H is for Humpty Dumpty

• Read “Little Lumpty” by Miko Imai 

  This is a great book that my kids and I really enjoyed. Little Lumpty lives in the town of Dumpty, the same town and the same wall that Humpty Dumpty fell from years ago. Little Lumpty is curious and climbs the wall, but how he gets down is another story.

 

• Humpty Dumpty eggs
  1. Use a sharpie marker to draw a simple face on a raw egg.
  2. There’s something about holding a real egg that my kids are fascinated about. We had to learn to be very gentle with the eggs because they can break very easily!
  3. Talk about the oval shape, the smooth, cool texture or anything the kids notice.

• Build Humpty Dumpty’s wall
1. Use duplos or other blocks to build a tall wall.
2. While you’re working, see what other words you can rhyme with TALL and WALL.
3. Place the tall wall inside a glass dish (to catch poor Humpty).
4. Place your Humpty Dumpty egg on top of the wall and sing the Humpty Dumpty rhyme. Let the kids roll Humpty off the wall!! Their reactions are awesome
5. We noticed that just like the rhyme, we “couldn’t put Humpty together again.”

• Scrambled Dumpty
1. My kids enjoyed letting their Humpty Dumpty eggs fall off the wall so much, we ended up with six eggs to scramble for lunch.
2. Let the kids help cut up some ham or turkey deli meat (it will cut with a butter knife).
3. They can help scramble the eggs with a wire whisk.
4. Cook the eggs and serve for lunch!
• Humpty Dumpty Coloring Page
1. While the scrambled eggs are cooking, the kids can color this fun rhyming coloring page.
2. Print here from Carl’s Corner.

• Humpty Puzzle Fixed with Bandaids … how’s that for a title?! My kids actually loved this and couldn’t figure out how it happened
1. Cut out a large oval from white cardstock.
2. Draw a Humpty Dumpty face on the oval.
3. Let the kids help color Humpty. My kids added legs and a tongue.
4. Set Humpty up on a high shelf, ledge or mantel. Make a big deal about “Oh, I hope Humpty doesn’t fall!”
5. Finish the rest of your preschool activities.
6. Sometime during the day (I did this when we left to pick up the boys from school…) be sneaky and cut Humpty into puzzle pieces. Scatter the pieces on the floor.
7. Let the kids discover poor Humpty and suggest they use bandaids to fix him.
8. My kids loved this and kept asking how he fell and broke into pieces!

Grandpa Bunny Bunny

• Read “Grandpa Bunny” … this is one of my very favorites. My mom gave it to my kids a few years ago, because we had it when I was little. I love it. Grandpa Bunny Bunny teaches each new bunny crop how to paint Easter eggs, spring blossoms, autumn leaves and shadows on the snow. We read this all year round.

• Paint colorful crayon eggs … So colorful and cute from Chalk Talk
  1. Cut out a large egg shape from white cardstock.
  2. Let the kids use crayons to make designs on their Easter egg (the harder you push, the brighter the colors!) 
  3. Use a watered-down blue paint and brush over the entire egg.
  4. Let dry. The paint won’t stick where the crayons are and they end up looking beautiful!
• How to Dye an Easter Egg
  1. Have the kids tell you “How to Dye an Easter Egg”
  2. Write their instructions down word for word!
  3. We have done this for “How to Cook a Turkey” and it is hilarious

 

• ABC Egg Hunt … of course, we have to end an egg day with an Easter egg hunt. See the original post and printable here.
1. Print 2 copies of the ABC tiles and cut one page apart.
2. Hide each of the letters in plastic Easter eggs and hide around the room.
3. Let the kids find an egg, open it and match their letter to the letters on the ABC page.

Eggs & Bird Nests

I love Spring and Easter time.

My friend, Camie, hosted preschool at her house earlier this month and we spent a wonderful morning full of eggs and nests … perfect for Spring!

• Read “The Golden Egg Book” by Margaret Wise Brown … I had never seen this book, but I actually just ordered one for myself! I loved it. It has a vintage look, adorable illustrations and a cute story. 

  BOOK DESCRIPTION: One little bunny finds an egg and tries every which way to open it because he wants to find out what is inside (He jumps on it, rolls it down a hill, and even throws a rock at it … a very small rock, and not very hard, because he’s not a very big little bunny.) He can hear something peck, peck, pecking inside. Then he falls asleep and the something comes out! Very cute.

• Read “Chickens Aren't the Only Ones” by Ruth Heller.
  1. Before reading, ask the kids if they know any animals that come from eggs.
  2. My 4-year-old was excited to share that dinosaurs come from eggs. And I was impressed that even dinosaurs were included in this book.

 

• Egg Game … the kids loved choosing and opening Easter eggs to discover what animal was inside!
  1. Gather several empty plastic Easter eggs
  2. Print out a small picture of animals that lay eggs, about 1” square and put them in the eggs. Include enough copies for each of the kids. We used these for another activity later. Click the image below to print the pictures we used. All images are from Microsoft Clipart.
  3. Spread the eggs out on the floor and let the kids choose one egg.
  4. Open it and discover what animals come from an egg!

