Mother's Day

Mother's Day is this weekend and what is better than some flowers? I love having my friends make a painting of a bunch of wild flowers; this time we used wine corks and marshmallows. I found a simple statement regarding moms that I thought was perfect to add to the artwork.

You will need bright colored construction paper (pink, yellow, or light blue), wine corks, marshmallows, and paint. I chose pink and purple. You really can use any color.

I make sure I stress to my parents that they are not to help their little ones, let them stamp any way they want. I had some friends who stamped nothing but perfect circles and one friend who used the marshmallow to paint her entire page; it looked like a sunset. All of them were beautiful. Once the paint dried I added the simple statement about moms.

A few of my friends even decided they loved the way the paint felt and colored their faces!

We finished off the day with the book Does A Kangaroo Have A Mother, Too? by Eric Carle. It is a simple book with great illustrations (of course). Each page names a different animal which I had my friends tell me what it was and what sound it made.

Here are a few other Mother's Day activities that my favorite bloggers are doing:

A cute bouquet at the Trendy Treehouse

A dandelion Bouquet at Small Potatoes

Coffee Filter Flowers at Hands On As We Grow

These are just a few. If you are on Pinterest visit us at the Kid Blogger Network Board for more ideas for your little ones.

Hot Chocolate Day!

This week our theme is Hot Chocolate! I don't know about you, but I love a good cup of hot chocolate. I really wanted to incorporate this into our play friends class. I got the idea from Deborah at Teach Preschool. If you have not checked it out, you really need to.

I loved the idea of having the kids paint their own hot chocolate, so that is what we did. Originally I was going to have them paint with brown paint scented with cocoa powder. I changed my mind and we painted with...wait for it...chocolate pudding! Oh my gosh it smelled so good. I cannot believe none of the kids tasted it! I was ready to dive in.

Then I had them paint the marshmallows with marshmallows dipped in white paint.

The finished products.

I also made chocolate scented play dough. Home made play dough is always a hit in my class and at home. I cannot recommend it enough. It is simple and there are a ton of recipes out there.

This picture is showing it more light brown, it really is a deep chocolate brown.

Overall, I felt it was a hit. The kids sat longer at the table then they had in a while. The thick texture of the pudding made painting more fun; not to mention the marshmallows! I think my son was the only one who ate one. 

Finally, my guy helped clean up the room after class. He took this seriously. He wiped down tons of toys! I taught him well. 

Have you played with chocolate/foods in your class or at home?