Dress Up Birthday Party For Elementary Aged Girls

In our previous article we shared ideas for hosting a preschool dress up party. We were asked if we had any suggestion for older girls. Here are a few more ideas for party games, invitations and activities for dress up parties for girls.

When considering the party invitation, continue with the dress-up party theme. You can make your own invitation by cutting out shapes of shoes and purses. Another suggestion would be to find a cute dress up party invitation, such as the one found here.

Find fun party decor by draping feather boas around the room. You can also place mirrors in the dress up room so the girls can all clearly see each other when they are putting on their outfits. You can borrow the mirrors, or purchase some cheap ones for around five dollars a piece. A fun centerpiece idea is to tie balloons to the handle of a cute purse.

Have the children poodle skirts and other dress up items ready for the girls when they get to the party. You can drape the children poodle skirts and other fun outfits in either a large box or a trunk. After the girls put on their outfits and children poodle skirts do a quick make-over, like adding lip gloss or doing face painting.

A fun, easy, and inexpensive craft is for the girls to make body glitter. Add polyester glitter, found at most craft stores, to aloe vera gel. Have wood craft sticks available for the girls to stir the gel and glitter in the colors that they like. You, or another adult, can put their gel in their own personal container with their name on it.

For an activity you can make or buy a pinata. Have the pinata be in the shape of lipstick or a purse. Add plastic jewelry and lip gloss to the candy in the pinata.

Be sure to take pictures of the girls in their dress-up outfits. You can also decorate picture frames with stick on jewels and glitter glue or gel pens. Take Polaroid pictures, or send the pictures later on after the party for the girls to add to their picture frame.

Small purse totes can usually be found at dollar stores for a quick, fun party favor. Fill the purses with hair ties, princess stickers, plastic jewelry, and lip gloss. A piece of candy or two could be a fun idea as well.

Tips for planning a Preschool Graduation Ceremony

A very special time for preschool kids as they graduate and go into the actual school for the next 12 years. You as a preschool teacher can make sure that this graduation ceremony is memorable for the kid and certainly for the parents. It is this age when the kids are innocent and would probably not know the meaning of graduation but will certainly look back with find memories at the photographs later in life. It is up to you as teachers and parents to make sure that your have that graduation ceremony at all costs.

While arranging for the preschool graduation ceremony make sure that you do this ceremony as if it is an actual college or high school graduation ceremony. For this ceremony you need to let the parent's know in advance that they need to have a graduation dress ready for their kids. Then you need to arrange for the graduation cap and a scroll.

Invite someone important from the local community where your school is located or else try to at least have someone from the schools administrative board as a chairperson for the event. Based on the budget you can have this at the classroom itself or you can organize it in the school auditorium. You can actually plan the ceremony at some special theater or a local town hall but then you need to check the finances.

Make sure that the classroom is decorated with everything that the kids worked on during their preschool days. The invite or the graduation announcement should be handmade by the kids itself as that will be loved by the parents for sure.

During the ceremony make sure that you give away the preschool certificate to each kid by announcing his or her name and also allow the parents to also come up on stage.The guest of honor should hand over the certificates to each kid and also give the young ones a gift or a keepsake.

After the ceremonies make sure that you have a small cake and cookie party or again based on the budget you can plan a lavish dinner. Another thing to arrange for is the photographer to make sure that the event is captured and then mail the photographs to parent's later.

Do not let go this event without sounding like a proper graduation ceremony as it is the start of the actual formative years for the kid.

Preschool Jungle Theme & Pre K Jungle Activity Themes For Children

Let's go for a safari ride in the jungle with our preschool class. It will be so much fun!
Here are some ideas on how to get your jungle theme started and some ideas to keep it going for as long as your Pre K class is interested.

