play dough Archives - JDaniel4s Mom

Constellations for Kids – Printable Constellation Mats

May 8, 2017 By Deirdre

Even young children can explore constellations. This simple set of constellations for kids printable constellation maps will introduce them to some of the well-known ones. Children can use small stars to help recreate the constellations on each mat. Let me walk you through several ways children can use them.

Constellation for Kids Mat Activities

Getting Ready for the Activity

Before you can start the constellation for kids activities, you will need to print the Constellations for Kids Activity Mats There are ten constellations in this set. You can print all of them at once or print out a few at a time.

Next, you will need to decide what objects you want your children to use to recreate each of the constellations for kids. We used wooden stars that were painted yellow and gold.

Here are some other objects you could use:

Star Shaped Pony Beads
Pom Poms
Star Shaped Buttons
Wooden Stars
Play dough and star-shaped cookie cutters

Exploring the Constellations

There are a number of ways to explore these constellations. Let me share with your some of the ways that I came up with to use them.

A Star on a Star

You can put out just the number of stars your children will need to complete a constellation. Your children can simply place a wooden start on top of each of the stars displayed on the mat.

Count the Stars on the Mat

Your children can count the number of stars on their constellations for kids’ mat. Then they can take that number of stars out of a pile on the table or a bowl. Next, they will place the stars on top of the stars on the mat.

All Sizes of Stars

Children can place a variety of different kinds of stars on their constellation mat. You can encourage them to use stars of different colors and shapes.

The Virtual Book Club is exploring the book How to Catch a Star this week. Here are some wonderful star activities from this blog and others.

Solar System Sensory Bottle

Paper space shuttle

Edible Mars soil space experiment

Printable constellation mats for kids

Create a Star Stamps

Space STEM- Shooting Star Bottle

Apple Learning Activities- Sunday Showcase

September 6, 2014 By Deirdre

Apple Learning Activities

I looked through the treasure trove of posts shared on the Sunday Showcase over the past few years hunting for apple themed learning activities. Boy, there have been a lot of wonderful posts shared through out the years during the months of August and September. I selected eight of them to share with you. It was really hard to narrow down the list of apple posts, but I hope you will take the time to visit my Apple Crafts and Activities Pinterest board to see many of the other posts I found while hunting.

If you have an apple post you would like to share, please link it up below. I would love to stop by and visit it. Several of the posts shared in the link up below will be featured on next week’s Sunday Showcase. Oh! Your post doesn’t have to have an apple theme for you to add it below and have me check it out.

Apple Learning Activities

Apple Themed Learning Activities

Apple Learning Activities

The Painted and Stamped Apple Pie Craft from Off of the Shelf works on a variety of fine motor skills. I just love that it smells like an apple pie too.

Apple Learning Activities

Fantastic Fun and Learning created an invitation to learn with apple play dough. It leaves the door open for kids to create their own apples their own way. The plastic worms in this creation area would be a hit at my house.

Apple Learning Activities

A wormy apple was created by Tippytoe Crafts. What a fun fall craft! Kids will be able to use a variety of learning skills while creating it.

Apple Learning Activities

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas has a whole unit filled with apple learning activities! You will have so much fun exploring it!

apple eruptions 112

Creating an erupting apple looks like fun in this post from Growing a Jeweled Rose. JDaniel will love trying this out.

Apple Learning Activities

Momma’s Fun World made a number learning apple tree. This looks like a great way to work on numbers.

Apple Learning Activities

The Sunday Showcase is hosted on the following blogs:

JDaniel4′s Mom

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas

Here Come the Girls

Inspiration Laboratories

We each feature different posts that have linked up, so be sure to check everyone out! We’ll also be pinning our favorites to our Pinterest board.

If you are here for the first time please read this informational post on Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas’ site for the full details. Anything kid friendly and/or child centered is welcome! You are welcome to share more than one post, but we don’t accept links for giveaways, shops, or downloads for purchase, etc. They will be deleted.

