‘Tis the season for colorful leaves, pumpkin spice, and all things spooky. If you have a preschooler who loves arts and crafts, then you may be looking for some autumn-inspired fall and halloween preschool art activities. My preschooler is obsessed with both crafts and Halloween, so I may have a bit of experience in this area. I’ve compiled five of my favorite fall art projects for preschoolers in case you are looking for some fresh ideas or inspiration.

5 Preschool Art Activities for Fall and Halloween

1. Leaf Pumpkin

This is a simple craft that you can do anytime after the leaves change colors! I love this craft because it incorporates nature and outdoor time with art. The craft itself is also great fine motor practice, and you can also add in cutting and tracing practice too!

For this simple preschool Halloween craft, you will first need to collect leaves of different colors outside. Once you have a good amount of leaves, come inside and cut or tear them into “leaf confetti” and place on a tray. Next, trace a pumpkin or other fall object on cardstock paper with liquid glue. You can do this part, or draw a simple outline with a pencil and have your preschooler trace the outline with glue. Last, your preschooler will stick the leaf confetti to the glue outline. Once it’s dry, hang it somewhere prominent to display.

2. Fall Suncatchers

Making suncatchers is a classic preschool art activity that can be customized to fit any season. You also have two options for this craft: tissue paper suncatchers or nature suncatchers. Here’s what you will need for this fall art project:

• Clear contact paper (you can get this at Dollar Tree)
• Tissue paper, cut into small squares, OR pressed leaves and flowers
• Black or colored cardstock or construction paper

First, you will need to create an outline of your shape on the paper and cut it out. For our fall suncatchers, I traced around some cookie cutters I had, making the shape a little bigger than the cookie cutter. You can also print a picture from online to trace. You will then need to cut around the outer edge of the shape, and cut out the inside as well.

Once you have your outline cut out, you will attach it to contact paper. Cut around the edge of the shape once more to trim the contact paper. Next, stick tissue paper squares or pressed leaves/flowers to the contact paper! This is great fine motor practice for little ones.

After your preschooler is done sticking the objects on, you can optionally place another piece of contact paper on the other side to cover up any remaining sticky parts. Cut around the edge once more if you do this. Now, they are ready to hang up! Use clear tape to stick on a window and see how pretty they look when the sun shines through.

We did leaves and pumpkins, but you could do any fall or Halloween shape you want. Doing a pumpkin shape and adding some black construction paper for a mouth and eyes would be a fun Halloween craft idea!

3. Coffee Filter Leaves

If you want to further decorate your windows for fall, these coffee filter leaves are super easy and beautiful! All you need for this craft is coffee filters, watercolor paints, and oil.

First, you will cut leaf shapes out of your coffee filters. You can make as few or as many as you would like. Next, use the watercolors to paint the leaves pretty fall colors. Once they are dry, paint a thin coat of oil (I used canola oil) over each leaf to make it more transparent. Let dry once more, then use a small dab of washable glue to attach to your windows. See how pretty they are?

4. Puffy Paint Ghosts

Puffy paint ghosts are one of our favorite Halloween art activities for preschool! They are super simple to make but really fun. All you need for this spooky art project is a batch of DIY puffy paint, cardstock paper, paintbrushes, and some black construction paper for making eyes and a mouth.

To make the puffy paint, mix equal parts white glue and shaving cream. You can add food coloring if you want, but for ghosts, I recommend leaving them white and painting on colored paper instead.

Once you’ve made the puffy paint, simply grab some paintbrushes and paint ghost shapes! When we did this project, my son wanted me to paint the outline of a ghost shape for him first, but you really can’t go wrong here. Ghosts can be any shape you want.

Once your child is satisfied with their ghost, cut out 3 circles from black paper to make eyes and a mouth. Stick these on the paint before it dries. The paint will dry nice and puffy for a spooky 3D Halloween masterpiece!

Note: Since glue dries clear, if the paint gets spread to thin, it may dry more transparent in some areas. Don’t be afraid to paint it on really thick. This will just make it even puffier!

5. DIY Clay Loose Parts

If you’ve never made homemade air dry clay, you’re really missing out! This is one of our favorite activities for every season, and it doubles as a fun sensory experience (plus, you can use your creations for fall sensory play afterward!). This Halloween preschool art activity is completed in two parts: 1) making the clay (see recipe below), and 2) painting the shapes once dry.

We used mini Halloween cookie cutters we found at Target to cut out most of our Halloween clay shapes, but you can also free hand it like we did for the candy corn. After they’re dry, it’s time to paint them!

So, what do we do with these fun shapes once they’re dry? We use them for sensory play! Here’s a few Halloween sensory bin ideas for using your homemade clay loose parts.

Feed the Ghost Halloween Sensory Bin

This was a super simple set up and great for younger toddlers to practice fine motor skills, pincer grasp, and posting. I made a simple ghost sensory bin insert out of foam board, construction paper/cardstock, washi tape, and a box cutter:

• First, cut the foam board to fit on top of your sensory bin.
• Cover the board with black construction paper using tape or glue (or, use black foam board and skip this step).
• Cut a simple ghost shape out of white cardstock and glue onto the insert.
• Optional: Wrap edges with washi tape to further secure the paper.
• Draw on two ghost eyes and cut out a mouth.

I placed this insert on one side of our sensory table. In the other, I used a base mix of black and white beans, then added candy corn mini erasers and our candy corn clay shapes. Children can then “feed” the candy corn to the ghost by dropping it in the mouth! For older preschoolers, try adding tongs or other tools to make it more difficult. You could also easily turn this into a Halloween preschool math activity! (The ghost ate 3 candy corns – drop in 3. Then he ate 5 more – drop in 5 more. How many did the ghost eat total? Remove the bin insert to find out!).

