Free Preschool Activities

by Rachel Paxton

Preschool-aged children love to play with worms (at least my boys do!). You can turn their curiosity with worms into a science project with just a few items from your house and garden. Here is what you’ll need:

Empty two-liter pop bottle
Exacto knife
Dirt
Small shovel
Sand
Grass clippings
Kitchen compost (apple peelings, etc.)
Worms

Before you let your child loose in the garden, you will need to use the exacto knife to cut off the entire top of the pop bottle.

Help your child create a label for the container that has the child’s name and “worm farm” printed on it. You can make it by hand or on the computer. Tape the label to the front of the container.

Go out to the garden with your child and let he or she shovel a couple of inches of dirt into the plastic container. Pat the dirt down so the next layer of sand won’t filter through. Explain to your child that they need to be careful not to shake or jar the bottle or the sand and dirt will become mixed up.

Add a thin layer of sand, and then continue with a couple of inches of dirt and another thin layer of sand. The top layer should be dirt. Leave an inch or two of space at the top of the bottle.

Next add a few grass clippings on top of the last layer of dirt. The worms will need food, so add a few pieces of fruits or vegetables in with the grass, such as apple or orange peelings.

If you are lucky enough to have worms in your yard, help your child dig for a few worms for his or her worm farm. If you can’t find any, go to your nearest bait shop and buy a small package of night crawlers.

Let your child play with the worms before putting them in the worm farm. Help them make observations about their worms. Check out a book about worms at your local library or search for information online about worms. Talk to your child about how a worm’s job is to eat waste and mix it into our soil to fertilize
it.

After your child places a couple of worms into the worm farm, they will be able to see for themselves how worms mix up soil. When the worms dig through the container, they will leave a trail of sand behind them that your child will be able to see mixing into the dirt.

For the most worm activity, place the worm farm in a dark place or tape a piece of paper around the worm farm to keep the light out. Worms do most of their work at night.

Your preschooler will have a lot of fun creating his or her worm farm. From digging in the dirt, to playing with worms…what’s not to like!

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of five. For resources for the Christian family, including parenting, toddler and preschool activities, homeschooling, family traditions, and more, visit http://www.Christian-Parent.com

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

A few days ago, I wrote a post on teaching preschoolers about recycling.  Here’s another way you can recycle materials - make them into a recycled kite! This kite is cool for another reason too. Usually store-bought kites need an adult to fly them. This one is perfect for preschoolers to fly all by themselves!

What you need:

• plastic grocery bag from your recycling box or bin
• string, 4 - 6 feet long
• streamers (create your own from colored paper in your mixed paper recycling box)
• tape
• markers to create a design on the kite

What you do:

1. Tie the string around the handles of the bag.
2. Tape streamers to the bottom of the bag.
3. Decorate your kite with markers.

Your recycled kite is ready for its test flight!

Have your preschooler run with the kite. It will lift a little bit when your child runs. On windy days, it goes even higher! As your child gets used to running with the kite, you can add a longer string for more excitement.

Remember running around outside with pinwheels when you were small? The wind would catch them and they turned as you ran. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to help your preschooler enjoy that same experience. Here’s an easy pinwheel craft you can make with your preschoolers.

What you need:

• Colored construction paper, or colored paper (Your preschooler’s favorite color, of course!
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Thumb tack

What you do:

Cut your piece of paper into a square. (Hey, this could be a GREAT time to talk to your preschool about the differences between squares and rectangles!)

From each corner, cut a straight line to the center of the square, but don’t cut all the way to the center. That’s where the thumb tack will go.

Fold corners to the center.

Attach the whole thing to a pencil with a thumb tack.

Let your preschooler loose to catch the breeze!

For a sparkly pinwheel, find a colorful pencil and paper to use.

Spring is here! Where I live, that means we still have a little bit of snow, and LOTS of wind!

Here is a fun wind chime craft you can make with your preschoolers to celebrate spring, and explore how the wind makes things move.

What you need:

• 12 bells
• disposable pie tin with a hole punched out at each quarter turn. (This is where you’ll be attaching the cords)
• 4 pieces of small cord, each at least 12″ long. scissors

What you do:

Tie 3 bells onto each of the 4 cords. They should be evenly spaced apart. The bottom bell can be at the very end of one edge of the cord.

At the top of the cord, leave enough room to attache the cord to the pie plate.

Secure the bells in place by tying knots in the cord.

Then tie the cords to the pie plate in the holes you punched out.

Punch another hole at the top of the pie plate and attach a cord to hang it with.

Enjoy hearing the bells tinkle on your next windy day!

Here is a fun art activity to do with your preschooler while you’re studying insects - fingerpainting caterpillars and butterflies!

Get out your finger paints, or make your favorite finger paint recipe . Don’t forget the smocks!

Your child can paint caterpillars using the tip of her index finger. Place several finger prints in a row to make the body of a caterpillar. When the caterpillar is dry, you can add the legs and the antennae with a crayon or marker.

The caterpillar will one day become a beautiful butterfly! To paint butterfly wings, have your preschooler press the palm of his hand, including the fingers, into a tray of finger paint. Now make a handprint on the paper. You just painted a butterfly’s wing. Add a wing on the other side. When the paint is dry you can add the butterfly’s body and antennae with a crayon or marker.

Here’s a free Mother’s Day project your preschooler can make for Grandma, a favorite aunt, or even for you!

What you need:

• Colored muffin liners
• Pipecleaners
• Vase from the Dollar Store

Insert pipecleaners into the muffin liners to make flowers. Use scissors to create petals if you want.

Place the bouquet in a vase and present it for Mother’s Day. You can make it more festive by tying a bouquet around the vase. Don’t forget to have your preschooler make a card to  go with the bouquet.

My daughter made me a bouquet like this one year, and it graces our dinner table every evening.

Yay, it’s May and the snow is GONE!

Time to get those preschoolers outside and enjoying spring.

The bugs are out too. Preschoolers and bugs make a great combination. It’s fun to look under rocks and leaves and see what’s underneath.

You can even make a homemade magnifying glass so your preschooler can get a better look.

What You Need:

• Small ziplock bags
• Water

What You Do:

Fill each ziplock bag with a different level of water, and seal the bag. Each water level will provide a different level of magnification.

Take your “magnifying glasses” outside and look through them to see what you can see!

Were you looking for a way to use your dryer link, and help the animals in your neighborhood?

Birds LOVE dryer lint to help build their nests.

Why don’t you and your preschooler leave some lying in the yard for the birds to find, and watch what happens?

Here are two easy suncatchers you can make with your preschooler. Hang them up to catch some sun on a cloudy day!

Suncatcher #1

Materials Needed:

• a large paper plate with the center cut out
• colored triangles to glue to the the plate for sun rays
• glue
• hole punch
• yarn
• colored cellophane

Directions:

Give your child a paper plate and some triangles. Glue the triangles around the rim of the plate to make a colorful “sun.”

Cover the hole in the middle with the colored cellophane.

Punch a hole on either side of the plate. Tie a piece of yarn through each hole. Tie the yarn together on top, for the catcher to hang from.

Suncatcher #2

Materials Needed:

• picture from coloring book
• pencil crayons
• vegetable oil
• string

Directions:
Color the picture with pencil crayons. When you’re done coloring, lightly coat the picture with vegetable oil. Use the string to hang the picture in front of a sunny window.

Do your preschoolers like to eat honey?

Do they know where honey comes from?

Honeybees are disappearing at an alarming rate. Here’s a really cute and educational site to share with your kids. It’s slow, but worth the wait. Click here to learn how to help the honeybees.