Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Hanukkah!

Here are the chanukkiot (menorahs) that we made for Hanukkah.  Glass beads stick well to salt dough and do well in the oven, even overnight (we baked ours at about 175 degrees for several hours, then flipped them to dry the underside).

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חנוכה שמח

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Letter to Santa

 The children composed this letter that we will read to Santa when he visits our holiday party this evening.

Joy

You know what brings me so much joy this week?  The holiday spirit at Beansprouts.  Part of that "spirit" is manifested in our holiday decor, made by children and teachers together.  Last year, it was our holiday music. But this year, it's our decor.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

Twinkling coffee filter snowflakes:

Frosty is in progress:

Child-made ornaments turn a fake manmade tree into a soul-infused centerpiece complete with Christmas, Hanukkah, and winter-themed books underneath:

And what makes a house into a home preschool?  The teachers : )

Gingerbread Houses

Here is a photo tour through my favorite activity of the week--gingerbread houses!  My next favorite thing--reliving it as I look through the photos to see which I want to include in this blog post! 

Festive Cotton Ball Garland

Our inspiration for this quiet and very engaging after-naptime activity came from A Fanciful Twist via Crafty Crow.  We did not tie the ends of the embroidery thread (I told the kids they could try tying if they wanted, or just wrap the strings very tightly. Both worked.)

I precut the embroidery thread into pieces roughly a foot long.

Once we had a pretty nice collection, I began to thread them onto a piece of dental floss (yes, I said that, it was the best thing I could think of for this activity).

Since I was using an embroider needle, I could have let them do it. But I didn't want to disrupt the focus on the task at hand.

As children woke from nap, they quietly joined us.

Look how many they made! And after some time, they discovered using more than one piece of string on each cotton ball, and at the very end of the activity... 

They just went for it! 

Thanks, Vanessa @A Fanciful Twist), for the inspiration! 

Colored Snow Trays

First, I filled some small trays with salt.  

The kids found a way to get creative while they waited for the rest of the supplies.

Then, I gave them trays of red and green slightly diluted liquid water colors.  We have these tiny little fish-shaped droppers that we got from the Japanese dollar store (they are meant for taking soy sauce to go)

Some kids can turn any activity into a sensory activity!

And since it's just salt, it wipes up so very easily. I like that!

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