Supplies: Cereal box, 2 paper towel rolls (empty), purple foam paper, light pink foam paper, dark pink foam paper, glitter glue, conversation hearts, ribbon, red popsicle sticks, heart stickers.
Instructions:
1. Wrap cereal box and paper towel rolls with pink paper (butcher paper works great for this)
2. Cut 3 hearts out of the 3 different colors of paper. Make each heart slightly larger than the previous one that is cut.
3. Cut a door and 2 triangle flags out of the dark pink foam
4. Cut 2 hearts and 2 semi circles out of the purple foam.
5. Glue ribbon around the paper towel rolls.
6. Glue the following onto the cereal box front in order: door, hearts largest to smallest, conversation hearts around the door.
7. Roll purple semi circles up and tape to make into tower tops leave a small opening.
8. Glue purple hearts on pink flags and glue flags onto red popsicle sticks.
9. Tie ribbons on popsicle sticks and place the sticks in the top of the purple tower tops.
10. Hot glue tower tops to paper towel rolls.
11. Hot glue paper towel rolls to cereal box.
12. Add glitter glue for name, around hearts on flag, in center of hearts on the front of the box, and at the bottom of the purple tower tops. Add stickers on towers or wherever you desire!
My kids have the greatest grandparents - one grandma does Grandma Preschool and my preschoolers ask if they get to go everyday! This week, they came home with this craft for Groundhog's Day. I LOVE it! Simply made with a recycled toilet paper roll, green paper, a popsicle stick, yellow pom-pom and googly eyes. Then the kids could have their own groundhog pop out of the ground. How cute and simple!
I don't have a formal lesson plan for Groundhog's Day, but below are ideas I've saved from the internet and school and used in previous years just for fun...
Fun Facts about Groundhog Day
When German settlers arrived in the United States in the 1700s, they brought a tradition known as Candlemas Day. Candlemas Day came at the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Superstition told that if the weather was nice on that day, the second half of Winter would be stormy and cold.
For the early Christians in Europe, it was the custom on Candlemas Day for clergy to bless candles and distribute them to the people in the dark of Winter. A lighted candle was placed in each window of the home.
The weather continued to be important to the early Christians. If the sun came out on February 2, the day halfway between Winter and Spring, it meant six more weeks of wintry weather.
In Europe, it was a hedgehog that was watched with hope that he'd not see his shadow. When settlers arrived in America, there were no hedgehogs to be found. So they adopted the groundhog as the new world's weather forecaster.
The groundhog was chosen because it wintered underground like the hedgehog and because the Native Americans in the region respected the animal greatly. They considered the groundhog to be a wise and sensible animal.
Activities
We taped paper on a wall and had the children take turns standing in front of a flashlight, while we traced each child's shadow on separate papers. The children loved guessing who was who when we displayed the final results.
"Guess the Shadow." I drape three sides of an overhead projector with black bulletin board paper (so that the children cannot see what I am placing on the illuminated table.) After turning out the classroom lights, I place a common object from the classroom onto the illuminated table. The children have to guess what the item is from it's shadow. Once I have shown the children how the game works, I let each one of them take a turn selecting an object from a box of items I chose earlier. Things that make a distinct shadow are best: paint brush, scissors, crayon, magnifying glass, small cars, dishes/cups, piece of puzzle, toothbrush, glove, etc. This activity is easy to pull-off when you've planned an outdoor shadow activity and there is no sunshine!
Three year olds loved pretending to the groundhog as they took turns popping out of a medium sized cardboard box.
Have each child make a paper or cardboard groundhog stick puppet with a Popsicle stick. First thing in the morning, carefully stick the stick into the ground so that the groundhog is standing up. Then measure the shadows at 1 hour intervals throughout the day. Chart shadow lengths. Then at the end of the day, discuss why the lengths and directions of shadows varied.
Have children trace a groundhog pattern on brown paper and add a craft stick to make a puppet. Give children a piece of blue construction paper, a pre-made hill of green construction paper with "Groundhog Day" written on it and a pre-made yellow sun with "February 2" written on it. Have them glue the ends of the hill and attach to the bottom of the blue paper, leaving the middle free of glue so the groundhog has a space to pop through. Have them glue the sun on an upper corner. Have children use their groundhog and set to act out the poem:
"The Groundhog"
The groundhog poked his head up
And peeking all around
Saw his little shadow
Lying on the ground
The groundhog knew that winter
Would last for six weeks more
And so he pulled himself back down
Inside his little door.
