World Smile Day

In honor of World Smile Day, we have found our two favorite activities to help encourage the kids to smile, laugh and be active. The first activity is a fun way to get kids outdoors, take them for a nature walk around the school. Have them enjoy the beautiful October weather.

Nature Faces

Supplies for Nature Faces:

• Various natural materials such as: Leaves, flowers, moss, grass, rocks, pine cones, acorns.
• Sidewalk chalk
  Instructions for nature Faces:

• Gather natural material , have the children choose all kinds of different items
• On the nature walk have them draw circles and create funny faces with the natural materials they find.
   
   Our Second Activity is a fun one for kids to do indoors on those chillier days or rainy days. Smile Grams are a creative way to show some kindness around the classroom.

 

Smile Grams

 

Instructions on Creating Smile Grams:

 

• Take a picture of each child with their biggest smile.
• Enlarge the picture and cut out only the Childs smile.
• Using red construction paper cut out red lips.
• Glue the smiles to the red lips.
• Have the children decorate the lips with stickers and glitter.
• Have the children write a special note on the back of the lips but don’t have them sign their name. 
• Put the smile, the smile gram and a couple of poems in an envelope and have the children turn their mail into you and you can disperse the envelopes around the classroom, in Friday folders or cubbies.
   
   
  Here is a poem to include:
   
  Smiling Is Infectious
  Author Unknown
   
  Smiling is infectious,
  you catch it like the flu,
  When someone smiled at me today,
  I started smiling too.
  I passed around the corner
  and someone saw my grin.
  When he smiled I realized
  I'd passed it on to him.
  I thought about that smile,
  then I realized its worth.
  A single smile, just like mine
  could travel round the earth.
  So, if you feel a smile begin,
  don't leave it undetected.
  Let's start an epidemic quick,
  and get the world infected!
                                  
  Special note:
  Please pass this along
  It’s the Random Act of Kindness way!
   

Earth Day Handprint Crafts

Continuing with our Earth Day Crafts series, we have two fun hand print craft ideas!



For the first one, start by cutting light blue construction paper into a circle. You can give students guidelines to cut for some extra cutting practice. Next you will need green finger paint. Paint the palm of the students hand and have them press down firmly into the center of their circle.

Tip! Have some baby wipes handy to help students clean up their hands after completing their hand print.

Lastly, add the accent green areas around the hand to look like the continents peaking around the edges.
The next option may be a better choice for those wanting to avoid using paint. You will need construction paper in blue, green and the color of your choice. We will be using yellow.


Start by cutting out your shapes. You need 1 blue circle and 3 green continents. The continents can be whatever shape the student imagines them.
Next, have students lay their hands down over the yellow paper with their index fingers and thumbs touching, making a heart shape. Also note that the other fingers are spread apart. Students can either have the teacher or a friend trace around their hands onto the yellow paper. Then they are ready to cut out that shape as well.

Tip! Fold the paper in half with the line markings on the outside. This will make it easier to cut the inside of the heart shape out. You can also cut a slit into it while folded to create a hole for your scissors to cut through and then open it back up to cut it out.

Lastly, glue all the peices into place. Don’t forget to sign your name on the back!

Earth Day Crafts

Earth Day will be here on April 22nd this year and we have a few craft ideas for you to try out with your little ones to celebrate the day! We are starting off our Earth Day Craft series with this colorful craft made from items found right outside!



Have students go out and collect a couple of 5 different items. This could be grass, flowers, leaves, sticks or whatever else they might find. You may want to pass out a few ziploc bags or brown lunch bags for them to carry their items in.

Next, each student should pick out their favorite color construction paper. With the five items that they chose, they can prepare their area to start their craft. They will also need glue.

Start by taking the glue and making the E. You will want this to be a decent amount of glue so that the items stick. With the item of your choice cover the glue E. Repeat this process with your other 4 items until the word EARTH is spelt out on the page.

You will want to give this craft some time to dry before sending them home with your students. We suggest keeping them overnight to ensure all glue has dried.