The Unblogged

We post a lot of impromptu pictures that have potential to be blog worthy, but then we never end up blogging about them.  So, here is a quick picture list of some of our quality cell phone picture activities.

THE UNBLOGGED....

Visual bed time routine.  

Create a table in microsoft word, print, and laminate.  We attached ours to a clip board to keep on my daughters night stand.  She checks things off as she goes with a dry erase marker.  

Tape off a track on the floor for car play.

use rope lights and fabric to create a wonderful reading nook in small spaces.  This space is a built in for a TV.

Dollar Tree find.....colored containers and plastic ice cubes for sorting.

Mini DROP BOX.....color recognition.

Create your own tree blocks....all you need is a thick branch or thin tree trunk and a saw.

Tracing.....use sidewalk chalk to trace letters....names....shapes....etc.

Upper/lower case letter match.....use a Sharpie marker to write letters on shot glasses  and have the child match them up by nesting them on top of one another on the light panel - of course.

Bean bag toss....tape colored construction paper to the floor as well as challenge lines where the child is to stand and have them toss the bean bags onto the corresponding colors.

Oral Motor control.....tape colored paper to a table and have the children blow pom-poms through a straw onto its corresponding color.

Bath tub paint....shaving cream colored with liquid watercolors.

Imaginative play....fishing in the bath tub.

Wire play - similar to our WIRED POST.....using floral wire to create.

Use magnetic beads on the magnet board.  Make various sized strands of magnetic beads, create letters and print them, then use them on the magnet board......the child uses the templates and bead strands to build the letters.

Ball ramp - simple fun with a bowl of balls and a gutter!

Colored design tape and overhead transparencies on the light panel.

Painting lanterns

Similar to our MAGNETIC PUMPKIN, we created a magnetic snowman.  Tape white circles to the magnet board and allow child to use DIY MAGNETS to build a snowman.

Use play doh number stampers to stamp numbers into sand on the light panel

A spin off of our ILLUMINATED EASTER EGG HUNT.....letter find and building words.  Use a sharpie to write letters on the eggs.

Building with sugar cubes.  Use powdered sugar and water mixed together as a "glue" to build towers, houses, and more!!

Im sure we will add to this list as we come across pictures we have posted and never really blogged about.....and as the questions start rolling in.

- PAHM

Glass Gem Compilation

Glass gems have been a staple in our playrooms since our children were 6 months old.  We love how one "toy" can become so many different things.  Below, you can see some ways that we have explored them.  

Glass gems can be purchased at any craft store, Dollar Tree, Walmart, Target, etc.
**They present a choking hazard and should only be used with young children under close supervision.**

Most of these pictures have a blog post with more detailed information.  To see the entire post, click on the links below the pictures.  

Creative Play

Use gems with our letter/number templates.
LETTER/NUMBER TEMPLATES

Enlightening Math
ENLIGHTENING MATH

Sorting

Sensory Bin
SENSORY BINS

Illuminated Ornaments
ILLUMINATED ORNAMENTS

Color Recognition

Creative Play on the Light Panel

Great Big Giant Tree of Light
TREE OF LIGHT

Glass gems on a mirror.


Framed mirrors can be purchased at Dollar Tree.  

Glass Sculptures
GLASS SCULPTURES

Window Art
WINDOW ART

Glass Gems on clear plates. 

Clear plates can be purchased at Dollar Tree in a pack of 8.
Great for classrooms!  

Glass Pumpkin
GLASS PUMPKIN

Exploring Spacial Patterns
EXPLORING SPATIAL PATTERNS

Exploring Spacial Patterns on the Light Panel

Lately my son sees letters, numbers, designs, and patterns in everything from the clouds in the sky to the pine cones on the ground.  I love seeing the world through his eyes.  I wanted to offer him an open ended invitation to explore designs, symmetry, spacial patterns, etc that I once used in my classroom.  I used google images to search for random designs, and then printed those designs onto TRANSPARENCY SHEETS.  I set up the invitation and it was a bigger hit than I anticipated.  He was very engaged in this for almost an hour....and even asked me to print more designs (which I let him choose).

