Preschool Sensory Play Activities: How it all got started!

Sensory Messy Play and Preschool Activities

We've had many great years teaching messy play and preschool classes for The Play Connection and hope the future will send even more blessings our way. Here are our top sensory and messy play preschool activities from 2013. What a blast from the past!

This post contains affiliate links.

Here is a listing of our top posts of 2013. Many offer great ideas for fun, preschool activities, clip art, and lots of fun for kids! Enjoy!

1. Christmas Eye Candy: Photos of Christmas Trees in Snow Clipart
2. Angie's Homemade Artisan Bread Recipe
3. New Year Preschool Party Ideas and Activities for Kids
4. Lots of Snowmen and Marshmallows Christmas Crafts and Activities for Kids
5. Fun for Kids with Phineas and Ferb Printables
6. Lots of photos of Bread Clipart
7. Cute Valentine Clipart and Free Printables for Kids Classroom Valentines
8. 9 New Year Activities for Kids with games for kids too
9. Marshmallows: Fun for kids SENSORY game great for preschoolers
10. The Tooth Fairy Sagas: Free Toothfairy clipart and true Mommy Drama
11. Activities for Kids: Make your own snow for Sensory play fun for kids
12. Birthday Party games for Kids and Moms on a budget
13. Our new Series Made the cut! Creative Country Sayings and Inspirational Quotes

Memories from 2008 - 2012.

Here's my favorite Homeschool Lesson from 2013.

Primary and Complementary Color Homeschool Art and Science Lesson.

Jake's Journey in Homeschool Art Lessons and Projects for Kids

(Pre K to Elementary)

There are many Homeschool Lessons in this series, so make sure you click the labels under each post. (Still Life, Water Coloring for Kids, Weaving, Self-Portrait activities, Building Models for Science, Christmas Gingerbread House how to diy, Color Theory Lessons, Primary Colors, and even some History  along the way - it's art to me how we've designed our lives throughout the years. I hope you will follow along on the journey.)

We published a Kitchen Kids Cookbook with mix and make recipes for kids. We helped fund raise for Santa's Elves of Indy, we started Homeschooling through INCA (Indiana Connections Academy,) and we moved to a house in the country. 

2013 holds many dreams as we look forward to gardening, raising chickens, goats, and hopefully bunnies and alpacas, get that YA novel published, and share a few of the many stage plays and skits for kids I've written over the years. Bring it! I am excited to get started :-) 

What does your future hold? Leave a comment and let us know.

Follow us on Pinterest (Kids Creative Chaos and Pin it! Online Scavenger Hunt for Pre school Curriculum) and Google +  Can't find us on Twitter? Check the right sidebar for a link we're @playconnection. 


Recommended Reading:

Fun with Messy Play: Ideas and Activities for Children with Special Needs

Play Out: How to develop your outside space for learning and play

Kitchen Kids: Christmas Cranberry Muffins Recipe

Kids Can Cook this Easy Holiday Cranberry Muffin Recipe

Make mom breakfast in bed for the holidays or Mother's Day with our Kitchen Kids Cranberry Muffin Recipe from "Kids Creative Chaos Cooks Cookbook" full of recipes to mix and make with minimal adult supervision.

Holiday Cranberry Muffin Recipe. Easy for kids to make.

You need:

English Muffins
1 Can of Jellied Cranberry Sauce
Cinnamon 
Brown Sugar

How to make:
Toast Muffins in toaster or toaster oven.
Open the cranberry sauce and slide it out of the can.
Slice into thin circles.
Place cranberry slices on muffins.
Sprinkle with brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon.
Place in toaster oven or on a cookie sheet in a warm oven at 375 degrees for 5 minutes.
Serve warm.

Recommended Reading:

Easy-To-Do Holiday Crafts From Everyday Household Items!: Including Crafts for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, and Every Day of the Year!

