Quick Activity Cards...{for pre-schoolers}

Pinterest is awesome!  Ideas abound, boards are created, pins are saved.  Technology is so cool.

But what happens when you pin a pumpkin craft to your Halloween board in July?  I'll tell what happens to me.

I have an ah-hah! moment in October when I remember I pinned said pumpkin craft.  But what board did I pin that to?  The arts and crafts board?  The 4-H project board?  The Activities for Joseph board?  The Halloween board?  The Homeschooling Fun board?  I browse through my Pinterest boards, get side tracked with other cool ideas I'd forgotten were pinned, conduct another quick search of pumpkin crafts in case a better project shows up, then realize my crafting time has come to an end, and I have nothing to show for it.  I'm disgusted with myself for getting side-tracked...again!  My kids are dissappointed.  It's a lose-lose situation.  Until now.

Technology is cool.  But, it still can't beat paper and pencil for some things.  I came up with this idea to put technology in its place and show it who's boss.

It's so simple.

1. Grab a stack of notecards.
2. Find a super cool idea on Pinterest.
3. Write up a quick summary on a notecard.
4. Rubberband all the super cool ideas together.

Now whenever you have a few minutes to craft or you need to keep your pre-schooler busy, pick out a notecard and do the activity.

Here's a sample of my notecards.  And note:  not all the ideas came from Pinterest.  Some of them I actually thought up myself.

1. Wiggle, Wiggle - wiggle a jump rope on the ground like a snake and let the kids jump over it
2. Sidewalk Chalk Fun - trace toys with chalk on the driveway
3. Alphabet Jump - chalk the ABC's on the sidewalk, yell out a letter and let the kid run to it
4. Mixing Colors - fill Styrofoam egg carton with colored water, let kids use an eye dropper to transfer and mix colors
5. Pillowcase Clothes - decorate old pillowcases, cut holes for head and arms, then play
6. Make-up Smear - photocopy your own (protect your eyes) or print a black & white copy of your face, give kids old make-up and let them make you pretty

These are just a few of my notecards.  And this isn't just for pre-schoolers.  Joseph, our 8 year old with Down syndrome can benefit from a stack of activity notecards with speech activities.  A stack of summer boredom cards or fall fun cards - any topic you'd like, for any age you'd like.

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