Five Little Flowers

Five Little Flowers

Five little flowers standing in the sun
(hold up five fingers)
See their heads nodding, bowing one by one
(bend fingers one at a time)
Down, down, down
Comes the gentle rain
(raise hands, wiggle fingers, and lower arms)
And the five little flowers
Raise their heads again
(hold up five fingers)

Spring Pastels

Give each child a piece of pastel-colored chalk(light green, pink, yellow, light blue). Be sure that two children are using the same color of chalk. Have the children create a picture on drawing paper. When finished, let each child take a turn finding the other picture that was done in the same.

Muffin Cup Flowers

An easy flower to make is to use paper muffin cups. The children flatten the paper muffin cup and glue it on blue construction paper. That is the flower. Then the children add green paper stem and leaves (can use pipe cleaners).

FLOWERS GROWING SONG Tune: "The Mulberry Bush" Have your children lay on the floor and curl up into balls. Have them pretend they are tiny seeds buried in the ground. This is the way we sprout our roots, Sprout our roots, sprout our roots. This is the way we sprout our roots, When spring time is here. This is the way we pop through the dirt, Pop through the dirt, pop through the dirt. This is the way we pop through the dirt When spring time is here. Jean Warren Additional verses: This is the way we stretch and grow. This is the way we shoot up so tall. This is the way we open our buds. This is the way we bend in the breeze. This is the way we smile at the sun.

FLOWER FINGERPLAY A hand is a bud                    Closed up tight                     (close hand into a fist) Without a tiny Speck of light. Then slowly the petals Open for me                          (slowly open hand, one finger at a time) And here is a beautiful Flower I see!                         Traditional

Flowers: Day One

F is for Flowers

Read a book about flowers, gardens, or springtime.

This week we're learning about flowers.  Flowers start to grow in the spring.  There are many kinds of flowers, of all different colors.  They help to make our world a beautiful place.


Flower Song:

FLOWERS EVERYWHERE
Tune: "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"

Flowers, flowers everywhere,
In the garden, in my hair.
In the vase, at the store,
On the table, on the door.
What a lovely time of year,
Flowers blooming, bringing cheer.
Show pictures of different kinds of flowers and help children to name some of the most common kinds.

Art/Activities:

F is for Flower coloring page

Cut out pictures of flowers out of magazines and make a "flower garden" collage.

Spring Collage

We discussed some of the signs of spring--warmer weather, blossoms/buds, flowers starting to grow. 

Spelled out S-P-R-I-N-G.

Cut flowers out of magazines. 

Glued them onto the letters of spring to make a flowery collage. 

Luck o' the Irish

 Another holiday/another craft!

Discussion:
Traditions of the day--green, luck, Irish, leprechauns, pot of gold, etc.  

Art:
Using green paint, have child fill a paper with thumbprints.  Cut out.

Use green cardstock as a background, and glue thumbprints into shamrock shape.

Add a phrase like, "We're sending a little luck your way....wishing you a happy St. Patrick's Day!

Have child sign name, write a message, or color. 

Send to friends and family!

Valentine's Day Cards

Kyle and I made our annual cards for Valentine's Day this week. First, we talked about how we show our love to family and friends we care about. Then, we talked about our plan to make the cards:

Use toy cards to paint tire marks onto paper; let dry.
Cut heart shapes out of tire tracks paintings.
Clue hearts onto paper.
Put car stickers on tire tracks.
Glue a picture and saying onto each card..{"We 'wheelie' wuv you!"}


Sign and address each card; mail.

Making Valentine's Day cards is an easy way for kids to show their love for the people they care about most.

Counting Our Blessings

Thanksgiving is a holiday that helps us reflect upon all the many blessings we've been given and to show thanks and express our gratitude for all the things that enrich our lives.

Talk with child about what is means to be thankful. For my 3-year-old, I explained to him that being thankful means saying "thank-you" for things that are important to us or that we are grateful for/love. I started to list some of the things I'm thankful for {family, home, clothes, food, etc.} Then, I asked him to tell me some of the things he's thankful for. When that didn't really produce too many answers, I asked him to tell me all the things he really likes. Once we started a pretty good list, I started writing down his answers of some "leaves" I cut out of construction paper and left over fall painting craft projects.

Some of my favorite answers: Santa Claus, hugs, ice cream cones, chocolate, hawks, toys, rainbows.



We then used the leaves to make a thankful swag. I used some of the fall leaves and berries we collected on our nature walk, some floral wire, and the thankful leaves and paper clipped them onto the wire. I made a swag because we'd already made a wreath and because I don't have a mantel, but if I did, I would probably turn this same idea into a fall mantel decoration.


It would be cool to start with just a few and add one each day until Thanksgiving or for the whole month of November. I may even keep a few from this year, label them with 2010 on the back, and pull them out each year to remember some of Kyle's unique answers from year to year!

Thanksgiving Cards

Around Thanksgiving, it's important to show our love and gratitude for family members and other special people in our lives.

We decided to make some "love turkeys" and send them for our annual Thanksgiving Day cards.

Materials:
construction paper
paint
crayons
glue
cardstock (or blank Christmas cards)

Instructions:
Using paint, make a print of child{ren}'s hand{s}. Let dry and cut out.
Meanwhile, cut out various sizes of hearts out of fall-ish colored paper.
Glue down hearts, which will become the turkey's feathers, onto the front/inside of cards.
Glue down hand prints on top; draw in eyes, feet, beak/wattle.
Let child decorate card with crayons. Insert personal message.
We used, "Happy Thanksgiving. With LOVE, from 2 little turkeys!"



We addressed the cards and took a field trip to the post office to mail them. It's a fun Thanksgiving Day tradition and the grandparents, aunts/uncles, and cousins look forward to receiving these!