July 09, 2006
Preschool Art
Alphabet Art: With A to Z Animal Art and Fingerplays
This book is an amazing collection of easy-to-make animal projects that mostly use standard preschool craft materials... toilet paper rolls, paper towel tubes, coffee filters, paper plates, paper bags, and so on. Each letter of the alphabet is introduced and includes instructions for tracing, cutting out, and decorating (in a letter-specific manner) each uppercase and lowercase letter of the alphabet. At the end of the book, you would have a full alphabet, neatly patterned, printed, painted, and ready to hang. Each letter is accompanied by an animal project and a song, poem, or fingerplay making this a really well-rounded book and an excellent project resource for those working with the 2-6 crowd. Some of the animal projects: a collage butterfly, a paper-bag cat, toilet-paper roll elephant, muffin cup hummingbird, paper-plate turtle, a vulture, a whale, an x-ray fish, a lion, a jellyfish, a giraffe, a kangaroo, an inchworm, and, yes, a zebra. (And, each of the animals has a letter-appropriate name -- for example, Allan the Alligator and Freddy the Frog!) Seriously, these are wonderful and cute animal projects. If you like 3-dimensional projectmaking with your kids or students, you'll find lots of inspiration and clear, easy instructions here.
Science Play: Beginning Discoveries for 2- to 6-Year-Olds
This book is chock-full of easy projects that demonstrate scientific principles perfect for the preschool crowd. From "wiggly water necklaces" and "sugar crystal necklaces" to "spinners" made from cardboard circles and toothpicks to kites made from ordinary paper and straws to shadow art to wind socks , there are really solid, really fun activities here sure to delight young explorers and scientists. My favorite... the recipe for a "purple cow" - a combination of grape juice and milk that sounds too gross to be true but tickled our young taste testers and demonstrates the concept of a "solution" neatly. Many projects are less craft-oriented and more focused on observation... throw a bunch of things in a bowl of water and see which ones sink and which ones float... but it's a good resource for finding new and innovative ways to introduce science concepts at this level.
Gizmos and Gadgets: Creating Science Contraptions that Work (And Knowing Why)
Following on the heels of Science Play, Gizmos and Gadgets for kids age 7-14 is an excellent "next" book of science-related projects. We love it for both the novelty of the projects included and the in-depth, hands-on scientific explanations and lessons that accompany the projects and discussions. We tried the super easy "flow-and-go boat" made from a cup, a bowl, two plates, and a straw with a set of preschoolers. The project was a big hit, and they all got to watch the boat be powered by the water dumped into the cup flowing through the straw into the water of a small swimming pool and causing the boat to "move" forward. A big hit. From wobble balls to amazing aliens, to more complicated super spinners, to yo-yos, boomerangs, and a marshmallow catapult, there's a wide range of material here... and numerous ideas sure to engage and excite the school-age crowd. You may even find the perfect "science fair" project in here... one your child can do him/herself!
Fun with My 5 Senses: Activities to Build Learning Readiness
Great collection of activities for ages 2 to 6, although many of them definitely seem most appropriate for the younger end of that spectrum. There are a few "projects" in the book, like "phoney phones" and "stained glass windows," but most of the activities are more simply acts of "doing" something designed to emphasize the senses... walking in nature, walking in the dark, feeling things, listening. There's less real "science" for preschoolers here than you might expect. But, again, the book is a good compilation of activities for pre-preschoolers especially.