Graveyard Counting Halloween Sensory Bin

This sensory bin doubles as a fun Halloween preschool math activity! This one could be too spooky for some young children, but my son absolutely loved it. For this bin, we used our clay coffins which I turned into tombstones by painting gray and writing “RIP” at the top with a Sharpie. Underneath the RIP, I also wrote a number 1-10 for each one.

For the sensory base, I made some taste safe dirt out of flour, cocoa powder, and oil. See the recipe below:

Last, I placed each tombstone in the dirt to create a graveyard and set aside a bowl of bones (styrofoam bones from Dollar Tree – you can also use cotton swabs!). My son then placed the matching number of bones underneath each tombstone. This is great hands-on counting practice for preschoolers!

More Fall and Halloween Art Activities for Preschool

These autumn art projects are just a few of our favorites, but there are so many more I could have shared! For more inspiration, make sure you are following me on Instagram. I’ll be sharing many more ideas throughout the season!

What are your favorite preschool art activities for fall and Halloween? Share them in the comments below!

The post My 5 Favorite Fall and Halloween Preschool Art Activities appeared first on Kayla Bernardez.

Some kids are great nappers, and some kids struggle with taking naps, but regardless of which type of kid you have…they all drop their nap eventually. Usually this is somewhere around age 3 or 4. If you’re like me, you dread the day your child no longer wants to take a nap, as that is sacred alone time! Fortunately, there is a solution to this: quiet time activities!

Many parents have implemented quiet time in place of nap time, where instead of taking a nap, the child plays quietly for a designated time instead. This allows you as the parent to still have that precious time to yourself despite your kid no longer napping. The transition can be difficult though, as children this age may struggle to play independently for an extended period of time. Recently, I came across the idea of putting together boxes of quiet time activities for my former-napper to help streamline this time and keep him engaged. I thought this idea was brilliant and wanted to share our set up and how we organized these quiet time boxes.

Why Do Quiet Time Boxes Work?

The idea behind quiet time activity boxes is to set aside particular activities that are exclusively for quiet time. Offering children the same toys to play with during quiet time that they play with all day, every day is not very exciting. Having special boxes that ONLY get pulled out during quiet time is a lot more likely to hold their attention since they are only getting to use these activities during that time.

There are several different ways you can set up your quiet time activities:

• Create various themed boxes – these can be types of activities (i.e. arts & crafts, puzzles, imaginative play, etc.), interests your child has (i.e. dinosaurs, sports, animals, etc.), or a mix of both. Let your child pick out the box they want to play with each day.
• Create one box designated for each day of the week. You can put a mix of different kinds of activities in each box, and then pull out only the box for that particular day. This way they are only playing with each set of quiet time activities once per week, and they won’t get tired of them as fast.
• If you don’t want to set up 6 or 7 bins, you can just do 3 or 4 to rotate between. You can rotate daily or weekly, depending on how quickly your child wants to switch it up. Alternatively, you could just have a special shelf with toys or activities that are exclusively for quiet time, and let your child pick out 3-4 to play with each day.

We decided to do one box for each day of the week. I chose this because my son tires of activities very quickly, so switching it up daily seemed like a good idea. I also wanted to include a variety of activities in each box, instead of doing themed boxes. Below, I will share what I’ve included in our boxes. But of course, there is no right way to do these! Do whatever works for you and your child.

How to Set Up Quiet Time Bins

First, I made a list of some activities I could include in my bins. I was specifically looking for activities that 1) matched my son’s interests, 2) were low-mess, and 3) he could do easily by himself. I listed out some things we already had, as well as some things I knew I could grab at the Dollar Store. We hit up Dollar Tree and grabbed about $20 worth of awesome quiet time activities!

Activity Ideas for Quiet Time Boxes

What’s in Our Bins

After gathering together plenty of activities, I purchased some clear plastic bins to organize them into. I decided to just do one bin for the weekend, so I got a total of 6 bins. These are the ones we got. At $3/bin, this cost us $18.

I randomly sorted our activities into each quiet time box, making sure to include a variety of types of activities in each one. I also made sure to keep roughly the same amount of activities in each box. Here’s what we ended up with for each day.

Monday

• Elephant puzzle
• Animal matching cards
• Pattern blocks
• Pumpkin Counting and Pumpkin Patch Shapes activities from my fall preschool activity bundle
• Highlights hidden pictures activity book

Tuesday

• Dinosaur puzzle
• Finger puppets
• Mini dinosaurs (wild animal version here)
• Dinosaur flash cards
• Number matching cards (similar)
• Autumn Matching and Candy Corn Number Puzzles activities from my preschool fall activities set
• Under the sea felt scene

Wednesday

• Zebra puzzle
• Geoboard
• Dinosaur racecars
• Alphabet matching cards (similar)
• Autumn Patterns from my fall preschool activity bundle
• Bugs felt scene

Thursday

• Letter construction (similar)
• Opposite matching cards (similar)
• Dinosaur puzzle
• Mini building blocks
• Reusable sticker book
• Leaf Symmetry matching activity from my fall activity bundle

Friday

• Skeleton puzzle
• Hashtag blocks (similar)
• Mini magnadoodle
• Color and shape matching cards (similar)
• Unbe-LEAF-able Colors and Leaf Counting activities from my fall bundle
• Highlights hidden picture activity book
• Funny faces felt scene

Weekend

• Dinosaur puzzle
• Spiral art set
• Lovevery sewing kit from the Analyst Playkit
• Fall Counting Cards and Color Puzzles activities from my fall activity bundle
• Wooden stacking rocks (similar)
• Funny faces sticker and coloring book
• Dinosaur felt scene (not pictured)

After I assembled all the boxes, I added a label to each one to designate the specific day of the week. I made each day’s label a different color. Since my son can’t read yet, this will help him be able to identify the correct box for each day. I made the labels in PowerPoint, printed, and laminated. I attached them to each bin with a hot glue gun.

