October Pumpkin Preschool Theme Crafts
by Aunt B
Copyright 2004-2006 Story Soup Kids, a division of Enchanted Corner
Pumpkin Crafts for Kids
Easy Pumpkin Painting
Pumpkin Mosaic Seed Pictures
Items You Need:
Pumpkin Seeds (clean)
Tempera paint , dark colors work best
Paint brush
Zip Lock bag
Paper towels
Thick paper/poster board
Glue
Pencils
Wax paper
Newspaper
What You Do:
Put the seeds into a zip lock bag, squirt some paint on the seeds and mix the paint around until all seeds are covered in paint. Do this for as many colors as you need/want.
Spread the seeds out on wax paper and let dry.
While they are waiting for the seeds to dry, your child can draw a picture onto his/her poster paper. Some ideas include masks, fish or wild designs.
You can also take a very basic coloring book and trace a picture from it on to your poster paper. (You can use carbon paper to trace w/)
Remind your child to keep it simple, remember, they will be “coloring in” with seeds.
When the seeds are dry, they can be arranged and glued onto the poster paper in the appropriate areas.
Optional:
You can always use dried beans, lentils, popcorn or other types of seeds for this project, you don’t need to use pumpkin seeds. In fact, if you use dried beans, you can leave them in their natural colorful state (black eyed peas, red kidney beans etc).
Pumpkin Patch Craft
Items you will need:
Paper lunch bags
Newspaper
Orange Paint
Green Paint
Paint Brushes
Rubber Bands
Green Paper Ribbon
What you will need to do…
Lay out some of your newspaper to protect your table. Stuff your paper lunch bags w/ newspaper. I recommend that you ball up ONE piece at a time of newspaper. It will fill your bag faster and it will look nicer. Once your bag is full close the bag off w/ a rubber band. Next you are going to paint the paper bag from the rubber band down orange and from the rubber band up (should only be a small bit) green for the stem. Repeat this until you have all the pumpkins you want in your patch. Once all the paint is dry, take your paper ribbon as seen above and wrap it around the tops of the pumpkins you will have one long vine if you wrap and move to the next and wrap it around. This will give you the pumpkin patch look.
Additional if you feel like it.
Take fun foam and cut out leaf shapes and add them to your vine w/ tape. Glue will not keep them due to the weight of it along w/ the paper ribbons texture.
Recommended Pumpkin Book Fun
Pumpkins: A Story for a Field
Written by: Mary Lyn Ray
Summary: A fanciful story about a man’s love for a field and the crop of bright, orange, bumpy pumpkins that he cultivates and sells to save it. A story time favorite that really speaks to one’s imagination and is sure to capture yours.
Pumpkin Soup
Written by: Helen Cooper
Summary: A squirrel, a duck, and a cat happily cook and coexist ‘deep in the woods in an old white cabin’ until the duck starts to question things. things like why does he always have to add the salt to the soup, but he never gets to stir. Beautiful illustrations add to this original tale of friendship, sharing, and oh yes pumpkin soup. There is a great recipe in the back of the book.
Apples and Pumpkins
Written by: Anne Rockwell
Summary: Visit Comstock Farm with a little girl and her parents to pick apples, pumpkins, and enjoy some delicious apple cider. A perfect choice for a Fall story-time that all your listeners are sure to enjoy.
Pumpkin Cooking with Kids
Pumpkin Pudding
Ingredients (per single serving):
1 cup vanilla pudding
2 teaspoons Libby’s easy pumpkin pie mix
Bowl
Spoon
Directions:
Measure out and place one cup of vanilla pudding into bowl. Next, add 2 teaspoons pie mix to the bowl. Mix well and enjoy!
Pumpkin Activity
Purchase a Pumpkin, have your child use a sharpie marker to draw a face on it. Talk about the bumps in the pumpkin and the stem. Talk about what a face is made up of, eyes, nose, mouth could even include ears. Once this is done, use that same pumpkin to carve up. You can continue to use this pumpkin either for display or you can continue to carve it up and steam the pieces. Once you steam them you can peel the skin off and use the pumpkin for recipes. Save the seeds to make toasted pumpkin seeds.
Leaf Preschool Theme Crafts
by Aunt B
Copyright 2004-2006 Story Soup Kids, a division of Enchanted Corner
Kids Leaf Crafts
Fall Tree Craft
Items you will need:
Fall color Paints
Red
Yellow
Orange
Brown
White paper
Paint Brushes
What to do:
Paint your child’s arm and hand from the elbow to the fingers, brown. Place the print of the arm/hand on your white paper. Next take and use your fingers to dip into the other paints and make finger prints on the tree as leaves. You can also do this w/ using hands if your child has small hands.