Holiday Games for Parties

Classroom Snowman Craft for Door: Pin it Online Scavenger Hunt

Classroom Snowman Ideas for Preschool and Elementary

Updated with Styrofoam Cup Snowman Tutorial and more Snowmen from our Pinterest friends who tired it! So, you want to make a plastic cup snowman for your classroom door or bulletin board. It's so cool, but how do you do it? Check out this Styrofoam cup SNOWMAN entered in a teacher's door decorating contest. 

This post contains affiliate links.

Did you know you can pin posts from your blog or pictures of your classroom door on our Pinterest board for teachers. We also have a Pinterest board just for Snowmen Stuff, just send a message in Pinterest with a request to join.

Scroll down the page for our favorite classroom snowman decoration ideas and the how to make the door snowman from plastic cups. Enjoy!

Edible Snowmen for Classroom Party

Christmas Games for Parties: Perfect for the Classroom!

Snowman Uploaded by Tiffany Cone Webb 
Click the pic to follow her on Pinterest.

Styrofoam Cup Snowman: This Classroom Door snowman was designed for a door decorating contest. Yes, he won! But, the question is...

How do you make a snowman for a classroom door from Styrofoam cups? 

The serious answer is very, very carefully with lots of patience. Plastic Cups are easier to staple than Styrofoam cups. They also have more give when assembling the snowman. Try using sticky Velcro strips to attach your snowman creation to the door, wall, or classroom bulletin board.

This one was created by Destinie S. and uploaded to Pinterest.
Click Plastic Cup Snowman with lights to see the video with flashing lights. Great job!

Good news! We found a video that shows how to make balls from plastic cups. In the video, you'll see that they make two halves and attach them to form a ball. So, you'll only need to make one half and then attach it to the wall. However, if you make the entire ball , you can make a stand alone cup snowman decoration. Check out this cute one, made to look like Olaf from Frozen!

Plastic Cup Snowman made to look like Olaf! We found this one at diycuteness blog.


Get LEGO OLAF on Amazon.

diycuteness also shared this plastic cup snowman for the classroom door.

How to Make a Snowman from Plastic or Styrofoam Cups:

Watch the video above to learn how to make a classroom door snowman from plastic cups. In the video, it shows how to make balls to make light decorations for parties. You can adapt this method to create the snowballs to build your snowman on a door.

Get short Styrofoam cups like the plastic cups in the picture.

FYI: We tried making the Styrofoam cup snowman several times. We finally made something resembling a circle, but never felt it was a good enough snowball to share. However, we tried it with tiny medicine cups which were difficult to staple. And then, we tried using glue to attach Styrofoam cups together. The method in the video with regular size plastic cups stapled together seems to work, but the circles are difficult to get perfectly round. 

Good luck, you're going to need it!

• While you're at it, turn your kids into snowman with this cute snowman craft for the class! Then, place them all on your winter bulletin board.

The original source seems to be a teacher's album 

on Photobucket.com ~ michellelgagne's album

• We found some great Snowman crafts at OrientalTrading and fun, free snowman worksheets at TeacherSherpa.com. Check out our post and follow along on Instagram to keep up with all of our crafty classroom activities! 

Winter Bulletin Board: Snowmen, Penguins, and Snowflakes on Amazon.

• Get winter snowflake decorations for Snowman Mobile.

• Make a Snowflake Snowman! These are a fun classroom craft for the winter months. Go to Amazon to get snowflakes to make the mobile.

Recommended Reading:

Get the Companion Book, It's Snowing! by Gail Gibbons

Snowman Activities for Children

Cardboard Tube Snowman Treat Cup

Classroom Valentine Snowman

Homeschool Projects for Lesson Planning

Get Snowmen At Christmas Book

Plastic Cup Halloween Lights

Top 10 Reasons to Hate Juice Packs, Recycle Plastic Bottles

Recycle Plastic Bottles for Lunch

Recycle Kid's Trash to Ease Mommy Woes. Hate Juice Packs? We're always looking for new ways to recycle plastic bottles. The juice pack mess really sparked this idea. How do you teach your kids to recycle? Enjoy!

How do you teach your kids to recycle? 

