Earth Day for Preschoolers - Part 2

For Earth Day week, I focused on using recyclables for my activities with Adrian. I tried to make our trays look as colorful and attractive as usual but I tried to proved to him that we could reuse some of our things he called "trash". It ended up being a whole lot of fun AND a rather inexpensive thematic! :)

Wine corks and Earth push pins

I bought these cute push pins in the bargain sections of Michaels two years ago and believe it or not, completely forgot I even had them. :) My idea was to have Adrian use them on a cork board and pin "some pieces of paper" on with them. Unfortunately, we don't have a cork board...but we do have lots of corks! In the end, it became a fine motor activity with the small rubber pins and small corks.  Rather cute too if you ask me.

Corks and Earth; a fine motor experience

Coming Up with Ideas on How to Reuse Common Objects

Ever heard of Guilford's Alternative Uses Task (part of TTCT)? I remembered reading in Psychology Today that most school-aged children were WAY less creative than they were 20 years ago and somehow I was pretty sure my kid was in that lot. Earth Day. Reusing. Let's give that task an informal "try" I thought. I presented Adrian with a newspaper we picked up while traveling. What can we do with a newspaper? I knew he'd say he could read it. I was hoping he'd find other uses. He couldn't. I suggested wrapping objects in them such as when we move. He liked the idea. We searched a bit more but he couldn't think of anything else. I didn't push. We moved on to the fork. Eating was his first answer. Then, nothing. I made a motion like I was combing my hair but he thought it was wrong yet funny. Even funnier was me pretending to use the fork as a launcher. The sock, to Adrian, was to be exclusively worn on his sister's foot. *sigh* No sock puppet? Really? No polishing of window or anything? Well, I guess we'll be working on creative/divergent thinking from now on... :)

Uppercase and Lowercase Milk Caps Matching

I'm sure you've seen this before. We've just never done it before (oh the ideas I save for the sake of a theme!). Save lots of milk caps and write lowercase letters and their matching uppercase counterparts on them and have your child match them up. We're huge milk drinkers here but even two weeks did not give me that many pairs. Nevermind that...I'm still saving them for next year! :)

Giant Earth Day Dot-to-Dot Mural using a Box to be Recycled

Dot-to-dots are always fun. A giant dot-to-dot? Now that is extra fun. Since our theme was Earth day, I reused a giant box I was planning on putting in our recycle bin and opened it up flat. Drew some Earth Day drawings and numbered some dots and it was ready for Adrian. I chose to tape mine on the wall because I've been reading that it helps children achieve a proper grip on their pen when it comes to writing. Anything to help! :)

Papier Mache Earth Balloon Globe

Well this was a LONG craft for a preschooler. I intended on using a smaller balloon but Adrian insisted on using the bigger one. Umpf. Anyhow, the idea came to me from a post I had seen on Our Day Your Journey. She, like us used a balloon, covered it with squares of newspaper and homemade glue (1 cup of flour mixed with 2 cups of water), let is dry overnight and finalized with squares of blue and green silk paper the next day and a new batch of homemade glue. Using a 5" balloon would have been plenty but Adrian really wanted to use the 12" so I helped him a bit otherwise, I think we'd still be covering the balloon. :) After the balloon dried, I intended on popping the balloon so it'd "sit" but Adrian was afraid his hard work would "deflate" so I didn't but you could. The proof? His balloon fell the next day and the balloon "popped" and it is still well shaped to this day. I suggested poking small holes all over the "land" and inserting a battery operated candle inside so his Earth would look illuminated but he told me it would damage his "friend Earth". :)

Craft in Progress

Møns Klint, Denmark and its beautiful chalk cliffs on the Baltic; 
Although Adrian was born in Denmark, he never saw this magical place; He went there while in utero! 
(yes, I did hike this at 5 months pregnant...thankfully, there were stairs! :))

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Today, I'm happily linking up to

Montessori Monday, The Kids Co-Op, Show-and-Share Saturday, Link & Learn, TGIF, Share it Saturday, Mom's Library, The Sunday Showcase, Sun Scholars's For the Kids Friday, Stress-Free Sunday, Thursday Toddler & Preschool, Tuesday Tots, Preschool Corner &5K, Discover and Explore, and We Made That.

If you would like me to link up with you, please don't hesitate to ask, it might take me a week or two, but I generally do!