Hands-On Learning for 3- To 7-Year-Olds

Sing! Play! Create! is a wonderful book that contains a collection of simple activities and songs to sing with your children. This resource is great for the classroom, home, and library. The book is divided into four locations that children can become familiar with: the pond, the garden, the zoo, and the farm. Each of the four section begins with a poem followed by simple art activities, games, and songs. Over two dozen arts and crafts can be completed in fewer than ten steps. Many of the supplies needed for the arts and crafts are inexpensive and can often times be found around the house. There are over twenty familiar songs and melodies which include Row, Row, Row Your Boat, I’m a Little Teapot, and Mary Had a Little Lamb. A number of games are included which incorporate fine and gross motor skills as well as encourage important social skills, such as taking turns and showing respect for one another. Highlighted yellow boxes provide Nature Notes with brief but interesting trivia, and Story Corner sidebars list two to five thematic books.

In celebration of Spring, we suggest reading Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert followed by a related fun craft activity found on page 42 of Sing! Play! Create! by Lisa Boston.

Materials needed to make Paper Flowers:
• Paper plates
• Child-safety scissors
• Fruit Loops or other colorful cereal rings
• Glue
• Paintbrush (optional)
• Tape
• Colored craft sticks or Popsicle sticks

What you do:
1. Cut a small paper plate into a flower shape. Glue cereal rings onto the plate (Younger children may want to paint the glue onto the plate and then add the cereal rings).
2. Tape a craft stick to the back of your flower for the stem.
3. To add leaves, ask a grown-up to cut another craft stick in half. Glue the leaves to the stem.

Happy Spring!