Songs
HERE'S A LITTLE GROUNDHOG
(Sung to I'm a Little Teapot)
I see a little groundhog, furry and brown.
He's popping up to look around.
If he sees his shadow, down he'll go.
Six more weeks of winter- oh, no!
OR I'm a little ground hog, short and stout.
On ground hog day I pop my head out.
If I see my shadow I don't come out.
I stay down in my hole and pout.
(Dramatize by squatting on the floor in a ball, popping up, peering about and returning to hiding.)
MR. GROUNDHOG
(Sung to Frere Jacques)
Mr. Groundhog, Mr. Groundhog,
Take a peek, Take a peek.
If you see your shadow
The weather will be awful
For six more weeks, six more weeks.
OR
Mr. Groundhog, Mr. Groundhog.
Are you there? Are you there?
Will you see your shadow?
We all want to know
On this day, Groundhog Day.
(To the tune of Ten Little Indians)
One little, two little Three little groundhogs.
Four little, five little Six little groundhogs.
Seven little, eight little Nine little groundhogs.
Two cardboard boxes (preferably of different sizes), two toilet paper rolls, smarties, silver spray paint, cardboard hearts, pink pipe cleaners, red cardstock, hot glue gun, black marker
Instructions:
1. spray paint both cardboard boxes, toilet paper rolls and smarties silver
2. Hot glue cardboard boxes together. These will be the head and body.
3. Hot glue toilet paper rolls to larger box. These will be the legs.
4. Cut out 2 large paper hears out of red cardstock.
5. Hot glue paper hearts to the toilet paper rolls for the feet.
6. Curl pipe cleaners with a pencil, for fun, we bent the "hands" into heart shapes.
7. Glue pipe cleaners to both sides of the larger box.
8. Cut a hole out of the larger box for the valentines to go through.
9. Hot glue smarties around the edges if the smaller box and down the middle front of the larger box for a more robot look.
10. Hot glue cardboard hearts (di-cuts or stickers work, too) for the eyes and decoration.
11. Draw a smile on your robots face!
Just for fun - the robot "listening" to the ipod
Ipod (I adapted this from something I found at Family Fun, which is another great craft idea!)
Supplies needed: cereal box, pink foam, red pipe cleaner, red cardstock, printed list of songs/ipod dial from Family Fun, white yarn, hot glue gun, cardboard hearts(I got these from cardboard heart thumbtacks at the Dollar Store and just took off the thumbtacks).
Instructions:
1. Cover the cereal box with pink foam, cut to size. (Note: this can be changed to a different color for a boy!)
2. Hot glue red pipe cleaners on the four corner sides of the cereal box.
3. Cut out printed song list and ipod dial.
4. Cut red cardstock 1/4 inch bigger on each side of the song list and ipod dial and glue to back of them.
5. Hot glue song list and ipod dial onto box.
6. Hot glue cardboard hearts (or stickers) to box.
7. Cut white yarn to the desired length.
8. Hot glue cardboard hearts to one end of the yarn.
9. Tape the other end of the yarn to the inside of the cereal box
One of my kid's favorite things to do is make valentine boxes for school. So, I try to keep a running file of ideas for future years. Last year, we invented this bubblegum machine and it was a hit! We kind of had a bubblegum theme going that year... (see my daughter's Halloween costume).
Supplies needed: Cracker box (or other cardboard box), pom poms, glitter glue, black permanent marker, red paint, 2 clear plastic bowls (I bought at the Dollar Store), Hot glue, colorful balls, milk carton lid.
Instructions:
1. Paint the box red.
2. Paint the milk lid red.
3. Cut a opening in the box for valentines.
4. Fill clear plastic bowl with balls. Place other plastic bowl on top. Stick together with hot glue.
5. Decorate box with pom poms, glitter glue, "5 cents", name, stickers or anything else.
6. Hot glue milk lid to top of bowl/ball structure.
Room Mothers here are 10 of my favorite class party activities we have done for Valentines parties... enjoy!