Optional: If you have more then one child you can use the older child’s arm for the tree trunk and the younger child’s hands for the leaves. This makes a great picture.
Leaf People
Items you will need:
Leaves
Construction paper
Markers
Glue
What to do:
Have the children glue a leaf on a piece of paper, and draw legs, arms, and a head to create a person.
Recommended Leaf Books to Read
Autumn Leaves
Author: Ken Robbins
Summary: This book is all about the colors of leaves.
Age Range: 3 to 6 years old
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf
Summary: Discover the life cycle of the maple tree by following its changes throughout the year through the eyes of a child. Brilliant bold illustrations will captive you.
Written by: Lois Ehlert
The Giving Tree
Summary A moving story about a boy’s relationship with a tree that gives everything it has to him as he grows from a child into an old man.
Written by: Shel Silverstein
Kidz Leaf Cooking
Leaf Piles
Ingredients:
6 cups cornflakes
1 cup karo syrup
1 cup peanut butter.
You will also need some Wax paper to lay your leaf piles on.
Directions: In a microwave melt the karo and peanut butter together. Pour over the cornflakes and place them in piles on wax paper. Let them cool and dry.
Leaf Activity
Go on a nature walk. Take along a bag to place leaves in. Pick up leaves of all sizes, shapes and color. When you get home take a closer look at them. Write a down what you see or write a story about how the leaves fell to the ground.
Apple Preschool Theme Crafts
by Aunt B
Copyright 2004-2006 Story Soup Kids, a division of Enchanted Corner
Kids Apple Crafts
Apple Printing Fun
Items you will need:
Apples
Knife (parent will use)
White Paint
Red Paint
Paint Brush
Glue
Paper color of choice.
What you will need to do:
Cut apples in half. Cut one at half starting at the core and cut the other in half starting at the middle of the apple. Each way to cut it give you a different pattern. For younger kidz you can just let them dip their apple into the paint and make apple prints. Older kidz can take a paint brush and paint white in the middle of the apple then outline the edge in red paint. When you make a print it will show the red skin on the apple. When you are done making your prints you can glue the seeds you got out of your apples on to the apple prints. Then your apple will look real.
Old Lady Apple Fun
Items you will need:
Apple
Peeler
Butter knife or popsicle stick will work too.
Lemon Juice
What you will need to do…
You peel the apple and then with a knife cut the facial features (nose, eyes, mouth, etc.). Then the apple gets coated with a wash of lemon juice and water (so it doesn’t get dark brown). Then let air dry to shrivel and shrink to their each individual face.
Recommended Apple Books to Read
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World (Dragonfly Books)
Written by: Marjorie Priceman
Summery : Travel around the world in a whimsical way to gather all the ingredients for the perfect apple pie! A delightful and zany story you are sure to enjoy.
Ten Apples Up on Top!
Written by : Theo LeSieg
Summary: Get ready to count along with a lion and a dog as they spin through the pages of this story juggling apples and balancing them on their head!
What’s So Terrible about Swallowing an Apple Seed?
Written by : Harriet Lerner
Summary: When Rosie accidentally swallows an apple seed, her big sister Katie tells her that before long apple tree branches will bloom right out of her ears. Soon Rosie is imagining both the hazards and delights of having branches growing from her ears, and Katie is learning how fast a little white lie can grow.
Apple Cooking with Kids
PINK Applesauce in the Crock Pot
Ingredients:
10 Apples (any kind) peeled and cored.
1 Cups Sugar (More or less to taste to your preference)
1/4 Cup Red Hots
Directions:
Turn on crock pot while you peel and core apples. Add the apple slices to the HOT crock-pot. Once the apples are soft mash them and add the sugar and cinnamon candies. Stir.
It takes about 3 hours to cook on HIGH. Makes around 5 cups. As always, some kids LOVE it and some kids don’t. Either way, your house will smell great ALL day!!
Apple Activity
Go to your local produce stand or produce department at the grocery store. Buy 1 of every kind of apple they have. You can take paper and pencil and do charting skills. Chart how many are green, red, or yellow. How many are big, medium or small, How many are with stems how many are with out. Use your imagination you can “chart” just about anything. Save your apples for rest of the week.
