Water Balloon Hunt!

A friend of mine hosted a "Water Balloon" playdate this week.

Who knew a group of toddlers and preschoolers could go through over 200 water balloons in 20 minutes?

They loved it!

 The water balloons were all over the yard.  

I paired the morning activity with worksheets from some of these awesome 

Summer themed Tot Packs from 2 Teaching Mommies

Tot Pack themes are Water Fun, Pool Time and Ice Cream

Simple Sun Catchers from Melted Beads

Sun Catchers

using plastic craft beads & a muffin tin

I was so happy to see this activity on pintrest.  We have so many beads and rarely use them.  I thought it would be a cute gift for the girls to make for our family.

We didn't have any clear beads.  But, if you have them you should use them as well.

 Fill each muffin tin or mold of your choice with a layer of beads.

 I put the oven on at 400 degrees and "baked" them for about 40 minutes.

I checked them every ten minutes after the first 20 minutes.  

 I let them cool on our patio table and we went for ice cream, it is summer after all.

 They slid right out of the muffin pan.  There wasn't even a residue left in the pan.  Awesome!

 I can't wait to hang these up in the windows.

Junebug was so fascinated by them and they weren't even hung up yet!

inspired by Artful Parent

4th of July Tot Tray ideas

There are some great PreK packs and tot packs out there.  Since we are doing a 4th of July theme this week.  I thought it would be easiest to set everything up as tot trays.  Then I can post it all at once.  :)

Here are links to three 4th of July PreK/Tot Packs and one BBQ themed Tot Pack.
Plus, the direct link to the 4th of July activities on DLTK.
I used pages from some of these below.  Just click on the link to see all the pages in each tot pack.

4th of July activities from DLTK

BBQ tot pack by 3dinosaurs

4th of July PreK pack from Our Country Road

U is for USA from Oopsey Daisy

4th of July Preschool Unit by 2 Teaching Mommies

 This is for my 17 month old.  She will love to place the objects in the ice trays.
*Choking hazard* Please don't leave small children unattended.

 This is also for my 17 month old.
Placing the 4th of July toothpicks in the holes.

 What letter does each object start with?

Counting Fireworks 

 Which one is different?

 Fireworks letter matching.

 Pre-writing Practice

Flag size sorting

 Make an eagle

 Dauber page

 Dauber page 

 This is for my 17 month old
Place the toothpicks in the play dough.

Eagle Puzzle

 Button sorting by red, white & blue. 

 *choking hazard* Please don't leave children unattended.

 Build a felt flag
inspired by Little Family Fun

The flag is built on a stiff piece of felt.

4th of July - Simple to make breakfast!

We are kicking off our Red, White & Blue themed week with a patriotic breakfast!

What I used to make the toast:

Whole wheat toast

cream cheese

strawberry jam

blueberries

raspberries

bananas 

Glitter Fireworks Craft - Easy

This weeks red, white & blue themed craft is 

Glitter Fireworks

This craft is so simple to make.  

You only need paper, glue & glitter.

It does get a little messy with the glitter.  Glitter always sticks around for days after even after a vacuuming.

Use glue and make the shapes of the fireworks.

I made one firework at time.  Then I shook off the extra glitter and used it later. 

 Checking out her art work that is drying on the table.  

Busy Bag- Ice Cream patterns

Felt Ice Cream Cone Patterns

I made mine out of felt but you can also use construction paper. 

I printed the templates on card stock instead of laminating the paper.

I made this to use during our letter of the week - Ii

This is another fun way to practice patterns. 

click here for the free template