Wait! Don't Throw That Box Away!

Don't throw that away! 
I keep all kinds of things.  It drives my husband crazy.  But when I look at something, I see the possibilities it might have in a preschool classroom.  So when we got a walker for my baby, I saved the box.  It's large and flat.  That's hard to find.  But what do I do with it?

Giant Marble Rolling
We started by going on a ball hunt.  These are the balls we found around the house.

I opened the box like a pizza box.  Put a piece of poster board in it.  I would really like to have had large butcher paper, but poster board worked well because it didn't blow away.  We did this activity outside just in case the balls got away.
     I then put down globs of paint all over it.  Traditionally rolling marbles, I would dip the marbles in the paint then put it on the paper, but I thought that this would be easier.
Then we rolled all the different balls we found.
and rolled, she liked trying to roll all of the balls at one time.
The final product turned out so cute.  I would use it as a background on a bulletin board.

Just like a giant marble painting.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Math Centers- Number work

Image
Children get to explore numbers in a variety of forms.  Numeral to set These types of games are very simple to make.  Pick any theme.  Cut shapes or buy them already cut out.  Then find something that goes with the shape to use as counters.  I like using those shaped erasers you can buy at the dollar store. Here are butterflies cut from the ellison machine. I put numbers 1-10 on the front and 11-20 on the back just so higher level thinkers can have a challenge.  I have snowmen, cars, Christmas trees, hearts, and flowers.  Any little manipulative piece can be paired with a shape to make a thematic game. You can also buy store bought games and adapt them to your needs.  This game is cute but is too easy.  It is set up more like flash cards so that kids can count the number of M&M's on each card.  I use bowls or thought about making candy jars with the little M&M pieces. great number work This site has the cutest printable number games. Fun and good for fine mot
Read more

Changes, Changes- A book of building and a craft too

Image
Changes, Changes is a book by Pat Hutchins This book has no words and I was amazed at how it kept all the children's interest.  We predicted what the people would build next.  At the end of the story we recalled all the different things that were built.  They did great with it.  Some even asked to read it again.  Since we share all our books from Creative Curriculum with another class, we had to give the book up for the day. I decided to let the children make their own structures like in the book. Like the book states, plans change. My lesson plan shows the intent of the activity below. First, we worked together to watercolor paint a large piece of paper.  I then cut out shapes from the paper, and I added some other paper scraps from other cutting projects.  Next the kids were asked to glue some shapes down to make something.  I recorded what they made on each page along with their name. We turned it into a book we will keep in our library.  Now, the kids can read our story. We
Read more

Creative Trash

Image
Your trash can or recycling bin doesn't seem like the place to find art supplies, but it's cheap and can make great fun projects.   We made a bee using a toilet or paper towel tube.  You can look at other tube projects on  this previous post . Egg cartons make great art projects.  Just make sure you wash them out. You could make spring flowers and caterpillars How about musical instruments? Every year we would make shakers using paper plates and beans or beads inside.  It's not too loud, but just the right amount of fun.  Kids decorate the outside what ever way they want.   Here is the maraca we made using a plastic Easter egg and spoons.  We covered it with colorful duct tape and shake away. We made animals with paper tubes.  Here is a zebra colored bee. What kind of fun can you have with your trash?  Did you know there is a real orchestra that makes their instruments from the trash they find?  It is called the Landfill Harmonica.  Yo
Read more