1-2-3 Come Make Some Shaving Cream Stuff With Me!
If you haven't heard of using shaving cream in the classroom yet, you and your students are missing out on a lot of fun. Yes, it's a little bit messy, but oh the joy of hands-on learning.
Clear the work tables or student desks, and have children don a paint shirt. Shake up a can of shaving cream (they sell a variety at The Dollar Store) and squirt a few big dollops in front of each child's place. The whole key to not making a mess is to give them just enough to make a writing board.
Tell them to smooth it out to make their very own "whiteboard!" Using their index finger as a pencil, have students write letters, numbers, or draw shapes. This is a super-fun way to whole-group assess.
As you call out each letter, number, shape or whatever, students draw that on their snow "board." When you've checked everyone's work by simply a glance, have them "erase" their board by smoothing it over, so you can call out something else for them to write/draw.
After you review, give your students one last dollop for them to write their name or draw whatever they like.
An extra bonus is that the shaving cream takes off sticky glue residue, as well as crayon, permanent marker and ink marks. Depending on the fragrance you choose, your room should smell simply wonderful.
The cream also makes your kiddo's hands feel smooth and soft. Take a teachable moment to talk about friction, as students rub the tabletop or their desk. The shaving cream will disappear, and their hands will feel warm. We take a bathroom break to wash our hands, and then everyone pitched in with wet paper towel, to wipe and dry our work space. Our tables were so clean and shiny!
Shaving cream is also an excellent "frosting" or "snow" for winter "craftivities". The results pack a huge "Wow!" affect and were some of my students' favorite artwork. Shaving cream creations make an outstanding decoration for your hallway, but hang them above any one's reach, so little fingers aren't tempted to poke the fluffy "snow." To make the "snow frosting," mix Elmer's glue with equal parts non-menthol shaving cream; mix quickly to whip up a frothy-goopy consistency.
I plopped 1 or 2 spoonful's on each child's project and then they smoothed their "frosting" with a Popsicle stick. Depending on how thick the artwork is, shaving cream craftivities need at least 24-48 hours to dry. Here are 2 of my all-time favorite shaving cream creations.
Shaving Cream Frosted Cookie Ornaments: I have my students cut their cookie out of light brown paper, frost it, and then add their photo to the middle.
If you have an Ellison Die Cutter at your disposal, these cookies are adorable cut into your students' initials. Add a few real candy sprinkles and these honestly look good enough to eat; they look so real!
These make a darling bulletin board too. Cover with aluminum foil to make a giant "cookie sheet". Caption: "We're cooking up a batch of fun, learning letters in _____________'s class."
Shaving cream would also look cute on a frosted gingerbread man, and would be fun for your kiddo's to decorate like mine did with their snowmen below. Scatter them on your aluminum foil background above. Caption: "Some Sweet Fun With Our Gingerbread On The Run!"
By far, my favorite craft that I ever made with my Y5's, was the shaving cream snowman. The first time I made these, I hung my students' snowmen as a border, just under the ceiling in the hallway.
We got zillions of compliments and everyone wanted to know the secret of the awesome looking "snow!" I've also made them into a bulletin board accompanied by stern "Don't touch!" warnings.
Not sure why I used a yellow background here, when blue snowflake wrapping paper would have been awesome.
Before hand, have students draw their snowman on a pre-cut piece of tag board. (5x7 or 8x10) Little ones have a tendency to either draw way too small or way too large, so demonstrate drawing 2 simple circles “just the right size.”
I used a template to pre-draw the ones for my Y5's. You really need to make sure that there is a definite "neck" as the "snow" spreads and puffs up to the point where a snowman could look just like a big blog. Make sure students have written their name in the corner.
You don't want to use colored tag board, because when it gets wet it bleeds. If I remember correctly I used 4 cans of shaving cream for my Y5's. I had 2 classes, so this was about 35-40 students. It's always a good idea to have 1 or 2 extra cans just in case.
You can always use it for tabletop fun. I also had a gallon-sized container of Elmer's, so I didn't go through a bunch of smaller glue bottles. Use equal parts of shaving cream and glue.
I collected a large tub of pieces and parts to decorate the snowmen via a note home making a request, searching my house, taking apart jewelry and going junking.
Put several scoops of “stuff” in paper bowls and set 2 on each table. Give students 5-10 minutes to pick out 2 eyes, 1 nose, something for a mouth and 3-5 items for their snowman's buttons.
It’s very important to have children design their snowman BEFORE you give them a dollop of shaving cream, because they need to work rather quickly spreading their “snow” with a Popsicle stick.
