Tag: Summer Themes

Fire Breathing Dragon

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Dragons are one of my favorite fairy tale creatures. They are powerful and diverse – sometimes friendly, sometimes misunderstood, sometimes villainous. I love trying to guess what type of dragon will be featured in a new book!

Retelling stories can help our little ones exercise their imaginations, learn story building concepts, enhance reading comprehension, and organize and describe events. Creating props like this fire breathing dragon makes the retelling all the more fun! You don’t just TALK about the dragon, you get to BE the dragon!!

The supplies are pretty simple. You NEED a paper cup and tissue paper or streamers for the “fire”. The rest of the embellishment is up to you! We covered our paper cup in colored paper and sticker “scales”, but you could color, paint, or even glitter yours!

We began by cutting down the streamers. I cut the strips to length then split them in half to make the fire fan out easier. However, aesthetically I like the streamers cut in half, but I think this required extra air to make them blow at the end.

I also cut the ends into points. Again, it was all about aesthetics.  😂 Make your dragon your own by using different colors for the fire!

Next, use a pencil or pen to poke a small hole into the base of the cup. This is where your little one will breathe “fire” into the dragon at the end of the activity.

At this point, your little one will categorically refuse to make her dragon green as previously decided. Instead, she will insist that you get all new “scales” and “skin” in BLUE because that’s her FAVORITE.

If this has never happened to you, you probably don’t even have kids! LOL!

She really wanted to help make her dragon so we started with a glue stick and paper. However, our cup has a slippery coating so the glue stick didn’t stick as well as I liked. We ended up adding several pieces of Scotch tape to the outside before adding the stickers.

Next, tape the “fire” to the inside of the cup.

And then, attach the “eyes”.

How cute?! Your little one now blows through the hole at the base of the cup to make the streamers blow. Voila! They become instant fire breathing dragons!!

Curious about this book? Find out more and check out a sneak peek inside HERE

Becoming a fire breathing dragon is always fun, but it is even more exhilarating when you get to be the fire breathing dragon, in your favorite book, while your mom reads to you!

Have fun pairing your activity with your favorite dragon book! I cannot wait to see what you come up with!

Happy Creating!

Create Your Own Crown

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Calling all princes, princesses, kings, and queens!! Hear ye, hear ye! By royal decree, you will now create your own royal crown! 👑

Whether your little one dreams of being a fairy tale princess or Prince of the Cheetah Cats, their imagination can soar and their creativity can take charge with this activity!

The materials are very simple and you can substitute anything you have on hand to make it unique! Cut out a crown shape. (You can use my FREE printable if you want!) Then encourage your little one to make it their own. Add in stickers, paper shapes to glue on, crayons or markers, buttons, gems, even glitter if you are feeling super brave! Anything goes!

crown-templateDownload

And if you are planning this activity for your community story time, you will need to repeat the cutting process over and over again…. 🤪

But look at all those fun rainbow colors!!! I printed my template onto colored card stock to give it extra weight. I also like starting with colored car stock because it lets each kiddo make something in their own favorite color.

Check out all those little fingers hard at work! Each crown as as unique as the kiddo who created it!

When the kiddos were done decorating we used a hole punch to punch a hole on each side of the crown template. We then used a piece of yarn to tie it into a crown. The yarn is an easy way to make it adjustable, but I do recommend using a double thickness of yarn to give your crown a little more durability.

Our finished works!

Now we are donning our crowns and off to imagine a brave new world full of adventure, intrigue, mystery, dragons, fairies, and more!

What will you be the Queen or King of next??

Happy Creating!

Outer Space Matching Game

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Need a rainy day activity or a quiet activity to help pass that scary antic-packed hour as you make dinner? Outer Space Matching Game to the rescue!!

Matching games can help little ones with visual recognition, train their visual memory, improve concentration and attention to detail, and increase short term memory. Memory games can also be used to increase classification and grouping skills!

