Combine play sand with cornstarch and you get lots of sand fun!  What is great about this mixture is that unlike regular sand, it cakes together when slightly damp.  Almost becoming hard, but smashes back into sand.  All of my kids enjoyed playing with there new “outdoor only” tub!  I will warn you though, they were covered in sand when they were done!  The “clumping qualities” exist on clothing too – haha.  This was messier than regular sand, it didn’t just brush off until it was bone dry (aka when …

This is my preschoolers favorite way to paint!  Basically, it is what it sounds like; shaving cream mixed with paint.  We usually mix the shaving cream with tempera paint as it has the smoothest consistency and is the cheapest!  We have three tubs of primary colored paint: red, blue and yellow that we mix to get a whole host of colors.  When mixed with the cream, the colors look more neon and bright.

We are learning to site read several words thanks to Starfall (see previous post) and we decided that there is no better way to put our words to the test than by labeling ourselves.  I hope that this activity helps solidify the word associations that my kids are learning.
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For this preschool activity we dressed in our swim suits, it is late fall, and my kids miss summer time.  Wearing their swimsuits, goggles and floaties and getting to re-live their summer-time adventures was a lot of fun for them.  Before …

These were originally going to be bugs, but then my daughter began naming them after her pretend friends.  At least her pretend friends now have “faces”.  Maybe you can have fun creating pet rocks, pretend rock friends, or paperweight bugs.
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Needed:
Rocks
Old Toothbrush (to clean the rocks)
Paint (acrylic is best)
Embellishments (pom-poms, eyes, etc.)
To do:  Scrub the dirt off of your rock, paint them and embellish.  Have fun creating a world of rock creatures.
Have fun!

I think this was one of my kids favorite activities so far.   We went outside to one of our flower pots by the pool where we can easily find bugs, frogs, geckos, etc.  gathered a couple worms, grubs, a beetle and an earwig.  Going on a bug hunt was fun!  Then we dipped them in paint and watched them move.
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Supplies needed:
Half a dozen or so different types of bugs
Tweezers, paint covered bugs are slippery!
Different colors of water soluble paint – so the bugs can live through this experience.
Paper
What to …

Paint is our favorite medium.  It is the good ole’ standby at our house.  As we are learning about birds this week, we decided to paint with feathers.
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Materials Needed:

Paint, we used our shaving cream paint recipe
Feathers
Glue
Paper

Originally we were going to use the feathers as one would use a paintbrush.  Silly me thought my two-year old was up for the fine motor skill challenge.  Once my little fella discovered th joy of getting his fingers wet in the paint their was no stopping them and my older child joined in.  …

This week we are studying birds.  We used birdseed in a tactile or blind, “I Spy” as well as practiced gross motor skills by pouring bird seed from cup to cup.
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Materials needed:

Bucket
Birdseed
items and small trinkets

What we did:
The kids love feeling birdseed sifting through their fingers!  They picked three objects from their pile and would hide them in the bucket, then pass the bucket to the other child who would proceed to find whatever items were requested.  This gave the kids chances to work on giving and following instructions as well …

My kids love art projects (maybe even more than I do) and this week we are exploring with water.  This is our experiment where we interacted with water, dye, oil and shaving cream to learn about emulsion, flotation, absorption and make a lovely mess.
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Materials we used:

an old baking dish
liquid food coloring
Tempera Paint
Spray Oil
Shaving Cream
Paper (cut into fourths)

We began our mess with water by mixing liquid food coloring in to water and dipping our paper into it to get a baseline (or control group) – it didn’t look like much.
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We next …

Have fun discussing the names and basic functions of parts of a plant while decorating this fun picture using various materials.
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Materials Needed (Improvise when necessary):

Straws
Colored paper
Pipe cleaner
Tissue paper
Scissors
White glue
Colored pencils/crayons/markers

Draw a basic picture of a plant including petals, stem, leaves and roots.  Using the various materials let your child decorate the picture while you help them name the parts and explain what they do.  We used bits of straw for the stem and roots because the plants use these parts to “suck up” nutrients and water.  We used small squares …

This is a great experiment to be able to see the various components which make up what we know as “dirt”.  Including pebbles, sand, silt, clay, and soil.  This experiment takes a day or two, so don’t expect immediate results.
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What you’ll need:

A bottle
A handful of dirt (best from your backyard, not store bought)
Water

What you need to do:
Put the dirt into the bottle.  Mark the line of where your soil is and add water.  Leave an inch or two of air.  Cap the bottle and shake it.  Let the bottle sit …