Preschool Alphabet Activities and Crafts
by Aunt B
Copyright 2004-2006 Story Soup Kids, a division of Enchanted Corner
By Letter
Recommended Preschool Alphabet Books
The Alphabet Room
by Sara Pinto
Starting with the simplest images-apples for A, bowls for B, cat for C-Sara Pinto has taken a magical leap in the concept of alphabet books. Each letter has a door, and behind each door the objects arrange and rearrange themselves so that with every letter the picture becomes more complex. Letter by letter, magical scenes unfold inside the room. With gentle humor and charming design, this lift-the-flap alphabet book transcends the genre to offer something truly unique.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
by Jr, Bill Martin, John Archambault, Lois Ehlert
In this bright and lively rhyme, the letters of the alphabet race each other to the top of the coconut tree. When X, Y and Z finally scramble up the trunk, however, the weight is too much, and down they all tumble in a colorful chaotic heap: “Chicka Chicka . . . BOOM! BOOM!” All the family members race to help, as one by one the letters recover in amusingly battered fashion. Poor stubbed toe E has a swollen appendage, while F sports a jaunty Band-Aid and P is indeed black-eyed. As the tropic sun goes down and a radiant full moon appears, indomitable A leaps out of bed, double-daring his colleagues to another treetop race.
Alphabet City
by Stephen T. Johnson
Beginning with the A formed by a construction site’s sawhorse and ending with the Z found in the angle of a fire escape, Johnson draws viewers’ eyes to tiny details within everyday objects to find letters. In this wordless tour of sights from Times Square to the Brooklyn Bridge, he invites young and old alike to take a new look at familiar surroundings, discovering the alphabet without ever looking in a book or reading from a sign.
Alphabet Crafts for Kids
Finger Print Alphabet Flash Cards
Card Stock
Pencil
Washable Stamp Pad
Write the each letter of the alphabet on a piece of card stock using the pencil. Then have your child use their finger or thumb to make prints on the lines of the letter. Once you are done your child will have a complete set of flash cards that they created themselves.
Alphabet Scrapbook
1 Subject notebook
Old Magazines
Blunt Child Scissors or Mommy Size Scissors
Glue Stick
Marker
Have your child decorate the front of their alphabet Scrapbook. Use a marker to label each page of the scrapbook with an alphabet letter. Look in the old magazines to pictures that go with each letter, your child can cut them out or you can. Try to find multiple pictures for each letter. The more pictures the better. Glue them on to the correct page. This can be done in a one day long project or can be done over time as you learn each letter.
Letter Puzzles
Card Stock or Foamy Craft Foam
Markers or Sharpies
Blunt Child Scissors or Mommy Size Scissors
There are a couple ways to do this craft. One way is to have your child write out the alphabet on the cards stock. Next have your child cut this card stock up in to pieces. Then challenge your child to put the alphabet puzzle back together again. Another way to do this is for Mom to use a Sharpie marker and write the alphabet on a piece of Foamy Craft Foam. Then your child can cut the foam into pieces to form a puzzle. Again challenge the child to put the puzzle together again. Ask other family members to try as well. Time each other. Make it a family game.
Edible Alphabet
Alphabet Cereal
Softened Cream Cheese
Graham Cracker
Plastic Knife or Craft Stick
Have your child spread cream cheese over the graham cracker using the plastic knife or a craft stick. Next offer your child a bowl alphabet cereal and ask them to find one of the following: the letter of the day, one of each letter in the alphabet or the letters in their name. Have your child place their findings on the cream cheese graham cracker.
Patriotic 4th of July Preschool Theme Crafts
by Aunt B
Copyright 2004-2006 Story Soup Kids, a division of Enchanted Corner
4th of July Crafts and Art for Kids
Patriotic Flag Craft – Hand Print Art
Red, Blue and White paint
Brown Paint
Paint brush for each color
Paper
*Optional: Baby wipes for easy clean up.*
Have your child hold their hand up with their fingers together, thumb out. Paint your child’s thumb brown. Paint a small square on the palm near the pinky finger base blue. Paint the pinky and middle finger red and the ring and pointer finger white. Make a hand print on the paper. You should have an USA flag. Use baby wipes to help for quick clean up.
Fireworks Craft for Kids
Glitter
Black Construction Paper
Q-tips
Glue
Using the q-tips, paint all over your paper with the glue. Next sprinkle on the glitter. Shack off excess glitter and you have beautiful fire works picture.