The Invitation

The "zig-zag" was his favorite.

LOVE!!

"Mommy, I made a zebra."

- AK (MESE, MECD)

Getting Creative with Push Pins

**You can purchase the letter templates at the bottom of this post**

My girls are always in my husbands office playing with the push pins on his cork board.  The other day my oldest started making some designs with them.  It's always great to see their minds at work!  During our next trip to the store we picked up some extra cork board and push pins.  We found some in Walmart (they also have them in target).... 4 boards for $6.00.  They are a little thin, so we just put two boards together.  We placed a piece of white paper on top of the board for a base.  My girls seem to do well with white backgrounds.  It also creates a fun print when you take the pins out!  I have no clue why I didn't take a picture of that (mental note to add one later).  There are so many different push pins out there.  We found some fun things on Amazon... butterflies, ducks, stars, etc.  They haven't arrived yet, but we are excited.  :-)  The pictures pretty much speak for themselves..

My 3 year old adding pins.  She usually HATES stuff like this.  It was a big hit for her!

My 4 year old

Her person taking a dog for a walk.

She always falls into such deep concentration.  A perfectionist for sure!

"I need to go put this up in my bedroom by my bed."

Warning... have plenty of pins/cork/foam/cardboard ready.  Neither of my girls wanted to disassemble their work.  

My oldest made an apple tree and a flower....still a work in progress.

My 3 year old working on the letter templates we created 

***Please see below for more information on the templates.*** 

Its always great when you find something both siblings love!

                         

WE ALSO CREATED PUSH PIN ART ON THE LIGHT PANEL USING TRANSLUCENT MATERIALS AND TRANSLUCENT PUSH PINS. 

We used a frame to create a "canvas" for the light panel push pin activities.  We used a cut piece of shower curtain liner for this one (Dollar Tree), but some other materials we thought might work are:  a piece of tarp (the same tarp we used to make our WATERBED), a page protector, panty hoes, or maybe even a piece of transparency paper.

Another thing to note is the depth of the frame.  It needs to be deep enough to accommodate the push pins.  I actually used the frame to a shadow box here.

wrap frame with chosen material

use a staple gun to affix material to frame

ready to go

The invitation - including transparent push pins as well as a new twist - sewing push pins with beads.

open ended push pin art

a truck

a better view of the sewing push pins through beads

our push pin circle sheet letters 

There are several options to stick the pins in.  After we ran out of cork board I searched the garage.  Any cardboard box will do.  

A soda case box

                           

An old postal box

                           

Since my girls loved this activity and LOVE their sticker circle sheets that you can see

HERE,

we decided to create new templates for the push pins. 

The document is 27 pages in length and includes the following:

UPPER CASE LETTERS:

LETTER/NUMBER SEARCH:

For this sheet, you write in the letters and numbers and create the KEY at the bottom.

LOWER CASE LETTERS:

NUMBERS 1-10:

COUNTING SHEETS 1-20

SHAPES:

BLANK SHEET FOR PATTERNS, DESIGNS, CREATIVITY:

COLOR MATCH:

The templates also work great with Q-tip painting....

and finger painting.

You can also make a busy book.

These are wonderful for a road trip, a gift for a new mommy with older children, or just to keep handy to pull out if you need to cook dinner, take a shower etc.

The book above contains both the push pin document and our letter/number templates.  I added Q-tips, paint, label stickers, and I am going to add a bingo dabber as well.  

The total price for the document is $5.00

It will be emailed to you from ejunkie and you will be able to download it instantly.  

To add Push Pin document  click on the Add To Cart Below.

This document will work with push pins and Q-Tip painting

To add the Letter/Number Template click on the Add to Cart Button Below

This document will work with Label Stickers, Bingo Dabbers, Bingo Chips, etc.