Friday, May 31, 2013

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Summer Fun for Preschoolers Series!!

I am very excited to announce the Summer Fun for Preschoolers Series at Preschool Powol Packets!!




The Summer Fun for Preschoolers Series will begin in exactly one week (June 7th) and continue every Friday in June, July, and the beginning of August!  Guest posters from nine wonderful blogs will share fun, summer-y activities that you can use with your preschoolers during the next few months!  Who are these guest posters?  You will find links to all of them in the left sidebar, under "Summer Fun for Preschoolers Contributors."  Feel free to visit their blogs anytime--they all have fabulous content!

And, at the end of each Summer Fun for Preschoolers post, an ongoing linky will be open for any summer activities you would like to share!  You're welcome to grab the image above and invite any friends to join the party!

Also, I will update this post each week so it will be like an index for the entire series--each new post in the series will be listed right here!

Links to Summer Fun for Preschoolers Posts:


Mark your bloggy calendars now--the fun is about to begin!!



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Thursday, May 30, 2013

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Dinosaur Preschool Packet {3 Day FREEBIE!!}

My Dinosaur Preschool Packet is ready!!  I had hoped to be ready to share it earlier this week when I posted these dinosaur activities for the Poppins Book Nook, but it took a little longer than that.






This file is packed with 40 pages of early math and literacy printable activities!  What kinds of activities?  Check out these collages:







And the best part?  I'm giving it to you for {FREE for 3 days}!!  Make sure you download yours, and then tell your friends!  Click here to go to the file (if you haven't already)!


Also, make sure you get your {FREE} Dinosaur Matching Packet here too!







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Monday, May 27, 2013

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Teach Me Tuesday (5-28-13)

It's time for Teach Me Tuesday, a linky party for all your educational posts!

We had so many amazing posts come in last week that I wish I could feature all of them!  But since I really couldn't, I chose these four:







If you missed these ladies' posts, be sure to check them out!  And if you are featured, feel free to grab a featured button from the sidebar!




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Footprints!! 13 Dinosaur Activities!! -- Poppins Book Nook

Today's theme for Poppins Book Nook is Dinosaurs, so we had a dinosaur party all week!

Here are 13 easy (and exciting!) dinosaur-themed learning activities that you and your children will enjoy:



#1:  Footprints!!  Take a ride in a time shuttle to explore some footprints that have mysteriously appeared!  What animals do you think made these prints?  (I used masking tape.  You could also use chalk outside.)



#2: Measure the footprints!  This is great practice for children using a ruler, deciding what units to use, and recording data.


#3: Solve the mystery!  I provided the following information and let my children decide what made the footprints:
  • Tyrannosaurus Rex Foot: 5 feet long
  • Apatosaurus Foot: 4 feet long
  • Micropachycephalosaurus Foot: very small
Note:  Even though T. Rex feet may have been up to six feet long, T. Rex footprints are only about 18 inches long because this dinosaur walked on its tippy toes!

#4:  T. Rex Stomp!  Stomp around on your tippy toes like a T. Rex!  Can you run like a T. Rex?  This is a great large muscle and coordination strengthener!

#5: What do you think happened?  Talk about how those footprints could have got there.  Were the dinosaurs there at the same time?  Did they see each other?  Was there a fight?  Let your children dictate or illustrate a story.



#6:  Paint a Dinosaur!  You can draw an outline freehand or print a dinosaur coloring page for them to paint.  Painting is a fabulous sensory experience, gives you a chance to review colors with them, and strengthens fine motor skills!



#7: Make Fizzing Dinosaur Eggs!  This is both a sensory experience and a science lesson!  Click here for complete details!



#8: Learn how to draw a dinosaur!  This website has how-to-draws for older children, but I adapted it for my kids.  Here's my daughter's drawing:


#9: Have a Dinosaur Dance inside the footprints!

#10: How many kid footprints will fit inside an Apatosaurus footprint?  Let your children estimate (our most popular guess was seven!), then trace your kids' feet and count how many fit.  We fit 50!


#11: How many kid footprints long is a dinosaur footprint?


#12: How many kids can you fit inside one dinosaur footprint?  Here's another chance for them to estimate!


#13: Paper activities!  Click here for a free dinosaur matching packet (perfect for preschoolers) and then come back on Thursday for another whole preschool dinosaur packet!!




The Poppins Book Nook is an awesome book club that focuses monthly around a theme.  May's theme has been Dinosaurs!

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Our favorite dinosaur book has been How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague.  It is an absolutely delightful rhyming, questioning book that my preschoolers have enjoyed over and over. And, it has the names of all the cool dinosaurs cleverly hidden in each illustration spread!  I highly recommend it to everyone!

We've also enjoyed National Geographic's First Big Book of Dinosaurs and several others!