*The seasonal activities from my fall preschool activity pack will be rotated out every few months. Other activities will be swapped out as needed.

So far, these quiet time activity boxes have been a success for us! Quiet time has gone much more smoothly since implementing these. My son also has a few other things in his room that he can access during quiet time as well. These include books, coloring books & drawing materials, and his Leap Frog. Quiet time certainly doesn’t have to be limited to only what’s in the box! The purpose of these quiet time activities are just to help streamline things and create more options.

What activities would you include in your boxes? Let me know in the comments!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. This means that, at no extra cost to you, I make a small commission when you make a purchase using one of my links.

The post How to Promote Independent Play for Toddlers with Simple Quiet Time Activities appeared first on Kayla Bernardez.

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. Anyone else? I love the crisp air, colorful leaves, pumpkins, and of course all the fun fall festivities. Fall is also one of my favorite themes for sensory bins. There are so many amazing fall sensory bin ideas that are perfect for this time of year! If you’re looking for some beautiful autumn setups, that are also fairly easy to prep and safe for all ages, then keep reading for 10 of my favorite fall sensory activities!

Fall Sensory Bin Theme Ideas

There are so many great themes that can be used for a fall sensory bin. Before you prepare your bin, start by choosing a theme. Here are a few ideas:

10 Sensory Bin Ideas for Fall

Simple Fall Sensory Play Ideas

Sensory bins can be made incredibly simple, or incredibly elaborate. Which type you do is really up to you! I like to do a mix of both. Here are a few of my favorite simple fall-themed sensory activities.

1. Dyed Pasta Leaves

Dying pasta is incredibly easy! All you need is some pasta, vinegar, and food coloring. If you’ve never dyed pasta (or rice, chickpeas, corn kernels…this method works on everything), check out this post for a tutorial. I love how pasta shells look like leaves! For this simple bin, I simply dyed pasta shells (both large and small) in fall colors. We got two days of play with this base: the first day, I layered the colors in the bin. Then, when it was all mixed up, I added some dyed leaf-shaped pasta and we made a color sorting activity out of it! Both were fun, and super easy to set up.

P.S. Dyed pasta, rice, chickpeas, corn, etc. last literally forever. This setup will be even easier next year because you won’t have to do that step!

2. Fall Soup

Fall soup is so fun because it takes literally seconds to set up and there are so many variations to this fall sensory play. All you need is water and several different autumn-themed loose parts. Here’s what we used for ours, but you could use literally anything:

• Fall vase filler (glitter styrofoam balls in fall colors – from Dollar Tree)
• Acorns
• Faux leaves
• Pinecones
• Glitter
• Tapioca pearls, cooked and dyed in fall colors

The tapioca pearls are a fun touch but absolutely not necessary. They are essentially taste-safe water beads when cooked, and you can dye them fun colors with food coloring. When added to water you can’t see them but you can see the colors, which makes for a fun tie-dye looking “soup!”

You can either add everything in the water ahead of time and have your child(ren) simply stir it and scoop it into bowls, or you can let them pour in each item and mix them, too. I set out everything separately in bowls and let my kids add them in. Depending on the items you mix into the soup, this activity can be completely taste-safe and appropriate for all ages.

3. Frozen Fall Soup

My favorite hack for water play like the Fall Soup is this: freeze it when you’re done! Take the leftover “soup” and pour it into a large dish or smaller ice cube trays/molds and freeze overnight. The next day, pop it out and now you have a whole new fall sensory bin with almost no prep. My kids LOVE playing with ice. I give always give a jar of water and some tools for mixing so they can watch it slowly melt. If you freeze in a larger block, you can give them a little bowl of salt and spoon and a spray bottle or droppers with water and make it a “rescue mission.” The salt and water helps the ice melt faster, and children can do this and try to remove the items frozen inside.

4. Acorn Soup

Like fall soup, acorn soup is a super simple and fun set up. All you need are some acorns and water. This is a great activity if you have oak trees, or live near a park or nature center with them. Start by going on a nature hunt and collecting as many acorns as you can find. This would be a great opportunity to read a book about acorns, like Treemendous: Diary of a Not Yet Mighty Oak, and learn about the life cycle of an oak tree.

After this, consider baking your acorns before playing with them. You do not have to do this step, especially if you aren’t planning to save the acorns, but sometimes little critters can hide inside of them so you may wish to do this. Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 175 for 1.5-2 hours, stirring every 15-30 minutes or so to avoid scorching.

Once you’re ready, fill a sensory bin or bowl full of water and dump in the acorns. Add some scoops and bowls to serve up the soup.