Ways to Recycle Plastic Bottles

Here are 10 reasons to hate juice packs:

1.  Straw wrappers. Everywhere.
2.  "Mommy, I can't get a straw in here!" (But they want to, try really hard, and squeeze juice everywhere.)
3.  Little dots of juice turned dirt magnets on the carpet. Everywhere.
4.  One box takes up a lot of fridge room and only lasts one day. Expensive, considering.
5.  Pouches in landfills. Everywhere.
6.  Half-full pouch tossed in trash because kids too lazy too squeeze out last drop.
7.  "I don't like Kiwi Strawberry." "I don't like lemonade." "Wah!" (Complaints)
8.  "Look, it's a volcano!" Everywhere.
9.  Added sugar.
10. Instant Balloon toys, need I say more?


Solution:
Recycle mini-soda bottles, fill with healthy drinks of your choice or even Kool-aid. Saves money, the environment, and Mommy headaches. 

Reuse Plastic Bottles: Kid's choose their favorite flavor and reseal for later.


Store recycled mini-plastic bottles in the bottom of fridge door for easy access: 
Allows for preschooler independence!

Of course, water bottles work too; maybe try it for lazy grown-ups or portion control.

Recommended Reading:

Uses for Plastic Bottles

Recycle!: A Handbook for Kids by Gail Gibbons* 

Recycle a Bottle into a Valentine Card Holder

ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products. *We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here.Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Pin-it Online Scavenger Hunt 4/16/12

Be the first to know the new search words by subscribing to our emails >>>

And the Winner is (4/9)...  Jennifer O. Send address info to the hollyjollyone@yahoo.com  Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. I am on it but wait to mail several prizes at once :-)

Remember to Win it you must leave a comment on this blog post after completion of the hunt. Below this post is a divider bar on the left side you will see the words "Tell us your two cents" click here to leave a comment. Any comment will do :-)


We have several pinners but less than 10 are entered in the drawing each week!!!  


Leave a comment on Pinterest to be added as a collaborative pinner under the purple tack.

Most pinned (28 repins) pinned by Salina K. from the blog Momto2PoshLilDivas.com Homemade Bouncing Balls.

My favorite pin pinned  by Taryn Scruggs (9 repins) from the blog Noodle-head.com Pom-Pom Valentine Window.  

This week's keyword search topics are:

Arbor Day Crafts
Kid Science ~ Corn Starch
Things to do with Paper Plates
Recycled Lamp Shades

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Pineapple Valentine Day Craft Idea for Kids Classroom Box

Make this Easy, Valentine Day Classroom Craft Idea for Kids from a 2-Liter Plastic Bottle: Recycle!

For this, classroom Valentine Box, we transformed a 2-Liter plastic bottle. Use this Pineapple Under the Sea for a Spongebob Theme Party or Valentine's Day classroom craft. Enjoy!

2- Liter Plastic Bottle Pineapple Classroom Valentine.

 Valentine Day Craft Idea for Kids Classroom.

The requirements for his classroom Valentine mailbox called for a shoebox.  Mommy's idea of using a 2-Liter bottle was extremely unsettling for Jake, but he thought the end result was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

Looking for Pineapple Recipes or Clipart?

Sure, there was a little crying and a lot of pouting as he made his point. Apparently, the teacher's flyer had made it clear the project was to be no smaller than a shoebox.  And, "Mommy a shoebox is the perfect size; you just cut a slot in the top and glue on some hearts!" (Said in deplorable frustration.)  

Got a stickler for the rules? You might like Jake's Journey in Art.

Mommy did not have a shoebox to spare nor the extra cash to buy a new pair of shoes just for the coveted box. The cereal box, briefcase-looking mailboxes on Pinterest were tantalizing, but I wanted something different.

"Why can't we cut a slot out of a bottle and glue hearts on it or make it a rocket or something?" 

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Do you hear that? It is the sound of Jake jumping up and down on the kitchen floor in desperate refusal. "We'll talk about it later, Jake." And with that, we were off to purchase Classroom Valentines.

