Leaf Glitter

This was a fantastic project!  The kids and I went for several walks in the surrounding neighborhoods for a couple of weeks in the fantastic fall weather.  We gathered leaves of every size, shape, color that we could find and brought it back to our room.
We chose the biggest ones to glue on our paper, then the rest we crunched up and made Leaf Glitter!
The kids then made swirling lines with the glue (with help) around their big leaf and sprinkled on the leaf glitter.  They turned out wonderfully!

Fall Sensory Bin

The kids loved playing around the pumpkins so much in our last project that I made a sensory bin of fall leaves (fake, it was too wet outside for real ones), and pumpkins (gourds) I picked up in the produce section of our grochery store.  This lasted for 3 weeks and I just threw out a pumpkin or 2 a week as they started to go bad.  The kids loved it!  They were able to explore different shapes, weights, textures, all sorts of things.

The Pumpkin Project

There were some ups and downs with this project.  The original idea was to have the pumpkin seeds sprout in our classroom so the kids could see it, then send them home with the families after.  Unfortunately, our pumpkins tended to mold a little faster then they sprouted (which they did indeed sprout, just not faster then the yucky mold).  So next time when we do this, we will send the pumpkins home the same day we "plant" the seeds!

This project did require prep work at home ahead of time for me.  I wasn't going to try to carve pumpkins in class with a knife next to a class full of curious toddlers!

So at home the night before I carved out the top of enough small pumpkins for each child to have one.

I used a spoon to loosen up the seeds and  insides a little to help with the sprouting after the kids would add the dirt to the inside.

Still carving.......

The day came and the kids were super excited to see the pumpkins, even more when they found out what we were doing with them.

After we were done, we sent them high on a shelf next to the window to get some light.  Again, next time, sending them home as soon as we are done with the "planting" part!

Just for those that were curious, this is what they ended up like after.  As you can see, some of them did sprout, but the yucky smelly mold was a huge minus.  But you learn something new every day.  Now we know how to do it better!

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.

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.