Saturday, October 11, 2014

C is for Cats. Paper Plate Cat. Dramatic Play.

How to Be a Cat

Halloween for Preschoolers: reading about witches and their black cats, decorating the house, playing cats. My Firefly is getting into the holiday season. It is so exciting to share her joy!

Only a Witch Can Fly

We've read this very special book by Alison McGhee. A young witch is discovering a magic of flying for the first time, unsuccessfully at first. I love how it teaches to follow your dreams and they'll come true one day. The story is a poem written in 13th century sestina which calls for the repetition of the key words. When read aloud, the medieval rhyming style and black and white illustrations will give you chills!

We have read aloud "Only a Witch Can Fly" at our homeschool preschool group. Kids and adults loved it. The little ones had to try flying on brooms... and had great laughs out of it. They can be so very cute!

Dramatic Play - Cats

Our almost 3 year olds are only starting dramatic play. Our goal is to give them every chance at it: dramatic play is the most important way of learning for preschoolers!

As was proved by our "Cats" activity. Kids learned about cats, picked up several new words with no effort; and the images they created in their little heads are a form of abstract thinking - cool!

Both kids and cats are very well known by Nikki McClure. Maybe that's why she managed to write an excellent 101 manual "How to Be a Cat", lol. There is one skill to master per spread: stretch, feast, pounce, clean, tumble, listen, explore... you name it. The kids immediately started practicing the skills - it's a great book for a play date!

Paper Plate Cats

The kids were offered paper plates and a bowl to trace circles to create cats. The goal was to foster creativity and decision making. So the cats all came out funny looking - perfect for Halloween! Cutting paper plates is great for developing scissor skills.

My Firefly finished a couple of cats pictured below. The body and the head is cut from the same plate, and the second plate was used for a tail. She colored one cat with paint, and the other one with crayons (black, orange, and purple).


We decorated our cats for the Fall. I punched out the holes for the Fall themed ribbon. The eyes and the nose are foam stickers: acorns, pumpkins, and fall leaves. The smile is painted with the red tempera paint.

Halloween - Fine Motor Skills

In the picture below, some things kept at our fireplace as decorations/ sensory play/ fine motor practice. Off topic - I might try to write another post on this.



You can find our previous Creative ABCs here: http://www.mybrightfirefly.com/p/creative-abcs.html

You are very welcome to follow us here:


1 comment:

  1. I recently ordered an essay from help phd, and I must say that I am very satisfied with their service. The essay was well-written, and the writer followed all of the instructions that I provided. The customer support team was also very responsive and helpful, answering all of my questions promptly. Additionally, the pricing was reasonable, and I was able to get the essay within the deadline I specified.

    ReplyDelete