Puppy and Green Dino Puzzles

L-Pad LOVES puzzles and would do them all day if there was enough variety, so in addition to the activity-a-day we are also going to play with puzzles!! First we're going to put it together so that he knows what it's suppose to look like and then I"m going to put the pieces into our rice bin and he'll have to find all the pieces and put it together (loves that too) and I wanted to share :) I'll be gluing these onto construction paper, you can also laminate them for later use :)

* the numbers on the puzzles will be to help him if he gets frustrated with just looking at the picture or we can count (our triumph from yesterday) and put the puzzles together.

DOWNLOAD 8X8 HERE

DOWNLOAD 8X8 HERE

November Activity-a-Day

Happy Moment of my day: L-Pad has a speech delay and so for a typical 3 year old this became a triumph a long time ago. He counted to 10 all my himself!! My favorite is 7, he pronounces it "seben"
Simple joys of life!

I am going to start making a monthly calendar with an activity for each day for L-Pad(3) and I wanted to share. I'll be getting the December one out soon. Please feel free to change and alter the activity to suit you and your family or the weather :)

DOWNLOAD 8.5X11 HERE

*on the calendar indicates a link or instructions
8th-using a container (yogurt, cottage cheese, etc), cut a slit it the lid. Then push poms- poms in through the slit.
9th- Combine food coloring to bubble mix then blow onto paper
10th-Pumpkin Pie Playdough by Dinosaurs and Octopuses
11th-using a tray of flour (salt, sand, sugar, etc) practice letter writing in the flour by showing flashcards.
12th- using Mod Podge (don't have any- make some) and scrapbook paper, mod podge paper to the 2 long sides of each Jenga piece then let dry and PLAY
13th- Find and download game from my LDS blog.
14th- Cut out different colors out of construction paper and tape/tack to the floor in no particular order. Then start by calling out a color, you must get from the start to the finish stepping/jumping on only that color. Then do it again calling out a different color.
15th- Go HERE for the recipe of  Troll Boogers, spread out some drop cloth just in case :)
16th- Foam Bathroom Mural by Filth Wizardry (you don't need to be taking a bath :)
17th- Put pasta, food coloring and about 2 squirts of hand sanitizer (MUST have alcohol) in a medium ziploc, shake around, then let out to dry, you can also use rubbing alcohol
18th- Printable coming soon!!
19th- Lofthouse Sugar Cookie and Frosting Recipe
21st- Activity to come soon right here on Frogs in My Pockets
22nd- Fingerpainting corn husk by All Kids Network
23rd- Using the streamers you can find at the dollar store, make an obstacle course in a hallway. Crawling over and under to get the end.
26th-Jell-o Excavation by Tinker Lab
29th- using printouts from the internet play a matching game by cutting the pictures in half, printing out 2 of each, play a game by hiding one of the printouts and seeking it out to make a match, and you can also using plastic animals make a match with the printouts.

Matching Bag

Photo and Idea Source: Little Hands, Big Work

Just like a matching game with cards. You start by pulling out a critter from the bag then just "finding" it's match by only feeling inside the bag. If you get a match AWESOME if not both pieces go back into the bag.

                                                                              OR

You could put each critter out on the tray and then have it's mates inside the bag,  trying to get a match that way.

Activity Bag Swap Rules

**PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE RULES MAY CHANGE AS MORE SWAPS CONTINUE. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS CONTACT ME OR YOUR COORDINATOR FOR ANY CHANGES IF ANY**

1)There will be groups of 12-15 and 1 coordinator. These are first come first serve. If there ends up being a group that isn't full yet, you will become fillers if people drop out. Each swap will have the dates that it is open to join. (No forms will be taken after that date until the next one opens) Feel free to join as many swaps as you want (you will be responsible for each group as a separate shipping fee.

2)There is a limit of $20 for your activity, please feel free to spend less or nothing at all. Materials can range from recyclables to bulk ideas purchases to homemade

3)You will be responsible for the shipping fee ($15.65- covers the large flat rate box and a confirmation-THANKS BRENDA!) which MUST be in within 2 days of receiving your coordinator this is also your confirmation for being in the swap (if the coordinator doesn't receive the fee by the date given, you will receive an email letting you know that you are out.) Please keep in mind that all boxes will be shipped via the United States Postal Service so please provide an address that is serviced by the USPS.
4)Once your shipping fee is received (via PayPal -please see screenshot below for instructions on PayPal) and your form, you will be given your assignments, coordinator, shipping information, etc.

