On Your Mark... Get Set.... GO!

This week we are talking about forms of transportation. I decided to have a little fun and make the class a race track. It was a BIG hit!

What you need:

• Pool Noodle
• Paper
• Toothpicks 
• Glue
• Duct Tape
• Cars!

I sliced the pool noodle in half and used toothpicks to attach the sides together. For stability and to make the track more smooth for racing, I sealed it with black duct tape. 

To make it look more like a track, I made little flags and a START and FINISH line. 

I made the flags from heavy paper and toothpicks. I simply cut out triangles and glued them onto the toothpicks. Then just insert! 

I put them in an order like a stop light. They start as green, turn to blue and yellow, and end in red. 

The kids LOVED it and ask every morning for us to take it out again. The duct tape really helped make the cars go faster and smoother down the track! 

HAPPY RACING

Olympic Gold!

So this past week we talked about the 2014 Winter Olympics. The kids in my class this year are very competitive. This can be a good thing and a bad thing! For one of the lessons we made little skiers. They came out super cute and the kids loved them. We punched out little people and clothing from our Sizzix stash and hot glued colored Popsicle sticks to their feet and tooth picks on the hands. 

The next day was race day! I took 2 large white pieces of cardboard and taped them together. I had to use duct tape so it wouldn't come apart. I taped it to the table and to the floor, making a nice slope. We added blue painter's tape to the bottom of the skis so that they would go down smoother. And away we went!

We started to get a little fancy with sending them down backwards, doing spins, and even a few took flying leaps off the side! 

The kids had a blast and kept asking to do more. We finally did a big race where they each raced my aid and her skier. We will be trying something like this again! It was very successful. 

Well this past week was quite a week. We finally managed to have a full week of school after so many interruptions thanks to the winter weather. I wanted to let the kids have some creative fun, so I tried out two unique ways of doing art.

The first was Salt Art.

Salt Art

This was a lot of fun. You only need 4 items.

• Paper
• Elmers Glue
• Table salt
• Liquid Water Colors (You can use the packed kind if you don't have liquid.)

The first thing you do is give the child a piece of paper and the glue. Here is the best part, just let the kids squeeze the glue in any design they want to! You can even have them practice writing their names with it.

After they have finished putting on the glue, cover it with salt and shake off the extra. Just like you would glitter. After you shake off the extra the kids can start adding color. This is the best part!!

The key is to not drag your paint brush on the salt. Instead you need to just lightly touch the salt. The paint will literally run through the salt! You could even use eye droppers for this project.

The best part of this project was how intrigued the kids were! I have a lot of boys in my class and most of them are not the type to sit and take their time on projects. This was the first time when EVERY student sat there and took their time! In the end, the project ended up taking over an hour but that was fine since we couldn't go outside anyways! :) I'm still amazed at how into this project the kids were!

Frozen Paintsicles 

The second project we did this past week was playing with frozen paint. I can't tell you enough about how wonderful this was! I took small dixie cups and filled them about half full of Bio Paint. I then put a craft stick in the center and set them in the freezer. They need to freeze over night at the least. 

When you pull them out, peel off the cup and let the kids go to town! I gave each kid a white piece of paper and told them make a picture. The paints don't melt fast so they are not very messy. It was great. 

The kids loved it so much that they kept asking to make more pictures. It actually felt like crayon once it was on the paper. We will defiantly be doing this again!

Let it Snow!

This past week we talked about winter weather, snow, ice, and everything cold. I love snowmen and of course I had to bring them into the mix! We made these adorable snowmen that were looking up at the snow falling around them.

I had the circle and arch shape printed on white paper and then had the kids each cut them out. I was amazed at how well they cut them.

We glued them on and used felt for the scarf. They glued colored felt pieces on for decoration. Once the snowman was done, the kids used q-tips to dot glue where they wanted snowflakes. They had the option of using silver sequence or silver glitter. Of course most of them chose glitter! :)

It was fun to see how the kids interpreted the face and wanted to place the nose in different directions. One even put glue where the eyes should be and made the snowflakes into eyes.