1. One of my favorites: Valentine Floats! You make this with vanilla ice cream, Cherry 7-Up and Red Vines for the straw!
2. Tying and stuffing homemade heart shaped pillows
3. "Don't Eat Pete" - This is a game that can be used at any class holiday party. Have one child leave the room. The rest of the children decide on one spot that is the secret item (you can use raisins, candies, cereal, marshmallows). The child who left then reenters the group and one by one picks off the pieces of food until the group yells "Don't Eat Pete!" when the secret piece is touched. Very simple, but very fun!
4. Valentine Bean Bag Toss - the mom who made this simply used a poster board. It was so cute! The beanbags were hearts with ribbon on them to look like cupid's arrows.
5. Yummy cookie frosting and decorating - an easy classic that kids always love!
6. Homemade 3-D Valentine Hearts. I made this one up and will try to post a demonstration... But essentially, I took strips of red, pink and white paper. The red were slightly larger than the white, which were slightly larger than the pink. We folded each side down and stapled them to look like hearts and then attached a pipe cleaner. Then we tied a ribbon on it. There is a leaf with a hole punched in it. Each child got to write to/from on it. Then we slid it up the pipe cleaner. The kids took a pencil and curled the pipe cleaner so the leaf wouldn't fall off. And then they were ready to give this cute 3D valentine to someone special!
7. Heart Attacks for the Principal - let the kids make hearts and decorate them. Then decorate the principal's door to show her how much you love her!
8. Homemade Candy Bracelets - Various circle candy can be put on pull and peel licorice and then tied to make edible candy bracelets. We used gummy life savers, lifsavers, fruit loops, mint lifesavers, and starbursts (that I cut holes in).
9. Chopsticks and Conversation Hearts... Give the child 1 minute to see how many conversation hearts they can pick up with chopsticks. See who can pick up the most! It's harder than you may think!
10. This year, we are doing a Chocolate Fountain! I can't wait. The kids will get to choose from various items to dip: angel food cake, bananas, strawberries, rice krispies, pretzels, gummy bears, brownie bites, marshmallows, pineapple, oreos, graham crackers, nutter butters, etc. Someone even suggested bacon and potato chips??!? I'm not so sure about those...
Coming up... Valentine boxes ideas to save you some time AND this year's exciting Valentine party game plans that you are SURE to love!
Circuit board kit with light bulb, battery, & wires
Random items to test conductivity
Christmas light strand
Circuit ball
Circuit boards
Circuit handout (PDF included below)
Crayons or markers
Lesson Plan:
Introduction: Did you know that everything around us made of tiny, invisible things called atoms? Atoms are very, very small. They are smaller than an ant, smaller than a speck of dust. Atoms are so small that we can't see them with our own eyes or even with a magnifying glass. Atoms are so tiny that you have to have a really special, powerful microscope to see them. There are atoms in the floor and on the table and in the chair and on the door. Do you see this tiny pin here? Guess how many atoms are on this pin? Do you think there are 10 atoms? 100 atoms? 1000 atoms? How about five million atoms? That's right--atoms are so tiny that five million atoms could fit on one tiny pin. That's why we can't see them very well.
Atoms are made up of even smaller pieces. Each atom has three different parts called protons, neutrons, and electrons. We are going to pretend to be an atom.
Create a human demonstration of an atom. Pass out proton/neutron/electron signs. Have each child be a different part of the atom--protons and neutrons in the center nucleus with electrons running circles around the nucleus.
Now let's make a model of an atom that you can keep. We are going to use candy to do this… You don't get to eat the candy right now, but at the end of class if you remember what I've taught you, I may hand out some of the extra candy!
Use candy, frosting, and paper plates to create models of atoms. -Protons and neutrons are mints or other medium-sized circular candies. Electrons are m & m's or other small candies--they should be noticeably smaller than protons and neutrons. You could also -use pull-and-peel Twizzlers to create lines in the electron cloud to show movement.
Now that you know all about atoms, we are going to talk more about those crazy little electrons that jump around on the outside of atoms. Why do electrons move around so much? Well, for one reason, electrons don't like to get close to each other. If another electron comes too close, then the electrons move out of the way. Sometimes electrons move around so much that they even jump from one atom to another. When electrons move like this, they create something called electricity. Who knows what electricity is? Electricity is just the movement of electrons. Electrons--Electricity--that's why the two words sound so alike.
At this point, you could use several strong magnets to demonstrate how electrons repel each other.
Anything that uses a battery or plugs into a wall to work uses electricity. Can you find something in this room that uses electricity? [Answers might include a computer, TV, lamp, etc.] There is also a special kind of electricity called static electricity that doesn't even need a battery. Let's learn about at static electricity first.