5. Mixed Fall Sensory Base

Another simple fall sensory activity is a mixed base sensory bin. This is a great way for kids to experiment with different textures and colors. Simply gather about 5-6 different fall-themed sensory bases and layer them in your bin. I used the following:

• Mixed dyed rice
• “Pumpkin patch” mix (green dyed spiral pasta with acrylic pumpkins)
• Dyed corn kernels
• Acorns
• Dyed leaf-shaped pasta (I grabbed this pasta at Home Goods)

Yes, it will all get mixed up, so if that will bother you, then maybe skip this one. However if you use bases that are different sizes, it’s fairly easy to sort out! I was able to separate out the pasta, pumpkins, and acorns easily. Then I used a colander to separate the rice and corn: the rice was small enough to fit through the holes, but the corn was not. It’s a little trick for separating out rice for bins like this! You can also just leave it as a mixed up base for the future; you certainly don’t have to separate it back out!

Small World Sensory Bin Ideas

Small world bins are great because not only are they sensory play, they are also imaginative play! Children can pretend play with these bins the same way they would with dolls or action figures. These tend to be slightly more elaborate setups, but you can still keep them fairly simple and have great results. Here are a few small world fall sensory bin ideas.

6. Farm

One of my son’s favorite bins we do every year is this fall farm small world. This is a setup that you can easily do more or less with, depending on what you have and how much time you want to spend. The materials I used for this bin are:

• Oats for the base
• Dyed pasta leaves
• Mini hay bales from Dollar Tree
• Wooden barn from Target
• Acrylic pumpkins from Dollar Tree/Hobby Lobby
• Green dyed spiral pasta (to make a pumpkin patch)
• Farmer and animals from the Toob Down on the Farm set

If your child is obsessed with animals and farms like mine is, they will love this bin! My son has seriously played with this for hours before. Don’t forget to add a tractor!

7. Pumpkin Patch

One of my personal favorite setups is this pumpkin patch I made last year. I had been dreaming this one up for awhile and was so excited to finally put it together. Here’s what I used:

• Brown dyed rice base
• Green dyed spiral pasta in rows to represent pumpkin vines
• Mini hay bales from Dollar Tree
• Acrylic pumpkins from Dollar Tree/Hobby Lobby
• Mini fabric pumpkins from Dollar Tree
• Pumpkin picks from Dollar Tree (I cut the picks down quite a bit – they were long!)
• Pumpkin patch sign from Target
• Mini tractor from our Toob Down on the Farmhttps://amzn.to/3L37nUP set
• My homemade sensory bin insert – made from a Dollar Tree sign, foam board, and paint

Using the pumpkin picks in this bin with the insert was a last minute idea but it was such a hit! The idea is for the child(ren) to “pick” the pumpkins from the patch and “load” them into the truck. This particular bin includes a fine motor/posting aspect due to having to insert the pumpkin picks into the holes above the truck, which is just a bonus. The real win is that it’s so much fun!

I recently created another variation of this using one of the activities from my Fall Preschool Activity Bundle. I used the Pumpkin Patch Shapes activity, and put the shapes in the pumpkin patch for my son to “pick” and place in the correct spot on the pumpkin patch printable.

This printable activity bundle includes 19 more activities that can all be incorporated into sensory play! Check it out by clicking on the link or image above.

8. Hay Ride

This one was a much simpler set up for me, but you can always add more if you want. This is a great bin for any child who is into trucks/trains/tractors – perhaps they are in the rotating schema and interested in how wheels turn. For my setup, I used the following items:

• Mixed dyed rice for the base
• Lots of faux leaves
• Mini fabric pumpkins and pumpkin picks from Dollar Tree
• Mini hay bales from Dollar Tree
• White metal truck from Target

I placed the hay bales and some pumpkins inside the truck to make it a hay ride. Other pumpkins I left outside which my son ended up loading into the truck. You could also add mini people to this bin who can take turns going on the hay ride. I would have done this, but I didn’t have any mini people.

9. Apple Picking

There are so many ways you could do an apple picking sensory bin! You could also incorporate so many different skills. For mine, I used it as a fine motor/posting activity as well as for color sorting. You could easily add in a counting element (how many apples did you pick?) as well. Here are the details for my set up:

• I placed two small bins on one side of our sensory table instead of our large one
• In one small bin I put a red dyed rice base, and a green dyed rice base in the other
• I painted wooden apples from Dollar Tree red and green and put them in the red base
• I painted popsicle sticks red and put the in the green base
• I made a bin insert out of foam board, paint, and applesauce pouch lids that just so happened to be red and green; I also added some slits in the apple tree to slide the popsicle sticks into

My son had fun poking the popsicle sticks through the slots, and placing the wooden apples on the correct color pouch lid on the tree. This was a fairly simple activity but you could do so much with it! If you want, you could even incorporate it into a larger unit study all about apples!

10. Corn Maze

The SIMPLEST set up but such a fun fall sensory bin! For this one, I used:

• Dyed corn kernel base
• Mini corn cobs from Dollar Tree to create a “maze”
• A toy car

That’s it! Create a little maze for your child to navigate the car through. For older children, they can create their own maze! This bin promotes problem solving – even if it’s a simple maze like mine, they are still having to think about how to navigate through it.

Alternatively, you could use a different base and then use the corn kernels to make a more intricate maze, if you want the space to make it a little more difficult.

While these are some of our favorite fall sensory bin ideas for toddlers and preschool-aged children, there are so many more amazing possibilities out there. The most important thing to remember when creating a sensory bin is that your child should enjoy it. If they enjoy it, they will play with it, and sensory play has so many amazing benefits that you want them to play with it! I’ve found that the simplest sensory play is often the most engaging for my kids. So don’t stress yourself out. If you enjoy making the more elaborate bins like I do, then go for it! But it certainly isn’t necessary. Just a fun base, a few loose parts, and some tools for scooping and pouring is really all you need to get started.