An InLinkz Link-up

signature

Dig Into Construction Sites- Play Dough Fun

July 2, 2013 By Deirdre

This summer I have been co-hosting a Dig Into… themed link up. In May there was a Dig Into Gardening link up.This month Frogs, Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails, Royal Baloo,Growing Book By Book, and I are co-hosting a Dig Into Construction Sites link up. I am focusing on play dough fun.

My son has always loved to dig in the dirt and play with his construction vehicles. There was a time when he only wanted me to check out construction site themed books out of the library. He loved them so much I made him a construction site themed cake for his birthday when he was three.

Recently we read the book Road Work Ahead by Anastasia Suen. It is a wonderful story about a road trip to visit grandmother. Along the way a family sees all kinds of construction equipment doing work. There are jackhammers digging holes in the road. Cherry pickers helping worker change light bulbs in street lights. Dump trucks filled with dirt from a job site crossing the road. The family has so many vehicles and construction sites to take in. Reading this book inspired me to create a play dough activity for JDaniel that would involve some of the construction toys he has.

Play Dough Fun

I set up an invitation for JDaniel to explore construction equipment and a job site in a large plastic zipper bag. The bag contained play dough smooshed into a toaster oven tray and several of JDaniel’s construction equipment toys.

He was told that I had it for him and he could carry it outside or play with it inside. JDaniel decided to carry it outside to the driveway. There he spread out the equipment and thought about what to do. After a couple of seconds, he started digging and prying up the play dough with a front loader. Then he switched to smoothing the play dough back down with a roller. The play dough easily flattened out and filled the hole he had created.

Excavating play dough was fun too. Digging holes through the play dough landscape required manipulating the scoop carefully to pick the play dough up.

After awhile the play dough was pushed to the far end of the toaster over tray to be picked up by a dump truck. It took a lot of pushing to get it all moved into a couple of clumps that could be carried away. (Even play dough fun can be hard work.)

What I like about this activity!

There are several things I really like about this activity. The first is that it was open ended. JDaniel could choose to construct or deconstruct the construction site. The second is the fine motor work that he had to do as he dug into the construction site. The third is the imaginative play aspect. I sat with JDaniel as he worked and he described to me the various events that were taking place on the site. I guess the fourth aspect is oral communication practice. Hearing what my son was thinking was so much fun. All this made play dough fun to explore!

Follow JDaniel4’s Mom on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Read.Explore.Learn.- That’s Not How You Play Soccer, Daddy!

June 15, 2012 By Deirdre

I love the dad in the book That’s Not How You Play Soccer Daddy by Sherry Shahan! The dad in this wonderful book realizes his son is taking his job as team captain and his playing of soccer over seriously. He wants him to enjoy the game the way the other kids do.

Actually, the other kids would gather explore an anthill rather than plays soccer. Mikey thinks every rule should be followed.

After practice, his dad takes to a different part of the park for lunch and to play. Mikey just wants to practice.

Mikey’s wise dad thinks he should play shoeless, with the family dog and with his hands. After a tickle fest with his dad, Mikey agrees with his dad.

Sometimes you just have to have fun.

What did we do with this book?

Created a Game with Tomato Cages

I planted two tomato cages across from each other in the yard imagining we would play a game that combined soccer and basketball.

JDaniel looked at the cages and decided that one cage was the starting line. You then had to run around two bushes and a tree before heading across the yard to drop the ball in the far tomato cage.

My game was a little simpler, but his game turned out to be lots of fun. Sometimes it is fun to just take out some materials and see what fun game you can create.

Made Ice Tea Playdough

Sun Hats & Wellie Boots, Nurturestore, & The Imagination Tree are asking bloggers to take the PPlaydoughPledge this week. What is the pledge? It is to try to make a new kind of play dough this week.

JDaniel and I started with the basic no-cook play dough found on Sun Hat & Wellie Boots using flour, salt, oil, and boiling water. We added to it a packet of ice tea powder. JDaniel’s dad loves sweet tea and since we had read a book about a dad, I thought it would be fun.

The play dough we made turned a tan color, but really didn’t smell like sweet tea. I didn’t dump in a full packet of Lipton’s Tea and Honey and that may have kept the full scent of the tea from coming to the surface of the playdough.

We had fun playing with it anyway.

What adventures have you had with books this week?