3-D hearts

For one of our large group activities we made some 3-D hearts.  Although I did not call them 3-D hearts - I called them "pop out hearts".  First I modeleld for them how to make them, then we worked on it together.  It was kind of a challenging process at the begining, but after making one or two they all becamse experts and made several.

You take a strip of paper - fold it in half, then start at one side and start rolling it until you get to the fold, then you roll the other side until you get to the fold.  Then you roll them out a little and you have a heart.  Then you can glue them onto a paper.  To keep it a heart shape you should glue them on their side.  That was a hard concept for the kdis to grasp - so most got glued on their bottom, which distorted the heart shape - but the kids didn't seem to notice or mind.  They all thought that they were beautiful hearts... and they were.

oh, first we wrote the word "heart" on our papers.

Valentines sensory play

Sometimes with the sensory play i never know what is going to be a big hit and what is going to be....well... boring.  This one I wasn't sure about.  I came up with it based on those see through pink plastic hearts you see.  They were so smooth and pretty i knew I wanted to use them in sensory play - but i wasn't sure how.  Water? Slime? Rice?  

I decided to go with rice.  In the beginning I threw in some sparkly foam hearts to go along with it.  

A few minutes into class iremembered I had these great plastic heart boxes I had bought at Dollar Tree with no inteded use for.  I threw them in and that is when the party got started!

The kids loved putting the rice and hearts into the heart boxes and puring them all into different containers.

Number heart puzzles

I first introduced these number heart puzzles during circle time.  I gave each child the part of the puzzle with the numerical number on it (example "2") and then put all the other shapes in the middle.  I told them they needed for "fix my broken hearts" - the drama really seemed to inspire them - as they all felt great urgency in fixing all the broken hearts.  

I then set the hearts out over in the math center for further exploration during center time.

Valentines box pattern

I purchased a couple of Valentines chocolate boxes not 100% sure how I was going to use them.  After some searching around, and playing around of my own, I came up with an idea to make them into pattern boxes.  Using PowerPoint I created a model of the heart shapes and the holes inside.  Then I added red, pink and white dots in different arrangements.  The children could use the heart diagrams as a model in directing them where to put what color of pom poms.  (That sounds complex... but it was pretty simple... do you understand?)

Here is an example of a blank one...

Then an example of one filled in correctly following the diagram.

It took each child a little bit of time and some scaffolding to figure the concept out - but once they did they loved following the model to figure out the pattern.  Several kids did each diagram several different times.

They loved it so much I kept it out the rest of the week in another location for them to stop by when ever they wanted.

Heart stamps

Our Valentines week started by making their bag for collecting their valentines in at our art station.  I took a toilet paper roll and bent it into a hear shape - then put a piece of tape over it to... well... keep it the heart shape.  These tolet paper rolls are the perfect size for little hands and so fun to stamp.  

I put out four colors - red, pink, dark purple and light purple, along with their bags and also a white paper they could practice on.  After they each made a bag I put out some regular paper because several of the kids wanted to keep stamping.

Hey Diddle Diddle - "and" and "the"

During Music week we we learned the rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle"  because... of course... the cat has a fiddle!  I have mentioned it before - but a great way to extend learning in a nursery rhyme is learning the words "and" and "the".  After going over it once as a large group I left it like this during center time, and let the kids come over and fill in the blanks as they desired.

We had some great reading, and pre-reading skills going on!

Water, jars, and music

During center time we talked about how water in a jar will change the "pitch" of  the music.  

Then during centers I had some jars and water out for them to experiment with. 

They made some beautiful music.

Making strummies

During center time I had a "strummie" that I passed around and let the kids explore.  We talked the sound, and the vibrations, and different lengths of rubber bands, and even found out how loud it was when you held it up to your ear. 

During center time I had 2 different stations to make two different kinds of strummies.

This one was more focused on color and creativity. 

And this one was about sound with a lot of different lengths and thicknesses in the rubber bands.

 It took a lot of finger muscles to get those rubber bands around the boxes and right where you want them to go.

Dramatic play: Concert

After I had introduced the musical instruments to the children I set them out over in our dramatic play area.  I also had a stage, some microphones, and a few simple costumes.  I tried to come up with a curtain, but is wasn't working.

The kids spent  the day putting on many shows.

Xylophone painting

On one of our music days we talked extensively about xylophones (and the letter x).  At our art center I had this set out:

The children wanted to know what to do.  I told them, what ever they wanted.

Some colored the xylophone in.  Some "played" it with their pom pom sticks.