And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram this fall for more ideas!

What is your favorite fall sensory bin setup? Let me know in the comments!

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. This means that, at no extra cost to you, I earn a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking through one of my links.

The post 10 Easy Fall Sensory Bin Ideas for Toddlers and Preschoolers appeared first on Kayla Bernardez.

Spring is upon us, and it is the perfect time to teach your weather unit in science! Depending on where you live, spring likely showcases a lot of diverse weather patterns which makes this the prime time for weather observations and experiments. If you’re teaching weather right now (or about to), check out these fun weather activities for kids to really engage your students.

5 Weather Activities for Kids

1. Cloud Demonstration

In this simple science experiment, students will observe what causes clouds to rain. For this activity, you will need:

• A jar
• Water
• Food coloring
• Pipette or dropper
• Shaving cream

First, fill the jar with water. Then, top the jar off with shaving cream. The shaving cream will represent a cloud. Add some food coloring to water, and use the dropper to drop some colored water on top of the shaving cream slowly. At first, nothing will happen. However, as more food coloring drops are added, eventually the shaving cream will no longer be able to hold the heavy drops.

When this happens, students will observe “rain” as the food coloring hits the water in the jar below the cloud. Make connections to actual rain clouds, explaining how rain occurs when the droplets that make up the clouds get too heavy that they can no longer remain in the air.

2. Warm Air vs. Cold Air

Another simple weather science experiment demonstrates how cold air sinks while warm air rises. For this weather activity for kids, you will need:

• Large container of water
• Pitcher of cold water
• Pitcher of hot water
• Blue food coloring
• Red food coloring

Add blue coloring to the pitcher of cold water, and red food coloring to the hot water in order to distinguish between the two. Slowly, pour one pitcher into one side of your large container. Pour the other pitcher into the other side of the container.

Now, observe what happens! You should see the red water rise above the blue, ultimately resulting in all the red water on top of all the blue water. This same concept happens with air, too – warm air rises, while cool air sinks.

3. Water Cycle in a Bag

You can’t teach a weather unit without doing a water cycle in a bag! This is one of the most popular weather activities for kids, for good reason! Water cycle in a bag perfectly demonstrates how the water cycle works. Here’s what you need:

• Ziplock bags (1 per student)
• Water
• Permanent markers
• Tape
• A window
• Blue food coloring (optional)

Each student will first decorate their bag to show a water cycle diagram: water at the bottom, the sun and clouds in the sky. Fill the bottom of the bag with water – up to the water line drawn on the bag for reference. (Optional: add blue food coloring to the water beforehand).

Once this is done, tape each student’s bag to a window. This will take some time, but check back periodically to observe what happens. Overtime, the water line should lower, evidencing evaporation. Small water droplets will begin to form at the top of the bag, showing condensation. Eventually, the droplets will become larger and start dripping down the sides of the bag – precipitation.

4. Tornado in a Jar

Show your students what a tornado formation looks like by creating a tornado in a jar! For this experiment, you will need:

• A jar with lid
• Water
• Dish soap
• Food coloring
• Optional: vinegar, beads or other “debris”

Fill the jar up most of the way with water. Top it with some dish soap and 1-2 drops of food coloring. (Optional: Add in a little bit of vinegar if the mixture gets too bubbly to work. You can also add in some beads or other small objects to resemble debris.)

Place the lid on the jar, and swirl it around. You should see a tornado forming inside the jar. (Note: if there are too many bubbles, you won’t be able to see it. Try scooping some out or letting it sit for about 30 seconds after swirling it to let the bubbles settle.)

5. Student Weather Journals

One of my favorite weather activities for kids is student weather journals. Having your students observe and record the weather each day helps make this subject more relevant to your students! To get the most out of this activity, have your students observe the following each day:

• Today’s weather
• Today’s temperature
• The types of clouds in the sky (if any)

Then, using those observations, have students predict what the weather will be like tomorrow! They can be little meteorologists.

To learn more about how to use weather journals with your students, check out this blog post.

What are your favorite weather activities for kids? Share in the comments below!

The post 5 Awesome Weather Activities for Kids appeared first on Kayla Bernardez.

I know you probably read the title of this post and asked yourself why elementary students would ever need to know statistics. Well, they don’t exactly, but that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t still benefit from some subtle exposure to the concept! April is National Statistics & Mathematics Awareness Month, and is the perfect opportunity to add in some fun statistics activities to your instruction. If this is something you would like to do, here are a few (age appropriate) ideas!

1. Play SNAKE.

SNAKE is a fun math dice game that loosely involves probability, as well as a little bit of risk! This game is played in 5 rounds – one for each letter of the word “snake.” In each round, the teacher will roll two dice, and students will add or multiply the numbers together and write down the total, which is also their score. After each roll, students have the opportunity to either stay in the round, or go out. If they stay in, they will continue adding points to their score. If they go out, they keep their points for the round, but cannot add to it.

A round ends when either all students have chosen to go out, OR the teacher rolls two ones. If this happens, all students still in the game lose ALL their points for that round.

It’s a game of probability and chance, but your students will love it and sharpen up their math skills, too!

2. Roll & Tally

A slightly more simple dice game, that also doubles as a fun statistics activity, would be a basic roll and tally game. Basically, students roll a die a certain number of times, tallying which number it lands on each time. At the end, students can add up their tallies to see which number the die landed on the most and the least.

Step up the game slightly by having students make predictions first as to which number they think will be rolled the most! Alternatively, you can also play this game with spinner.