It’s helpful if they arrange their parts on the side, so that they don’t forget what they chose for each feature. Children get so excited when they get the “snow-goop” that they sometimes forgot and this really helped. Also remind them to stay INSIDE the lines as one of my kiddo's was having so much fun "frosting" that he frosted the entire piece of tag board instead of just the snowm
an.
I also did the shaving cream board, discussed above, a day or two before. This really helped to avoid children's curiosity of how shaving cream felt, so they got down to the business of creating a snowman, instead of getting off task and simply playing with the shaving cream.
Mix up a huge bowl of “fluff” and use a wooden spoon to give each student enough dollops so they can “frost” their snowman. I also demonstrate how this is done. When they are satisfied with the results, they gently plop their decorative pieces in the appropriate places.
Remember to remove the bowls of decorations before you give students the frosting, to avoid children taking more and putting it all over their snowman, or it won't look like a snowman.
After they have completed decorating, set aside in a designated "keep out!" drying area.
Again, you will need at least 24-48 hours of dry time. Because of that, I always did shaving cream art on a Friday.
When you return to school they should have dried and really “puffed” up! They look simply amazing! Click on the link to view/download the Shaving Cream Snowman “craftivity.”
I hope you have a delightful time with these ideas. If you take pictures, I'd LOVE to hear from you and see your "mess-terpieces!" diane@teachwithme.com
If you run into a Grinch that says: "You can't do that!" or "Shaving cream's not allowed in our school." I recommend reading Lisa Murphey's Ooey Gooey article. It's a humorous read, chock full of lots of factual information you can arm yourself with.
Want more shaving cream ideas? My kiddo's made a puffy apple in September; a plump pumpkin in October, the snowman in January and a cloud in April.
I tinted the shaving cream with powdered tempera. I've also used liquid paint, and added more glue and shaving cream, so it didn't get soupy. You could also drip some drops of food coloring in, but I don't think the colors come out as vibrant. A heart for Valentine's Day would be fun as would a shamrock for St. Patty's Day. Oh the ideas are endless!
Jean, over at the The Artful Parent has collected 67 other shaving cream projects and lists the links in her blog article: Shaving Cream for Art, Play and Learning.
Every Day Life has still more ideas including a shaving cream experiment.
No Time For Flashcards lists 11 more shaving cream projects, and Wiki How has a tutorial on how to make this pretty marbled-rainbow paper using shaving cream and food coloring!
Thanks for visiting today. Feel free to PIN away. To check out all of the creative-educational things I spend way too much time pinning, click on the big heart to the right of the blog.
I have lots of winter boards. I blog and design daily, so I hope you can pop by tomorrow for even more FREEBIES.
"If you don't mind smelling like peanut butter for several days, peanut butter makes good shaving cream!" -Barry Goldwater
1-2-3 Come Do Some Winter Crafts With Me
Out of all of the items I post, it seems that the crafty activities are downloaded and pinned the most. I’m so glad! I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing hands-on art with children.
You really can make some time for it if you turn the craftivities into an independent center, where standards can be reviewed and reinforced + they are excellent fine motor practice as well.
These independent centers are a great motivational tool to get kids to focus and stay on task, as you reward those who do a good job finishing by allowing them to transition to a crafty center, when they have completed their work.
I know the day is packed, but perhaps if you ban together with the other teachers in your grade level, you can make a 1-hour block for a craft exchange. This is especially fun for the last day of school before break. Even older students really enjoy this. When I taught 1st and 2nd grade we did 4-fifteen-minute craft exchanges and allowed 2-3 minutes to transition.
Each teacher thought of a 15-minute quickie craft activity and supplied all of the materials. We’d start with our own class and then rotate through to the next 3. If “craftivities” needed to dry, we’d set them in a line in the hallway. Each teacher had their own section.
We tried to think of things that students could do independently, without a whole lot of explanation. We often included items that children could give as a gift. When everyone had rotated through the rooms, students could wrap their items in tissue and then read some Christmas books.
I’ve included some of my all-time favorite winter crafts in the blog today, and hope you find something to interest you and your kiddo’s. I gave up on asking parents for empty cans, toilet paper tubes or whatever recycled item I needed. It was simply much easier to save them myself and toss them into labeled waste baskets that I kept in my basement.
I also had a special can opener that I bought from Magic Chef that seamed the top of the can in such a way that there were no sharp edges for a child to get cut on. The Tin Can Snowman was a huge hit with my Y5’s.
