bit worried about how he might be feeling...fortunately, the next sentence had a more positive feeling (more on that after the object lesson)! In both this experience, and most others, not giving up  when you feel down is key...so that's what this fun little object lesson is about. Disc

It's time for the next free printable minibooks! Each minibook focuses on a letter of the alphabet perfect for preschoolers, toddlers, and kindergarteners! Today's book is the Letter J! Each book is full of about nine coloring-book style pictures that start with the featured letter. You just print them off, cut out the pages, and staple them together! Or, even better, let your preschooler or kindergarten kiddo cut out the pages! They get to practice writing their name on the front page, trace the letter on the front page, and see the letter again on each page in the minibook! If you want to play with the pages more, you could print two sets, paste them on construction paper, cut them out, and play memory or matching games. It just reinforces the sounds that J can make as you remind your children that all the words in this book start with J. My preschoolers LOVE "reading" their books after they color them! You could also display the pages, though my kiddos

Preschool STEM is a subject I am passionate about...and it is much more simple than many people think! Do you want an easy way to  schedule daily STEM activities?  Have you ever used Sculpey Clay? Today, I'm sharing a way to give your preschoolers unique STEM experiences they will LOVE! To start with, let's quickly review what STEM is ! STEM activities integrate learning in s cience, t echnology, e ngineering, and m ath while letting your children investigate, create, or engineer something. STEM activities are memorable and powerful because they involve more than one subject and, often, more than one sense (auditory, sight, sound, touch, taste, vestibular). They also put your kiddos in charge of their own learning : your preschoolers do  the investigation, creation, or engineering! It is amazing for preschoolers and older kids (click here for an awesome clay project for older kids )! Preschoolers LOVE STEM projects...and sometimes mine don't even