Roll a Snowman...felt style!

Happy Winter! We are still in the deep freeze here and since we have to endure winter anyway, we might as well make it fun, right? I saw this Roll a Snowman game made out of felt on Pinterest. I LOVED that it was made out of felt instead of paper...our kids get so much laminated paper, I thought the felt might be fun for a change. I came up with my own version that looks like this:

I made a set of 4 snowmen, along with enough accessories for each one to have a  hat, 2 wiggly eyes, a nose, *smile*, scarf, and 3 buttons. All of the pieces are kept in a plastic shoe box for easy storage and clean up. (You could also adapt it and use 2 dice, but you would need more pieces, like arms and boots.)

I scanned all of the pieces if you'd like a *faux* felt game! You need to print 4 (right click save the image to your computer first) of the first one, so you have enough bodies, noses, and eyes.

(print 4 copies of this one)

(print 1)

(print 1)

I made a trip to the Dollar Tree over the weekend and found these fun things to use in my classroom:

I haven't opened the magnetic letters yet to check them out, but you can never have too many of those, right?? The pink and red hearts will make good counters or game pieces. I also bought the red plastic shoe box, just cuz I like'd it! I am sure I'll find a use for it. They had a variety of colors. Apparently, January is a good time to get storage items there. = )

Thanks for checking in and have a super day!

A little crochet creativity....

Hello! I am enjoying one extra day off today, due to severe the severe windchill in our part of the country. I thought I'd share some projects I did over Christmas break...they are not school related, just so you know. = )

I made each of my students a crochet snowflake for Christmas and since then I've been bitten by the crochet bug! I've wanted to learn how to read and follow crochet charts for quite a while, so I've been focusing on that over the past couple weeks. I started a crochet charts Pinterest board as well, where you can find most of the following projects. I purchased the book Connect the Shapes: crochet motifs  from Barnes and Noble last summer...and finally took it out and set to work. The first few pages explain the symbols and basics of reading charts. This little motif was a favorite! I made 3 of them to use as coasters.

I also sat at my computer with charts I found online. Some of them are easier to read than others. I also found some of them are too small or out of focus to actually read. I pinned the ones I found easiest to read.

Now I have a little stack of these cute motifs...so here's what I've decided to do with them...

Use them as coasters....I'm going to take one to school to keep on my desk, too!

I am going to use them around the house...like under candles or under my jar of crochet hooks.

Eventually I'd like to make enough of one kind of motif and join them together to make a pretty pillow or table runner....and I want to get more fun colors of crochet cotton. There's a lot of color inspiration out there!

Thanks for checking in and stay warm! I'll be back tomorrow with a school project...a felt "Roll the Snowman" game.

Marble Candy Canes

Mmm...looks like yummy whipped cream, doesn't it??

But it's not.

It's shaving cream and red paint.

We used it to make marble candy canes.

Updating a few December projects.

We are now officially on Christmas break. ; )

Enjoy the weekend!

5 Days and Counting!

Well, we are down to the last 5 days before Christmas break.  December, as we all know, can be a crazy, busy, fun month. I always like to give my students a little Christmas gift. The past few years I've purchased ornaments for each of them. Last Sunday I had an idea....that I would like to make each of my students a gift this year. So I got busy and crocheted each of them a little snowflake ornament.

I did a few each night and finished today...one week later! I needed to make 16 of these beauties!

I found the pattern here. I absolutely love to crochet and was happy to find this cute pattern. It is very easy and quick!

I attached each snowflake to blue card stock and added a hook for hanging...so hopefully, they will look like this on each student's tree...

I definitely plan on doing this again next year, but perhaps I will crochet over the summer, so I am better prepared come next December!

Hope your month is going well! Thanks for checking in on my little corner of the kindergarten world!

Grateful

Another holiday will soon be here...a time for giving thanks and a wonderful time to teach children the idea of gratitude.  I like to create this "tree of Thanksgiving" with the children. They trace their hand and we write something they are thankful for on it.

It's also a good time for journal writing...I saw this idea on Pinterest and created a template for my class. They draw a picture in each square and then sound out and try to write the word that goes with each picture. Some of the children didn't complete all 6, but that's ok. ; )  I think it's important to teach children that not everyone enjoys the same blessings, so it's important to give thanks for what God has given us.

This is our Morning Prayer for November (it was a free download from Kindergarten Hoppenings quite a while ago...not sure if it's still available on her blog or not...)

During November, we do "Thankful Thursday" at prayer time. Every Thursday, we go around the circle and take turns saying something we are thankful for.

Thanks for checking in and have a super day!

The Lost Sheep

Hello! Here's another little game I've added to my Religion center. It is a version of roll and cover using a religious theme.

Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep!

On the board, the sheep are black and white. As they roll the numbers, the children cover the sheep with a colored version. Simple but fun. I used DJ Inkers clip art....so cute! You can download the Lost Sheep game here. I also have a Pinterest board of Christian themed projects!

Thanks for checking in!

**Edit: I have had several messages from people who want to print the game, but their administration will not allow sharing outside of their organization. I'm sorry for this, but I can't do anything...please contact your school/organization's admin if you can't download or print. The sharing settings are correct on my end. Thank you!! (Your organization will sometimes not allow an email from me, stating this...so I have tried to share, but simply cannot let you know that!)

October??

Oh my...I cannot believe it's already October! These first few months of school have flown by and my little blog has been neglected! I've had several ideas for blog posts over the past few weeks, just have not had the time to sit down and get to it. Nevertheless, I would like to share a few ideas with you from my Religion Center.  I feel fortunate to be able to have these type of materials available for my students. One of my goals this year was to add new materials to the center to incorporate religious themes along with our literacy and math skills. One of the first activities I added was  roll and stack Noah's Ark.

 I used DJ Inkers clip art to create the mat. The children roll a die and build a stack of cubes to match the number on the ark. You can (or should be able to!) download it here.  I have not had the best luck in sharing with google docs...so I hope it works for you!

I printed several mats on different colors of paper.

Thanks for checking in...up next: The Lost Sheep Activity!