Firecracker Treat Craft
Toilet Paper Roll
Red, Blue or White Wrapping Paper
Red, Blue or White Ribbon
A small treat for in side – candy, stickers, small car, small doll etc…
Clear Tape
Optional: Markers
Fill the toilet paper roll with the small treat. Using the tape, anchor down the paper to the toilet paper roll. Continue to wrap it around the roll and secure it with another small piece of tape. Tie off both ends with a piece of ribbon. Depending on what kind of paper you used your child can use markers to decorate this little firecracker treat.
Tin Star Punch
Aluminum Pie Plate
Nail
Yarn
Scissors
Sharpie Marker
Pencil
Hammer
Star Cookie Cutter or Star shape Stencil
Tracing Paper
Cut out a piece of paper the same size as the inside of the pie plate. Next trace the star shape in the center of the paper using your pencil. Place the paper inside the pie plate and with a sharpie marker make dots about 1/4th inch apart. When you lift the paper your dots should have gone through. (If they did not try this with a piece of tissue paper.) Next you are going to take a nail and a hammer and punch out the dots to make holes in your pie tin. When you are done add an additional hole at the top and string yarn through the hole to make a hanger for your new Tin Star Punch.
4th of July Books for Kids
Happy 4th of July, Jenny Sweeney
by Leslie Kimmelman
As Jenny rides her bike through town on the Fourth of July, she sees the townsfolk preparing for the parade, fishing, showing off newly acquired citizenship papers, and enjoying a picnic. The mayor gives her speech, and the parade begins: “Let the celebration start! / Everybody plays a part.” Jenny ends her day in the park watching fireworks with her parents.
The Fourth of July Story
by Alice Dalgliesh
The thirteen colonies unite in the desire for independence, select Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence, and carry the news of independence across the colonial settlements
Let’s Get Ready for Independence Day (Welcome Books: Celebrations)
by Lloyd G. Douglas
A young girl explains the meaning of Independence Day and describes how she and her family celebrate the Fourth of July.
Father’s Day Preschool Theme Craft Ideas
by Aunt B
Copyright 2004-2006 Story Soup Kids, a division of Enchanted Corner
Father’s Day Crafts for Kids
Scroll Father’s Day Card
2 Craft Sticks
Glue or Tape
Paper of choice (recommend heavy paper)
Scissors
Ribbon or Yarn
Cut paper to be about ¼” smaller then the craft stick on either side. Glue or tape the craft stick to the top and bottom of the paper. Draw a picture or write something nice for Dad on the inside. Sign you name at the bottom. (I always encourage date too.) Next you need to roll up the scroll from top and bottom at the same time, to meet in the middle. Once rolled up secure the scroll with ribbon or yarn.
Father’s Day Gift Idea: Back Massager
4 Large wooden macramé beads or spools from used thread.
Twine or cord – 60” long
Scissors
Ruler
Measure and cut twine/cord into two 30” pieces. Place the four spools or beads in a line leaving 3” between each one. String one cord in and out of each spool. Starting from the top left, go down then up the next spool/bead, go down and up the third spool/bead and down and up the 4th spool/bead. Leave approximately 3” of twine/cord in between each one. Next start on the right and do the same thing. This will give you a ladder affect to your spool/beads. Tie a double knot on left end spool and right end spool, where two cords meet. Tie both ends together. This will form handles at both ends.
Father’s Day Gift Idea: Dad take Notes!
Small Note Pad
Thick Foam Board or Piece of Wood
Paint of choice or Markers
Pencil
Glue
Optional Stickers or Pictures
First you want to lay out your small note pad on your board. Trace your pad with the pencil, this way you can design your board and know where not to paint, draw or place stickers/pictures. Next design your board how ever you choose.
** See optional at bottom.
** Once you have finished decorating your board, glue the small not pad to your board.
** If you use a piece of wood board you can place stickers and pictures of you and dad all around and seal it with a coat or two of clear varnish. Do this in a well ventilated area with the help of Mom. Once dry you will want to connect the note pad using a glue gun instead of white glue**
Father’s Day Gift Idea: Soap on a Rope
New Bar of Soap
Yarn Needle
Paraffin
Yarn, Twine or Shoelace
Hot Plate or Old Electric Fry Pan
Gift Wrap or Small Picture from a Greeting Card
Coffee Can
Scissors
Carefully poke a hole in the bar of soap with yarn needle.
