I can't take credit for this cute craft project. It came from my Mailbox book - Day by Day Preschool Plans. This week is a Dr. Suess theme, and this craft is related to One Fish, Two Fish.

It was very simple to do, and the kids had a great time. Cut out a white fish bowl shape and then draw a black mark across it as in the picture. To make the water, mix blue food coloring with some corn syrup. Have your two fish cut out ahead of time, one red and one blue for each child. You can draw on eyes and a mouth on the fish. Let the kids paint the corn syrup mixture on the fish bowl and then stick the fish in there - be sure you talk about how many fish and the colors as you do this. Set the craft aside for several days on wax paper to dry. (Corn syrup takes a while, and it will drip if you hang it up - believe me . . . . I can't tell you how many times I have gotten corn syrup drips on the wall.) It is such a cool finish though - it's worth using it instead of paint!

Stuffed Dinosaur Softie - Preschool Craft

Stuffed Dinosaur Craft for toddlers and preschoolers

I'll try to make this as quick and easy as possible. This craft was easy, but it does take some work on your part ahead of time. You don't have to sew these. You could use the pattern to make a paper craft, and you can even stuff them by hot gluing the edges or stapling them and stuffing polyfil or paper in your dino. I make dolls for fun, so I didn't mind sewing this up, and it took less than ten minutes to sew six of them so don't fret! Print out the pattern piece, cut out, trace on your doubled fabric and sew on traced lines. Then cut it out 1/4 inch from sewing line, clip corners, and turn. (When sewing, leave a one inch slit between the legs on the belly open for turning and stuffing.) Stuff it as firm as you want (my toddlers got bored pretty fast with stuffing so ours are a little limp). I used hot glue to sew the opening closed, but you can sew it if you aren't as lazy as me!!! I let the kiddos decide colors and decorations so every dino was different and adorable. We used craft glue to attach our FELT decorations. I used hot glue on their eyes after they glued them with the craft glue (because I wanted to make sure they were stuff on there.) Obviously, buttons can be a choking hazard and are not recommended for young children . . . blah blah blah - you know the drill.

Shape-o-saurus - Preschool Dinosaur Craft

Well, first of all, I didn't have time to take a picture of the craft from yesterday because I was doing another observation for school, BUT they did a cute little dinosaur headband that is very simple. We just cut out bright green strips, added a strip of triangle shaped teeth, two white oval eyes and black circles in those . . . voila - dino headband. Oh, to make it, you staple the strips together and glue the pieces on. Tape over the staples for safety.

For our SHAPE-O-SAURUS (which is mighty cute), we cute out two squares, one oval, one circle, one rectangle and a tail shape from bright green paper. Next, we cut out yellow triangles. I did this myself because we aren't ready for scissors just yet. I punched out a black eye and lots of darker green dots/circles for the body. Then we started glueing. They all looked different. Some were holding their heads down looking for food while others were looking for friends. Some had more spikes than others . . . that's what I love about crafts because even if they are organized, everyone can express themselves differently. To finish off, you can simple draw on a mouth and draw a straight line down the square legs with a black marker and draw on toes. Be sure to talk about the shapes before and during this project.

Today, we also did a dino match worksheet. If I could figure out how to attach pdf files, it would be nice, but I am still technologically challenged. I create my own worksheets most of the time. I used graphics from pccrafter.com and created a simple matching sheet for them.

DINOSAUR WEEK

Centers:

Math center - counting dinosaurs and dinosaur math mats

Sensory table - dinosaur puzzles (printed, laminated, and cut out by me) hidden in sand

Dinosaur match - same concept but two of each dinosaur hidden in the sand

Blocks - large dinosaurs added

Art - misc. dino coloring sheets

Playdoh - dinosaurs added to make fossils by pressing dinos into it

Dramatic play - dinosaur cave and foot prints

Literacy - Dinosaurs with names for ghost tracing

Teacher table - dinosaur match file folder game, dino shape match, dino colors (depends on level), dino scissor skills, dino writing skills, dinosaur match worksheet

Big Mouth - Tooth stamping - Dental Health Week

Another really easy craft for dental health week. Cut out a large mouth shape from black construction paper. Use a square stamp (or to make one, cut a square from a sponge and hot glue it to a clothespin) and white paint to make the teeth. Sooooo simple, but they enjoyed it. You might also have one already made up so they can see the teeth, and some extra paper because they love to continue stamping when they are done with this!

Tooth Pocket Poem - Dental Health Week

I didn't take a picture of this one because they wouldn't put them down long enough for me, but it's a simple craft and lots of fun. I printed this saying on a piece of colored paper at the bottom:

Three little teeth were lined up in a row. Others were on top, but these were below.

One little tooth had some brushing to do. He fell out and then there were two.

One little tooth wanted tooth fairy fun. He fell out and then there was one.

One little tooth bit an apple core. Now there are no more!

Above that saying, I put little black paper pockets approx. 2 x 3 inches. To glue them on, just put a thin line of glue around three sides leaving the top open and attach them to the paper (I did this in advance). Cut out small teeth from white paper about 2 inches wide (3 for each child). With the kids, I let them choose their background paper color, and we glued our printed paper to it. Then, we went over the pocket poem, and they got to pull them in and out of the pockets while I read it.

TOOTH BRUSH CRAFT - PUFFY PAINT

I'm not going to lie . . . . dental health week isn't as much fun as a lot of others, BUT it is important for them. I was happy to hear a good report this morning when one of the parents said "Oh, now I understand why she has been letting me brush her teeth without a fight. You guys are talking about it here."

Well, this is probably the favorite craft of the week so I'll get to it. You just cut out a simple toothbrush shape (long rectangle with rounded ends). Use any color. For the "brush", cut a small white rectangle and make slits in it. For the toothpaste, you mix shaving cream, glue, and paint. I just eyeball it, but there's more shaving cream than anything else. Just drop of paint and a little more glue than that. To put it on the picture, we used a plastic knife and "plopped" it on there.