Children love the Elmer the patchwork elephant book series by David McKee. I love the Mini Mad Things blog. After reading “Elmer’s Colors,” “Elmer and Butterfly,” “Elmer and the Rainbow,” and “Elmer’s Special Day,” by David McKee I let the child in my care use paint and pastels to decorate a cardboard Elmer. It might […]
Finger painting using a Ziploc bag is a colorful, no mess sensory activity for kids of all ages. No mess finger painting is so easy with no time consuming clean up necessary. Trace letters and stamp blocks onto the paint sensory bag. I use two primary colors per bag and allow the child to mix […]
Creative Wednesdays Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14 as a celebration of romantic love. You can help the little ones left in your care make simple cards, write letters, or make inexpensive presents to give to their family and friends. Here is a simple decoration to make with your Nanny Kids to decorate their […]
Is this sand? Summer Learning: What Do You Feel? Summertime is a great time to head outdoors into nature’s classroom. Summer provides a perfect opportunity for kids to touch and feel new things. Kids love to feel and play with sand, touch soft petals on flowers, play with mud, touch and paint with soft feathers, […]
Creative Projects to Do With Kids Every pre-school and early elementary school-aged child I have ever cared for loves puppets. Making simple paper bag puppets allows kids to practice coloring, cutting, and pasting. I like cutting out shapes from colored construction paper for young kids to make animals, princesses, and princes but it’s even easier […]
St. Patrick’s Day Project St. Patrick’s Day is coming up so there is no better time to start doing green crafts for the popular Irish holiday. The shamrock is known as a symbol of Ireland, with St. Patrick having used it as a metaphor for the Christian Trinity, according to legend. The four-leaf clover is […]
Happy Valentine’s Day Here in the northeast of America we are having a very snowy Valentine’s Day. Spending the bulk of our days indoor, as snow has been falling heavily outdoors, the kids and I made a beautiful paper snowflake garland with hearts in many of the snowflakes yesterday. If you have cabin fever and […]
Doing Arts n’ Crafts with Kids Kids love Valentine’s Day and it doesn’t have to cost a lot to celebrate the holiday with the kids. Use tissue paper to make a lovely bouquet to decorate the house with the kids or to give as gifts to their family. As a cognitive activity, make a group […]
Teaching Classifying, Comparing and Patterns Children benefit from having lots of experiences sorting, comparing, and classifying objects before participating in patterning activities. Provide opportunities for children to sort or group things by shape, number, color, or texture. As children play sorting games, vocabulary such as classifying, groups, sets, categories, same, different, fewer, longer, heavier, lighter […]
Getting Creative with Kids There is something magical about the three-dimensional appearance of Puffy Paint. Puffy paint is easy to make and you can simply find the ingredients already at home. Allow the kids to use the Puff Paint recipes as finger paint as well — although I don’t like adding color to the puffy […]
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