Pre K Jungle Theme Ideas:

-introduce the word jungle and give a brief description of what it is

-have books in library and read books on the jungle (age appropriate)

-have jungle pictures posted around the classroom

-have jungle animal toys on the toy shelf

-have jungle themed puzzles

-play jungle music

What animals live in the jungle and what do they eat?:

-panthers (eat meat or other animals)

-snakes (eat rodents or frogs, some large snakes eat large animals)

-bears (eat fish, nuts, berries, honey, leaves)

-monkeys (eat fruits)

-zebras (zebras eat tall grass)

-giraffes (eat leaves off of tall trees)

-elephants (eat leaves from trees, shrubs, and shoots)

-cheetahs (eat meat or other animals)

-alligators (eat meat or other animals)

-rhinoceros (eat plants)

-birds (eat insects and seeds)

-hippopotamus (eat grass)...etc.

What does a jungle look like?:

-have books and pictures that have real life images of the jungle

-have the children explain what they see in the pictures and talk about the pictures with the children(check our site for coloring pictures or games which include jungle animals)

Explaining where the animals live in a jungle?:

-the animals will find homes within their habitat (the jungle) which they make into a home for them and their families.

-this could be a nest, a den, a burrow, under a rock, in a hollow tree trunk, etc.

-you can have a jungle themed dramatic play center

-make a car out of a box

-get some safari looking hats

-children's Binoculars

Camera-Action

jungle animals on the wall and see your children from k to go to a jungle safari

Have fun in the jungle in preschool!

Build Your Own Preschool Curriculum

Putting together your own preschool curriculum can be accomplished in a variety of ways. In the broad sense there is the option of purchasing a homeschool preschool program from one of the many preschool curriculum providers.

Take on the approach of an everyday life experience with your preschooler. This is accomplished in a much less structured avenue. Lots of reading to your preschooler and exploring life and their world together emphasizing what they enjoy doing while they are learning. If you're a bit stuck in the middle with what you prefer being a bit more on the structured side of a packaged preschool curriculum but your budget is definitely more in line with the latter, then why not design your own preschool curriculum!

Start with a rough outline of what your learning goals are for your preschooler. There are websites available with criteria that will help you with evaluating your child's strengths and weaknesses. Just do a bit of searching on early childhood educational development evaluation criteria and you'll find checklists that you can use.

After you have determined your learning objectives for your preschooler it is now time to search the web for some ideas for the upcoming school year. At this young age a great tool to use for your topics and focus is right on the calendar! Use the various seasons and holidays to develop broad theme type of learning material. At this age the learning is much more fun for the child and easy for you if you keep the overall environment colorful and relevant to what is going on in their life.

Outside the calendar or even in conjunction with it, plan on and set up a few topical field trips around your community. Learning by experiencing life at the preschool age is extremely important and it is a great way to keep your preschooler's attention.

As you work with your calendar and do a little brainstorming as you check out each month and the topical days or seasons they have to offer, begin making a rough draft or list(s) of all the materials that will need to support your preschool educational goals that you have established. You can refine the list later.

As you begin to stockpile your material that has come from your lists, don't forget to use any and all of the items that you can around the house. Save boxes, plastic jars, lids, cans, anything colorful that you think you might use. Don't limit your imagination. There are ideas galore out on the web! Use it. Have fun and enjoy the journey.

Preschool Children - All About Me

All About Me

Preschool children are just starting to form opinions about themselves and their own identity within the world. For many children, preschool is one of the first socializing experiences outside the home, so it gives them a chance to learn how to relate to other children and how to be themselves. A great theme for allowing preschool children to explore their sense of self is "all about me", which integrates these activities and crafts.

The "all about me" theme is an excellent way to start of the preschool curriculum, since it will give the children a chance to get to know each other a little bit before jumping into the school year.

One way to begin to explore the self is by allowing preschool children to recreate themselves in puppet form out of a paper bag. Let each child decorate their puppet with crayons, markers, construction paper cut outs, yarn for hair, and whatever else they see fit.

If time permits, the children can create clothes for their puppets from fabric or construction paper. After each puppet is completed, take them one at a time and try to see if the class can guess who each puppet is meant to represent.