Have you ever walked across a carpet floor in thick socks and then touched a metal door?
Did you feel a little spark go through you? That spark was electrons. When you walk on the floor you rub off electrons and create a little collection of electrons. But remember that electrons do not like to get close to each other. When you collect too many electrons you build static electricity and the electrons look for a way to escape. When you touch metal, the electrons escape and you feel a little spark of electricity.
Let's look at some other types of static electricity:
Balloon/hair demo
Rub a balloon on shirt
Watch it make hair rise and see how it can stick to things because of static electricity…
Styrofoam cup experiment
Break up little pieces of paper
Rub a Styrofoam cup on hair/shirt/etc. so it builds up static electricity
Move the Styrofoam cup over the little bits of paper and watch the paper "jump" because of the static electricity.
(You can also do the same with a balloon if you don't have Styrofoam).
Static electricity is a lot of fun, but the kind of electricity we use most in our life is different. The other kind of electricity is called current electricity.That's the kind of electricity that uses batteries or plugs to work. Batteries are just special storage containers for electrons. When you connect a battery to a wire the electrons will travel through the wire. Then, they can make a light go on or a buzzer ring. Let's look at how it works.
Light bulb demo… Connect a light bulb to a battery with wires. [I used a circuit board kit].Watch it light up.
Electrons only like to travel through certain types of things. If you put a rubber ball up to a battery, nothing will happen. But if you used tinfoil to connect a battery and light bulb, the light would go on. Let's experiment to see what kinds of things electrons like to travel through.
Conductivity experiment: Test different items to see which things complete the circuit and make the light go on. Sort the items into two groups: conductors and non-conductors.
In order for electricity to work, you also have to have what is called a closed circuit. That means you have to have a complete circle connecting the wires to the battery to the item you are turning on. If the circuit gets broken, the light won't work.
Let's look at some Christmas lights for example. If I take out one of these Christmas light bulbs the rest of the chain won't work. (Take out one light). When I took out the light I broke the circuit. If the circuit is broken it is called an open circuit and the electricity doesn't work. To help the electricity work again, we need to make a closed circuit again! (Put light bulb back in).
Did you know that human beings can conduct electricity? That's why we have to be so careful around plugs and sockets. It could really hurt to be electrocuted. That's when too much electricity enters a human and injures them. I have a special electricity ball though that won't hurt you. Let's see if we can make it conduct electricity.
Use circuit ball. Create a circle adding one person at a time holding hands all around. Demonstrate how a circuit works. What happens if one person lets go? The balls turns off. That's because we broke the circuit. But when we are all holding hands then we create a closed circuit and the electricity flows to the ball and makes it light up.
When you have lots of circuits, you can create something called a circuit board. Circuit boards are in all of the electric things around us.
Show samples of circuit boards. [We have a lot of actual circuit boards because my husband likes to take apart old broken electronics ]
In your house you have lots of wires inside your wall that conduct electricity. When you plug something in you are connecting it to a huge circuit. Sometimes when there is a storm, the circuit can be broken. Maybe a power line falls down or something else gets in the way of the circuit. Then you lose all of your electricity! Has that ever happened to any of you? Electricity is pretty important! Without electricity we couldn't do many fun things like watch TV, listen to CDs, or hang up pretty Christmas lights.
This would be a great time to stop to read and discuss a book such as The Magic School Bus and The Electric Field Trip by JoAnna Cole.
Okay, we're done with our lesson for now. But let's review to see what we learned today…
What are atoms? What are electrons? What is electricity? What is a circuit? What kinds of things conduct electricity?
Review and discuss key terms. Maybe give the kids a candy or small prize if they remember key points from the lesson.
Okay, I just have one more assignment for you. Here is a picture of a light bulb and a battery. But the light bulb can't shine yet, because it has an open circuit. I want you to close the circuit and color in the light bulb so it can shine! On the back of the handout, you can draw a picture of your favorite thing that uses electricity. Have fun!
Extensions/Adaptations:
With younger kids, you may want to skip over some of the discussion of atoms and just say that electricity is created by the movement tiny particles called electrons. You could also simplify some of the other explanations. For older kids you could explain series and parallel circuits as well. You could also tell some stories about the history of electricity... Franklin, Edison, etc. Also, if you have a circuit board activity kit you can enjoy experimenting with different projects at the end of the lesson.