Make sure you catch all the other dinosaur themed ideas from these other amazing bloggers:





And if you have any dinosaur posts you would like to share, please link up here:







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Saturday, May 25, 2013

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Fizzing Dinosaur Eggs Science Experiment

It was super easy to do this exciting fizzing "dinosaur eggs" science experiment the kids all loved this science project, and it tied in perfectly to our mini-dinosaur unit!



Be sure to check back Monday for even more dinosaur activities and a printable packet when I link up our Poppins Book Nook post!


Fizzing Dinosaur Eggs:


Simple Supplies:
  • little dinosaurs
  • 3 cups baking soda
  • 3/4 cup {Shampoo/Conditioner 2 in 1}
  • water
  • vinegar
  • an experimenting bowl

Easy How To:


1- Make the eggs by mixing the baking soda and shampoo/conditioner together.  I first found the idea of using hair products for children's projects from Mommas Fun World.  If the egg "goo" is too dry to pack, add more shampoo/conditioner; and if it is too wet, add more baking soda.  Pack the "egg" around the dinosaur.


2- I introduced the activity by telling the kids that I had found some mysterious eggs, and I wondered if they could help me figure out what they were.  We talked about the eggs, touched them carefully (because "eggs are fragile"), and talked about animals that laid eggs.



3- I told the children that vinegar will dissolve most egg shells.  They were very eager to experiment with this--we *love* vinegar experiments!  (Burping Bags, Bubbly Brew, and Balloon Experiment are recent vinegar experiments we've done and the Sparkly Explosion is one of the most popular posts here at Preschool Powol Packets!)


4- Place your experimenting bowl (in our case, a 4-cup pyrex beaker) inside a larger pan (a 9x13 dish works well) to contain the experiment.  Pour about 2 cups of water and 2 cups of vinegar into your experimenting bowl.  Let your children add the eggs.  Doing one at a time makes the activity last much longer, though you will have to refresh your vinegar.

5- Oooh! and Aaaah!  After a minute or so of fizzing, your children will (if they're anything like mine!) want to help the egg out by breaking off the rest of the egg.  They will also play in the bubbles.  There may also be a dinosaur bubble bath.  Maybe.


6-  I included a "turtle egg" so we could talk about reptiles and how they still lay eggs.  Dinosaurs were very different than modern reptiles, but I still like to point out some similarities.  This is also a good time to begin an egg shell-dissolving-in-vinegar experiment, though you should plan on a few days for that to finish.  I also like to review how vinegar and baking soda react and let the children know the bubbles were bigger than normal because of the hair soap in the "eggs."


7- Also be sure to look at real fossilized dinosaur eggs, like these from a museum in Kunming, China:


Did you know that fossilized dinosaurs have been found on a fossilized nest of dinosaur eggs as if the parent dinosaur were caring for the eggs?!

I will share more great dinosaur activities on Monday, but in the meantime, be sure to download your own {FREE} Dinosaur Matching Preschool Packet here!


For more science project fun, check out my collection of over 150 preschool science experiments!  They're great for older kid science too!!


Happy Educating, Carla



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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

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Backyard Graph FREEBIE!!

This week I am guest posting this child-friendly graphing activity available at B-Inspired Mama:


Let your children practice counting, graphing, and observation skills all at once!  You can use the pre-made graph or the blank chart to customize your own!  Click here to visit B-Inspired Mama and print your graphing freebie!!




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Monday, May 20, 2013

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Teach Me Tuesday Returns!! (May 21, 2013)

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Last year I, very reluctantly, had to put this linky party on hold when I was too pregnant to give it the time it deserved. Now several months have gone by, I have a gorgeous new baby who even gives me blogging time, and I am super excited to host Teach Me Tuesday again!!

I hope you will link up, visit others' links, and share this party on your blogs and social media.  I know I can't wait to see what you've all been working on--I will be featuring some of my favorites next week!!  By linking up, you agree that I can share a picture and brief description of your post here and on social media!








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Friday, May 17, 2013

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{FREE} Dinosaur Matching Packet!!





Today I have an awesome {FREE} Dinosaur Matching Packet for you!  It has 10 different dinosaur matching activities perfect for preschoolers and (depending on your child) kinder kiddos!

You will find 3 pages of shadow matching (see picture above), 3 pages of color matching (pictured below), 3 pages of number matching (pictured below), and 1 page with 9 different dinosaurs on it for memory matching (also pictured below)!  For the memory matching, simply print two copies of the dinosaurs on cardstock, flip them upside down, and let your child find the matches!

Here are the other three sample pages:


Click here to download the {FREE} Dinosaur Matching Packet--I hope you love it!!

UPDATE:  My Dinosaur Preschool Packet is now available!  It will be FREE for three days only, and then available for a small price.  Click here for more information!

This little packet is also kicking off a mini-unit on dinosaurs for us!  On May 27th, I will be joining with other amazing bloggers to share a dinosaur activity and book that we have enjoyed for the Poppins Book Nook!  Be sure to stop by these other blogs and see what they're up to:






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