Rain and Weather

This week we talked about Rain and Weather.  We were lucky that it actually rained one day to remind us about this type of weather that we don't get very often in our area. 

 

BOOKS:

For our circle time we had some good books about weather:

The Wind  Blew by Pat Hutchins

Rain Drop Splash by Alvin Tresselt

Noah's Ark  illustrated by Peter Spier.

Like A Windy Day by Frank Asch and Devin Asch

Where does the Butterfly Go When It Rains? by Alvin Tresselt

 

 ART:

 

Rainbows:

We made rainbows out of paper plates, ripped paper, and cotton balls.  You need glue, hole punch, and yarn or a pipe cleaner to put it all together.  Because the kids I have are younger in age (3 and 4) I ripped up the paper ahead of time.  But for older 4 year olds and 5 year olds, let them rip the paper themselves.  Great help for their small motor skills that will help with writing.  I also precut the paper plates to look like a rainbow with a cloud on each end, and drew a line for each color so they knew where to put the different colored paper. 

 







 

The kids dotted the glue around the area for each color and then laid down the ripped paper in a line.  This was also good for their small motor skills.  I gave them a brush if they wanted to spread the glue out rather than just dot it on the plate.

 



After filling in all the colors they pulled apart a couple cotton balls and glued at the bottom for clouds.  Once it was completed I punched a hole in the top and threaded a pipe cleaner through (the children can also do those steps on their own) so it could be hung somewhere in their home.

 

 

Windsocks:

I can't seem to find the pictures I took of them making these!  Maybe we were having so much fun creating them that I forgot to take pictures, which I've done many times.  If I do find that I just forgot to get them off my camera, I'll post them here later.  But here are the instructions, hopefully it makes sense without a picture to go with it. 

The children picked out a colored piece of construction paper and then decorated it with markers, crayons and stickers.   These materials allowed us to turn them in to windsocks quickly and not need to wait for them to dry.  We rolled the paper together lengthwise and stapled it to hold it (you can also use clear tape), then I took streamers cut into 10 inch strips and we taped them (or stapled) on to the bottom of the paper.  We used a strip of construction paper (or a pipe cleaner) attached to the top to hold the windsock.  After the kids were done we took them outside and watched the wind blow them so we could tell which way the wind was coming from.



 

 

SHAPES

Last week we spent a couple days doing fun things with shapes.

Books we read:

Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Barney's Book of Shapes by Mark Bernthal
Ape Finds Shapes by Jane Belk Moncure
Circle in the Sky by Zachary Wilson
Word Bird's Book of Shapes by Jane Belk Moncure

Art:

Marble Painting on Shapes:
The kids got to pick whatever shape they wanted and we put it in the shoe box.  We placed a marble in the box and topped it with whatever color water based tempura paint they wanted.

They picked up the box and moved it back and forth and all around to make the marble roll around and create a neat design.  I found the children did much better with the movement of the box when they were standing up instead of sitting down.

 The finished shapes looked great!

Shape Pictures:
After reading Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh, the kids were definitely in the mood to create something out of shapes.  I gave them an assortment of shapes in different sizes and colors and let them go to it with glue sticks on white paper.  As they created their pictures we talked about the shapes they were using.  They used the pictures from the book Mouse Shapes to inspire them.  Here is a tree, sun and fish!

 They all wanted to make a cat like in the book.

The kids really enjoyed this activity as they watched a pile of different shapes turn into whatever they set their minds to!

Outside games:

A couple things we did outside to continue the shape theme was hula hoops (circles) and hopscotch (squares)