Showing posts with label cardboard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cardboard. Show all posts

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Building With Blocks

I was up at 4am again today.  My sister in law tells me the new sleep patterns I am forming are preparing me for when the baby arrives.  I can usually get a a lot done at that time.  This morning I found some really cool ideas on Pinterest to incorporate into a block center that only cost your time and parting with a pair of old jeans (except for the beautiful handmade products from Uncle Goose).

The block center is such an important center in an early childhood classroom.  From learning to play cooperatively to working on those fine motor skills and developing skills to think logically to much much more - all done when building!  The block center was something I always wanted to give more space to and develop further and now I am starting to accumulate some great ideas!  Here are a few:

Take an old pair of jeans and with a little yellow paint turn them into roads - how cool is that! The kids can work on the floor or tables and they are the ones who are designing the layout of their city or town!
Check out the lil mop top blog.  Jen shares some great homeschooling ideas and crafts to use at home or in the classroom. lil mop top blog




This idea comes from Cathy at Pre-school Play.  Cardboard is becoming my new obsession :)  Check out her blog as well.  You can view her posts as a mosaic to quickly see what may be of interest to you and your kiddies!




If you are not a big fan of plastic people you may like this idea I came across on Pinterest. This idea comes from Cathleen Cullen at Reggio-Inspired.


If you like things that are handmade and retro you may want to check out Uncle Goose.  Uncle Goose makes beautiful wooden block sets in Michigan out of basswood.  The sets range from traditional to unique and they even have sets in different languages! There are even a few retailers here in Brooklyn that sell them or you could purchase online.

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Friday, August 3, 2012

Cardboard


What can you do with cardboard? A simple material that we toss away or recycle without a second thought. This morning, I woke before the birds, was on Pinterst (my newest addiction) and I came across MaryAnne's cardboard board on Pinterest. MaryAnne's website is mamasmiles

http://mamasmiles.com/

The link to her cardboard board can be found here:
http://pinterest.com/mamasmiles/cardboard/

Searching cardboard on Pinterest will populate boards upon boards of inspiration! From a simple baby doll car seat to elaborate cardboard sculptures! WOW - the creativity that is out there astounds me and inspires me!

So, the wheels are turning and instead of throwing out box upon box, cardboard toilet paper tubes or tissue boxes - what can we turn these into?

I saw somewhere, a while back, the idea of taking a tissue box and turning it into dice for a large group activity. It would also be a great alternative to the smaller dice making noise and landing all over the room after being rolled.

Digging in my tote of teaching materials I came across felt and started to think. Hmmm...how about a felt board die. And then, I thought, if it is felt you could make it anything you want. All you need is velcro! Add velcro to the back of letters and it could turn into a game during circle or small group to practice letter sounds. Add velcro to the back of numbers, and kids could roll and practice counting sets. The options are endless.

To make you will need:
One empty tissue box
Felt with adhesive on the back (I only had red - I think blue or green would be best)
Scissors
Marker to measure your square

And here are couple of ways you could use your new rollable felt board:



I would love to hear what you are doing with all those empty boxes :).

Saturday, August 4th Update:
Pizza Box Drying Rack
I came across this great space and money saving organization idea for your classroom in my blog travels this morning. To make it more personal, you could have the kids paint or decorate it in some way as well!

http://www.teachpreschool.org/2012/08/simple-ideas-for-classroom-set-up/#
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