Valentine's Day Celebration

I thought I'd take a moment to share how our Valentine's Day celebration went in our Montessori studio for ages 1 through 3.  It was a special day indeed, especially since the kids were preparing for this holiday all week.  This week, the theme was on love and my co-teacher and I gave lessons on caring, sharing, and loving one another.  Our students were also offered a station in the classroom to make valentines for loved ones and for each other throughout the week.  They had so much fun and were so excited to see the decorated room on Valentine's Day Morning.

A welcoming entrance on Valentine's Day

The children made flower arrangements during the week for the tables on Valentine's Day.

Valentines made on hearts cut from craft foam for friends and family 

Marble Art Valentines

Our students enjoyed decorating bags by coloring on them and on gluing hearts cut from craft paper.

All in all, it was an exiting week for our students.  They especially enjoyed exchanging valentines with each other on Valentine's day.

Thanks for checking out our classroom on Valentine's Day!  Hope you enjoyed.

~Angelique Buman

Save the Cardboard Lids from Your Pizza Boxes for Art Activities

As you know, typically pizza boxes cannot be recycled, because of all of the grease left behind, but more often than not I find that the lid is usually clear of any grease.  So whenever we have a pizza day at our school, I started cutting the lids off and collecting the cardboard for art projects.

The lids can be good for the kids to paint on, use as a base for clay models, etc.  So the next time you have pizza, cut the lid off before tossing the entire box in the trash.

If you are concerned there still might be some hidden grease, you could always paint a gesso base over top of the lid (the white paint that is painted on fresh artist canvases) and let it dry before handing it over to the kids to paint on.  

Dig Through Your Recycling Bins for Material You Can Use for Your Classroom!

I was given a hard time by friends and family for hoarding things, but once I proved them wrong, some of them started following my footsteps.  Now, as many of you educators know, it is helpful to collect these items as they will certainly be useful.  Jars, containers, and even cardboard could be enough to start building your own classroom.  Just try to be as organized as you can about it and keep this "junk" out of other people's sight until you are ready to use it.  I have proven over and over again that saving recyclable items can be very useful in the classroom.

Just a few ideas off of the top of my head include:
-Using Cans for messy art activities to hold paint brushes, water and paint
-Using containers to separate small items for art projects and activities such as beads, stones and shells
-Cans and yogurt containers can be used to hold crayons and colored pencils

These are all common sense ideas that many educators already use, and there are so many more ideas all over the web.

Saving these items can also be useful around the house.  I will likely be posting some ideas on my blog below:

 DIY Sweet 'N Simple with Angelique

 Stay tuned and start collecting.

I have lots of fun ideas that I will be sharing here.