Classroom St. Patrick’s Day Scavenger Hunt

 

Whether you do it the first thing in the morning or while they are at lunch, it’s always a fun treat to do a scavenger hunt with the entire class. We have some clues to print off and hide around your classroom.

Don’t forget to fill your pot of gold at the end of the hunt with some great goodies! Here’s some tips on what loot the classroom leprechaun can leave behind: Get out of Homework passes (good for 1 homework assignment), Candy is always a favorite (gold coins, yellow starbursts, etc), Pencils with shamrocks on them, Shamrock stickers and the list can go on. Just make sure there is plenty to go around.

We hope your class has an amazing time searching for the pot of gold the Leprechaun left behind!

Happy Hunting!!

 

 

Clues made by Landeelu.com

Outdoor Activites for Cold Weather

Hot Chocolate Stand – It’s the winter version of a lemonade stand! Have the kids help set up the stand and prepare the hot chocolate. This is a great way to teach children about money and other aspects of business. Then you can pick a charity of your choice to give the proceeds to!



Smores – A must have for winter weather, smores are the perfect treat for all ages! Set up a smores station and allow the kids to help make their own. If having an actual fire is too much of a hassle, try using a marshmallow fluff or putting the smores in the microwave. No matter which option you choose, these are guaranteed to be a delicious treat!



Bubbles – Most people think of bubbles for summer time fun, but they are actually perfect for cold weather too! When the weather drops down to below freezing, have your little ones bundle up and take them out with a set of bubbles. The bubbles will freeze in the cold air!
 




For more cold weather fun. meet us back here! We have lots of fun ideas to share with you in the new year!

Summer Splash – Come Sail Away With Me

Sail away with us into some more water day fun with this summer craft! This craft is a breeze to create and only requires a few items in preparation.

Here are the items you will need to set sail: Sponges, Straws, Foam Craft Sheets and Scissors

Let’s go ahead and take care of all of our cutting duties first. Starting with the sponge, cut a slit on one end about an inch from the edge. Next, grab a piece of your foam sheets and cut out a triangle. Then you will want to cut two slits into the triangle, going horizontally, about the width of your straw. The slits should be parallel to one another.

Now you are ready to assemble all the pieces. Start by taking one end of your straw and threading it through the two slits in the foam triangle. It should go in on the first slit and back out on the second. This creates your sail.

Take your sail and stick the free end of the straw into the slit in your sponge. Now we are ready to set sail!

You will want to have a small kiddie pool or some sort of large bucket for the kids to try out their boats on. You could even hold a boat race to see which boat goes the fastest from one side to the next!

Summer Splash – Water Balloon Games

Water balloons are the perfect addition to playtime on a hot, summer day. Not only are they fairly inexpensive to purchase, but they provide hours of refreshing fun! Here are a few ideas on games you can play using water balloons to beat the heat this summer.

Water Balloon Stomp – Fill the water balloons and scatter them across the ground. Have the children stomp away until all the balloons are gone!

Duck Duck Goose – Everyone knows how to play this kid favorite game! Now you can play it water balloon style! The “it” person will have a water balloon in hand. As they go around they will tap each student with the balloon on the top of the head. When they have selected their “goose”, instead of tapping them they will bust the balloon in their hands over that person’s head.

Water Balloon Toss – Have students spilt up into teams of two. Players will toss the balloon back and forth taking a step backwards with every successful catch. When your balloon pops your team is out. To add a fun spin on this one you can try adding different passes such as having your eyes closed when you throw, or tossing with your left hand. To make things a bit slippery you can have students lather their hands in dish soap or shaving cream causing them to have a silly case of the butterfingers!

Hot Potato – This is another classic with a fun water balloon spin. Instead of a ball you will use a water balloon. The catch is that the timer is a leaky balloon rather than music. You will need to poke a small hole into the balloon causing a little leak. The students will then pass around the leaking balloon trying not to be the one to have it when it is fully deflated.

Target Practice – Create a target on a tarp or even on the ground with some chalk. Then students can take turns trying to hit the targets. You can change up their positions or use different throws to spice this game up if needed.

Water Balloon Piñata – Tie some of the water balloons up with some string and let the students take a few swings. This one is fun for everyone as bystanders are sure to catch some of the spray after a good hit! Don’t forget to have a couple plastic bats ready for this!

Water Balloon Fight – It isn’t a true water balloon day until you finish it off with a water balloon fight! Make sure you have plenty of balloons left for this. Try creating different obstacles for players to hide behind or throw balloons over.

Water Balloon Clean Up – This game is a must have at the end of a long day of water balloon fun. Have students collect as many balloons as they can until the area is all cleaned up. The boy and the girl with the most balloons will then win a prize! The better the prize, the better and faster they will clean.

Summer Splash – Water Day

Beat the heat with a fun day that is all about staying cool, staying hydrated and having buckets full of water fun! Yunhap Kiddie Land in Georgia does this every year at the end of their summer camps and the kids can’t wait for it to finally come around. With blow up slides, kiddie pools, and sprinklers, this day of excitement is always guaranteed to make a splash!

