Planting & Seeds Unit Lesson Ideas

I am going to start making unit plans since Bug is just about preschool age. I am going to shoot for each topic to be posted on Mondays so you can follow along if you wish for that week. During the month of April we learned about seeds! See what we did:

Art:

 

Seed Mosaics from Teach Preschool

Contact Paper Nature Collage from The Chocolate Muffin Tree {theirs & ours}

 Seed Easel Starter from Teach Preschool {theirs & ours}

Sensory:

 "Planting" flowers sensory table from EtsyKids.

Seeded Play Dough from Teach Preschool

Messy Kids Seed Bomb Tutorial from ReiLynn Designs

Math:

Counting Seeds from Teach Preschool

Science/Discovery:

 We "planted" beans in a plastic bag with wet paper towel and watched them grow.

Coloring Flowers from Teach Mama {theirs & ours}

Seed Matching from The Golden Gleem

Language/Books:

 {Flip, Float, Fly & The Tiny Seed are geared more toward older children - maybe around age 4 or so. My toddler sat through them but got a little antsy during reading them.}

Cloud Watching {with a book and activity idea}

It is getting super nice here and we just love being outside! Last week we spread out on the grass and watched the clouds in the sky after reading Little Cloud by Eric Carle. We talked about what shapes we saw and what each cloud moved like. 

After spending some time outside we came in and did a little art project. I put a white blob of thin, white paint on some blue paper and gave Bug a straw. Before doing this project I made sure she knew how to blow out of the straw, not in! 

Then I showed her how to blow through the straw at the paint so that it moves and spreads. 

PLEASE be careful not to let your child {or yourself} blow too hard for too long as not to get light headed. 

When you are finished you can look at your cloud painting and see if it looks like anything!

Bug said this looked like her Bear Bear {her little lovey that she sleeps with sometimes}

Don't forget to link up any outside play you do at our ongoing link party!

Toddler Hopscotch

The weather is getting nicer so we have been staying outside for much longer than 15 minutes! We also just got a BBQ & since it is still light out at dinner time we have been playing outside while hubby grills us some food! The other night while dinner was grilling we played hopscotch...toddler version!


It's pretty much the same as regular hopscotch only I made 4 circles right on top of each other. I should have made them smaller so she could get from one to the other in just one hop, but it worked fine with the giant circles I made. {oops}


I made a line for her to stand on while she tossed a flat rock {which by the way took a whole 10 minutes for her to find the perfect one}. 

 {Toss the rock onto a circle.}

 {Hop along until you reach the last one. Turn around and hop back.}

{On your way back, stop at the circle the rock is on and pick it up to use for your next turn.}

We played this for quite some time and Bug had a blast! I hope you go outside and play! 


If you have any outside activities please link up and share on our Outside Play party. You can also take a look at all the other links there to get some other outside play ideas!

12 Free Places to Take Your Children

Now that the weather is getting nicer I'm sure everyone is itching to get out of the house! Here are a list of some free places to take the kiddos when the backyard just won't do.

1. Library: Take a ride to your local library and read! Some libraries have play toys in the children's section and offer classes for you and your child to attend for free!

2. Park: Visit your local park {or try a new park} to play! Some other things to do while you're there: fly a kite, bring a picnic, bring a ball, play tag, Frisbee, etc. The possibilities are endless!

3. Farm: We are lucky enough to have an Ecology Center close by which is free for the public! There are animals to see {& some to feed}, a park, a trail, and a garden center to explore while there. We try to go at least once a month in the warm weather.

4. Lake:  Take a ride to a nearby lake. Bring some bread for the ducks/geese, bring binoculars to look at boats or people out on the water, bring a magnifying glass to find treasures {if your lake has a beach} or to look for fish, etc.

5. Museum: Some local museums may be free or hold free tours for children. Look up some local museums and give them a call if you can't find any info online.

