Preschool Powol Packets

The second week of our  DIY Summer Camp Activities series  is all about art--and I'll be honest: I have a couple girls who have been looking forward to this week the most!  My preschool-aged girls favorite thing to do is be turned loose on "a project" with a huge variety of supplies. It becomes more of a STEM design or engineering activity (or STEAM, since they are creating art!), and they love it! So let's be clear about our art camp activities: these are AMAZING projects!! Be sure to check back each day for the live links!! And while you're waiting, you can check out some of our favorite camp-style art projects and activities: Mondrian-inspired Group Art Project , Galaxy Art , and a Craft Stick Airplane ! Check out this week's lineup : May 10th:   Sticker Beach Art from  The Art Kit Blog May 13th: Leaf Printing from  Mothers Can Teach May 14th: Shaving Foam Marbling for Toddlers & Preschoolers from  Rainy Day

The last week of our  DIY Summer Camp Activities series  is a new topic for us: Safari! We have done a few safari-themed things through the years, but this is the first time we're jumping in full speed! I've always wanted to go on an African safari and see hippos, lions, giraffes, zebras, gazelles, and all the other animals that are famous for safaris in real life. But since that's not an option for me right now,  I am SO excited to travel "on safari" to learn and teach our kiddos about some exciting things on Earth! I hope you'll join us! While you're waiting for everything to kick off, you can check out some of our African animal themed preschool activities:  Zebra art , Giraffe STEAM Challenge , Flower Giraffe , Crazy Giraffe Science Experiment Check out this week's lineup : May 27th: Preschool Safari Theme from Many Seasons of Motherhood May 28th: Australian Safari Animal Crafts from Mom Quest to Teach Ma

Are you planning a summer camp for your preschoolers? Are you hosting friends at a DIY Summer Camp? Do you just want some fun activities you can do with your kids this summer? Whatever you call it, you will love this month's DIY Summer Camp Activities series!! A few years ago my kids wanted to host a Nature Club --mostly as a fun excuse to hang out with their friends! It turned into an awesome combination of a DIY Nature Camp mixed with a giant playdate...and we loved it! Since then we have hosted some kind of camp with our kids friends every year. Some years I've been able to write about them, and some years I haven't! Some of our favorites have been a Hiking Club, a Chemistry Class, and a STEM Camp ! This year, each week in May I am joining forces with incredible bloggers who are sharing fun "summer camp activities" that you can do with your preschoolers! {If you have older kids, click here!! We have summer camp activities for them too!} Ea

Who loves bugs and worms and insects and spiders?!! The first week of our DIY Summer Camp Activities series is all about macroinvertebrates...we'll call them bugs for short, but we're including insects, spiders, and worms too! Last week one of my daughters was sitting near a window when she jumped up, screamed, and started yelling frantically about a black widow! Of course, we were all concerned...but it turned out that she had not seen a black widow. She HAD seen a ladybug!  Bugs and insects are some of our favorite topics! We have loads of activities to learn about them, like this bug scavenger hunt, this  worm habitat or our worm anatomy lesson! We also have some amazing butterfly activities (including experiments and printables) HERE , and even an ant experiment HERE !   This week we are joining up with some of our favorite bloggers to bring you even more bug and insect themed DIY Summer Camp Activities! We're also including spiders and other macroi

We started a set of egg shell gardens last week...you know how fun it is to try something new with an "old" item? This. is. awesome! It all started about a week ago when Cerys from Rainy Day Mum shared a picture of her cress-egg-shell-heads on the Virtual Book Club Facebook page .  My first reaction was, wouldn't this be awesome with vegetables?!! So I saved eggs for a couple days. With 5 kids, it didn't take long to get two dozen shells! We rinsed out the eggs, drew faces on them, and put them in the cardboard egg cartons to set up our egg shell garden. Aren't they adorable?! Drawing faces on the egg shells was a great activity for my preschoolers, but my older kids had just as much fun designing theirs! I chose the cardboard egg cartons because you can bury the cartons right in the ground with your eggs!  Sidenote : It is only April 16th, and in Virginia we have a chance of frost until May. I'm going to wait a

" Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." I love this quote from William Butler Yeats because it represents so much of what teaching means to me: Teaching is not just pouring information from one person's brain into another person; rather, it is inspiring another person to become someone amazing. Who was your most memorable teacher?  I remember learning to read with my mom and learning to multiply with my dad. I remember a 6th grade teacher who taught me more about creative writing than any other teacher I have ever had and a high school teacher who treated me like I was a brilliant scientist. Those were the teachers who inspired me to follow my passions! Who is making a difference in kids lives now? There is a Teachers Make a Difference Every Day photo contest going on right now to celebrate them!  Did you know that Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6-10? This is a great way to celebrate people who dedicate s