3. Weather Tracking and Making Predictions

One way to integrate probability and statistics into science is by having students observe daily weather patterns. Taking some time each day to observe the weather and write it down in a weather journal can help students form predictions about the weather for the next day.

Spring is an especially great time to do this, since there are many changes in the weather around this time anyway! It can help students be extra challenged by trying to make accurate predictions.

4. Rock, Paper, Scissors

One more idea for a fun statistics activity is to play Rock, Paper, Scissors! Most people aren’t consciously thinking about this while playing, but Rock, Paper, Scissors is all about probability! Players are always trying to guess what motion their opponent is most likely to play.

You can turn this explicitly into a math game, having students track the number of times their opponent plays each motion (similar to the Roll & Tally game). Or, you can just use it regularly throughout the month to help students determine things like who will go first in a game. Again, we don’t need to teach our students explicitly about statistics right now – but some exposure is beneficial!

Do you know of another fun statistics game? If so, share it in the comments!

The post 4 Fun Statistics Activities That Elementary Students Will Enjoy appeared first on Kayla Bernardez.

Easter is one of my favorite times in the classroom! I am 100% here for all the Easter eggs and candy and Peeps. I know Peeps are controversial, but I LOVE them. Speaking of Peeps…did you know you can use them in several Easter activities for kids? Yep! So if you’re gifted a bunch in the next couples weeks but don’t want to eat them, you can turn them into a fun activity instead!

If you do like Peeps, don’t worry – there are activities you can do that don’t involve Peeps, as well! So you can have your Peeps and eat them, too.

Anyway, I’ll stop peeping about peeps now! (Couldn’t resist…) Here are a few of my favorite Easter activities!

1. Math Easter Egg Hunt

One of my all time favorite Easter activities for kids is a math Easter egg hunt. This activity has always been a huge hit with my students, and it’s fairly easy to set up and implement! All you need are some Easter eggs, a question set, and a paper for students to write their answers on.

In brief, you will put a math problem or question inside each Easter egg. Make sure you number each question! Then, hide the Easter eggs around the room. You can make them hard to find, or hide them in plain sight which is what I do. Your choice!

Students will then go around the room hunting for Easter eggs. When they find one, they will head back to their desk, open the egg, and write down the question number and their answer. Then, they will replace the question inside the egg, put the egg back where they found it, and repeat until they’ve answered all the questions!

It’s really super simple! If you need more detail though, check out this blog post! I even go over how to do a digital version of these, too, if you are teaching virtually this spring!

2. Egg Tower STEM Challenge

This Easter STEM challenge is super easy to set up, but challenging and fun for students! All you need are a bunch of Easter eggs, split in half. Students will try to use the egg halves to make the tallest tower they possibly can.

This challenge is harder than it looks! It will definitely challenge your students, and get them really thinking about how to make it work. It’s a great activity, that’s simple to set up!

3. Peep Barn

This one’s for all you Peep-haters who need to get rid of the marshmallow goodness you were so kindly gifted! Another one of my favorite Easter activities for kids is this Peep Barn! It’s another STEM challenge, and all students need are some Peeps and straws!

Students will use the materials to fashion a “barn”. If you want to add a competition aspect, challenge students to make it as tall as possible! Or, just leave it as a design challenge.

Fair warning: this challenge is messy! The Peeps will make little hands VERY sticky, so make sure to provide students paper towels and have them wash their hands afterward.

If you’re interested in seeing more spring STEM challenges like the ones I’ve mentioned here, check out my April STEM challenge resource!

I hope these ideas have been helpful to you as you get ready for the upcoming holiday! If you have more ideas for Easter activities, I’d love to hear from you!

What are your favorite Easter activities for kids? Share in the comments!

The post 3 Festive Easter Activities For Kids That Your Students Will Love appeared first on Kayla Bernardez.

One of my favorite activities to do in the classroom is a STEM challenge. These short, quick engineering challenges are easy to implement, fun for students, and SO meaningful! I guarantee you that your students will be begging for more. I highly recommend any science teacher implementing STEM challenges regularly into their instruction.

When I taught third grade, I tried to do one challenge per week. When I moved to a new school, I didn’t quite have time for that in my new schedule. However, it still made a great, special activity every once in awhile.

If you’ve never implemented STEM challenges in your classroom before, here are some of my tips for making sure they go smoothly every time!

What is a STEM challenge?

If you aren’t familiar with the concept of STEM, it is an acronym that stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Sometimes there is an “A” thrown in there (STEAM) for art. Basically, STEM/STEAM activities involve a focus on any or all of these areas.

STEM challenges deal mostly with the engineering aspect, though it can incorporate some of the other elements, as well! Basically, they are mini projects where students will design a solution to a problem.

Common examples of STEM challenges include catapults, towers, bridges, and ramps – though there are many others out there as well! Typically, students work together in small groups to complete the challenge. Groups of students may be competing against each other (depending on the challenge). They may also be required to complete the project within a certain amount of time or only using certain materials.

Typically, a STEM challenge only takes about 15-20 minutes of class time, plus a little bit of prep beforehand. If this sounds like something you may want to implement in your classroom, here are some tips to help you and your students be successful.

Prep & Set Up

The only downside to STEM challenges is that they do involve some prep ahead of time. I, personally, try to make mine as low-prep and inexpensive as possible, because teachers don’t have time for that. However, some prep is unavoidable, so here’s how you can make it as painless as possible!

