I have been playing around with rice bottles to see what I can do to make them both fun and educational. I love all the different versions of rice bottle, also called “I Spy” bottles, I have seen on other blogs and since I whipped up all that colorful rice a few weeks ago, I have really wanted to make a few of my own….

This bottle of rice has little rubber ducks and fish I bought from the Dollar store. Since the toys were squishy, I could squish them to fit into the lip of the bottle. I then added rice but decided not to fill the bottle completely full so the animals would be easier to find..

I have been saving water bottles for awhile now. I have made sure they are all dried out and wrapper off. After putting rice and toys in each bottle, I used hot glue on the lids so the lids would not come off as the children play with them.

This little bottle has rubber snakes, rats, bugs, and spiders in them – yuck! Also from the dollar store…

This bottle is filled with crayons so the children can practice their color recognition…

If I make this again though I will use smaller crayons. I filled this bottle all the way full of rice….

And this is my dice rice bottle. I found a package of 10 die at the dollar store but again, if I make this again I will only add about 5 rather than all 10…

I love how the dice pop to the top of the rice as you shake it. The children can work on their counting skills…

And this final one came from an idea posted on No Time for Flashcards. I simply added pompoms to the rice. But I had to add a little rice then a few pompoms and more rice then a few more pompoms.

I had all the pompoms in the bottom of the bottle at first then poured the rice on top but when I shook the bottle, they wouldn’t move. So I dumped all the pompoms out and started over!

Linking up with Let’s Get Crafty and Child Made!

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I think I have hundreds teacher bags laying around. I get them from all sorts of places but mostly from conferences I attend.

Several months ago, I shared how we organize our teaching materials for the week. My main purpose in using a teacher bag is to make transitions between activities go smoothly and to keep essential tools at my fingertips…

I use it to keep things handy like scissors, a permanent marker, glue, and a few other items that are a must have.  I always keep a favorite book stashed away in my teacher bag too…

I often keep a stuffed animal or puppet in the bag too when I need a little helper to get the children’s attention…

I also may keep pieces of an activity we are going to do in the bag so I can easily pull them out when I am ready to use them…

The thing about a teacher bag is that it can get disorganized pretty quick so I clean my bag out just about every day so I am not spending time in front of the children digging around in the bottom of my bag trying to find my stuff.

For me, a teacher bag isn’t a way to organize my lesson plan materials for the week, as I have suggested in my previous post.  It is instead a way to carry the things I need on a daily basis to keep the classroom day and transitions throughout the day running smoothly.

Check out this teacher bag!

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Gluing with Cotton Swabs

Cotton swabs make a quick and easy way of adding glue to art activities – when you are done, just throw the swabs away. The drawback is that if you use one swab too long, it gets kinds of stringy so you need to have plenty of fresh swabs around to replace the ooey gooey ones.

Give the glue bottle a little squeeze

Exercise fine motor skills by giving glue bottles a little squeeze. Using glue bottles takes practice but with a little practice, young children are able to develop the skills they need to use glue bottles effectively and efficiently - but they can only get better at if if you actually let them practice.

Brush on the glue

Paint brushes are fun to glue with but be sure to rinse them in hot water as soon as you are done or they get hard as a rock!

Butter tub lids make great glue holders.

Fill up a butter tub lid with glue and when you are done, just let the glue dry completely then bend back the lid and pop or peel the dried up remaining glue right out of the lid. Now you can use the lid again! Or you can put the glue inside the butter tub, poke a couple of holes in the lid and then slide the brushes down into the lid and close it all up.

This wont last forever but it keeps glue good for a few days or so.

Our most popular glue bottle and brush…

The most popular gluing tool our teachers like to use is the glue bottle and brush you can purchase from Discount School Supply.

The one drawback to this popular glue tool is when the glue builds up and dries out on the inside edges of the cap and the top of the container – it can be a bear to get the tops on and off the bottle. So one of our teachers came up with a solution!

