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This week our activities evolve around the concept of birds.

We enjoyed looking through the Eye Witness Books: Bird.  They were really taken up with the skeleton of the bird!  So many different views of eggs, nests, feathers and even wings.  So fun to explore a nonfiction book with the preschoolers!  Though I have a plan about what I want to be sure to touch on...our exploration of a nonfiction book is very informal.  We sit together with the book between us and flip the pages talking about this and that. 

We also enjoyed a YouTube video, watching a chick hatch from an egg.  There are quite a few of them available, varying in lengths.  Check it out!  Great, especially if you don't have the ability to hatch eggs yourselves. 

Rebus Recipe of the Week:  Birdie Trail Mix

I really had a difficult time coming up with an idea around this theme that would be something they could do on their own.  But...this ended up being something they REALLY enjoyed the preschoolers and school-agers alike!  Feel free to download a copy of the rebus recipe here.

You can also download previous rebus recipes below as well, if you wish.

Pizza Rebus

Edible Flowers

Rainbow Pudding Cups

Butterfly Sandwich

Watercolor Resist

We used oil pastels as they are bolder and softer than crayons, thus much more rewarding. Oil pastels are small, as well, and they are great for working with appropiate hand grasp. They used their arm for a branch. :-) Painted over top with blue tempera cake. They are still a bit wet when I took the picture, thus the wrinkles. The last batch of white construction paper I purchased was either not the same weight or it was not as good of a quality. But it was pretty thin for this type of art technique! I'll flatten them out a bit after they are dry.
Bird Feeders

Simply hot glued tp tube to plate.  They enjoyed this very simple activity.

Simple Fine Motor-Scissors Activity

We painted one large non waxed (dollar stores) paper plate blue and the half plate we squeezed glue all over before painting brown over top.  This allowed for them to just sprinkle the crinkle paper on top.  They colored and cut out their bird (pattern from www.childcareland.com) and glued onto the blue background and we stapled the brown plate to the blue background.

Sensory Pool: Bird Seed

One of my favorite activities to observe...with all ages...SENSORY!   If there was one main thing my school-age boys missed when they entered Kindergarten it was sensory.  And to this day the 1st and 3rd grader love it when I have enough energy to leave out sensory until they get home in the afternoons, for their own explorations.  With that in mind, I plan on having sensory tubs available for the school-agers this fall. Make a great "brain break"! 

This week we are also doing a few activities taken from the Preschool and Kindergarten Bird Printable Packs so generously shared by Homeschool Creations. If you haven't check out their packs, consider it. Sometimes I print individual sheets for the children, sometimes I laminate, other times I place the sheets in page protectors.

Ended up that the sun came out (thank goodness...I didn't realize how much cloudy dreary days effect my energy level) and it was beautiful outside...so one literacy activity which I knew would take a bit more time got set aside until another day. :-) Wanted the extra 10-15 minutes added to our outside time. We all need the sunshine and fresh air! Hope you all got to take advantage of it too!