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!
   

Funny Face Grass Experiment

 

This fun and engaging science experiment will help your kids learn about the needs of a plant and allow them to observe changes over time. Your kids will love growing grass in the classroom with only a few basic materials:

• cups
• potting soil
• toy shovel
• grass seed
• water
• spray bottle
• funny face photo of child

How to Grow Grass:

Have the children take a funny face picture to put on the outside of their cups. Print the photo off and have the children tape the photos onto the cup.

Have the kids fill their cups 3/4 of the way to the top with potting soil. Use a small toy shovel or measuring cup.

Next, have the children sprinkle grass seed on top of the dirt. Planting grass seed is not an exact science; there are no specific measurements . The more seeds that are sprinkled on top of the dirt, the more grass will grow.

After the seeds have been sprinkled on top of the dirt, have the children water the soil. We suggest to use spray bottles, kids are less likely to over water their plants with the spray bottle.

Then, place the cups in a sunny location such as on a windowsill or near a window where they will receive sunlight. Remind your kids to water their plants each day to keep the potting soil moist.

 

Watching Grass Grow :

If cared for properly, your grass seeds may begin to grow in about one to two weeks depending on where you live. Continue to water the cups daily, even after the seeds begin to sprout.

Ask children to observe their cups daily and record their observations in a journal, so they can track growth over time.

When the grass is tall enough, have the children give their grass a crazy hair cut with scissors.

Rainy Day Experiment

Every kid loves their time outside to run around. Sometimes it’s hard for them to understand how rain works and why it is important. All they know is that if it is raining outside, they can’t go play. Here is a fun way to teach children about the process of rain and the importance of it.

Items needed:

• Clear vase
• Food coloring
• Shaving cream
• 4 Small containers (holds 1 to 2 ounces of water)
• Water
• Eye dropper

Step 1: Add 1 ounce of water to each of your small containers. Add different colors of food coloring to the small containers (1 color per container). It is recommended that you use 10 drops of each color, and when using purple use only 5 drops.

Step 2: Fill a clear glass with water about 2/3 full, then top it off with a decent amount of shave cream.

Step 3: Using the eyedropper, drop the different colors of water onto the shave cream cloud. Keep in mind the closer you drop to the edge, the faster it will appear as rain from the cloud.

Tip: This is the perfect time to teach your class that the water is like the air and the shaving cream is like the clouds. As the clouds get saturated with water they produce rain.

 

 

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.