Product Review: Crayola Whiteboard Crayons

I've never done a product review before.  But I think that if I find something that makes my life easier, it's worth sharing.

Yesterday in Walmart I spied these in the school supplies aisle:

And I thought -- well that's worth a shot.  And they are awesome!

They're obviously going to cost more than regular markers or crayons -- especially at this time of year (I think I paid $4 something -- can't find my receipt!), but so do dry erase MARKERS and if you have little ones, these are worth the money.

Our art easel has a chalkboard side and a whiteboard side plus the center pole for holding paper.  We go through a lot of butcher paper (courtesy of IKEA) but my 3 year old does love the whiteboard.  

These are great because there is no marker mess (or smell -- I always get low odor otherwise) and they rubbed off well with the mitt that is provided.  It did take a little elbow grease and there was a slight film but it was good enough for my girl and then when she was done done I ran a wet washcloth over it and everything came right off.  The board looks good as new.

We have had a discussion about "special crayons" and what you can and can't write on with them, but she gets it no problem.

I may never go back to the markers again!

H is For House

Today for preschool we did the letter H and I was so bummed about what I COULDN'T do!

I remember a book that my parents had called A House is a House for Me.

It goes through all of the "houses" that different creatures live in really great rhyme.  The reason that I'm so bummed is that I didn't think about it until Monday (not enough time to get the book sent from my parents) and even though it's technically "check in" at the library, it was definitely not on the shelf and has been lost to the ages.

I can't blame the library though.  I know that my own darlings frequently pull books and we don't get them back where we belong . . . sorry!

So I didn't get to read the kids this book that I LOVE but we did a matching game based on the idea.

It is super simple to do a Google image search for various creatures and their houses: bees and beehives, squirrels and trees, princesses and castles, etc.  In word, I set the paper size to 4" by 6" and then dropped the margins way down so that one picture was on each page.  Then I stuffed my printer with 4x6 index cards and printed!  Voila!  Instant matching game!  

The kids enjoyed it (they all wanted to keep the pictures) and they learned a little bit about different types of houses.  

But I still want to get a hold of that book.  It might just "accidentally" find it's way into my car the next time we visit the grandparents . . . 

E is for Egg

My preschool playgroup is on letter E and that really had me racking my brains.  There aren't a ton of E words that use the short sound instead of the long sound.  Plus, we have a little one in the group that is actually allergic to eggs so there go all those ideas!  

Instead, we exercised (which started off a round of running through the house -- toddlers -- love them) and then we made nests with play-dough eggs.  

Play-dough?  Are you nuts?  

Well, not totally.  I knew that six 2-year olds with commercial play-dough was a bad idea, so I did homemade. That way, accidental (or on purpose) eating was ok and what gets ground into my carpet won't stain and will (hopefully) clean up fairly easily.

Plus this was a super easy, smooth recipe to make.  Sorry no tutorial (I never think about it when I'm making something) but I have end result pictures and some tips.

Kindergarten Playdough

1 cup flour

1 cup water

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tab. vegetable oil

food coloring (which I didn't do -- sorry I don't know if it will dye your kid's fingers -- I'll try it next time!)

Combine all ingredients in a pot on the stove.

Cook over medium heat continually until mixture starts to pull away from sides of pan (it starts actually lifting out as you stir).  

Place dough on cutting board and knead for 1-2 minutes.

Keeps in fridge for up to 6 months.

 The nest is a just a paper bag (ok sorry, it is actually a PRINCESS paper bag but not because it has to be) and the directions are found at FamilyFun Magazine online.  We didn't do twigs (although we could have since several limbs off my willow tree were pulled down by the end of today) and it still looked "nest-y".

The kids got a big kick out of it and although it was still a parent-as-major-helper craft (I didn't know rolling playdough balls was a skill we needed to work on!), they loved making eggs and talking about all the things that come out of eggs.

Oh and we read Ollie by Olivier Dunrea to cap it all off.  This is one of his darn cute goose books.

We also love Gossie and Gertie, and Peedie especially.

B is for Butterfly

The letter B is so much fun to teach.  After all, there are tons of fun things to associate with it: balls, bubbles, balloons (which we didn't do), bouncing, bears, butterflies!

I found a fantastic idea here for making a chrysalis.  In a nutshell, you paper mache a balloon with tissue paper and then insert a butterfly inside for your demonstration.

Mine wasn't nearly as neat as the tutorial's but it worked for the purpose and the kids got a kick out of it.  My 3-year old's been playing with it ever since!

I suppose that I should preface this with the note that we read Lois Ehlert's Waiting for Wings.

While I'm not a huge fan of her earlier works, I love love LOVE this book and several others with this style of artwork: Eating the Alphabet, The Leaf Man.  And after reading the book, we reviewed the life cycle of a butterfly -- hence the chrysalis . . . 

And this very lovely caterpillar that I made out of a nice stretchy, fuzzy sock and pipe cleaners.  You have to love those last minute lightbulbs!

I should, of course, have included Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar but if I don't think about it before preschool/playgroup starts, I certainly don't think of it during the process!  Oh well, most kids have read that book anyway and I'm sure that they'll have the opportunity to see it again!  It still turned out well.

Another Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are always fun.  There's something about the search for the prize that just makes people smile.  That's why there are pirates!

I wanted another scavenger hunt for our preschool/playgroup, but one where each child gets the exact same thing.  I know I should be teaching my children that life isn't fair but I've decided that a lesson with 7 other children is not the time that I want to deal with that tantrum if I can help it.

So this week, we're focusing on the letter "B" and I've decided on a hunt for things that start with B.  But how to do it?  Simple!

Create a page for each child with pictures of items around your home that start with B.  Then write (or print on the computer) the word for each object on a sheet of file label stickers.  Just make sure you put all of that word on the same sheet. (Email me if you want this sheet -- I can't get a Word file to attach . . .)

And then off you go!

Our group of kiddos (ages 2 & 3) had a great time running around the house looking for obvious things and then putting stickers on their paper.  I guess they could've colored it too but it worked pretty well.  And they covered lots of words that start with the letter B!

Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!

I've begun a sort've pre-pre-school program with my 3-year old and invited a group of kids her age to participate with us.  It helps keep me focused when I know I'm planning for more than just her.  Plus I think it helps me reach -- how can I plan learning activities that will appeal to more than just her?

So today was our first meeting and I am wiped out!  Definitely a nap day!  I think it was a success (we'll see what my feedback says!) and I am definitely planning on doing it again.  

I'm loosely using some curriculum found here that is based on doing one letter of the week.  I think for preschoolers, it's a popular way to go.  So today was "A" of course and our main focus was animals.  We had a great activity and read some awesome stories.  The craft -- not so much.  It was an alligator paper-bag puppet and ended up being a lot more work for the moms than the kids.  It was too advanced I think.  Oh well, live and learn!

The Activity!

Start with 4 murals of places that animals live.  I chose woods/mountains, homes, farms, and jungle.

 My 3-year old helped me color this one.  When she pulled out the orange I tried to dissuade her from that particular color and she said to me "you can trust me on this".  And indeed, it is a lovely orange . . . circle?

Each kid had an opportunity to identify an animal and tape it (painter's tape -- AWESOME!) to it's correct habitat.  Sometimes they needed a little help but it kept them engaged and they liked it (ok the snack they had at the same time certainly helped!).

If you're religious (which we are), you can link it to Adam and Eve and how Adam named all the animals in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:19-20).

Simple.  Fairly Effective.  And fun.  You could also hide the animals and search for them by sound.  (Find an animal that says "moo" and so on) or match animals with their babies.  There are of course other habitats to consider but my artistic ability only goes so far!