First, choose challenges that use supplies you either already have, or can easily purchase. Certain materials may be worth stocking up on, because they are used in a lot of different STEM challenges. These materials include:

• Clothespins
• Pipe cleaners
• Popsicle sticks
• Toothpicks
• Straws
• Tape

You’ll need to have enough materials for each group of students to successfully complete the challenge, so keep that in mind when you are getting your materials together.

I highly recommend dividing out the materials for each group prior to doing the challenge. Place each group’s materials in a container so when it’s time to start the challenge, you can just hand them their container and they can start.

Teach Students to Follow the Design Process

Students will have a much easier time completing each STEM challenge if you first teach them the steps in the design process. To do this, I like to use the acronym B.U.I.L.D.:

• Become familiar with the problem
• Understand the requirements
• Identify and gather materials
• List out ideas and choose
• Design and test

This will give students a clear process to follow while working on their project. As a result, students will be much more successful at STEM challenges due to having a solid plan.

Before starting the challenge, read the task together as a class. You may even want to specifically go over the problem and the requirements together, before having students start. Then, they can complete the remaining steps in their groups. This will help set them up for success.

For more information on teaching your students the design process, click here.

Give Students a Time Limit

STEM challenges can EASILY take all day if you let them! However, most can be completed successfully within about 20 minutes. It depends on the challenge, of course, but ideally somewhere between 10-20 minutes should be enough time for most challenges.

I like to use one of these fun classroom timers to display for my students so they can have a visual reminder of how much time they have left. This is one I like to use for Easter STEM challenges:

Save Your STEM Challenge for the End of the Day

Just a suggestion, but personally, I always saved my STEM challenges for the end of the day – and I typically did them on Fridays! It’s a fun way to end the day, but it might be hard to get students to refocus on work after finishing. Save the STEM challenges for when they are getting antsy to go home!

Ready to implement STEM challenges in your class?

If so, check out my monthly STEM challenges to start you out! As I mentioned before, I like to keep my challenges as low-prep and inexpensive as possible, so all the materials needed for each activity can be purchased at Dollar Tree!

This resource also includes printables for the design process, as well as a reflection sheet for students to complete following the challenge. You can check them out here, or by clicking the picture below!

Do you do STEM challenges? What’s your favorite one you’ve done? Share in the comments!

The post How to Set Up and Run a Successful STEM Challenge appeared first on Kayla Bernardez.

One of my favorite math holidays is Pi Day (March 14th, in honor of 3.14). Although, in my house we treat it more like PIE Day! Typically, we have chicken pot pie (our favorite!) for dinner, and then some other form of pie for dessert. However, for teachers, celebrating Pi Day can be fun in the classroom as well. Since this fun day is just around the corner, today I wanted to share some Pi Day ideas for the classroom.

If your students are too young to learn about the actual number pi (which, if you’re a regular reader of this blog, they probably are!), that’s okay! Pi Day doesn’t have to be just about the number! Anything activities that have to do with circles – or pie – will work! Here are a few of my favorite ideas.

Note: This year (2020), Pi Day is on a Sunday. However, if desired, you can celebrate on Friday or Monday instead! Or, just file this post away for next year.

Pi Day Ideas

Read a Sir Cumference Book

Math stories are a great way to engage your students and pique their interest in a new math concept. The Sir Cumference books would be perfect for Pi Day! Not all Sir Cumference books are specifically about circles or geometry, but Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi would be a great choice for celebrating Pi Day!

Note: The reading level for Sir Cumference books is placed at ages 8-12! So, your students don’t have to understand pi in order to enjoy this book.

Make a Venn Diagram

Pi Day doesn’t have to just be celebrated in math! Venn diagrams can be used in any subject. Pi Day would be a great day to use Venn diagrams to compare things in different subjects. You can also talk to your students about how Venn diagrams are made out of two circles, that when overlapped, form 3 different sections.

Learn About Circles

In math class, Pi Day would be a great opportunity to learn about circles and what special shapes they are. They have no sides, no angles – they aren’t even polygons! Circles are definitely a unique shape. Go on a circle scavenger hunt to find things around the room that are made of circles. Do a circle craft. You can find lots of circle activities with a quick search on Pinterest!

Make a Pie Chart

Making a pie chart is another great idea for celebrating Pi Day in the classroom! Show them some examples of pie charts, then create your own! Survey the students in your class and model filling in the pie chart. Then, have students create their own survey and make their own!

Since pie charts in general may be a little advanced for your students, I would suggest preparing for this ahead of time. Provide students with a copy of a circle divided into the same number of parts as you have students (20 parts if you have 20 students). Then, as you model, show them how each part represents one student. Students can survey their class about various things, and color in their pie chart accordingly.

Learn about Fractions with Pie

Of course, it wouldn’t be Pi Day without some actual pie! If you are able, bring actual pie for your students, and use it in a fractions lesson! Talk about how to divide circles into equal parts, and compare different amounts of pie. But of course – don’t forget to eat it when you’re done! Pizza can also be a great option, since technically, it’s a pie, too!

If you aren’t able to bring actual pie, consider still using the visual by using pie clipart or drawing it yourself. It’s not as tasty – but still impactful!

How will you be celebrating Pi Day in your classroom? Share your ideas in the comments!

Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that, at no extra cost to you, I receive a small commission when you click through and make a purchase using one of my links.

The post Do You Need Some Ideas for Celebrating Pi Day in the Classroom? appeared first on Kayla Bernardez.