You can grab the FREE printable HERE and then start playing! I chose to laminate my sheets before cutting to make them more durable, but that step is totally optional!

I love all the vocabulary you can learn from this Outer Space Matching Game, too! It can be the jumping off point for so much space-themed conversation! Or, better yet, use this to reinforce concepts that you have already read about!

If you have a younger child you can start introducing matching games by using fewer cards and keeping them face up. As they get quicker at these 6 pairs, then you can rotate in new matches. Or try turning these familiar cards face down to see how they do!

Did you miss the FREE printable with the matching game cards? You can grab it HERE now!

Once unexpected perk of playing this matching game in our house is that our little lady is learning what “taking turns” actually means. She thought she could keep turning over cards until she found her match, but big brother had a very different opinion about that! It led to great conversation about what our house rules would be.

Want to check out another fun themed matching game? Find my Under the Sea Matching Game HERE!

Happy Gaming!

Number Rockets

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Want to give your kiddo a leg up before Kindergarten? Or refocus your 1st and 2nd grader before school gets back in session? These number rockets are just the tool to help you!

🚀  5, 4, 3, 2, 1…. BLASTOFF!!! 🚀 

I love this #SpaceWeek activity because it is so versatile! Each rocket is comprised of three sections – the top is a domino counting piece, the middle is a numerical digit, and the bottom is a ten-frame.

I had no idea how prevalent ten-frames were in current curriculum trends until my kiddo went to Kindergarten. They started with ten-frames almost immediately and continued to use them throughout the year. I love that this activity can reinforce digit recognition, counting, grouping, and more!

Grab the FREE printable HERE and you will be all set to launch!

I printed mine out in three colors to make the activity extra colorful. You will need 1 sheet of paper for the top of the rocket, 2 sheets of paper for the middle of the rockets, and 2 sheets of paper for the bottom of the rockets. That’s 5 sheets of paper total if you are still trying to do the math 🤪

This printable covers numbers 1-10 and is a great reinforcement for kiddos learning to count, group, and work with numbers in various forms.

The bottom of the rockets are a bit tedious to cut out, but look how amazing they look when finished! You could totally laminate the sheets of paper before cutting to give some prolonged durability.

Did you miss the FREE printable? Grab it HERE now!

Happy Counting!

Planets of Fruit

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Everyday comparison to your reader learn the scale of the planets in our solar system

As we were reading all our books for #SpaceWeek I ran across this amazing comparison. Did you know that you can show the scale of the planets with FRUIT?! 🤯🤯🤯

My kiddos are pretty young to digest the size and scope of the universe…. Let’s be real, I am too young or finite to understand the size and scope of the universe! Comparing the size of each planet to a piece of fruit was the perfect thing to give all of us a reality check!

With fruits that I have on hand (and one or two extras grabbed at the local grocery) we were able to line up the planets in their distance from the sun order.

Mercury and Earth are approximately the same size – the size of a grape or small cherry tomato. Venus and Mars are the size of a blueberry, but I couldn’t buy just 2 blueberries so I grabbed some dried cranberries to fill those spaces.

Jupiter was everyone’s favorite. It is so GIANT in comparison to the rest. Plus then we served the watermelon to our Community Group and my daughter went around saying “Did you know you’re eating Jupiter?” It got lots of confused looks and laughs as she explained the project we had done!

Saturn is a large grapefruit, Uranus is an orange, and Neptune an apple. All very approachable and easy to find foods!

Check out my little fact checker measuring to see if I picked tomatoes that were the correct size 😂

“You did a good job picking fruit mama” she says.

I say that’s a win!

Happy Comparing!

Flutter Ribbon Rocket

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Space Week is turning out to be a huge learning opportunity for me! I am fully embracing the challenge and wonder that come with new discoveries! A sweet friend told me of all kinds of local activities that would go with our Space Week theme so stay tuned to see how many of those we can incorporate this week! We might need a longer space unit soon!