5) The form MUST be filled out and returned to the coordinator, if there isn't an email address by the swap you want to join please send the form to me at frogsinmypockets@yahoo.com. The activities will be assigned on first come first serve so get those in quick so you can get the activity you want.(if you have a problem with your assignment, contact your coordinator immediately). Your coordinator will be in touch with you with 3 days after the shipping fees are received with important dates to remember- SHIP BY: date being the most important (if you don't get your activities to the coordinator by that date you will not be participating and your shipping fee will be used for a replacement activity.  

DOWNLOAD SWAP FORM HERE (it is a Word document)

Cliff Notes Version:

The swaps will be up approximately 2-3 days based on how quickly they fill up (there's no max to how many people but get in quick so you don't become a filler)

You MUST send in the form to be in the swap, after being divided into groups you will have 2 days to get your shipping fee in

Your coordinator will send a confirmation email to you within 5 days of the shipping fees received

You will have 2 weeks to assemble and ship the bags (if you have a problem contact your coordinator)

Your shipping fee will be refunded up until the ship by date. After that your fee will be used to fund a replacement activity.

The coordinator will then have 2 weeks to get all the bags together and ship them to you (allow 3 business days to arrive)

And then you have a TON of activities for your kiddos for cheap!!

If you are interested in being a coordinator please let me know (frogsinmypockets@yahoo.com), please include which group(s) you are interested in coordinating. I will contact you if/when I need a coordinator for that group. Please make sure you have a PayPal account to receive the shipping fees

Mini Volcanos

We had a very active little boy tonight and so we broke out some props and played with food coloring!

Materials Needed:
~plate or bowl
~ baking soda
~different colors of food coloring
~vinegar
~eyedropper

Put a layer of baking soda onto the plate. Put a few drops of food coloring into the cups then fill with vinegar. Using the eyedropper, pour the vinegar onto the soda. It'll start bubbling and fizzling, L-Pad loved it so much it kept him occupied for about 20-30 minutes  (which is definately a triumph in preschooler world), it was easy enough I think to put into the "stuff to do when I can't play with you" pile.)
Have fun!!

ABC Scoops

I saw this over on Pinterest HERE, but she doesn't have a printable so I decided to make one up to share and to have for L-Pad to practice. Who doesn't love icecream, YUM!

DOWNLOAD HERE

**if you would like the blank templates for the scoops and cones, please comment here or go to the Facebook group to comment with your email. Thanks!!**
You could use the blank templates for:
~compound words (sandbox, applesauce, butterfly, etc - HERE is a list of some compound words)
~numbers and their "dots"
~or HERE is an idea to practice words that start with... A, B, C, etc

Cheerio Stacking

I found this from somewhere on Pinterest and loved the idea to work on fine motor skills and it's something I had everything on hand for so we did it this morning, it was a good 10-15 min activity, and L-Pad enjoyed himself and his towers.

Materials Needed:
~Playdough or other moldable clay
~Cheerios
~Raw Spaghetti Noodles

Farm Matching Mat

Print off 2 and cut one around each card and have a matching game. You can put it into a file folder to make it easily transportable or just have it has a table activity. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD HERE

And just a little side note, if you are into sewing here are some ADORABLE "Old McDonald" Puppets with a free patterns.

A for Alligator

Alligator Paper Piecing

Photo and Idea Source: Meet the Dubiens

~Teasing Mr. Alligator - Paint or color a clothespin green and add 2 googly eyes for Mr. Alligator (or use sharpie to draw eyes). Print 5 monkey clipart images and cut them out. Laminate your monkeys.

Place a small ball of playdoh or sticky tack on the back of each monkey and “hang” them from a tree (a fireplace mantel, edge of a chair or table). 

Say the rhyme below and each time, have your preschooler snap or clip that monkey right out of that tree with the clothespin Mr. Alligator!