• Egg Wiggle Game … I thought this game was adorable. Kids are so funny. Some days they jump right up and wiggle along. And some days they look at you like you’re crazy for wiggling like an octopus
  1. Cut out several colorful egg shapes (or use a pack of foam egg shapes)
  2. On the back, attach a picture of an animal that comes from an egg. Click the picture below to print the animals we used:

     dinosaur octopus frog turkey spider snake fish

  3. Turn the egg shapes upside-down on the floor and have one of the kids choose one.
  4. Act like that animal … Wiggle like an octopus! Hop like a frog!

 

• Giant Egg & Poem
  1. Cut out a large egg shape.
  2. Print the following egg poem. Cut & paste it to the center of the egg.
  3. Use the small 1” animal pictures from the game above.
  4. Let the kids glue the pictures all over the egg! Gluesticks worked great!

• Bird Nest Cookies … treats are always a treat at Camie’s house! She made these yummy bird nest treats for the kids. I had one too, of course! You can visit her blog, Pass the Peas, Please for the recipe!

• Deviled Green Eggs & Ham … and always a more grown-up treat for the moms These were so good, I had a couple. A perfect combination of egg, ham and green spinach! Get the recipe at Pass the Peas, Please.

Eggs

• Read "Green Eggs & Ham" by Dr. Seuss. Available here.
• Before you read …
  1. Give each child a yellow circle.
  2. Draw a happy face on one side & a sad face on the other.
  3. Name different foods and have the kids show a happy face if they like it, a sad face if they don't.
  4. End by say "green eggs & ham..."
  5. Tell the kids the book is about someone who doesn't think he likes green eggs & ham.
• While you read …
  1. Give the kids a green bingo dauber and a large piece of white paper.
  2. Each time he hears the phrase "green eggs & ham," prompt him to stamp the dauber on his paper.
  3. After the story, count the green dots.
  4. Then draw a squiggly circle (egg white) around each green yolk.
• After you read …

 

• Flip the Eggs
1. Attach an egg cutout (in the shell) to one side of several juice can lids.
2. Attach a cooked egg cutout (squiggly white circle with a yellow yolk inside) to the other side.
3. Place them in a frying pan, raw side up
4. Use a spatula to flip the eggs until cooked, then transfer them to a paper plate.
• Rhyming
  1. Prepare 2 sentence strips (below).
  2. Prepare clipart of rhyming objects (snake, lake ... bear, chair ... duck, truck ... tree, bee).
  3. Place one of the clipart at the end of the first sentence.
  4. Read it and let the kids find the rhyming clipart to finish the last sentence.
  5. Remove & repeat with remaining clipart.

Would you like them with a _______ ?

Would you like them in a ________ ?

• I Would Eat Them…
  1. Cut out a favorite food from a grocery ad.
  2. Glue it to the center of a paper plate.
  3. Ask each child to name a fun place where she would eat this tasty food.
  4. Write her response on the plate ... "I would eat hot dogs in a tree"

• Make green eggs & ham (so, ours actually ended up as Green Eggs & Ham Bugs)
  1. Add green food coloring to a beaten egg.
  2. Chop up some ham into cubes.
  3. Scramble the eggs and ham together.
• Have an Easter Egg hunt ... no matter what month it is!
• Egg Match Game
  1. Write numbers 1-12 on plastic eggs & also inside an empty egg carton.
  2. Hide the eggs.
  3. When the kids find them, match the egg to it's place in the carton.
• Egg Math Puzzles
  1. Cut out 10 large egg shapes.
  2. Cut the eggs in half.
  3. Write number 1-10 on one half & let the kids help put the same number of egg or chick stickers on the other half.
  4. Match them.

   

bacon clipart from Free Clip Art Provided by Artclips.com. Copyright 2007. All Rights Reserved.

• Eggs & Bacon Patterns
  1. Cut out a giant white circle and fold to resemble a tortilla burrito.
  2. Cut out several egg & bacon cliparts.
  3. Tell the kids you need help filling the burrito and start by placing a few clipart in the burrito in a simple pattern (egg, bacon, egg, bacon).
  4. Let the kids extend the pattern until the burrito is completely filled.
  5. Remove the eggs & bacon and use new clipart to fill the burrito with tasty patterns again.

snack idea: green eggs & ham or hard-boiled eggs

Alphabet Letter Egg Hunt

We actually didn’t do this during E week or Easter. We did it during Y week, just because it sounded like fun

 

1. Make a page with all of the letters of the alphabet.
2. Print a second page and cut out each of the letters. I have mine laminated. I made my page years ago, but I’ll try to get it scanned in so you can just print it.
3. Have the kids help you put one letter inside each plastic Easter egg and close them.
4. I had them run into the other room while I hid them.
5. When they found an egg, they opened it up, took out their letter and told me what it was, then matched it to the same letter on the page.
6. Then they could run and find another one.
7. (Here’s a different sheet of letter tiles you can print out! Just click on the picture, then right click to print or save.)