Preschool Mardi Gras Sensory Bin

The children actually help put these sensory bins together. They get to canvas the art room and play area for relevant items. 

The big girls decided we HAD to have jewels in this one, so I put them to the task of fishing out the appropriate colored gems. Excellent fine motor activity, and they debated between them on whether the color of the gems fit. "That one's too light green." "This is more pink than purple."

We ended up with it including:

• Base of split peas
• Crepe paper streams
• Metallic ribbon curls
• Pipe cleaners
• Reindeer moss
• Mardi Gras coins
• Mardi Gras beads
• Feathers
• Gold metallic grass
• Gems
• A small doll to hide like in King Cake

The girls also insisted on adding green and gold glitter to the split peas. 

The crepe paper is for tearing and tying.

Since we had pipe cleaners in our Valentine sensory bin, I wasn't planning on putting them in this one, but was over-ruled. Little Miss H made several "balloons" out of them to celebrate today. They are a very versatile loose part.

Feathers and coins are must-have for Mardi Gras,

along with masks and beads.

The reindeer moss is a new element. It not only has a very unique feel to it, it also has a very earthy scent as well. It is a great sensory item as it can be pulled apart using fine motor skills, and pressed back together.

This is prior to beads and gold filler. They threw in some St. Patrick's Day foamies as well. Hey, they are green. And, you know which holiday this sensory bin is headed into next...

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Tags: child care, daycare, preschool, pre-k, homeschool, holiday, loose parts, loose parts play, spring, child, children, kids

Patriotic Preschool Hats

These 4th of July hats are always a huge hit. They are also great for Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, Flag Day, President's Day, or made in yellow, purple and green for Mardi Gras. 

For older preschoolers, fold sheets of construction paper length-wise into 1 inch strips to create cutting lines. There are a LOT of strips to be cut, so I usually only have them do one sheet of cutting. For younger children, I try to do a few strips with teacher-assist scissors. The rest of the strips, I use my paper cutter. It will take 6 strips of each color, with an extra one for every year of age over 2. 

The large stars are used to cover the seam at the center of the headband. Older children can be provided with a template to trace and cut out. Younger ones will need teacher assistance with this.

The band is two 2-inch strips cut length-wise from the child's choice of red, white or blue construction paper. We glue the seam to keep it flat, but I also staple to ensure it doesn't fall apart with repeated use. Older children with especially large heads may need an additional filler piece inserted into the band. The two 11 inch long strips can be joined to make a headband up to 21 inches long. Two year old have about a 19 inch head circumference and it goes up by about an inch a year. 

The band is turned over and placed in front of the child. 

They then create the ABC pattern of red, white and blue. Once completed, and correct, I move the strips just above the top of the band, have the child glue all over the band, especially the edges, and then begin placing the strips down onto the headband.

Once the strips are secured, we turn it over. I ask the child to glue one star on top the stapled center seam. Then, they are free to place the other two stars where they want. 

I give them a strip of silver, red and blue star stickers and let them  at it. We count the number of stars of each color each child chose and graph them. 

When complete, I measure the band to fit the child's head and staple. I then use scissors to strip curl the red white and blue strips to create a firecracker effect. 

We will use these for many activities this week, not the least of which is acting like little firecrackers.

SKILLS
Math: patterning ABC, counting, 1-1 correspondence, left/right, logic/reasoning, shapes of star and rectangle
Art: creative expression, color recognition
Fine Motor: cut, paste, trace, scissors, placing, releasing stickers
Social: history, celebrations, traditions, following directions
Tags: 4th of July, craft, art, headband, hat, red, white, blue, star, stars and stripes, flag, patriotic, patriot, 4th, july, fourth, construction paper, glue, cut, paste, preschool, elementary, child, history, celebration, Independence Day, independence, parade, costume