Water Beads

Okay everyone!  I have searched and found these three types of water beads!  The Xploderz are sold in the boys toy section with a gun.  But these are the refiles and this is the pack to get.   These were $4.99.   The packet in the middle is the best value.  I got them at Michael's.  They have the most in the packet and were only $2.99.  They come in tons of colors.  Michael's also had them in a jar already hydrated.  I think seeing the beads grow though was half the fun for my class!  The last packet is called OrBeez and they are sold in the girls department.  They are about $4.00 and come in little packets all in a box.  They too come in lots of colors.  A friend mentioned to me the ones at the Gardening section, like the water gems say keep out of the reach of children-however that is because they could be a chocking hazard   You would have to have a pretty large eater to chock on one.  They are so small.  If you have kids who mouth thinks I would not recommend these.  My class is past the oral stage so we love them!  Next week we are adding shaving cream to them!!!  Stay tuned!

Water Beads

Water beads are the latest and the most fun sensory experience I have seen in a long time!  They are so wonderful! They begin as tiny hard balls that are the  size of a seed bead.  You put them in water for about 2-3 hours and then the tiny beads grown and become slippery and a bit squishy!  They come in every color and they even bounce!  I have started my class using them in small amounts at individual station in this box.  I used bubble grabbers to pick them up.  I got those at Lakeshore Learning and use them for everything.  I love them!  I will be adding googly eyes later this week.  A tip to keep them fresh:  Keep a strainer handy and rinse them each night and add a little fresh water.  This keeps them the right size as they will shrink back to small if left out long enough.  Get some today!  They are sold as water beads in store like Michaels in the gardening or plant section.  They are also sold in the kids toy isle for boys in the toy guns.  There is a gun that shoots them called the Xploderz and these beads refill it.  They cost about $4 for 1000 of these beads.     In the girls section of toys they are sold as Orbeeze. They sell refill packets too.  All about the same price and all of products do the same thing. I highly recommend these!  My students stand in line to wait for a turn!  It is nuts!  I am going to get brave and fill my whole sensory table up soon and add the shaving cream.  That will be a site to see I am sure!  So what are you waiting for...go grab some of these today for your class! 

Chocolate Play Dough

MAKING CHOCOLATE 

PLAY DOUGH!

I cannot believe I have been a teacher for now 17 years and this is the first year I tried the chocolate play dough recipe.  It is sometimes crumbly, but always so much fun because the chocolate smell that comes from this recipe is wonderful!  Kids will actually think they are making real chocolate things from this dough.  Of course many will try bites, but who wouldn't!  I put out an oven for the play dough to be "cooked!"  Add real muffin tins and rollers and other small kitchen spatulas and let them loose to create and cook!  Try it!  It is awesome!

Chocolate Play Dough

2 1/2 Cups Flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup salt

1 T cream of tartar

3 T oil

2 cups water

Mix dry ingredients in a pot.  Add water and oil and stir together over low heat until it forms a dough.  Remove play dough from the pot.  Knead it after it cools by hand until it feels ready to play with!  Store in an air tight container or zip lock freezer bag.  

Sensory table with tongs and bottles

This sensory activity has been a huge favorite in our classroom this week.  The scissors tongs are from Lakeshore and come in a 6 pack.  They can be used in water or with dry sensory items or to pick up bugs!  The kids have had challenges to see if they can fill the bottle.  We challenged them to just put one color int he bottle.  This was great for the older 4 year olds!  The glass bottles are heavy and work the best.  We used Snapple tea bottles.  We were pleasantly surprised at how much fun they had.

Puzzle Twist!

We found this idea on Pinterest and loved it so we tried it!  What a fun twist on doing the alphabet puzzle!  Everyone was lining up to try it!  I highly suggest trying it in your classroom too!  It is fun and challenging for students who already know the way the puzzle.

Promoting a Peaceful Classroom

We created a Peace Seat this week to help children have a special place to relax alone.  It has a beanbag, fidgets, sensory bottles, books, and some flowers.  When a child is feeling like they cannot control themselves or that they just need to be alone, they can venture to the peace seat to relax.  We added photos of happy kids smiling and a peace sign.  We are encouraging them to make art work to hang in the area if they choose.  It has been out a week and many students have enjoyed the area already.  There is a koosh ball fidget that they all love!  This week we are going to create descriptions of what peaceful behavior at school looked like.  Try it in your classroom!

Friday Fun Day!

Today is Friday Fun Day in my classroom.  On Fridays we usually try and get out our classroom doll houses, have some fun foods, and enjoy all of the areas in our room.  We allow the children to begin the day by selecting their favorite station after circle time and have many art supplies out around the room for creative expression.  Today we worked on printing circles with muffin tins upside down.  We also used chocolate play dough in our "mock" table kitchen.  This was definitely something we will do with the same amount of supplies and use the chocolate again!  The children were lining up to get a turn!