One box of Spongebob exchange cards later, and Jake decided said detested bottle would make an awesome Pineapple. Genius.

How to Make a Pineapple Valentine Box

We cut a slit in the middle of the bottle to represent a window, cut wavy, one-inch strips from brown paper lunch sacks, and covered it with glitter. Then, Jake took a toilet tube, cut green leaves from construction paper, glued them to the tube, and stuck it on top of the bottle. Foamy stickers spell his name just above the window and a construction paper heart glued to the end of a straw decorates Spongebob's house for the Valentine holiday.



Recommended Reading:

Easy Classy Valentine 

SpongeBob's Secret Valentine *

Pig Valentine Idea










ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Fruit Pizza and Chocolate Cookie Perfect Valentine Dessert Recipe

How to Make a Fruit Pizza with Chocolate Recipe

This easy fruit pizza is the perfect dessert recipe for a birthday celebration, Valentine's Day, picnic, or any time! It's an impressive dessert that is simple to prepare and delicious every time. You can customize it by changing what type of bottom cookie crust you use, choosing different fruits, or even using coconut and a white chocolate drizzle for a tropical pizza. This crowd pleaser is sure to be made again and again. Learn how to make a fruit pizza with chocolate cookie crust.  Enjoy!

Easy Fruit Pizza Recipe

18 oz refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough (you can use any type you like to customize!)
2 squares(1 oz each) white baking chocolate
2 T of milk
1 8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/4 C of powdered sugar
1 C thawed whipped topping
12-16 Strawberries, sliced
1 can of Mandarin Orange Segments drained
2 TB - 1/4 C semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 t - 1t vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350.

Using a lightly floured roller, roll the dough into a 12 in circle on Round Stone or spread dough out on Bar pan or Cookie Sheet of your choice to a 1/4 in thickness. Bake 12-15 min. or until edges are set (cookie will be soft...don't over bake). Remove from oven and let cool for 10 min., then gently loosen cookie from pan using a spatula and let cool completely on pan.

Place white chocolate in a small bowl and microwave on high for 1 min., stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth, microwave an additional 10-20 seconds if necessary. Combine Cream Cheese and powdered sugar in the Classic Batter Bowl mix well. Then, gradually add the white chocolate mixture to the cream cheese and powdered sugar.  Mix until smooth. Then, gently fold in the whipped topping. Spread over top of cookie.

Arrange Strawberries and Mandarin Oranges over top of cream cheese mixture. Melt Chocolate chips with the vegetable oil in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds or until mixture is melted and smooth. Drizzle over the top and refrigerate for at least 30 min. Then slice and enjoy!





Recommended Reading:

Edible Party Bouquets*

Game for Family Reunion










ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Valentine Blog Hop: Join The Fun!

 

Valentine's Day Ladybug Activity for Preschoolers: Tic-Tac Toe Game

Cute Ladybug Craft for Valentine's Day for Preschoolers

This adorable ladybug paper craft was made by Mama Mia (she no longer blogs). It is a fun paper project to make with preschoolers or a buggy Valentine to make for your little ones. Get them involved in the process for some hands on learning and fine motor skills. Enjoy!

Ladybug Valentine Paper Craft for Preschool Kindergarten.

Companion Lesson

Draw one heart and one square to use as a template. Have preschoolers trace squares and hearts and then let them cut them out. This focuses on hand eye coordination and fine motor skills.

As the children glue the legs on, discuss the differences between spiders and insects. How many legs does a ladybug have?

How to Make Ladybug Tic Tac Toe Game

2 large sheets of red construction paper (or craft foam).
1 large sheet of black construction paper (or craft foam).
1 scrap or half sheet of pink construction paper (or craft foam).
2 googly eyes
1 glue stick

Cut 2 tiny hearts for  the antennae
Cut 5 pink and 5 red hearts for game pieces
Cut 6 long strips of black for legs. Cut these straight and then fold as shown above.
Cut 2 long strips of black for the antennae.
Cut 9 Squares for game board.
Cut 1 half moon from black paper for head.


