Tagged with 'arts and crafts'

[caption id="attachment_5396" align="alignnone" width="600"] Photo Credit: 100daysofrealfood.com[/caption]

Snacks, Games, Crafts, and Books to Help Little Kids Learn to Love Reading

Today, millions of school kids will spend the day paying tribute to some of America’s most beloved authors. Yup, it’s Read Across America Day! Celebrated every year on Dr. Seuss’s birthday, it’s a great day to get your kids excited about reading. To help you and your little ones get in on the fun, we’ve pulled together some sneaky, snacky, Seussy ideas for whiling Read Across America day – or any day – away, like:

Start the Day with Dr. Seuss…

Start the day with a reading of Green Eggs & Ham, accompanied by, you guessed it, a breakfast of green eggs and ham. Two or three drops of BLUE (not green) food coloring will turn typical scrambled eggs green, and your kids might prefer diced ham over sliced, but you know best. If you prefer to keep it natural, eggs and kale make a surprisingly yummy scramble (pictured).If there’s just no way your kids are eating green eggs, a striped stack of red and regular pancakes or alternating banana and strawberry slices on a skewer will also set the mood.Sneak some fine motor work into your Seussical day by crafting your very own striped hat! With 4 easy supplies you can follow these instructions for the perfect Cat in the Hat paper plate hat by anightowlblog.com.Once your hats are complete, pop them on your heads and find your copies of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and Which Pet Should I Get. Give them a read, then take a walk through your local pet store, fish shop, or aquarium and be on the lookout for any crazy, Seuss-ish creatures. Stop when you hit the fish and see if you can spot one, then two, then one that’s red, and one that’s blue.For other fun, Dr. Seuss-inspired craft ideas, visit artsycraftsymom.com for a roundup of her favorite DIY projects, like Pom Pom Truffula Trees, Tweetle Beetle Bottles, Thing One and Thing Two bookmarks, and more!Then Squirrel the Afternoon Away!Pack a picnic and head to the park (or set up an indoor picnic if it’s too cold where you live!) because it’s time for some sneaky, snacky, squirrel fun! A few strategic slices and you can create your own squirrel sandwiches, like this one from the mamas at Puppylovepreschool.blogspot.com.Once you’ve squirreled away your lunch, head off for a walk around the park to see who can spot the most squirrels. When you’re ready to relax, it’s back to your blanket for a round of The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel®! Game to see who can collect one of each colored nut first, followed by a reading of The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Board Book!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Io65ZH9e0Keep the fun rolling at home with a super cute Dixie Cup squirrel craft! Follow the instructions outlined on The Pinterested Parent to turn a mini cup, construction paper, paint, and googly eyes into an adorable, DIY cutie.Bringing books to life through games, crafts, and snacks keeps the stories top of mind – and keeps your little ones coming back for more. A little research and you’ll find all kinds of things to do with your kiddo’s favorite read!????

Hooray for Pinterest! Even though I think I use it wrong (as in I don’t follow anyone and have exactly 2 boards: arts & crafts ideas and pictures of bed frames I found online while shopping earlier this year and I’m always surprised when I get an email notice that one of these has been repinned…), I have found so many great craft ideas there!Check out the fingerprint and hand print turkeys Emma and I made as Thanksgiving cards for the grandparents – so cute!Our next project – and I might even go the extra mile and make it a Christmas arts & crafts play date for a few friends! – is painting these awesome Santa rocks…Have you done any awesome arts & crafts this year? Lemme’ see!

After 15 years teaching everything from preschool to high school, veteran teacher, published kids' book author, literacy volunteer, and our very own senior product manager Marcia Gresko knows all too well the ins and outs of creating fun and engaging lessons for any classroom! Here is a word from Marcia herself about some Classroom activities she did with her kids during the Fall season:Here are 2 hands-on fall activities I did with my pre-kinder classes during our fall study of Native Americans.The first is a cooperative weaving activity. The “loom” is made from 2 wooden bars, jute-like string, and beads. You drill holes in the bars, string the jute through the holes, and secure it with beads to prevent it from slipping back through. Then I hung it at kid-level from 2 hooks on the door of one of my classroom cupboards. Children took turns weaving strips of scrap, thrift-store fabric “under and over, under and over” the vertical string. Don’t worry if they don’t get it close to the previous strip. They can just push it up next to it when they have finished their turn. I added strips with children’s names from the bottom to finish off the activity. They came out so beautifully we entered one of them in our community’s Old Hometown Fair, and both hung in my classroom for years. The second is a simple, cooperative totem-pole activity. The children painted boxes, added cut-outs, and stacked them up. BTW, in case you are wondering, we did discuss that Native Americans were not all one people. Different groups lived all over our country and those groups lived differently depending on their location.

Hey readers! Today is August 8th, 2012 and we have yet another awesome deal for you! Today we are featuring one of our best-selling products and that product is PlayFoam! We've decided to make this deal even sweeter by featuring not one, but twenty Playfoam pods in our PlayFoam Combo 20-Pack!Play foam is our squishy, squashy, no mess foam for shaping fun! Great for kids ages 3 and up, Playfoam allows preschoolers to freely express their creativity with no mess to clean up afterward! Just squish up the Playfoam®, shape it however you like, squash it back down, and start all over again. Playfoam® never dries out so the creativity never ends — and the secret non-toxic no-stick formula means you can take it anywhere for creative fun on the go! Our PlayFoam Combo 20-Pack usually sells for $19.99, but today you can get it for $12.99! Enjoy all the different colors and let your imagination run wild! This offer is only good until Midnight tonight PST, so head on over to www.educationalinsights.com to take advantage of this deal today!

Happy Monday! Today’s Deal of the Day is GeoSculpt™ 3-D Project Kit.Whether it's a school project or a fun weekend activity, creating a 3-D sculpture of a state, country, landform, or province is a fun, hands-on way to learn about geography - from the ground up! With the GeoSculpt™ 3-D Project Kit, you'll make a colorfully detailed, 3-dimensional map with sculpted landforms such as mountains, valleys, waterways, and more. Perfect for school projects like volcano models, too!Kit includes:Foam for creating landform "base" Magic Plaster Gauze for sculpting features paints in 6 colors and artist-quality brush for colorful details GUIDE with illustrated step-by-step instructions .GeoSculpt™ is regularly $19.99, but you can get it today (until midnight PST) for only $9.99 (a 50% savings)! This is a GREAT deal, so take advantage of it today by heading over to www.educationalinsights.com! Enter EIFREE at checkout for free shipping to tack on to the savings!