The Stout Family: SPRING/EASTER ACTIVITIES...

Creeping Caterpillars

This was probably our last Spring activity, as we are ready to move into our beach theme. Yesterday, the kids recycled an old egg container to make their caterpillars. I cut them out and used a hold puncher to punch holes for the antlers and legs. The kids painted them, and glued on the eyes. I helped them insert the pipecleaner and bend it to make sure it stayed in place.

Rice Krispie Bird Nests:

These are so fun! Jack and I made these just before
naptime the other day. First, we made up a batch of rice krispie treats (we dyed ours pink at Jack's request). We sprayed several ramekins with cooking spray and molded the rice krispies into them, leaving a dent in the middle. (You could use a cupcake pan too.) Jack then wrote a letter to the Easter Bunny asking him to come "fill his nest" while he slept. (This is great bribery to actually take a nap, if you have a kiddo who is in the process of giving up a nap.) While the kids slept, the "Easter Bunny" came and adorned the nests with Easter grass, chocolate eggs, and peeps. The kids were SOOO excited when they woke up.

Hatching Chicks:

We made these precious hatching chicks after Jack made one at preschool and requested to make more. They are really easy. To make them, draw an egg shape onto a yellow piece of construction paper. Have your preschooler cut it out. Draw a zig-zag line across a paper plate and have your preschooler cut across the entire line. Glue the yellow egg to the backside of the bottom half of the paper plate. Glue on wiggle eyes and a beak. Use a hole punch and a fastener to connect the plate together and form the "egg."

Easter Basket Cupcakes...

I have to give credit to my mama for this one...my birthday always falls around Easter, and I still remember her making these cupcakes for me to take as birthday treats in the fifth grade. (Thanks Mom!) Anyway, we made these again the other day for a fun snack. Jack is excited to take them to school and share with his friends this week; it will make the perfect "pre-preschool-Easter-egg-hunting-snack." To make these, simply use your favorite cupcake recipe to make the cupcakes. Next, mix a couple of drops of green food coloring into a bowl of coconut until completely mixed. Frost cupcakes with any type of icing and then sprinkle the green coconut on top. Add a few jellybeans to the center of the cupcakes. Finally, cut a piece of pipe cleaner in half and round it out to make a loop. Insert the pipe cleaner into the sides of the cupcakes to make it look like a basket handle. Enjoy!

Math and Literacy Ideas...

I simply cannot say enough wonderful things about the www.makinkglearningfun.com website. It is my first "go-to" page for theme ideas. Since it takes some time to go through the themes and identify which ideas will work for my kids, and some of you have mentioned you are wanting to do more of these things, here's what we're doing from the Easter ideas...
Math...
*Easter Egg Color By Number (Jack)
*Roll and Color Number Easter Eggs (Jack)
*Rabbit Shape Match Cards (Jack and Maren)
Literacy...
*Color Word Easter Basket (Jack and Maren)**I modified this for Jack to encourage sight word recognition by writing the color names on each of the colored eggs. This way, he is matching the words of each color up and learning to recognize the sight words for each color.
*Happy Easter Color, Cut, and Glue (Jack)

Bunny Baskets...

We spent a rainy afternoon making bunny baskets, and it was a lot of fun! To start, we painted terracotta pots white. (I did Maren's since we weren't using washable paint.) Next we cut ears out of white and pink construction paper and glued them to the inside of the pot. We then glued a pink pom-pom and wiggly eyes to the front of the bunny's face, and a white pom-pom to his back side for the tail. I used a sharpie to draw the whiskers on, and the kids filled their baskets with Easter grass and jellybeans. (This activity was a little challenging for Maren, so she enjoyed playing with the Easter grass and helping me spread the glue on things with a q-tip....she also really enjoyed nibbling on a few of the jellybeans.)

Jack's Favorite Spring/Easter Books...