6. Festival: See if there are any free town festivals in the area.

7. Mall Events: Check out your local mall to see if there will be any character visits or events held. Ours is having a Dr. Seuss event soon! We can't wait to go!

8. Water Park: Not as in an amusement park. There is a park about 25 minutes from us that has a gated water section full of sprinklers and fountains for the kids! It's free and it's fun!

9. Visit a Friend: Make a play date with a friend. It's fun for mommy {&/or daddy} and child!

10. Church/Town Event: Check your town or church events. Some of our church events are to raise money, but sometimes there are free ones too!

11. Craft Store Class: Some craft stores {such as Michaels} have craft classes for children that are free {I believe it's for ages 3+}! Go to their website and click on Store Events for more info or you can just give your local store a call.

12. Do Some Good: Sign up for a walk to raise money for a cause, bring someone a dish or flowers if you know they are ill, check with a nursing home or hospital if they take young volunteers for visits, take your child to drop off a donation at a good will or food pantry. 

If you have any other ideas I'd love for you to share! Have fun!

You might find me over at some of these link parties.

Sharing on:

 Come join the discussion!

Come & Play Outside

There is a new tab up top called Come & Play Outside. It is an ongoing link party to share your outdoor play ideas and inspire us all to be active and spend more time outside this year.

As I have mentioned before, I was recently reading one of my favorite blogs {I Can Teach My Child} when I read Jeane's post about The 15 Minutes Ouside Challenge. That's where I found out about the book "15 Minutes Ouside" by Rebecca P. Cohen. 

 The book is $10.19 on amazon.com and if you have a Kindle or a Kindle app on your desktop or phone you can get this e-book for only $1.99! Score! 

This was one of our new years resolutions. We have been getting outside for 15 minutes each day and loving it! You can also check out my Come & Play Outside Pinterest Board for ideas! You can also visit my Facebook page to see our photos of our time outside {and feel free to post yours on the wall}.

I'd love to encourage you all to take this challenge and link up your  
outside play ideas so we can all be inspired. 
 {link up as many posts as you'd like as long as they are about outdoor play}

This will be an ongoing link party. Grab a button and share with your friends.

<a border="0" href="http://tutusandteaparties.blogspot.com/p/come-play-outside.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6617115159_cbd068d4b0_m.jpg" width="125" height="125" alt="Button" /></a>

Spend More Time Outside {Resolution #1}

After the New Year I had starting thinking about how I wanted this year to be different. I'm not too big into making resolutions but I did come up with 12 ways for me to be a better mommy in 2012. I will be talking about each and why I have set that goal for myself.

My first goal:

Spend more time outside: being that it's getting colder and colder I have been slacking outside time. I just downloaded the book "15 Minutes Outside" by Rebecca P. Cohen for my Kindle app. which I got for free on my desktop & phone. There are so many ideas to do outside with your kids.

I was recently reading one of my favorite blogs {I Can Teach My Child} when I read Jeane's post about The 15 Minutes Ouside Challenge. That's where I found out about the book "15 Minutes Ouside" by Rebecca P. Cohen. 

 The book is $10.19 on amazon.com and if you have a Kindle or a Kindle app on your desktop or phone you can get this e-book for only $1.99! Score! 

I downloaded it and started reading it that night and I am loving what I have read so far. Although we have been creating our own ideas at times, there are a ton {365 to be exact} of ideas at your hand for all types of weather! 

We got a little bit of a late start to this challenge since Bug was sick for the first few days of the new year, but we have been spending 15 minutes {usually more} outside each day. Bug has been enjoying it so much that last week she asked to play outside while the car was warming up before we left to start our day {this was at 7:45am}. Lucky for her I was ready early that morning and we went for a walk for 10 minutes until it was time to leave. 

I have a Pinterest board just for things I see that would make outdoor play fun {and bareable in the winer} if you'd like to follow it.  I'd love for you to join me on Facebook and share how you are playing outside {and you can also see our photos there}.