Cut gift wrap scrap or picture from greeting card slightly smaller then the soap.
Dip back side of the picture in water and place on the soap. It will stick. Smooth out any air bubbles. Place the coffee can in the fry pan or on hot plate. Fill with paraffin, melt at a low temperature. Carefully turn soap upside down and dip into melt paraffin up to the depth of ½” or ¼”. This will coat the picture and make a permanent design on the soap. Quickly lift out soap and let dry. Thread twine, yarn or shoelace through hole to hang.
Father’s Day Gift Idea: My Kids Walk All Over Me Shirt/Apron
Fabric Paint
Paint Brush
Children’s Feet
Fabric Pen (Black)
T-Shirt (light color) / Apron
Baby Wipes (to make cleaning feet easier)
Card Board to place inside the shirt.
First assign a color to each child in the family. Next paint their feet with this color and have them walk on the shirt. They may only get one foot print at a time so make sure to take your time. (Use the baby wipes to wipe off extra paint from your child’s foot)
Do one side then wait till dry and repeat on the other. If you are making an apron you only need to do one side. Your child’s whole foot print does not need to be on the shirt every time you make a print. Once the shirt is dry go back with either with Black Fabric Paint and a steady hand or with a Black Fabric Pen write My Kids Walk All Me! Also you can go back and write real small next to one foot print per each child their name so that Dad and other’s know whose foot belong to whom.
Farm Preschool Theme Crafts
by Aunt B
Copyright 2004-2006 Story Soup Kids, a division of Enchanted Corner
Farm Craft for Kids
Make a Farm Book!
Farmer, Farmer, What do you see?
For the total book you will need — pages of construction paper of your choice. This will be the main pages to the book. Your child will create different farm animals and they will be placed on these pages. You will need to write at the TOP of each page…
Farmer, Farmer, What do you see?
At the BOTTOM of each page you will need to write…
I see a ________ looking at me. (Fill in the animal on the pages in blank)
You can connect these pages many different ways either in a binder, punch holes in paper and tie back with yarn or connect with rings. Choose what works best for you.
Farmer
Print out Farmer page
http://www.childstoryhour.com/images/coloring/farmanimals.gif
Water colors
Let your child use the water colors to paint the picture of the farmer. I recommend that you take the black and brown out.
Pig
Print out pig shape
http://www.childstoryhour.com/images/coloring/pig.JPG
Pink Chalk
Have your child color the pig with the pink chalk.
Cow
Print out cow shape
http://www.childstoryhour.com/images/coloring/cow.gif
Black washable stamp pad
Have your child place finger prints all over the cow for spots.
Hen/Chicken
Print out hen/chicken shape
http://childstoryhour.com/images/coloring/hen.gif
Q-Tips
Yellow Paint
Let your child paint the picture of the hen using the q-tips and the yellow paint.
*Ask your child what the picture is, if they say hen call it a hen. If they say chicken call it a chicken.*
Horse
Print out the horse picture
http://childstoryhour.com/images/coloring/mareandcolt.gif
Different shades of Brown and Tan Crayons AND Colored Pencils
Let your child enjoy using the different kinds of coloring instruments to color the horse and her mare. It is important to supply different things for our kids to use while they do their art projects. This we inspire them to be more creative.
Goat
Print out the goat picture
http://childstoryhour.com/images/coloring/goat.gif
Old Toothbrush
Gray Paint
Paint Smock
Have your child dip the toothbrush into gray paint next over the goat picture rub your finger on the toothbrush bristles. This will cause the paint to shack off the toothbrush onto your goat picture.
Your child has now created many farm animals cut each one out and glue them to the construction paper you chose before you began. Add the wording to your book and create the book explained above.
Farm Books You’ll Love
Big Red Barn Board Book
by Margaret Wise Brown
In the barnyard there are roosters and cows, horses and goats, and a pink piglet who is learning to squeal.
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type
by Doreen Cronin
Farmer Brown’s problems REALLY begin when his cows start leaving him notes
Charlotte’s Web
by E. B. White
An affectionate, sometimes bashful pig named Wilbur befriends a spider named Charlotte, who lives in the rafters above his pen. A prancing, playful bloke, Wilbur is devastated when he learns of the destiny that befalls all those of porcine persuasion. Determined to save her friend, Charlotte spins a web that reads “Some Pig,” convincing the farmer and surrounding community that Wilbur is no ordinary animal and should be saved.
