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

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!

Classroom Management – Play Ball!

A great way to keep students in check is to have a tangible scoring system of their behavior. Here is one of our favorites called Classroom Baseball.

Classroom Baseball is a great choice for any classroom. Start by creating a poster that includes a pocket for each student. Each pocket will have three craft sticks in it to represent strikes. Throughout the day, you can give students that are misbehaving a strike. That student will then need to remove one of their sticks from their pocket. Those who strike out get a note or phone call home to Mom or Dad. Students who complete the day, or even the week, without any strikes will get the chance to “play ball’.

 

You will need to reserve just a few minutes at the end of the day, or the end of the week, for this portion. The well behaved students can line up for a chance to toss the ball for a prize. You can simply use a ball or a bean bag and a small trash can or even have four different boxes to represent the bases.

Tip! Try using four different sized boxes or baskets. They will get smaller as the bases go on making first base the largest and home plate the smallest. The prizes will be better when they choose a more challenging base.

Now you have a fun game for students to look forward to. It will give them incentive to be on their best behavior each day and not strike out. Now let’s play ball!

Modeling Dough Fun

Here is a fun and educational activity sent to us by Yunhap Kiddie Land. This activity will help your little ones learn to spell their names while strengthening hand muscles and motor skills.  

All you need are craft sticks, a permanent marker, and modeling dough.

             

Each student will need the letters of their name written with permanent marker onto the top of a craft stick and a portion of modeling dough. Have them roll the modeling dough out into a line or a “snake”. Then they will place the letters of their name in order by pressing the sticks into the dough.

The modeling dough is perfect for strengthening hand muscles and children love to play with it! This activity can also be done to help students learn new words, count to ten and more. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Check back with us in September for a series of Classroom Management Ideas that you won’t want to miss!

Indoor Kids Fort Idea for Preschools

Need a fun way to turn a bad weather day into a fun filled day of indoor activity? We have a great idea to share with you! Let’s build a classroom fort!

There are several ways to make a fort. Materials such as blankets, tables, cardboard boxes, chairs and other furniture are perfect for fort building. If you need some help with the design plans, just ask your students! They are practically professionals at making forts. Forts can be made large enough to fit the whole class, a small group or each student could create their own.

Larger Forts might be created by hanging sheets from the ceiling or draping them over tall cabinets. The same could be done for a fort to fit a smaller group.  Another quick and easy fort is to simply put a sheet over a table and let students crawl in underneath the table.

If large cardboard boxes are available to you, they are a great addition to any fort! The cardboard allows you to construct any shape you would like. It also gives the ability to cut out windows, doors, and the children can color and decorate it. 

If students have individual desks, you can have everyone bring a towel or a blanket to drape over their desk. Now you have mini forts for each student to read or do class work in!

For even more fort fun, plan a Reading Day! Send out a preparation list for parents a few days ahead. You can ask students to bring their favorite books, snacks, a blanket or towel, and even wear some comfy pajamas. Students will enjoy having a relaxing day of reading and won’t think twice about playground time or the weather!

Share your fort ideas with us by commenting below, on Facebook, or even by sending us a tweet. We would love to hear your ideas!

Indoor Scavenger hunt for preschoolers!

Need a fun project for your little ones on those rainy days when you’re stuck inside? We have some great ideas to share with you!

An easy option is to create an Indoor Scavenger Hunt. You can choose any items you would like to hide around the room. Students could work as a class, individually, or in teams. You will need to set up the hunt while students are out of the room. Before school or even during lunch or music would be a great time to do this! You can place items anywhere in the room or restrict it to a smaller area. Remember that your students are shorter than you. You will want to keep their height’s perspective in mind when placing your items. Under tables, on top of cabinets, or just in plain sight, there are lots of fun places in the classroom to hide things!

Now you will need a list of the items that the students will be searching for. You could provide them with a check list or write the items on the board. Items can either be collected or simply located. If students are locating the item, have them write down where they found it. This will allow you to check their page to see if they’re right. If you have enough items for everyone to collect, then we suggest taking that route. Students will love collecting the items as they go!

Items can be just about anything you want. You could use more generic items that could easily be found around the room, like a paper clip or a pencil, or something a bit more advanced and specific, like a crayon in the color sky blue or a yellow sports ball. It will all depend on how challenging you want the hunt to be.

You can even take your Indoor Scavenger Hunt to the next level by adding in some curriculum. For example, you could focus on letter or number recognition and have them find different letters or numbers. If you wanted to take it even further you could have them spell out words with the letters they find or calculate a math problem with their numbers.

Easter is on its way! Change this up to make an Easter Egg Hunt by hiding eggs instead of just random items. You can fill the eggs with fun little things to give your students a surprise with each find.

Got a fun idea for your scavenger hunt? We want to hear from you! Be sure to share with us by leaving a comment down below.

We have more Rainy Day Activities coming your way! Keep an eye out for more great ideas throughout the month of March.

Indoor activities for Preschoolers

Little ones can get antsy quickly when they are kept inside all day. They need a good activity to help them get their wiggles out and to keep you, teacher or parent, from going a little crazy too. Here’s a fun one that students are guaranteed to enjoy!

Create an indoor obstacle course!

You can even let your students help you create it. All you need is a room with enough space to play, a few obstacles for students to pass through, and a lot of team spirit to cheer on your class as they make their way through the course.

Start by making sure that the area you are placing your obstacle course in is clear and safe for the students. This might mean moving a table or two or making sure items are picked up off the floor. Next you can begin to construct your course.

Obstacles can be created from anything you want. You can easily use items around your classroom or in the toy chest. You could even incorporate some class material. For example, they could write their name in cursive or complete a math problem on a sketch pad as one of the obstacles. The possibilities are endless when it comes to the obstacles you choose! This also allows you to create a new course every time. Students will be excited to see what you’ve come up with on rainy days. Plus, it’s a great way to make sure they are getting their daily exercise.

Here’s an example course:

 Hula hoop 5 times, crawl underneath the table, circle a chair 3 times, correctly answer the math problem, do 10 jumping jacks, go down the slide, make a basket in the basketball goal and sit down. The first team to have everyone through the obstacle course and seated quietly wins!

Foamnasium products are great for indoor play and obstacle courses!

Be sure to check those out HERE!

If you need to keep the noise level to a minimum, have your students cheer silently. The faces and expressions are sure to make you giggle as they cheer on their team without making any sounds! This will allow them to show their team spirit, maintain good sportsmanship and not disturb nearby classes at the same time.

Planning on trying out an indoor obstacle course? We want to see what you come up with! Send us pictures of your course and you may see yours featured in a future post! Stay tuned for more indoor activities and ideas for those yucky weather days.