Oobleck

I love making oobleck with the kids......this is one sensory experience I have to get my hands into, literally!  It is so fun and it's actually an easy one to clean up.  If they happen to drip on their clothes, it just brushes right off.

All you need is some cornstarch, water and a big container.  You want to make sure you get the right consistancy......add 1 1/2 cups of water to 1 box of cornstarch (16 oz).

We added green food coloring to go with our Dr. Seuss Book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck.

The kids had so much fun with this, you grab it like a solid and then it melts in your hand like a liquid.  We made a huge batch this summer and the kids played with it in their swimming suits outside.....dripping it on themselves and their friends.

 B wasn't so sure about it.....he isn't too crazy about putting his hands in stuff.....I think he lasted about 20 seconds and he was ready to be done!

This is something you can save and do again......it will look dried out, but just add some water and mix it together.....it will soften up.  When you are ready to dispose of it, I recommend throwing it in the trash and not down your sink.

Tracy

Cat in the Hat

Did you know that March 2 is Dr. Seuss' Birthday??  Well, it is and it is one of my favorite units to explore with kids.....I love Dr. Seuss books......the rhyming, the crazy words, the pictures.....I love it all! 

Today we made a "Cat in the Hat."  In the past I have done several different versions of this project, but this year we made a typical cat in the hat.  I cut out a white outline of the hat for each child.  Then they glued red strips of paper on their hat.  I like for each child to make the project their own.....so I don't instruct where the stripes go or the face.....I want it to be their project, not mine or not what people think it "should" look like.

And to finish them off, we added a face and some whiskers.

I think they turned out great!

Tracy

Apple Mouth

To end our week on dental health, we made an apple mouth with apples, peanut butter and marshmallows.

I love making this snack with the kids......somewhat healthy (minus the marshmallows) and they can make the snack themselves.  I sliced up the apples and gave them each some peanut butter, plastic knife and some marshmallows and they got to work assembling their mouth. 

Aren't they cute!

Time to eat!

They all loved the snack and were asking for more!  I think these kids would eat anything that had peanut butter on it.....oh and the marshmallows helped too!

Tracy

Toothbrush Painting

Today we painted with toothbrushes......the plan was to paint with white paint on a "dirty" tooth and make it clean.  Well, when I went to get the paint out, I realized I was out of white......so, we just painted the tooth with purple and blue paint.  The kids said the their tooth had a cavity!! 

Thanks to one of our moms (she works for a Dentist) the kids all got new toothbrushes this week.

Tracy

Happy Teeth / Sad Teeth

Along with our teeth talk, we talked about what kinds of foods make our teeth happy (healthy) and what goods make our teeth sad (unhealthy).  Of course all the unhealthy foods that we talked about, the kids said those are the foods that they like the most!!!  LOL

I cut out 2 teeth for each child.....one white and happy and the other one a little yellow and sad. 

Then the kids cut out food from magazines.....I had a bunch of old food magazines that were perfect for this project.  I like to keep some old magazines on hand for random cutting as well.....kids love to just cut and then I'm not wasting paper for them to just cut and throw away......magazine paper is a little easier for them to cut as well.

And they set to work glueing the food on the appropriate tooth.

Sad Teeth

Happy Teeth

Tracy

Dental Floss Painting

This week we are talking about Dental Health.....today we talked about keeping our teeth healthy and one way we can do that is to floss.  So, we painted with our floss.  I love this project.....it is so fun to see the different designs they can make and how using the same pieces of dental floss create such totally different pieces of art.

All you need is some paint, a piece of paper and some dental floss.

First, dip your dental floss in some paint and lay on one half of the paper.

 Then fold the paper in half and pull the dental floss out.  

Cinderella came to preschool today!  D told everyone that her name was Cinderella and that is what we called her all morning......it was too cute!

Then open your paper to see the design. You can do it over and over again or use several different colors to make a really neat design.

Love B's reaction!!!  He thought it was pretty cool when he opened it.....like a big surprise!

After each design, the children were saying what the paint looked like.....they thought one looked like a foot, one looked like an airplane, one looked like a bug, etc., etc.  It was fun to see their reactions when they opened their paper.....they got so excited to see what theirs looked like.

Tracy