If you don’t want to mess with painting, have students wrap the cans with paper or white & black Duct tape. They have all sorts of colors available at craft stores now. I cut the hat brims out of foam, but you could also use black construction paper for them as well. Don’t forget to take a moment to reinforce circles and the 3D-cylinder shape with your students (A standard covered! Woo hoo). Click on the link for the Tin Can Snowman.
Another way to review the cylinder shape is by making Silas, the Cylinder Windsock.
Students decorate the flat surface; glue a black strip to the top to make the hat and then gently roll the paper to make a cylinder.
Staple them at the top, in the middle and on the bottom. Punch a hole on either side and make a yarn tie. These look awesome displayed from the ceiling. Click on the link to view/download the Cylinder Snowman Windsock,which can be found in the Winter Art & Activities Packet.
You'll also find this 3D snowman dangler, as well as the Doilie Dan Snowman.
He reinforces a variety of standards, including small-medium and large.
I did this as a whole group activity to assess listening and following directions, which also reinforced ordinal numbers (1st do this, 2nd this etc.)
Spatial directions were also included. (Place this above, under, to the left etc.) Completed projects made a wonderful assessment tool, as parents asked their child the questions that were on the snowman's tummy.
Winter Art & Activities was one of the first packets that I put together several years ago, before I had all of the fonts and software programs that I use today, but I think the simple hand drawn patterns are easy to follow.
Besides snowmen, I've included penguin and mitten crafts as well. Click on the link for this whopping 118-page packet filled with all sorts of fun. Winter Art & Actiities packet
One of my students' favorites was Charlie the paint stick snowman. He dangles from the doorknob.
Sample in hand, I’d go to a paint store or home-depot sort of place, show Charlie, explain it was for a kindergarten Christmas craft, and could I buy 20 paint stirrers.
For 11 years no one asked me to pay, and they all thought Charlie was adorable. If you'd like to make a matching ornament, simply use an extra large Popsicle stick. Click on the link to view/download the Paint Stick Snowman.
“Snowy.” is my all-time favorite. What home doesn’t have a pile of socks missing a mate? Send a note home asking parents if they’ll donate them to your class. Cut the toes off, tie the tops with a bit of yarn, flip up the “cuff” and tadah you have an adorable hat.
You’ll need some white tube socks as well. These need to be the kind that are straight with no heel.
I turn them inside out so they have a nice scruffy look. A scrap of flannel with the ends frayed makes the perfect scarf.
You can also use ribbon (plaid is a personal favorite) Adjust how tight you tie on the scarf so it “sections” the body. Wiggle eyes, buttons and a wooden heart all add to the cuteness factor. I stuffed Snowy with pillow batting. You can buy it by the bag at most fabric stores. Click on the link for all of the directions to make this sweet sock snowman.
Finally, Snowman Prints is one of those keepsake "Awww-dorable" craftivities that parents so enjoy. This is not my original idea. I've seen it all over Pinterest on glass ornaments, and wanted to make this safe and inexpensive for a teacher to do with her class, so I designed one using construction paper and added an aluminum foil top.
Sometimes, parents fail to realize that some of the art work, especially this one, was made from their child's hand, so I wrote a poem to accompany this keepsake.
I guess it did the trick because one mom said: "I loved Conrad's ornament and didn't even know it was his hand print 'til I read the poem. Now I love it even more!"
I think they turned out super-cute and my kiddo's really enjoyed making them. I experiemented with red and green construction paper, but think the blue background turned out the best. Click on the link to get the patterns for the Snowman Print Ornament.
Thanks for visiting today. I hope you can stop by tomorrow, as I will be posting lots more helpful FREEBIES. Feel free to PIN away.
"Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store." -Dr. Seuss from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
1-2-3 Come Do Some Winter Craftivities With Me
PTL things are FINALLY back to normal in my little cyber-world. Few things have the capicity to incapacitate me, as much as computer problems. I'm such a control freak that when something happens that is out of my control, it is way beyond frustrating. Anyone relate?
We now have a brand new server and everything seems to have transferred well. Sorry if you experienced broken links and error messages while I was swinging from the ceiling pulling my hair out. I'm all better now, and can't wait to share lots of new stuff that I played around with, to keep my sanity, while experiencing insane glitches.
This is a potpourri of winter-themed "stuff." My new personal favorite I call My Shapely Snowflakes. I was watching the overhead at church Sunday; they had a lovely snowflake posted on the message. The center was of all things a hexagon! That's a "toughy" shape that I'm always on the look out for fun things to do with it.
Beside the Pentagon and a few nuts and bolts, it's hard to give children an example. My husband thinks I should shut off my creative enthusiasm every now and then, especially at church, but I was so excited to design My Shapely Snowflakes I sketched a note to myself.