We are reading tons of fun space-related books this week. One thing most have in common…. a countdown to a BLAST OFF! This fun activity can help your reader imagine they are blasting off to space in their own rocket!

Materials:

  • Grab your FREE Flutter Ribbon Rocket printable HERE
  • Markers, crayons, or pencils to color your design
  • Scissors and tape
  • Streamers in fiery colors
  • A string and a stick (we used a lollipop stick from a hobby store! It was the perfect length for little hands!)

Once you grab your free printable, let your little reader go crazy coloring their unique design. I love that the rockets are as original as the kiddos who make them!

Then, help your little to cut out the rocket ship.

Now let your little use tape or glue to fix the streamers to the bottom of the rocket. I like keeping the streamers pretty long so that there is a lot of “fire” swirling around as they play. Just remember, you don’t want your reader stepping on and tripping on the streamers!

Next, tape the string to the top of the rocket (or punch a hole and tie it!) and tape the other end of the string to the stick.

Check out these 2 amazing rockets that these sweet kiddos made at story time this week! I loved seeing all the rockets flying all around the room!

Flying them outside is even more beautiful! A little bit of wind and your rocket will get picked up like a kite!

Bonus – they are the perfect decoration for our bookshelf while not in use!

How fun is this? I cannot wait to hear what adventures your reader goes on while racing their personal Flutter Ribbon Rocket around!

Did you miss the FREE printable Flutter Ribbon Rocket? Click HERE to download now!

Happy Rocket Launching!

Outer Space Word Search

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Have you ever been so excited about teaching your kids something and then, the more you research projects, the more you realize you know NOTHING about the subject?!?!

No? Just me? HA!

I am totally that way with #SpaceWeek. I am fascinated with space but the more that I read, the more I realize I know very little about space. I mean I know the basic sun, stars, moon, and a handful of planets, but ask me to put them in order of size or distance from the sun and I am stuck. Then add in things like meteors, comets, nebula, and asteroids and I am totally at a loss.

Outer space is packed with the most fascinating things. And to think there are more rocks, constellations, orbits, and galaxies to still explore. I am totally enthralled!

To help you brush up on your space lingo I created this fun Outer Space Word Search for you. It is packed with all kinds of fun things we will talk more about this week.

Grab the FREE printable HERE!

My son has informed me that there are too many words 🤣, but I love a good challenge. I am looking forward to working on it this afternoon over a fresh cup of coffee!

Happy Word Hunting!

P.S. Did you miss the printable?? HERE it is again! 😉

Growing a Flower Garden Playdough Mat

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Playdough play is a wonderfully fun activity full of developmental benefits, including these:

  • Playdough play aids in fine motor skills development while littles build muscles needs for prewriting, cutting, and more.
  • It is calming and therapeutic while they squash, shape, and squeeze away any tension or extra energy.
  • Playdough play inspires creativity and imagination while also emphasizing hand-eye coordination.
  • It also can aid in social skill development as children plan and problem solve with others, play collaboratively, and talk and discuss their creations.

I have loved playdough since I was a tiny tot so anytime my kiddos want to dive into those cans of salt dough, I am game! The addition of playdough mats has really encouraged my kiddos to get more creative with the dough as they try to form and shape it into the “right” shape for their specific work. They seem to work harder at conceptualizing what they want to make and then molding it to fit their vision when they have a mat as a background.

For #GardenWeek, I just knew we needed to grow a playdough garden! Right now we have tons of flowers blooming with riotous color that make perfect inspiration for our creations. However, this activity would also be fantastic to pull out during the winter doldrums while we are all dreaming of spring.

You can grab the FREE printable, print, and laminate it and have your kiddos creating while you make dinner! I found myself focused on flower making, but I think that dirt really needs a worm or two! Maybe even a butterfly or the sun could be peeking in the sky!