Just put a little petroleum jelly on your finger…

Then wipe the petroleum jelly around the inside of the glue cap and the outside of the glue bottle…

This will keep the glue from sticking to the container. I would imagine this would work well for any kind of glue container. If you try this, let me know if it works for you!

We use these glue bottles all the time for all ages…

Not my glue of choice for preschoolers…

Want to know my least favorite type of glue? It is a glue stick! We use them all the time for cut and paste kinds of activities but when I see them used in the creative art room, I just cringe! I am not picking on any brand, I feel the same about any brand of glue stick and we do use all kinds of them but I find them to be expensive and they provide less opportunity for exploration, creativity, and even skill building compared to what good old fashioned white glue provides…

Just saying!

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If there is one area in my own professional development that I have come to appreciate more than ever, it is the value of sensory play.

I have always included sensory play in my lesson plans but it hasn’t been until this past year that I have really taken the time to sit down with the children and observe how much they really love it and the value it brings to their development.

Today, the children spent time scooping, pouring, spooning, and counting candy corn. We set out a big basket of candy corn and added some spoons, cups, and a few egg cartons for sorting and counting.

To help each child have their own work space, we gave them a tray to work/play on.

The boys and girls were equally engaged in their play. Sensory play is definitely not gender specific. Here are some of my observations about today’s sensory play experience in our prekindergarten class…

• The children stayed focused on their play for far more time then they do with just about anything else we offered.
• The children talked with each other about their play and talked with each other while they played.
• The children shared their supply of candy corn with each other.
• There was not any arguing or fighting going on – just happy sounds.
• Some children preferred to just fill up cups – others liked counting the corn into the egg cartons.
• Every child could choose from the variety of containers and decide how to use them.
• None of the children tried to eat the candy corn. One or two children did ask if they would get to try a piece and were told that they can eat a “clean piece of candy corn” later in the day but that this candy corn was here just for them to have fun and play!
• The children were quite competent at using the spoon to transfer the candy corn into the cups or just pouring from cup to cup.
• The children liked having their own tray (space) to work on.

If you have been avoiding sensory play for any reason – let me encourage you to reconsider. The time spent in this type of play far outweighs any reservations you may have.

If you or your students are new to sensory play, keep in mind the following tips…

• The more often your students participate in sensory play, the better they will get at using their fine motor skills to scoop, pour, count, sort, and so forth.
• At first, it may seem overwhelming to you as the teacher but repeated opportunities for sensory play leads to more constructive play. So don’t give up after the first try – repeat the opportunity so the children can learn to positively engage in sensory play.
• If you don’t want the children to eat the candy, then set a jar of candy (or other food items) in their sight and let them know that they will get a piece later in the day but that the candy on the table is just for play. They can learn the difference if you will take the time to teach them the difference.
• Make sure you have a healthy supply of materials for the number of children who will be playing at one time.
• Provide trays so children will have a space to contain the sensory and a space to call their own.
• Make sure you have plenty of types of containers, spoons, or other tools for the children to explore.
• Switch out the type of sensory items used or tools used so the children stay interested. Just like anything else, when something becomes too familiar – the children lose interest or the play becomes destructive rather than constructive.
• TEACH the children any expectations you feel are necessary but don’t over do it – leave the opportunity open ended for the children to explore freely so it will be more fun.  That is why it is called sensory “PLAY!”

See more on sensory play from: Our World Wide Classroom and from When You Never Expect Two and from Preschool Lesson Plans!

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Rainbow tracing is a simple technique for helping children work on their fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, and beginning writing skills.

The technique is fairly simple. You give each child at least three different colors of crayons and a shape, number or letter to trace.

The children begin by tracing the shape with their finger.

Then the children use one color of crayon and trace the shape. Then the children use the second color to trace it again. Then they use the third color to trace the shape one more time.

To make these types of letters and numbers,  I use a font titled: “ABC Print Dotted” by Fonts4Teachers.  To make shapes, I just use my drawing tools in Microsoft Word and choose a dotted line.

I am linking this post to Writers World by Giggles and Crayons!

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