You can make a set to use as flashcards, a bulletin board, interesting assessment, or independent matching center. I've also included a spinner, so students can play a game. Click on the My Shapely Snowflakes link to grab it.
One of my Y5 standards was that students could recognize and spell their names. Although my kiddo's accomplished this by the end of September, they always enjoyed any activity that involved their names.
With that in mind, I designed this wintry alphabet snowman. You can give your students the option to spell their name, so they have a sweet sign to decorate their bedroom door with, or have them think of a winter word they'd like to spell out like: peace, love, joy, snow, winter or even welcome. Hang them in the hallway with the caption: "_________________'s Kinders Are Simply Brrrr-illiant!"
There are 4 different sets of alphabet cards to choose from. You can also print, laminate, trim and use for a variety of games. A 3-page list of ideas is included in the packet. This is the one I made for my grandson. Click on the link to view/download the Snowman Alphabet craftivity.
If you're tossing in some poetry to cover a variety of genres, have your students make an acrostic poem. Students of all ages enjoy making them, and they are a nice way for children to review letters and words that begin with those letters. I've made a template for a snowman, winter, and frozen word acrostic. Click on the link to check out The Snowman Acrostic craftivity.
I know many of you are out there searching the web for quick, easy and inexpensive ideas for your kiddo's to make as a gift, or for you to give to them. How about a pin? The snowman tea light is not my original idea. I found it all over Pinterest as a magnet and decided to diddle around with one as a pin.
As a child I LOVED my Santa, Rudolph and Snowman (pull-the-string and light-up-the-nose) pins you could buy at the "dime" store. Anyone else remember those?
I used E6000 to glue on the pin back, wiggle eyes and bow; added the mouth with a permanent Sharpie, and cut off the finger of a black glove to make the hat. Yes it stretches that much! Roll the end up, so they don't look frayed and add a dot of glue to keep it rolled.
The Dollar Store sells these gloves in all sorts of colors. I think red or green would have looked nicer, but I had black around the house so tada! (2 pair makes 20 inexpensive pins/magnets.) You can also buy a pack of tea lights there too. Make sure you position the hat so that you don't cover the light switch.
Finally, another sweet gift is the Christmas Tree Lights bookmark made out of finger prints. "You light up my life with your love, so I left some finger prints to brighten yours." Baby Kaiden and I made this sample; my daughter loved it.
This is included in the Bright Student packet, which also has several games, + 2-sets of alphabet cards. Click on the link to view/download the Christmas Lights craftivity.
Thanks for visiting today. I try to design and blog daily, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow for more FREEBIES hot off Diane's sketch pad. Feel free to PIN away.
"What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” - John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley: In Search of America
- winter crafts
- snowman crafts
- Alphabet Activities
- alphabet crafts,
- snowflake activities
- shape activities
- student gifts
- christmas gifts for kids to make
- acrostic poems
- snowman acrostic
- Christmas lights
- Christmas crafts
- number games
- light bulb alphabet cards
- finger print poems
- finger print bookmark
- finger print Christmas lights bookmark
- free bookmarks
1-2-3 Come Do Some Winter Craftivities And Games With Me!
Did you ever have one of those days where you might as well have stayed in bed? Well that was yesterday! The reason there was no blog article was that our main server (in Texas) crashed. It seemed everything techno in my world went on the fritz, from my e-mail, to the printer and even my favorite design software was having glitchy hiccups.
I apologize if you tried to visit us and got an error-connection message. I'm back to being a happy camper with lots of FREEBIES to share.
Keep review of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and skip counting fresh and interesting, by making these puzzles. Laminate for an independent center (I've included a blank grid for kiddo's to place the pieces on), or have your students pick one, run them off and then they cut and glue them to a blue or black sheet of construction paper.
If you're doing the alphabet, have students think of a word that starts with that letter on the puzzle piece, and then write it on the appropriate tree-strip.
Remind students to leave a little gap inbetween the pieces. You can add a bit of pizzazz by dipping a Q-tip in glue and then dotting on "snowflakes." For an awesome effect, sprinkle with white or silver glitter.
These make a lovely bulletin board too. Caption: Learning About Letters and Numbers Is "Snow" Much Fun! or "Look At All Of The TREE-mendous Work From Mrs. Henderson's Kinders!" Click on the link for the Snowman Tummy Puzzles or The 13 Merry-Making Tree Puzzles.
Since the Silly Shaped penguins and Owls Shape Up "craftivities" continue to be in the top 10 downloaded items from my site, I decided to design a Shapely Snowman, as well as a Gingerbread set, with plans to make special shape pals for all of the months. (i.e. pumpkins for October and butterflies for April!)