Five little monkey swinging in a tree

Teasing Mr. Alligator, “Can’t catch me!”

Along comes Mr. Alligator, as quiet as can be

And SNAPS that monkey right out of that tree

Alphabet Bingo

Materials Needed:
~printouts of the bingo boards
~markers for the letters (beans, bingo chips, etc)

Call out a letter and the kids put their markers on the letter if they have it on their card, first one to get a bingo wins.
(Oriental Trading has some awesome "prize" stuff in bulk)

Each board is missing one letter so not everyone can get a bingo. I have a boy so there are more boy cards then girl but I figured the animal one could count for both. Each will fit on an 8.5x11 page.

The download is of all of them, just pick which numbers you would like to download corresponding to the preview. Questions? Leave a comment or go to our Facebook Page.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Outer Space Mural

L-Pad would love this craft, not sure how well the spray bottle would work with him doing it but if it's outside, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Photo and Idea Source: I Heart Crafty Things

Materials you will need:
-Black sheet of card stock paper
-spray bottle ( Wal-Mart .97)
-white paint
-water
-a variety bright colored pieces of card stock paper
-glue stick
-crayons
-glitter glue
-star stickers

Put a small amount of white paint into the spray bottle and dilute with some water. Spray it onto the black paper, let dry (abt 10 minutes). Draw different sized circles onto the different colored papers. Cut out and glue the circles onto the black paper. Then add any details and goodies to the circles you want.

Storytelling Game

Photo and Idea Source: Chasing Cheerios

Get the wooden figures from Walmart, Michael's or Joann's, put them into a bag. Take turns pulling a figure out and start telling a story about that figure. Ex: Pull out a lion, "There once was a lion walking through the grass (pull out a butterfly) then a butterfly flew by" etc

Paper Plates: Sea Turtle

Photo and Idea Source: Sun Scholars

-Template found HERE
-small paper bowl
-small paper plate
-green paint
-paint brush
-green and brown paper
-scissors
-glue
-stapler
-black marker
-wiggly eyes

Directions:
1. Turn your small paper bowl upside down and paint the entire bottom of it with green paint. Let it dry completely.
2. While your paint is drying, print out the template. You can either print it out on green card stock paper, or you can print it out on white card stock paper and have your child color it green.
3. Cut out all the pieces from the template.
4.Cut out several small squares out of your brown and green paper.
5.Spread glue all over the paper bowl and place your small squares all over to make the turtle's shell. Let it dry.
6. Using the stapler, staple the head, arms, and legs to the paper bowl and plate.

Fishy Shapes

Photo and Idea Source: Little Family Fun

Materials Needed:
~Different colors of construction paper
~Marker
~Contact paper or laminator
~Paper clips

Go fishing for shapes, cut out a fish shapes onto the construction papers, then draw a shape-or you could do a letter, number, dots, sight words, etc- laminate, put a paper clip onto each. With a pole or stick with some string attached to it and a magnet at the end go fishing and as each one is grabbed say what's on the fish.

Foamy Windows

Photo and Idea Source: Art for Little Hands

Cut foam sheets into different shapes then using a bowl of water dip the shapes into it and put up onto the window.

Daniel and the Lion's Den

Tonight for FHE we're doing a lesson on Daniel and the Lion's Den and for the activity, I traced a lion stencil onto some computer paper and L-Pad will be using raffia (for the mane), markers, etc to decorate the lion.
Here's the stencil: (just right click and save)

Another idea I thought of doing was taking some lion foam stickers (from Walmart) and then drawing a "den" with office supply dots and having L-Pad connect the "dots" and color the den.

Bug Spaghetti

I have boys remember :) this is something I know L-Pad would love to play in at least for a little while.

Photo and Idea Source: The Imagination Tree

Materials Needed:
~cooked spaghetti noodles
~about 1 TSP veggie oil
~black food coloring
~plastic bugs or "buggy" things
~forks, tongs etc to play in it

Glow-in-the-Dark Spider

Photo and Idea Source: My Little Gems

Supplies:
Styrofoam balls (one large and one small for each spider)
glow sticks-the bracelet kind
necklace glow sticks (one for each spider)
Instructions: 
1. Make a hole in the large ball, in which you will insert the necklace glow stick. The ones I bought were whistles, and we just cut the whistle part off. 
2. Leave some of the stick out, and put the smaller Styrofoam ball on that end to make the head.
3. Next add 8 glow sticks for legs. Break the sticks and get them glowing, and then insert one end in the spider's body. 
4. Let your child play with the spider, or hang it up in a dark place for a decoration.

