| Planting a Garden to celebrate Spring! | | | | paper for the petals. Sunflower seeds can also be |
| The snow is melting, the trees are budding once again, | | | | glued to the center of the flower for additional |
| and the puddles are collecting at street corners: that's | | | | decoration. |
| right, spring has sprung, and what better place to | | | | Children love finger painting because it's a hands-on |
| celebrate the arrival of spring than the preschool | | | | activity that allows them to get a little dirty. Here's a |
| classroom! The preschool theme of spring can be | | | | craft called "Foot Flower" that's sure to be equally as |
| explored with a wide variety of activities, games, art, | | | | popular as finger painting because children get to paint |
| crafts, field trips, and stories. | | | | their feet instead! Have the children dip one of their |
| Spring makes for an excellent preschool theme | | | | feet into a small dish filled with washable paint, then |
| because it's colorful, fun and an excellent way to learn | | | | stamp their painted foot onto a piece of white paper. |
| about the way plants grow and reproduce yearly. This | | | | After the paint has dried, they can add a stem with |
| craft, called "Grow your Name" allows children to | | | | green paint or other decorations to their foot flower |
| observe the rate at which small plants grow, resulting | | | | garden. |
| in a garden shaped like their name. | | | | Make sure to perform this craft in a newspapered |
| To begin, give each child a small box lined with plastic | | | | area since it tends to get quite messy. Also ensure |
| and filled half-way with potting soil. Let each child trace | | | | each child washes the paint from their foot before |
| their name or a small picture in the soil, and fill the | | | | putting their sock and shoe back on. |
| newly formed path with grass seeds. Gently sprinkle | | | | Let's Go Fly a Kite |
| enough potting soil to cover the seeds and water the | | | | Another great craft for exploring the preschool theme |
| soil. Remind children to water their name gardens | | | | of spring is the kite. Kites are colorful, easy to create, |
| every few days, and watch for their name to sprout | | | | and provide hours of entertainment on breezy Spring |
| from the soil. | | | | afternoons. Here's a simple kite that can be created |
| April Showers bring May Flowers | | | | from paper plates, tissue paper, streamers and string |
| Flowers are another central image for the preschool | | | | that actually flies! |
| theme of spring, since their arrival is one of the | | | | To begin, have each child design their kite on a paper |
| hallmarks of the season. Flowers can be incorporated | | | | plate using crayons, paint, markers, or tissue paper. |
| into a wide variety of simple, colorful preschool crafts, | | | | Once they're finished designing and coloring, staple |
| such as this one called "Paper Plate Daisy". | | | | some foot long streamers in the color of their choice |
| Have each child cut a small circle from yellow | | | | to the bottom of the paper plate. |
| construction paper. Next, they will create petals by | | | | Next, using a hole punch, make a hole in the top of the |
| cutting a paper plate in half, and then cutting each half | | | | plate. Tie a piece of yarn or string through the hole, and |
| into five or six pieces. Glue or staple the petals to the | | | | wrap the rest of the length of yarn or string around a |
| yellow circle to create a lovely, simple paper plate | | | | piece of craft stick. Don't forget to tape the yarn to |
| daisy. | | | | the string before wrapping it around to make sure it |
| If desired, this craft can easily be converted into a | | | | sticks. |
| sunflower by using a black center circle and yellow | | | | |