One of the skills that you can never practice too much is writing! But trying to force a 2-3 year old into the correct "pencil posture" and how to form each letter is not so healthy for them and can be incredibly frustrating for both parties! That's where these alternative letter framing activities come in!

You will need:
*Clear imitation ziploc bags- I don't like the brand name for this activity because the word Zploc across the bag can be distracting.
*a variety of liquid and solid materials such as honey, laundry detergent, sugar, corn starch, etc
*Laminated index cards with the letters you're focusing on
*play dough
*sharpie
*copy paper

Fill each bag 1/4-1/3 of the way with a different material. For the solids, use the sharpie to draw the letter directly onto the bag. For the liquids, draw the letter onto a regular sheet of paper and place it under the bag. Place the bags on the table, and have the kids use their fingers to trace the letters- they'll enjoy the variety of textures/degrees of softness in each material.
For the play dough, place it next to the index cards with the letters, and have them roll out pieces of dough and trace the letters on the laminated cards. 

What's great about these activities is that you are strengthening the child's fine motor skills and thus getting him ready for writing, while reinforcing letter recognition at the same time. All without shoving a single writing instrument into his hand!

No, this isn't a post about dieting. This is a fun combination of a food collage and a placemat.

What you'll need:

Colored construction paper
White paper
Pictures of healthy foods from magazines, or printed offline
scissors
glue
Laminate

Use the white paper to cut out a large circle for a plate, a small circle for a cup and a fork and spoon. Lay them out on a sheet of colored paper, and glue down. Next, cut out various foods and drinks from the magazines or printouts, and glue them in their appropriate places. Food on the plate, beverages on the cup. When dry, laminate, and you have your very own healthy eating placemat.

These placemats are great to use in the classroom for mealtimes to give kids their own space as well as to teach boundaries, Add a small photo of the child in the corner so that he/she can locate his placemat by himself.

I'm taking a quick break from Health, because I finally got around to doing this, and I'm super excited to show it off! The credit for this idea goes to The Growing Place, a Reggio school in Santa Monica, CA that I observed when I was in college.

You will need:

Full body photos of your students
Drawings of animals done by your students
Scissors
Alligator/Binder Clips (I got mine from the dollar spot at Target)
Hard Lamination

First, cut out the photos and animals so that you have their actual shapes. Then laminate them using the hardest lamination possible. Cut them out leaving a 1/2" at the base of each photo/animal. Now you're ready for the alligator clips! Place one photo/animal into each clip so that when the metal prongs are up, the clip is standing, supporting the photo. Next, turn the metal prongs downward as though you are going to squeeze the clip open, and instead, squeeze the 2 sides of each individual prong toward each other and remove them from the clip. Repeat this with all of the prongs. You may want to save them as replacing the pictures is a lot easier with the prongs. 

You now have your very own homemade play people and animals. Your kids will love playing in the block center "with their friends and drawings". 

I love finding new uses for the myriad paper towel/toilet paper rolls that I collect. This craft is perfect for the foil rolls that are too thick to cut as well. 

You will need:

An empty cardboard roll
Purple/Green paint
Paper
Green/Brown marker

Dip one open end of the tube into the paint and then print onto the paper. you should be able to make 2-3 prints before needing to redid your tube. Make concentric circles so that they resemble a bunch of grapes. When you're done, use the marker to draw a vine/branch holding the grapes together.

Ta-da!

This is a fun activity to combine with a fruit tasting party. It's a center rather than a craft.

You will need:

Variety of fruit
Corresponding pictures of each fruit
Tablecloth- optional
Basket to hold the fruit

Spread the tablecloth either on the floor in a designated area or on a table and scatter the pictures of the fruit. Place the fruit in  basket nearby. Have the kids match the fruit to its corresponding picture. To make it more difficult, place pictures of the fruit either opened or in a different state (i.e. juice, peeled, cooked). And for young readers, just put the name of the fruit down or its first letter.

Have fun!

Fruit faces are fun, funny and yummy!

You will need:

Strawberry
Olive
Banana
Apple
Knife to cut fruit
Fruit face template- download here

Slice the banana into rounds, the strawberry so that you have flat triangular slices, the olive so that you have round slices and the apple into thin wedges.

Give each child a copy of the fruit face template and the fruit necessary to complete it, and have them match the fruit to its place and then enjoy a healthy yummy snack!

Seeing a dyed celery photo on Pinterest reminded me of these fun celery painting techniques!

You will need:

Celery head with 2-3 inches of the stalks attached
Individual celery stalk with leaves attached
Desired paint colors
Cardstock, easel paper, whatever you prefer
Plate for paint

Start with the celery head, and dip it stalk side down into the paint. Press onto your paper to create a beautiful flower print, reminiscent of a rose. You may want to do multiple prints, or you may want to stop at one. Next, use the individual stalk as your paintbrush and dip the leaves into a different color paint. Paint leaves, vines, or just have fun and enjoy the process of painting with something different.

What I love about this is that there is very little actual waste because you don't use the celery head anyways, and preschoolers are small enough that they don't need an entire stalk to paint with, just a  couple inches.

A fun way to introduce Love and Friendship to your kids is by including everyone in a fun colorful activity.

You will need:

Large white arch cut from white poster board
Markers- Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple
Finger paint- Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple
Paintbrushes

First, use the markers to draw the lines that make up a rainbow on the white poster board. Then, begin with the red paint and use the paintbrush to paint each child's hand red. Have them stamp their hands along the red line of the rainbow. repeat with each following color until you have a complete rainbow!

I apologize for the subject deviation- I've been sick with a pretty bad migraine, so I don't have the energy to put together a fresh blog post, and I've had this one on reserve for a while.

One of the most important components to a healthy lifestyle is fruit, vegetables, and legumes. 

What you will need:

Bag of mixed beans
Saved seeds from fruit i.e. apples, pears, watermelon
Glue
Paper

Give the kids the glue and paper. Place the seeds on plates in the center of the table. Have the kids go to town gluing the seeds and beans!

Here we begin a unit on health, hygiene, and nutrition.

What you'll need:

Purple/green construction paper
Clear contact paper
Scissors
Purple, green and red tissue paper squares

First, cut out a grapes pattern from the construction paper, and cover the empty frame with contact paper. Next, have the kids place tissue paper squares onto the contact paper. Finally, cover the remaining side with a second sheet of contact paper.

Ta-da!