Butterfly Craft

This is a simple craft that helps students learn about the anatomy of a butterfly! Students will have fun making beautiful butterflies they can take home, while also being able to identify the parts of a butterfly’s body. Here’s what you need for each student:

• 1 clothespin
• 3 pom-poms
• 2 pipe cleaners
• 2 small google eyes
• 1 small square of tissue paper
• 1 small piece of a thin straw
• Glitter spray (option)
• Glue

Step 1: Students will glue their 3 pom-poms to the top of their clothespin. This represents the 3 sections of a butterfly’s body: the head, thorax, and abdomen. (Note: the “head” should be the pom-pom nearest to where the clothespin opens).

Step 2: Glue the two google eyes onto the head of the butterfly. These, obviously, represent the eyes!

Step 3: Cut both pipe cleaners in half to make 4 smaller sections. Take 3 of the smaller sections and twist them together in the middle, so that there are 3 ends stick out either side. These are the butterfly’s legs. Pinch the clothespin open and slide the legs down as far down as possible. Close the clothespin, securing the legs in place.

Step 4: Take the remaining pipe cleaner half and slide it in the clothespin like you did with the legs. Clamp it shut, then take each end of the pipe cleaner and twist at the center around the butterfly’s head to make two antenna.

Step 5: Slide the tissue paper square in the clothespin, clamp it shut, and fan the paper out to make wings.

Step 6 (optional): Spray the wings with glitter spray to represent scales.

Step 7: Stick the tiny piece of straw in the end of the clothespin near the head to represent the proboscis.

Weather Journals

As I already mentioned, the weather in the spring can be a little bit crazy! Because of this, one of my favorite spring science activities is to study and observe daily weather patterns!

The best way to learn is to make it relevant, so I like to use daily weather journals with my students when we study weather. Each day, we will take a few minutes to observe the weather outside. Students will make weather observations about the temperature, type of weather, and type of clouds, and record it in their weather journal for the day. Then, they will use their observations to make predictions about tomorrow’s weather.

These weather journals are available in my TpT store, and I have digital version as well, for those of you who are teaching virtually!

Make a Kite STEM Challenge

Kite flying is such a fun spring activity – and it’s even more fun if you make that kite yourself! Students will love this spring STEM challenge in which they will make their own kite.

It’s super simple too! All they need is a plastic grocery bag, some straws or sticks/skewers, string, tape, and scissors!

Students will use the grocery bag to cut a shape out for their kite. Then, they will tape the sticks/skewers/straws in a cross shape in the middle of their kite. Students can use the excess from the plastic bag to make a tail if desired. Then, tie a string to the kite, and head outside to watch those babies fly! Super easy, and cheap, too. Plus, it makes a great STEM challenge!

For more spring STEM challenges like this one, click here.

What are your favorite spring science activities? Share in the comments!

The post 3 Easy and Exciting Spring Science Activities to Celebrate the Season appeared first on Kayla Bernardez.

Problem solving is one of the key foundational aspects of math. At its core, math isn’t about numbers – it’s about solving problems! Naturally, kids with strong problem solving skills have an easier time in math class.

Problem solving comes naturally to some students, but not for others. However, there are things we as teachers can do to help build strong problem solving skills in our students. If this is something you think would benefit your students, here are a few ideas for carrying this out.

Problem Solving Skills for Kids Activities

Each of the following activities are helpful for building students’ problem solving kids, and can be easily implemented into the classroom!

Daily Math Warm-Ups

A quick problem solving activity each morning can really help develop students’ critical thinking skills! Here are a few examples of math warm-ups you can use:

Which One Doesn’t Belong?

In this activity, students are presented with multiple options and must figure out which one doesn’t belong with the group, and why. This game is especially beneficial if there are multiple correct answers!

In the example above, there are several correct answers. C is the only shape that isn’t a quadrilateral. D is the only shape that has no right angles. A could also be correct, since it is the only shape that has no acute angles. So many possibilities!

Estimation Station

Setting up an Estimation Station in your classroom is a great way to get students thinking critically. Fill a clear container with small objects, and have students estimate the number inside. As they guess, gradually give them clues to help them figure out the number.

For example, a clue you might give could be “It is an even number.” Allow students to guess again, then give them the next clue. “The number in the tens place is 7.” Continue giving clues like this until students figure it out! This activity helps develop students’ deductive reasoning skills.

The Missing Number Challenge

The Missing Number Challenge, as I like to call it, is another great problem solving activity. In this activity, entire math problems are shown, completely solved. However, some numbers are removed or covered up.

Students then must then figure out the missing numbers by using the numbers they do know. This is exercise in problem solving skills for kids.

Brainteasers and Puzzles

Brainteasers and puzzles are also a great way to help students develop problem solving skills! These types of exercises are specifically designed to stretch your students’ thinking.

My Weekly Math Puzzle Packs are a great option for the lower elementary math classroom. Each weekly pack comes with 5 puzzles: a crossword for math vocabulary, a number sentence search, a math logic puzzle (GREAT for problem solving!), emoji crack-the-code math, and a math maze.

Greg Tang’s Tangy Tuesday puzzle packs are another great option. Brainteasers and puzzles make great math centers, homework, extra credit, or early finisher activities!

STEM Challenges

STEM challenges are another great activity that help build problem solving skills! STEM design challenges always solve a problem, and problems are often run into during the design process.

Presenting students with a problem and asking them to come up with a solution is a great way to build problem solving skills. STEM challenges are so fun for students, and easy to implement! When I taught third grade, I used to do a STEM challenge almost every Friday.

For tips on implementing STEM challenges in your class, click here.

What are your favorite activities that build problem solving skills for kids? Share in the comments!

The post How to Help Your Students Develop Strong Problem Solving Skills for Kids appeared first on Kayla Bernardez.