Recommended Reading:

Ladybug Girl Party Ideas

Preschool Circle Time Ideas

The Grouchy Ladybug*

Ladybugs by Gail Gibbons*













ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

Valentine's Day Dessert: Lemon Angel Food Cake Recipe from Pampered Chef

Looking for a light and refreshing dessert recipe for Valentines Day? This Lemon Angel Food Cake Recipe is Delicious

Angie's favorite Pampered Chef recipes: This dessert recipe for Valentine's Day is pink, pretty, and romantic. It is perfect for your next romantic Valentine's Day Dessert. Make this Lemon Angel Food Cake recipe to celebrate Valentine's Day or any special occasion. Enjoy!

Ours: Valentine's Day Dessert Lemon Angel Food Cake.

Theirs: Pampered Chef's Lemon Angel Food Cake.

How to Make Lemon Angel Food Cake

Ingredients:

5 drops red food coloring

1 pkg (16 oz or 430 g) angel food cake mix

3 lemons

2 cups (500 mL) powdered sugar

2 cups (500 mL) thawed frozen fat-free whipped topping

1 pkg (10 oz) frozen raspberries or strawberries in syrup, thawed.

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). For cake, add food coloring to amount of water specified on package. Prepare cake according to package directions. Pour batter into Rectangular Baker . Bake on center rack 35-40 minutes or until top is golden brown, cracked and center is slightly sunken. (Do not underbake.) Remove baker from oven; invert onto Stackable Cooling Rack. Without removing baker, let stand until completely cool (about 1 1/2 hours).

2.  Poke holes in cake about 1 1/2 in. (4 cm) deep and 1/2 in. (1 cm) apart with large fork. Zest lemons using Zester/Scorer to measure 1 tbsp (15 mL) zest. Juice lemons using Juicer to measure 1/3 cup (75 mL) juice. In Small Batter Bowl, combine sugar, juice and zest; whisk until smooth. Pour glaze over cake, spreading evenly. Let stand 30 minutes or until glaze is set.

3.  Attach open star tip to Easy Accent(R) Decorator; fill with whipped topping. Garnish each serving with whipped topping; top with raspberries.

Yield:  15 servings

U.S. Diabetic exchanges per serving: 2 1/2 fruit, 1 starch (3 1/2 carb)

Make it a family Valentine's date night for the perfect Valentimes. (See what I did there?) You might also like to pair it with a Valentine Craft for Kids and a cute bedtime story like those below.

Recommended Reading:


Recipes from the Heart Cookbook*

More Recipes from Kids Creative Chaos









ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

10 Valentine Printable Free Clipart Hearts Cartoons and Coloring Pages for Kids

We searched the web for some fun free clipart hearts for Valentine's day for your Kids

Your kids will love making their own Valentine's Cards to hand out to their classmates. Copy, print, and you're good to go make a homemade card. Save images to your computer to print or highlight image and press Ctrl/P together to print. Enjoy!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

10 Valentine Printable Free Clipart Hearts for Cards and Crafts.

• Simple Spiral Heart

Valentine Heart.

• Dora and Boots Share a Valentine

This image has been removed, we'll find a replacement asap. Thanks for understanding.

• Cherub Tweety Bird with Arrow

Tweety.

• Baby Cherub

Cupid.

• Max and Ruby Valentine Hearts

• Valentine Tree

• Candy Hearts Printable

This isn't clipart, but it is a free printable for our conversation hearts game for preschoolers.

• Ipod/MP3 Valentine Heart 

Ipod MP3 Heart Valentine.

• Printable Cartoon Font/Letters for Classroom Valentine

Fun Printable Font for Valentine Cards.

• Candy Heart Printable Coloring Page

From www.TheColoringSpot.com visit their site for tons of  fun coloring pages.

Recommended Reading:

Vintage Valentines CD-ROM and Book *

Unique Valentine Crafts for Classroom

Valentine's Books for Kids*






ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)