Top 3 Blog Posts of 2011

Here are my top 3 blog posts of 2011. If 2012 continues the same way with followers, I should be doing great this time next year. Keep your fingers crossed!

#3- Spooktober

I did this as a guest post for the blog formerly known as Frogs, Bees & Under the Seas, now Playing with Pixie Dust. The post includes Halloween activities.

#2-Spring Bulletin Board

This was our Eric Carle- Very Hungry Caterpillar board.

#1-Texture Sequencing Sticks

This post won by a landslide with 637 pageviews!

I'm linking up to:

Pumpkin Mania!

Here are some of the pumpkin activities we are doing this week.

First of all, we used bat and pumpkin cookie cutters with playdough.

The pumpkin one was really a hit. Here are 3 different childrens' work.

Next, we put together the felt pieces to make a jack-o-lantern.

I love the way this little girl used the extra eyes to make whiskers and ears for the cat and the extra mouth for hair!

This pumpkin is actually a smaller one that we are using for 5 Little Pumpkins, but one of the kids made it work anyway :)

Next we painted pumpkins.

And we also played the jack-o-lantern bean bag toss game that I blogged about earlier.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween and enjoys our activities!

Painted Pumpkin Centerpiece

Here is just a little craft I made as a centerpiece. Just painted and glittered the white and black pumpkin and tied on the ribbon. They can be used with a candle as shown below or some other arrangement of fall items including pinecones, mini hay bales, etc.  Or you could sit them on a decorative tray.

Here are some close-ups.

Just to add some more fall, here is a photo of my back yard. Happiness :)

Spooktober on Frogs, Bees and Under the Seas

Hello, I am Lori from Cachey Mama's Classroom. I would like to thank all 3 of the authors at Frogs, Bees and Under the Seas for the opportunity to write a guest post for them! It has been a while since I have actually done much for Halloween with my preschool class. The last 2 years I have worked for Head Start where they don't allow us to celebrate holidays, so I had to think back to some ideas I used to do at my previous center. Here are just a few things I came up with.

GOING BATTY

Here is a bat decoration that I made with a toilet paper roll. This is really easy to do and can be hung up around the room from the ceiling for Halloween parties or gatherings.

TIME TO GET MESSY!
Get some of the tiny little mini pumpkins and cut the tops off. Let the kids sift through the pulp to gather all the seeds. Save the seeds to count and then make a graph of how many seeds we found in each pumpkin.

Use paper cutouts in the shape of a seed to make a picture graph. Lastly, have the children compare the numbers of seeds found in each pumpkin. As an extension, you can measure each pumpkin to get the diameter and see if there is a correlation between the size and the number of seeds it has.

PUMPKIN TOSS

We have done this activity for a few years and it is especially good for parties or other events such as a fall fair where you have stations set up. A Jack-O-Lantern bean bag toss. I just cut this from butcher paper, laminated it and attached it to a cardboard box that I also cut holes in.

You can use any bean bags. Either take some from another game you have or make some festive ones like the ones pictured below from Ms. Carlie's Little Learners. No rules or points, but if you want, you can have some science inquiry questions ready to ask them if they get their beanbag through the hole.

PARTY SNACKS

Here's a tasty, healthy snack that is nice and easy. Little ones will love these eyeballs. I have made these and they are yummy!

Happy Halloween to you and the kiddos in your class!

Wishlist Wednesday:Sweetwater Style

This week's post is by Mary from Sweetwater Style. She has got some good taste in decorating. So many crafty, creative and beautiful things on her blog. She is great at finding bargains and using common items for the most innovative ideas. That's just her style! Please take a moment to check out Mary's blog.

Hello all, I am Mary here from  Sweetwater Style.  I am thrilled to be guest posting on Cachey Mama's wonderful blog.  

October is here....time to start thinking about Halloween-

Kids of all ages love this time of year.

The blogosphere is filled with great Halloween Ideas.  

 BUT....

Since I am a School Library Media Specialist in my other life, I decided that for this guest post I would share some of my favorite read-a-louds for Halloween!

After all....I hold the title for Mis-Information! From ghoulies and ghosties

And long-leggedy beasties And things that go bump in the night, Good Lord, deliver us! ~Scottish Saying

From silly to spooky...reading Halloween tales is a great way to get in the spirit of Halloween!

Here are some suggestions for you....they are all available at Amazon but even better...FREE at your library!