   

You can take your Water day to the next level by adding big items like slides, kiddie pools, slip & slides and more! If you are going to go big on the water excitement, be sure to go big on volunteer recruitment too. You will need all the help you can get!

If you want to keep it a bit on the softer side, plan out some water games for your students to enjoy. This way they can still beat the heat but no one is being fully immersed in water in the process. This may be the better option if you don’t have as many volunteers to help you.  Just a few fun games, like a water balloon toss and maybe a water gun or two, can make this day easy and fun!

Don’t forget to have students bring an extra set of clothes, a towel, and any sun protection they prefer (sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, etc.).

Need some ideas to incorporate into your games for water day or even for a bit of summer fun? Check back in with us here! We will be sharing all of our Summer Splash favorites throughout the month of July!

Indoor Games – Balloons

In our last post we looked into different games you could play inside simply using masking tape. To keep things inexpensive and simple for your indoor games this summer, we have created a new indoor games post featuring balloons. Here are a few of our balloon game favorites that your students are guaranteed to enjoy!

VolleyBalloon – Set up your own volleyball game right in your classroom! Start by setting up your net if you have one. If not, just take a piece of string and tie each end onto a chair. Spread the chairs out to stretch the line and you have your very own volleyballoon net ready to go! For this game you can use a variety of balloon sizes. The bigger ones are usually a bit easier for the younger kids to play with. Make the balloon smaller if you need to make the game more challenging for your older students. 

Balloon Stomp – Blow up your balloons and attach a piece of string to the tied end of each balloon. You will need one balloon per student. Next you will tie the other end of the string around the student’s ankle. The goal of the game is to pop everyone else’s balloon while protecting your own. The last one left without a popped balloon wins! You may want to create some boundaries in the room so no one finds a hiding spot.

Balloon Pop – This game is all about surprises! Before inflating your balloons, add a little surprise inside. You will want the prize to be something small and flat such as a sheet of stickers, or even a dollar bill! Items that are not flat may pop the balloon before it is time to be popped or injure little feet that are trying to stomp the balloons. If you can’t find anything flat, write the prizes down on small pieces of paper and put the papers inside the balloon instead. Give each student a certain amount of balloons that they can pop and let the fun begin. They will love finding out which prizes are in each balloon!

Balloon Relay – Create a balloon relay by splitting your students into teams. Next give them different tasks to do for the entire team. For example, pass the balloon over and then under all the way though your team. This means player one passes the balloon over their head to player two. Then player two passes the balloon through their legs to player three. Players will continue to alternate over and under on down the line. The last player to get the balloon sits on it until it pops to complete the round. The first team to make it all the way through and pop their balloon wins! Create your own fun relays and let us know what rules you come up with by commenting below.

Indoor Games – Masking Tape

Need to bring the summer fun indoors? Here are a few ideas using masking tape to give you some quick, easy and inexpensive games to play,

Tracks- Use masking tape to make tracks for students to play with cars on. They can even help you create the track before hand. You can also use this method to create roads and teach students about traffic signals and road safety!

Hopscotch- Hopscotch can easily be brought indoors using masking tape. Just tape the squares down to create your hopscotch course. When you are done using the course, you can easily pull up the tape and throw it away. Try using this method to create a ladder for exercising. Students can then get the exercise they need without even leaving the classroom.

         

Balance Beam- Use the tape to create a couple balance beams around the classroom and watch the gymnastics fun unfold. Try challenging your students to try different tricks such as walking backwards, jumping, or maybe even a cartwheel! Just make sure the surrounding areas are clear so there will be no bumps or bruises if things get a little wobbly.

Check back in with us here for more indoor games! In our next post, we will be featuring balloons and some of our favorite indoor games using them.

DIY Lawn Games for Kids

Summer is the best time to get the kids outside so they can enjoy the sunshine. Here is a fun list of DIY lawn games for you to add to your childcare’s game time or even to your own backyard!

Lawn Twister – This one is easy to create! Just take spray paint in red, green, blue and yellow and spray circles of each color to make your board. You will have 4 columns with 6 of each color in them. You can have someone call out the color and which hand or foot should be placed, make your own spinner, or use the original one from the game itself.

Lawn Bowling – Take this classic game to the outdoors with 2 liter bottles and a playground ball. Set your pins up like normal or get creative and make crazy obstacles for the kids to try to knock down! Make sure you set this up on a flat surface so the ball stays rolling towards it’s target. You will need to fill the bottles with water or sand to make them a little more challenging to knock down. Try adding food coloring to the water or even painting the bottles to give them a fun, new look!

Lawn Tic Tac Toe – Using a square of fabric or tarp, take your favorite colored masking tape and separate the square into 9 smaller squares. The tape should look like a number sign when complete. Then you will need Frisbees or bean bags for the game pieces. You will want to have at least 5 pieces in each color to give you a total of 10. To add an extra challenge, try throwing your pieces into the squares. If the piece doesn’t make it in, then that square is still open and available for the next player to play in! Now its a game of strategy and accuracy!