September Hand print

Since September is usually the first month back to school, I did a hand print that really embraced that feeling.  :-)
The kids loved seeing me paint each of their fingers a different color!

Bee Handprint

Free form art time

Some times you just have to pull out random things and let the little ones use their own imagination and see where it takes you.

B is for Bee

Alligator Hand print

Continuing on with our Letter of the Week crafts is our A is for Alligator hand prints.

Mess-less Finger painting

It was 5 senses week at school.  Finger painting is such a great thing for using a lot of the 5 senses, but can get really messy, especially with my age group (toddlers).  So found this great idea instead.  Squirt 2 different color paints into a ziploc bag.  Flatten it and get out as much air as possible when sealing it closed.  Put a white piece of paper on the table, then lay the bag on top and tape to the table.

The kids get to experience the touch of squishy paint, see the mixing colors, and have a blast playing.  I had these ready before they arrived and it really helped in drop off.  Absolutely no tears or reluctant good byes on these days!  The kids played together on some of them too.  Plus, when we had to take them off of the table for lunch time, I just put them up on the wall and they were able to play with them there the rest of the day.

A is for Alligator

One of our Letter of the Week crafts!  

I drew the letter A on some paper and had the kids color all over with some crayons.

After cutting out the letters and gluing them down on different colored paper, I let the kids choose the color eyes they wanted and they glued those down and the teeth as well.

Added the label and there we go!

Water Color Initials

For another all about me craft, I hand drew the first initial of the kid's first names on contact paper, cut it out, then applied it to the back of a paper plate.  Each child then got to water color paint all over it.  When it was dry, peeled off the contact paper, punched some holes for the string and had a very cute personalized craft.  The little ones LOVED getting to use the paintbrushes and choose their own colors.

First Day Hand print Poem

I found this poem online and really liked it for our first day of school craft.  At this age I LOVE doing hand print art, as I'm sure you'll notice.  Got a great deal on glitter decorated card stock in the scrapbook area for the backing.  Cut it all to size and Presto!

The Secret Project Reveal!

So here is the post with the pictures of the Secret Project we were working on as a Welcome to the class type gift for my kiddo's and their parents.

Found these great frames at Michael's for $1 each.  I thankfully also have a very talented husband who has access to a laser cutter.  He designed the cutting on the frames after asking what I wanted on there and took care of them all for me.
I then took my rainbow pack of Sharpies and colored / stained the letters.  The wood burn line stopped the colors from spreading on the wood any further then needed.
On all the kids first day, I made sure to get a really nice close up head shot of them, printed them off and put them in the frames.  Added some colorful rope to picture hanging rings I made and hot glued on the back and also hot glued on wooden laundry clothespins.
Now they have a super special item to hang in their home that will always give them a place to hang any crafts we send home that we do in class.  The kids will always know where to go to point at their art and say "I did that!".

Play dough squishy balloons

Made these play dough stuffed balloons for the little guys to hold on to and squeeze and play with.  Saw on Pinterest (of course) the great idea of putting little faces on them as well.  It was a little difficult to hold the balloon open with both hands at the same time as trying to put play dough into it, but I managed to get it done with only minimal injuries to myself.  Not only does this help with building the muscles in their hands, will also be bringing these guys out to talk about feelings with the toddlers.  So much easier to have examples for them!

Discovery Jars ("dry")

These have been some of the most popular items in the room so far.  I have these out on the table from the beginning and only put them away when it's time for lunch and nap.  I found the jars at the dollar store near me and filled them with a variety of different objects and things to fill around them.

There are dinosaurs, colored dice, a ball and jacks set, buttons, beads and bells, even just a bag of poms that were special shiny ones.  Some are in beans, some in rice, some just by themselves.  All the lids are super glued shut for safety and I am keeping a close eye on them everyday to make sure no cracks appear (just in case they get dropped on the floor too many times).

Not pictured here are the "wet" ones I also made.  Glitter jars that swirl, beads and sequins and even butterflies that float all around when turned.  Those I'm holding back for now, and will be a floor only jar so less chance of being pushed off the table.  Will post pictures of those when they come out.

Rainbow Rings (for music time)

I made these Rainbow Rings for the little ones to use when we sing songs and listen to music.  They can wave them around and not really hurt any others while doing it.  I used shower curtain rings, ribbon, and glue.

These also really helped to calm a couple toddlers down during drop off time the other day.  Combined these with blowing bubbles and we had a great distraction technique!

Room Tour (after pictures!)

Here is what 1 1/2 weeks of almost solid work can do to a room that looked like the before pictures in a previous post!

I tried to go for a Farm theme since most little ones this age would be familiar with all the barnyard animals and such.  So here is our welcome door, apples from our apple tree on our farm!

Here is the first view from the doorway!  Such a difference!  I wanted to make it as inviting as possible to the kids.

The by now infamous storage cabinet.  Emergency bag hanging by the door with first aid, flashlight and emergency contact info.  CD player out of reach of kids.

Our newly installed sink and counter.  One of the things they added when they redid the rooms from before. So nice to have it in the room for cleaning up!

One of my bulletin boards.  I stripped off all the old decorations and paper that was on it and there was a felt board under it all!  Going to use it for some story times with cut out shapes and the little ones can also play on it with velcro'd pieces.  Our little play pool currently filled with cut up pool noodles and our whale.  This is already a favorite with my kids.  They can't get enough of the pool noodle pieces!

Toy storage on the bottom, stuff that is easy for them to pull out and play with, nap mat and other storage up above where they can't reach

Our big apple tree.  The apples have their birthday's printed on them.

My farm wall.  My kids go over to point at the different animals all the time!  The blue tape on the wall is actually where a wall mirror is going to go in the next week or so.  The kids love walking up to it and seeing themselves and making faces.

Rolling (and closing) toy cabinet for more storage.

Our table, chairs, and more storage for art supplies (including my art drying rack!)

 Hooks for hanging their bags and lunches and our calendar.

 Yes, I did end up duct taping my clip board as well for sign in time.  :-)

It took a lot of hard work and sweat and maybe a few tears, but I am so proud of my classroom and the kids really seem to enjoy it so far.

Art Drying Rack

With a classroom this small, plus really young toddlers, it's a problem doing artwork because there isn't anywhere to lay something to dry that they can't get to and possibly make a bigger mess with.  So i solved the problem by making my own drying rack (thank you Pinterest for the idea!)

I called my local pizza place, explained I was a teacher and was hoping to buy several unused large pizza boxes from them for a project for the classroom.  They were very accomodating and let me have them for a great deal.  So I went and picked them up along with some more....you guessed it....DUCT TAPE!

Cut the front flaps off of all the boxes....

Stacked them....

made sure to tape the front edges so that it wouldn't be rough edges (plus just looked better)...

Then duct taped the entire thing together on ALL sides.  Made it pretty darn sturdy and really great looking. After i was done, i took plain blue duct tape and put small pieces on the front edges with each child's name, one per slot.  Makes it super easy to put something in really quick to get it out of the way of little hands without worrying about forgetting to put their name on it and mix it up with another child.  Plus I can just re-tape over the name whenever the new year starts for another child's name.