preschool activity – Cecelia's Spot

Fresh Lemonade

Nothing is more refreshing than some fresh squeezed lemonade! I remember getting fresh squeezed lemonade at farmer’s markets and fairs. So delicious! When I saw a friend’s post on Facebook about making fresh squeezed lemonade I couldn’t resist…not even in the middle of winter with over 2 feet of snow outside! It’s a fun activity to do with your family! 🙂

Materials: measuring cup, pitcher, spoon to stir, lemon squeezer

Ingredients: 8 lemons (1 cup of squeezed lemon juice), 1 cup of sugar, 6 cups of cold water

To make the lemons easier to squeeze, roll them between your hand and the counter a few times. Cut each lemon in half, put in your squeezer and juice it! We juiced it into a large measuring cup so we could measure around 1 cup of juice.

Maddy loved squeezing the lemons, although is got to be tough. She decided to be my helper and put the lemons in the squeezer. We combined the lemon juice, sugar and water in the pitcher and mixed it. So yummy, even in the middle of winter!

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Fall Fun!

Make a beautiful fall collage with leaves from around your yard or neighborhood! My 3 year old LOVED it!

Our family likes to take walks and LOVE to collect things from nature for crafting. The other day we decided to find some colorful leaves.

To make a collage you need:

-various leaves

-contact paper

That’s it! It’s very simple, but so much fun! We made 3 of them so far and gave them as gifts!

First, cut a piece of clear contact paper and take off the sticky side. Lay it on a flat surface.

Lay the leaves on the sticky side of the contact paper and arrange them in any way you like. When you are happy with the way your leaves look, cut another contact paper sheet the same size as the original one. Lay it flat on top of the leaves and smooth it out with your hands. Then boom, you are done! Hang it in a window to admire it or give it to someone as a gift! Madison gave some to her cousins, grandparents and her family!

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Rescue the Numbers!

There are many simple ways to get your child to start to recognize numbers without drilling them. One activity is called, “Rescue the Numbers!”

Materials: a bucket/bowl/container with water, spoon, numbers (I used foam), paper, plastic sleeve (I had a lamination sleeve)

I traced the numbers onto a blank paper and put it in a lamination sleeve, this way it stayed dry. Next, I put all of the numbers into the container with water & she got to have fun taking them out! If you have numbers and you can draw faces on them your child would like that even more!

I had the numbers saying, “Help!” and when she got each one out I’d say the number (or she would) and she would match them on the paper. When they were all done we counted them while pointing to each one.

She ended up putting in some rocks and making them sink, then pretending they were stuck and she had to rescue them again. We also talked about sinking and floating. She loved it so much she asked to do more (next time I’ll do the alphabet).

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Felt Snowman Fun!

What’s that? A foot in the corner of the picture? Yes! Madison couldn’t wait to get her hands on the felt snowman and decorate him!

My pile of felt was stacking up after doing a few projects and Christmas was over…what to do with it? I took down the amazing felt tree my sister made after the holidays and felt a bit depressed. Noooo Christmas can’t be over! Winter isn’t over, so why not make a felt snowman similar to the felt tree Madison loved so much?

The project is very simple & super cheap!

You need:

Felt in various colors: white, orange, black and a few other colors for the hat, buttons, and mouth.
Velcro
scissors

First, I cut out the 3 circles for the snowman out of white felt purchased at a local craft store (you can also get cheap felt at Walmart). I didn’t use any patterns, but just cut everything free hand. You could also use a marker to draw the shapes first, then cut them out.

I went with simple features, a carrot nose, 2 arms, and a scarf. You can choose whatever colors suit you. I made 4 buttons, a mouth, rosy cheeks, eyes, and 4 hats.

Why 4 hats you ask? Madison likes to dress up different dolls and I thought she would like to make the snowman not only something she puts together, but gets to switch the different features. Plus, I had lots of extra fabric and time. After cutting everything out I hot glued the 3 white circles that make up the snowman together.

Another option would be to put velcro on the bottom of the top 2 white circles and your child could put the snowman together that way. I know my toddler, and she likes to pull on things, so gluing it together was the best option for us.

I bought velcro with sticky back so I wouldn’t have to glue it. I simply used the hook side of the velcro. Yes, I had to look that up, the hook side aka the rough side. I cut each piece depending on what I was using the velcro on. For example, the scarf is long so I used at least 5 inches of the hook side of the velcro.

For the buttons I used about an inch each. You don’t need the soft side, the loop. If you use felt then the rough side of the velcro will stick to the velcro. After you cut the hook velcro just peel off the sticky side and put it on your snowman accessory. Do this for each accessory. When you are all done putting velcro on, you can have your child decorate!

If you wish you can put dots on the buttons and lines on the carrot nose with a sharpie marker! You can lay this on the floor or hang it up for your little one to decorate. It also makes a great present!Follow
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