Pinto Beans

Bought a bag of pinto beans at the grocery store the other day :)

Decided to use them with Dash to work on: 

(1) fine motor skills (2) counting (3) letter formation and (4) gluing!

First, I spilled some out on the ground and asked him if he thought he could put twenty of them in a cup using tweezers to pick them up!  

(He loves a challenge)

Got the tweezers in a bug-collecting kit at the grocery store.  They're big and plastic and great for a four year old's hands. 

He got to work on improving his hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, and hand muscle strength, but he thought he was just getting to play a game :)

Once he got 20 into a cup, we celebrated.  Then, for the next challenge.

I gave him this piece of paper since we were working on
forming the letter A's that week.

I poured a thin line of glue along the capital 'A' and he got
to press the beans into the glue.

The final product!

Who would have thought tweezers and pinto beans would be fun, huh?

When he gets older we'll have to try chopsticks:)

And for some more ideas regarding fine motor skills and even beans...

The other day we had a playdate at a wonderful creative friend of mine's house.  She had large pairs of kitchen tongs out in the living room.  

Dash and his buddy used the cooking tongs to pick up large lego bricks and bury his friend's little sister's legs as she sat in a laundry basket.  There were three giggling kiddos fully enjoying themselves...and improving their fine motor skills :)

Thought I'd also mention that when I used to teach first and second grade, during our plant units, we would make bean/seed pictures. 
This is a GREAT activity for kids a little bit older :)

I'd go to the store and buy all different sorts of beans

Lima beans, black-eyed peas, green-split peas, pinto beans, black beans, kidney beans, etc.  The more color variety the better!

I would divide them up so that each type of bean was in a different tupperware container for the kids to choose from.

Then, I'd give the kids a simple picture of a flower outline, like this:

...or this:

I would have them glue the beans on and create pictures.  I SOOO wish I had an example to post because they turned out so beautiful!
These students were super creative.

Some would outline the black lines with one color bean and fill the spaces in with another color.  Other students would use black beans to do all the ink lines and then use many different colors to fill in the spaces.  They loved this activity and it was perfect for the six/seven/eight year old range!

So, next time you are at the grocery store....
why not pick up some pinto beans?

Shaving Cream

When I used to teach first grade I would be disgusted
by how dirty the kids' desks got. 

 I mean FILTHY! 

So, we would clean them often.  But, on special occasions when they were already cleaned but I wanted them to shine (i.e. days where their families visited) they would get an extra cleaning treatment.

The students LOVED this method because they got to play while they cleaned.

I would squirt a bunch of the white creamy shaving cream (not the gel) onto their desks and tell them to rub it around.  They'd cover the desk with a layer of the shaving cream and then they could write in it. 

Sometimes we'd practice their spelling words in the shaving cream. 

Sometimes they got to draw pictures. 

But, in the end, we would rub that cream into the desks until it disappeared! 

Then, we'd get a wet paper towel and wipe off the layer of dried cream. 

And, Voila!  Beautiful, shiny, clean desks!

So, fast forward until Dash was about two years old.  He liked to draw.  He liked finger painting.

So, out came the shaving cream!

I put in on our sliding glass door.

He learned to write most the letters in his name with shaving cream on our sliding glass door.

These days, we're practicing how to form letters correctly.

He loves doing this! 

After practicing forming the letter correctly, he can draw and 'finger paint' all he wants.  When he is done, we wipe the glass door down
with some wet washcloths. 

  Clean sliding glass door and practicing writing his letters in one swoop!

The best part is how easy it is to erase and start over. 
Just rub the shaving cream around!

I know what you are thinking...messy, right?

 Really, it isn't bad. 

Just have wet washcloths and/or paper towels next to you
and let the kid go to town!

 If it gets on his/her clothes, it comes off! 

 If it gets on the floor, it wipes off!

Now, here's some tips...

(1) Don't use too much shaving cream!  It takes forever to clean it all up :)

(2) We never start until I have three or four wet washcloths sitting next to us.
Dash likes to clean his hands immediately after finishing and can't wait to make it to the sink, so the washcloths get plenty of use :)

(3) Don't start wiping off the shaving cream with the washcloths until you've "rubbed it in" as much as possible, first.  The shaving cream will get paste-like and almost disappear.

Here's a little clip of Dash practicing making a capital 'A'!

So, go buy some shaving cream and have some fun!