Mr. Chomper Game

Photo and Idea Source: I Heart Crafty Things

Materials Needed:
-Letter-size envelope

-gray marker or crayon

-large wiggly eye

-3 inch pieces of white yarn

-white felt

-glue stick

-hot glue gun

Directions:

1. Seal your envelope and color it gray.

2. Cut a triangle piece out of one side of your envelope to make the mouth. 

3. Take the triangle piece you cut just cut out, put some glue on the inside of it to seal it together, and then glue it to the back of the envelope to make the fin.

4. Glue on the large wiggly eye and the 3 pieces of yarn. The yarn makes the gills for the shark.

5. Cut out some teeth from the white felt and attach them to the mouth of the shark.

6. Now make some flashcards (mine are approx 2 1/2" x 2") and have fun playing the Alphabet Chomper Game.

And here's a download to go with Mr. Chomper. I took it a little bit further than just the alphabet. I did the alphabet (upper and lower), numbers (1-10, one-ten, and dots), and colors. There are 8 pages in all to printout.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Wheels on the Bus

Materials Needed:
~Styrofoam egg container
~People or toys

Cut the container in half and put the top half under the bottom so that it can slide easily across the floor. Make stops along the way to pick people up and let people off. Counting activity???? You could also make roads out of duck tape.

Photo and Idea Source: Toddler Toddler

Stay Warm Arctic Animals

What you need:

Large plastic tub
Ice
Water
Ziploc bags
Vegetable shortening

Fill your water table with cold water, lots of ice, and plastic Arctic animals. Let children put their hands into the water to play with the animals. Most likely, they will quickly tell you that their hands are too cold. Talk with them about how Arctic animals stay warm in the icy water because of something called blubber. Explain that blubber is a thick layer of fat beneath the skin of many sea mammals such as whales, seals, and walruses. To demonstrate how blubber helps keep animals warm, fill two Ziploc bags with vegetable shortening. Seal the bags and place them into another Ziploc bag. Have a child slip his/her hand in between the two bags of shortening and close the outside bag around his/her hand. Then have him/her place his/her hand into a tub of icy water. The shortening will act as blubber and keep the child’s hand warm.


Source: Twiggle Magazine

D for Dinosaur

L-Pad LOVES and I mean LOVES dinosaurs, and so not doing something with dinosaurs would end up with a disappointed Hedgehog so...

Start the day by having a dinosaur come to visit!! Just cut them out of posterboard. She gives some fun little measuring ideas too.

Photo and Idea Source: I can teach my child

Make a Dinosaur Alphabet Craft:

Materials Needed:

~2 shades of green foam sheets

~scissors

~googly eye

Photo and Idea Source: Meet the Dubiens

Apple Tree Game

Photo and Idea Source: Little Family Fun

Materials Needed:
~Construction paper-green, brown, and red
~Scissors
~Glue
~Dice

Cut out a tree out of the construction paper and glue the trunk and the tree top together. Then scrunch up pieces of red paper for the "apples". Take turns rolling the dice to see how many apples to put on the tree

Envelope Dog

Photo and Idea Source: Twiggle Magazine

Materials
Dog printouts
White business envelope
Brown craft paper
Black craft paper
Red craft paper
Crayons or colored pencils
Large wiggly eyes
Tape
Scissors
Black marker
Glue

Print dog patterns on heavy printing paper, laminate for extra strength if desired, and cut out. Trace onto craft paper and cut out. Fold envelope and cut in half (see picture 1). Place pieces together and tape one side together, using two pieces of tape (see picture 2). Fold and color the top piece of the envelope with crayons and decorate with ears, eyes, and nose. With a black marker, draw some dots beside the nose. To make the puppet talk, place four fingers in the top part of the envelope and the thumb in the bottom part.

Note: For younger children, have them place the entire hand in the top part of the envelope only.