Dog Puppet Letter Review

I saw the idea of this adorable puppy and thought it would be great to make this into a puppy that eats bones. My 3 year olds were practicing their letters A, B, C, and D and reviewing colors as well. I made a bunch of bones while they cut out their spots and face. Once everything was glued on and dried, I cut out a hole under the flap for the mouth.

We sat around in a circle and I called out a bone and the kids had to find it and then feed their dog while making munching sounds. It was a hit with the kids. I had a mom tell me that her daughter played with it all day. 

Detective for the Day

Detective for the Day!

We were learning about the letter d for Preschool. I didn't have any dinosaurs and as I went through my books, it didn't seem like I had much we could do, so I decided to have a Detective day. 

We saw that someone stole our snacks for the day and we had to search for clues to figure out who did it and where they hid them. We looked at the shoe prints

(they were the kids shoes dipped in powdered sugar)

We dusted for fingerprints. The kids got to put their finger on glass, then we lightly dusted with makeup brushes and cinnamon or cocoa powder, I can't remember which, and we used tape to collect the finger print. I thought it was really cool. 

What are snacks for a letter d? Well I don't care to go out and buy something special just for a simple snack so I just cut out the Letter D from my bread and cheese. 

I grabbed a few wrappers and placed them by a stuffed animal with a note so the kids could solve who did it. I am sure you can go more in depth, we kept it light and fun for the preschoolers. 

We followed up with a Field Trip to the Police Station.

Hibernation Bear Cave/ Dinosaur Cave

Cardboard Cave

I got a reclining chair from Christmas so I had Kevin save the box for me in the garage. I love getting a few good sized boxes and then letting the kids play in it. As I lesson planned, I had been wanting to do Hibernation for a while and thought January is the best time for it. 

It looked a lot cooler on the site I found the idea from but I let the kids decorate and create it, which reflects in the presentation. They would rather play in it than glue on it. 

The first week that we learned about Hibernation, the kids brought stuffed animals from home and they got to pretend their bears were hibernating in the cave while we read several books about animals that Hibernate.

This entertained the kids all week and then I figured this was the perfect time for Dinosaurs so they can have a Dinosaur Cave. 

  

Dinosaur Week at Preschool

My son is really into Dinosaurs right now. He got some for Christmas so I thought it would be fun if we had a Dinosaur theme in January.

The kids are making Dinosaur Tracks in play-doh

 I had this oversized box from Christmas so we used it for our bear cave the week prior and then it became our Dinosaur cave. The kids gave up decorating it but had fun while it lasted. My children played in it all week until I finally decided to reclaim my living room. 

I found these awesome hats at a discount store and then later spotted them at the Dollar Store. The kids loved them.

We learned what Paleontologists do and got paint brushes to search for letter bones. The kids had to dust them off and then call out their letter before they could collect them. Once they were all found, we sat around in a circle and showed each other what letters we found. The kids all wanted to keep their bones to bring home. 

We had a little extra time so we made some tracks with paint. 

The kids each got to make a Dinosaur fossil. We imprinted on one and then they made a bone with their other one. I used a salt dough recipe. 1/2 cup salt, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup water. It was the first time making it and I really loved it. I will definitely use that again. I put my oven on the lowest setting and cooked it for hours and flipped them and cooked it even longer. 

The next time they came they were able to paint them.

Idea from here

We learned a little about Volcanos and the kids helped form one throughout the day. 

I thought it would be fun if we had a little eruption. The kids loved it and wanted me to keep doing it. 

We finished off the day with the kids making their own Dinosaurs. I am bummed I wasn't able to get pictures of everyones. I severely ran out of time, which happens way too often and then I was out of room on my camera. 

Quinn's dinosaur is called Spinasaurus and is quite mean. He eats people but doesn't like to eat counters. 

We had one Dinosaur that was called Friendliasaurus who only liked being nice and didn't like when people were mean. 

Another dinosaur was called Waterasaurus and loved to eat watermelon and drink water.

 One Dinosaur was called Elsasaurus after Queen Elsa. She loved to dance. She was sporting an awesome Tutu and crown (which the child told me my crown I drew for her was ugly and she could draw a much prettier one).

Idea from here

I didn't realize how much my son would love this. It absolutely made his day.