G is for Gumball

 

G is for Gumball is always a hit with my preschool kids. Supplies you will need for this day:

• Gumballs - big, small and any you can find in between!  

• Gumball Machine (I have THIS one from amazon, or there are other fun machines on amazon.) You can sometimes find little ones at the Dollar Store.  

•  Pennies!! (if you have the gumball machine I have). 

•  Food safe marker (or a sharpie, but make sure they don't eat the gumballs) 

•  Butcher paper (or newsprint or a large piece of paper) 

•  Colorful paper circles  (big)

•  Circle stickers (these are so fun and colorful) 

•  Print the last three pictures in this post

Gumball letter match

A fun interactive, lots of movement activity is matching paper gumballs to the giant paper gumball machine. If you have butcher paper or newsprint (find it at your local newspaper office), draw a big gumball machine and add uppercase and lower case G's all over inside. 

Cut paper circles of all different colors and write uppercase and lowercase G's on those. Lay the "gumballs" out on the floor and tell your preschooler/s to fill the gumball machine by matching the G and g's. (You could also mix this up and write all the letters of the alphabet in the machine and make gumballs to match).

When they're done, you should have a very colorful, filled gumball machine!!

Print these pages! 

1. Inside the gumball machine page, write uppercase G's and lowercase g's, similar to the giant gumball machine. Using the circle stickers, write G's and g's to match the amount in the gumball machine. Your preschooler will match uppercase G "gumballs" (stickers) to the G in the machine, and same with lowercase g's. (instead of G's, you could write the alphabet to match).

2. Write a-z and numbers 1-10 on gumballs, with a food safe marker, or a sharpie if you aren't planning on eating them. Use the actual gumball machine. After each gumball comes out, find it on the page and color it in (the color you use can match the color of the actual gumball!). 

3. Everyone LOVES putting pennies in the gumball machine and seeing what color comes out. Use it to your hearts content, but after each one comes out, mark it on the chart. Graph the colors that come out, or just mark each circle.

G is for Gumballs

The best thing about preschool at home with my kids is that we can do whatever we want! So we did a G is for Gumballs day! So fun.

• Read “The Bubble Gum Kid” by Stu Smith

• Preschool Journal G Page
  1. Practice writing Gg and “Gumball”
  2. Draw a gumball  
  3. Put gumball stickers all over page. I couldn’t find any, so I just printed this gumball image on sticker paper. Amazon does have some cute ones here .

• Sticky Bubblegum Song
  1. This is a cute little song that will have the kids laughing.
  2. Let the kids choose where their hands will stick! 

• Gumball Sticker Machine
  1. Print this terrific gumball machine from Motherhood on a Dime here
  2. Use dot stickers (in the office supply section) to fill up the gumball machine with colorful gumballs.
  3. OPTIONAL:
     • You could write A-Z or 1-10 all over the gumball machine.
     • Have the kids put a gumball sticker over each one as they count 1-10 or A-Z.
  4. OPTIONAL:
     • Laminate your gumball machine printable.
     • Use playdoh (or my new favorite, model magic). Roll into balls and fill your gumball machine with gumballs .
     • Thanks for the fun idea Deborah at Teach Preschool.

 

• Gumball Machine Fun
  1. I found these great little gumball machines at the Dollar Tree! There are also several to choose from here. 
  2. Let the kids have fun filling the machine with colorful gumballs.
  3. Let them dispense the gumballs.
  4. Sort the gumballs into colored bowls.
  5. OR … Have them put one gumball in each section of a Mini Ice Cube Tray and treat the ice cube tray like a graph. I found these at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $2.99 for a set of two.
• Blowing Bubblegum
  1. Have the kids decorate a large circle to look just like themselves.
  2. Or take a picture of the kids with their cheeks puffed out & print a large copy.
  3. Blow up a small pink balloon and tie.
  4. Poke a small hole where the mouth is and insert the tied end of the balloon bubble.
  5. It will look just like they’re blowing a bubblegum bubble!

• Gumball Obstacle Course … inspiration here.
  1. Set up a simple obstacle course.
  2. Have the kids place one gumball on a spoon.
  3. Maneuver through the gumball obstacle course.
  4. If the gumball falls, grab it, run back to the beginning and try again.