Preschool activities

[Sneezykids]

Anyone want to share their ideas for some good old hands on fun?
I thought it would be fun to share some ideas. I need some new ones!

Here are some of mine:

Holepunch and paper
Sewing cards or 'boards'
Hammer and foam board w/ golf tees (wrap the foam in cloth and hot glue it)
Sink of water and bubbles (add toys of choice)
Draw large simple shapes for preschooler to cut out
Corn starch and water (fun but messy, we use a large plastic tray)

[meemee]

vinegar and baking soda + later balloon in vinegar/bsoda in bottle. later try 7up
warning: since my dd loves 'messy' activities those are going to be most of my ideas
jello with either gummy bears or little plastic animals in them
bean bowl with either flour or salt or sugar in them just before u toss it out.
sand and water in a bucket
frozen ice in tupperwear with little animal in them
musical bottles - beans, or sunflower seeds or rocksalt with sprinkles and miniature plastic toys.
oil and water in bottle.
shaving cream and cornstarch
shoe lace and beads
felt board

[velochic]

Are you in a co-op preschool? Have they set any limits on what you can and cannot do. My dd's preschool has some pretty strict guidelines for what room parents can do. I've tons of ideas, but wasn't sure what is acceptable at your dc's preschool.

[Sneezykids]

Um, I was just thinking for stuff to do at home, so bring it on!

[velochic]

Here are some favorites at our house:

- Two disposable cups and a string to make a "phone"
- Using old magazines to cut up and make collages of similar objects or similarly colored objects
- When we have access to a large packing box, making and painting a house together
- Gluing bits of thick paper together then cutting out holes to make masks (this is really a big hit here)
- Board games, board games, board game. Dd also like to play a match game with cards... "here is a jack of spades... find the jack of hearts".
- Scavenger hunt in the yard... find something of different colors, hopefully not picking up anything the neighborhood animals have left behind.
- pressing flowers
- I don't scrapbook, but I encourage dd to put her own pictures together on a page with other things that interest her. For example, she loves the dolphin show at the zoo. I have a pic of her with the dolphins (not in the water) and had her color dolphin coloring pages and had her cut out dolphin pix from printed web pages to put together her own dolphin page.
- I've been teaching her string designs... using a circle of string to make different shapes
- Playdough shapes are a big hit
- We are a multi-cultural/multi-lingual family and about once a month we spend the day talking about, reading about (at the library) other cultures
- which leads me to the next thought... library programs
- tissue paper and glue sticks, anything and glue sticks, really... go wild with textures!

That's it for now. I'm sure I'll think of some more, or if nothing else, I'm sure I'll get some ideas from dd's school.

[pycelan]

Here is an idea...using an old sheet and paint...let them walk on the paint and then on the sheet to make foot print picture. Also, hand the sheet on a fence and use fly swatter with paint on them to create a colorful masterpiece!!