I love all the color, dimension, and variations that can be created. If you pull this mat out 100 times, I am willing to be 100 different masterpieces will be created!

Don’t forget to grab the FREE printable HERE.

I cannot wait to see what creations your littles come up with!

Happy Growing!

Why Do We Need Bees?

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A Hands-On Learning Activity

We can’t have #GardenWeek without talking about the, dare I say, most important insects in the garden – BEES!

Why do we need bees? It is a great question!

Without bees we couldn’t grow lots of the fruits and vegetables that we eat! When a bee visits a flower or plant to sip the sweet nectar, they spread pollen that helps plants grow fruit and vegetables.

My kiddos have so many questions about bees and I am so thankful that we found this book to answer them all (and MORE!) in an age-appropriate, relatable way. I was learning right alongside my kiddos while reading it!

For instance, do you know how many bees make one jar of honey? Around TWENTY THOUSAND!! 😳 I will never look at that honey bear the same way again!

Our fun hands-on learning activity helps illustrate how bees travel to flowers, collect nectar, and carry it back to the hive to turn it into thick, sweet honey.

The first step is to make the hexagonal hive. First, cut strips of cardstock or other thick paper into 1-inch strips. Then begin folding the strip into a hexagon. I found it easiest to fold down the first side and then continue folding the paper strip on itself until the entire strip was folded up. Unfold the paper and then tape into a 6-sided hexagon.

Repeat with the remaining strips to make more hexagons. Then, tape them together into a larger honeycomb pattern.

Now your little will become the bees and use tongs (or their fingers) to move the pollen from the flower to the honeycomb.

This activity is very simple, but it can be used to emphasize various concepts:

  • Shapes – hexagon is a super fun word and shape!
  • Colors – what colors are the flowers? the pom-poms?
  • Numbers & Counting – how many pom-poms are inside each hexagon? on each flower?
  • Fine Motor Skills – can you squeeze the tongs to pick up just one pom?

I hope your little ones enjoy learning all about bees with this activity! And now that you know why we need bees, can you spot them hard at work outside in your environment?

Happy Bee Spotting!

Create Your Own Flower Garden

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I love open-ended activities!

I host a weekly community story time and the kiddos who attend are from a wide range of ages (age 1-12) and interests. I am always on the lookout for activities that can be fun for that entire range.

This fun activity is basically free to put together – especially if you have paper and glue on hand! – and it can be fun for any ability level.

Speaking of materials – I used construction paper and some neon copy paper. Any paper you have on hand, even scrap paper, would be great for this activity. I also handed out glue sticks because they are so easy for little hands to use successfully.

TIP – if you only have white paper on hand, have your little one color all over the paper before you cut out the shapes! The effect would be so special!

I spent a little time before story time cutting out shapes. This is not the time for perfection! 😉 I went with triangles in various sizes, rectangles and narrow strips, small and large circles, leaf shapes, and tear drop shapes.

Honesty moment – I started out tracing circles and cutting each one out but I highly recommend tracing one shape and then folding the paper so you can cut multiple shapes at once.

Keep in mind that this is an open-ended activity. That means that nothing needs to be perfect and you don’t need a set number of shapes or specific colors to make it work. I loved the variety created from the paper I had on hand, but it would be wonderful with far less colors, too!

Now the fun part – start gluing and sticking!

For story time, I made an example page to show everyone before they got started. Sometimes seeing an example helps get creative juices flowing. However, I was super clear that they were free to create and explore as they wanted.

I loved seeing how diverse the flower gardens turned out. They were all unique – no 2 flowers came out the same. It was wonderful!

If you look closely you will find some extra creative kiddos even made bugs, rain, and a garden shed on their pages! I wouldn’t have ever thought of doing that, but I LOVE it!

This activity can be adapted in so many ways to suit your group and supplies. BONUS – it is perfect for encouraging hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

I cannot wait to see what creations you come up with!!

Happy Creating!