Fun with Silhouettes

Here's another fun way to celebrate the "all about me" theme: making silhouettes. This craft requires a bright light, a projector, paper, and a pencil. To begin, use the bright light or projector to form the silhouette of the child on the wall. Tape a piece of paper to the wall and trace the child's outline with a pencil.

Next, cut out the silhouette and use it as a stencil to cut another shape from black paper. Glue the black paper silhouette to a large piece of white paper, and let the children decorate the frame to their silhouette face with pictures of their favorite things and colors.

In this craft, children will create a placemat that can be used at snack time for the remainder of the year. To begin, give each child a piece of white paper. Next, have them dip their hand in their favorite color of paint and place a handprint on the center of the paper.

After washing the paint from their hand, the children can decorate the placemats to their desire with stickers, markets, paint, crayons, or anything else found in the craft supply room. Some children might even want to practice writing their name at the top. Once the placemats are completed, tape a small picture of each child somewhere on the placemat, and laminate the placemats.

The Me Collage

Finally, here's a fun craft for preschool children to identify their likes to form a collage. To begin, have the children lay down on a large piece of white paper and trace their outlines. Cut out the outline of the child, and have each child draw and decorate their face.

Next, have the children go through old magazines or books to find pictures of the things that they like to decorate their collages. You can paste images to the neck until you are satisfied with their collage. After each child is completed, the collagen can be set by hand in hand along the wall for a nice effect.

Crafts for the Cat in the Hat

Ever since the book The Cat in the Hat was written, children of all ages have been enamored with it. They love the story and how simple and fun it is. They wish that they had a cat in a hat of their very own. While you may not be able to give them something like that, you can still do fun projects and crafts with your kids so that they have fun. This will also get them to be creative and to use their imagination, which is an important part of being a kid.

One of the main aspects of the Cat in the Hat book is the actual hat that the cat is wearing. Most children who love this book would also love a hat of their very own. Luckily, they can be fairly easy to make. All you need to do is get some colored felts; enough to make one hate for each kid. Make your own while showing the children how to make it. They should follow your instruction and you can keep an eye on their progress. In the end, they will have their very own Cat in the Hat hat.

Another character besides the cat in the book is the fish. In this respect, your children can do crafts that involve this fish. For example, they could cut out a fish scene using different colors of construction paper. They should cut out a large circle for the bowl, and then different pieces of colored paper for the fish.

Preschool Graduation

A graduation ceremony is a very nice way to say goodbye and pass along good wishes for the next year of school. Preschool graduation is no different in that aspect. It is a fun way to celebrate a milestone in your child's life. While it is also a somewhat "serious" occasion, for preschoolers, this ceremony should include more fun than solemnity.

If your child is attending a preschool, your part in the festivities will be simple. You will simply make sure that all friends and relatives you would like to be there on the big day receive invitations in time to make plans. Of course there may some cost involved regarding purchasing a gown and cap for your child. Depending on the school your child attends, you may also be asked to contribute a food or beverage item to the reception following the preschool graduation ceremony. But, for the most part, your biggest responsibility will be getting your child there on time.

You may be one of the many parents who opt to do homeschooling these days. This is does not mean that your child cannot enjoy a special day of marking the completion of preschool. Parents of homeschoolers take great pride and joy in acknowledging their child's accomplishments, just as parents of children schooled in the traditional way. You can still have a preschool graduation ceremony for your child, although it will take a bit more work on your part.

There are many sites on the internet offering everything you will need for your child's big day. You can buy everything from caps and gowns to themed party supplies for the reception. These sets also include invitations matching the theme you have chosen. However, if you have a printer and some colored ink, you can always print these out yourself.

A preschool graduation would not be complete without a diploma. This, too, is something else you can do right from your printer. These can be printed out plain for you to write your child's name on, or the name can be printed right on the diploma using one of many fancy fonts. You can easily produce a special certificate for a special child.

If you are homeschooling your child, and know some other local parents who are also doing this, you might consider inviting them and their children to be a part of the preschool graduation. The ceremony can turn into a very festive occasion for everyone.