This was one of my favorite "preschool" units with my kids! Their dad is an engineer who works in a lab building circuit boards for satellites, so I had fun involving him in teaching the kids this week.
Literacy
As usual, we learned the shape and sound of the letter E. My kids do not like doing ordinary letter tracing worksheets--probably because they are young and still developing fine motor skills. Each week, I try to find different ways to have my kids get familiar with the shape of the letter. We build the letter out of blocks, chocolate chips, push pins, or magnets. We sometimes trace the letter in sand or shaving cream. Or we work on it outside as we are playing with our sidewalk chalk. For electricity, we made a letter E out of tinfoil because tinfoil is a conductor. Another simple game we often play to practice our letter sounds is "I spy." As I'm driving in the car to and from soccer or the library or the grocery store, I will say "I spy with my little eye, something that starts with the letter ____ (or the sound "___").
Books
The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip by Joanne Cole
This book is definitely geared towards older school kids--a lot of concepts are too advanced for a preschooler. But the Magic School Bus series is great, and even if they didn't understand everything both my boys LOVED it. We read it several times, and they continued to ask for more Magic School Bus stories after this.
Electricity (DK Eyewitness Book)
We definitely didn't read every word of this book, but this was a handy reference with plenty of pictures and detailed information that I was able to refer to as we learned about electricity. Great for an older child, but still enjoyable for a younger child if you choose appropriate sections that your child can understand.
Another book that we didn't read but that looks good is the following:
Switch On, Switch Off
We also checked out quite a few other books out of the juvenile nonfiction section--especially some fun books with hands-on electricity experiments to try at home.
Math
My kids are getting better at counting, but they are still working on their numeral identification, so we practiced identifying numbers on the different circuit boards we looked at. We had a lot of circuit boards that I had collected for the lesson (my husband works in electronics LOVES to take apart old electronic devices and save the circuit boards). Some of the numbers were hard to see but all of the circuit boards had numbers on them in one place or another, so it was a fun number treasure hunt.
Science
Obviously, this unit was heavily science-based. We loved learning about both static and current electricity. I adapted a lesson about electricity that I had previously prepared a few years ago for older children in mind. Even though my children are young, they still loved it! For all my detailed science lesson on electricity--keep reading. The science lesson for this unit is included in the next post.
Craft
I made up a simple coloring page for the boys to review the concept of circuits.
And the boys had a fun father-son project (well more of a project done 99% by dad--but they learned a lot through watching him!) building a flashing siren and then painting a homemade cardboard fire engine to go around the siren.
Their dad used this kit from Amazon.com to build the siren. It was a great little kit that came with a soldering iron and solder that can be used for future projects, too.
Practical Life
We talked a lot about safety around electrical appliances. Since water is a conductor, I reminded the boys, we need to keep electric things away from water. We talked about staying away from plugs. And I reminded my son of the time he burned a hole in his wall when he dropped a coin in between his nightlight and the wall.
Field Trip
Any science museum would probably have electricity-related displays. We have several great science museums nearby. We love the Discovery Science Center in Orange County. Another fun museum is The California Science Center in Los Angeles--That museum is always free (but parking does cost money). But for our field trip this time, we went to the Griffith Observatory (also free!). The boys were quite impressed with the lightning bolts of electricity from the Tesla
Coil there.
Snack
If you are feeling ambitious and want a super cool electricity snack, try making some of these graham cracker circuit boards. I wasn't that ambitious--but maybe next time!
Music
I couldn't find a lot of children's songs to do with electricity, but we did find this electricity song online. And we are Californians and Disney fans, so we loved dancing around to the "Main Street Electrical Parade" song.
I have a daughter with a December birthday. So I try to be careful to not overlook it with all of the holiday craziness. As a result, this year I went a little crazy on the school birthday treat. Normally I go simple and send cookies or fruit by the foot. But this year, we took our snowman donut idea from our Christmas party and adapted it for school.
The other kids thought they were pretty cool!
Needed - skewers, powdered donuts, mini chocolate chips, tic tacs, red hots and pull & peel licorice.
{Forgive the smashed snowmen. There's a long story with those. But it has to do with leaving 2 little boys in the car while I talked to a friend. And forgetting the donuts were still in there! Oops!}