You can make the gingerbread heads a game, by running the bow pieces off on red construction paper.
Instead of gluing the shape words inside the bows and then gluing them to the gingerbread head, glue only the bows. Keep the shape-word circles separate.
Students place the shape word on to the matching shapely gingerbread's bow. To make a girl gingerbread, glue the bows to the top of the head. Glue it as a bow tie under the chin to make a gingerbread boy. To add a bit of pizzazz, I used white puffy paint for "frosting." Click on the link for the Shapely Gingerbread packet.
There are also several things you can do with the Shapely Snowman templates. Make a laminated set for a bulletin board, or use as puzzles for an independent center activity.
For a center matching game, do not glue the hats on the snowmen. Instead make only one hat with interchangeable hat bands. Students pick a shape word-hat band and place it on the hat, then they look for the matching snowman and place the hat on his head. Play continues 'til the child has used all of the hat bands and snowmen. Click on the link to view/download the Shapely Snowman Packet.
Another popular winter activity is the Snowman Glyph. Each one turns out a bit different so this too makes an adorable bulletin board. Click on the link to view/download the Snowman Glyph.
Practice addition and subtraction with Dominic the Snowman Domino-Dice game. Click on the link to grab it.
That's it for today. Thanks for visiting. I hope you can stop by tomorrow for even more FREEBIES. My brain is on over-drive again, and since the weather outside is "frightful" I might as well have a "delightful" time inside designing away. Feel free to PIN away!
"Snowmen fall from Heaven unassembled." -Unknown
- Christmas activities,
- Christmas crafts
- Christmas games for kids
- snowman puzzles
- Snowman activities
- Christmas tree puzzles
- Christmas tree activities
- shape activities
- snowman shapes
- snowman centers
- snowman games
- snowman crafts
- skip counting activities
- Counting backwards activities
- Alphabet Activities
- Alphabet games
1-2-3 Come Do Some Christmas Writing With Me!
I decided to share some of my favorite December Easy Readers with you today. These make nice whole-group reading activities or something simple and quick to plug into your Daily 5 writing block.
In My Winter Color Words booklet, students read, trace and write the color words and then color the pictures. The last page has students write about their favorite winter color and draw a picture of something that color. Click on the link to view/download it.
This easy reader has been so popular, that I decided to make one featuring penguins; this too reinforces colors and color words.
The last page has students write which penguin was their favorite, as well as draw a picture of something a blank penguin is holding and then color it.
I did a huge penguin unit in January, but I know many teachers have penguins as a theme for December too, so I'm featuring some penguin activities this month. I've also included a certificate of praise in this packet. Click on the link to view/download the Penguin Colors booklet.
Hurry! Help Santa, is an older easy reader before I had all the software, graphics and fonts that I have available to me now, but it's still a favorite that I think your kiddo's might enjoy too. In this easy reader students trace and write as well as cut and glue. I've included traceable word cards and a graphing extension as well. Click on the link to view/download the Hurry Help Santa Get Ready easy reader.
December is a Great Month includes many Dolch words. Children use picture clues to help them read the story as they cut and glue the matching pictures to help explain why December is such a great month.
Two graphing extensions, 33 traceable word cards + a certificate of praise are also included. Click on the link to view/download the December is a Great Month easy reader.
Light Up The Tree reinforces numbers, number words (through 10) as well as colors. Students trace and write the numbers and number words + draw that many light bulbs.
On the last page children guess-timate how many lights are on the tree. A graphing extension is included. Click on the link to view/download he Light Up The Tree Easy Reader.
In I See Circles At Christmas, students also trace and write. A graphing extension + traceable word cards are also included.
As another writing extension you could have students choose a square or rectangle and challenge them to write their own I See booklet. Click on the link to view/download the I See Circles At Christmas easy reader.
If you like the idea of students creating their own booklets, be sure and check out the Christmas Class Books, where students write a page to go with 3 different booklets. Includes 5 graphing extensions, so you can incorporate math skills. The class-made books are:
- In December: (Students choose one of their favorite activities that they do during the month),
- Hooray! It's A Snow Day: (Children write about all of the things they did when school was cancelled) and
- Christmas Tree: (Students share how they will decorate their dream tree and what they will put on the top).
After students share their work, collect and collate the pages into a class book. Click on the link to view/download the Christmas Class Books packet.
Thanks for visiting today. Feel free to PIN away. I design and blog daily, so I hope you can stop by tomorrow for lots more FREEBIES.
"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try and keep it all the year." -Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
