Audrey Sauble

Preschool art series, continued…
Once upon a time, I decided to avoid cleaning the house by letting my oldest get it a little messier.
That’s where this flour activity started.
I’ve actually been working on this particular post for a while. Unfortunately, on top of everything else going on, my kids have been taking turns getting sick. My youngest was just starting to sleep through the night before this, so I’ve been missing the extra sleep a little bit more than usual. She’s doing better now, though, and I’m now trying to catch up on life again.
As a result, the kids have gotten to play with their flour this week, since it keeps them occupied for 20-30 minutes at least without a lot of supervision. Clean up, on the other hand, is a bit more hands-on!
This is definitely a messy activity, but it’s been a fun way to add some sensory play on occasion, and the flour is surprisingly easy to sweep or vacuum up afterwards. Most of the time, the kitchen needs sweeping anyway, so once we’re do…

To continue with my preschool art series…

Kids’ art can be messy sometimes. Especially when the art doesn’t happen on paper.
Pens and markers on the wall? We’ve gotten prodigiously lucky so far, but—to be honest—I have sometimes allowed my kids to draw on the walls.
I’ve even encouraged it on a couple of occasions. It started once upon a time…
…when we decided to drive across the country with a toddler. That trip took us half a dozen long days of driving, split up over several weekends.
Yes, we let him play with a tablet on the drive.
We also found an 8x11” whiteboard with dry erase markers for him to play with in the car.
He did need me to wipe the board clean every 2-3 minutes, and he did paint his hands, legs, and face prolifically. At the end of the day, though, the markers washed off with a bit of water—even the big red blotch that soaked into his jacket after sitting on a marker for most of a day.
After our success with the markers, we picked up a set of washable crayons to add to ou…

One morning last fall, we had a squad of raccoons wander across our yard, past the house, and over the back fence. The kits were big enough that I couldn’t tell them apart from the mom, as they clambered around the trees, before disappearing down the hill. They’ve moved on now, though, and only Mom Raccoon is around now.

How do I know? Well, I found Mom Raccoon's tracks recently, when we had a bit of unexpected snow.

I could see her tracks from our living room window, actually—a neat little line across the back yard.

When we went outside later in the morning we hunted around and found the rest of her trail.



Apparently, Mom Raccoon came around one neighbor’s house, across our driveway and up into the other neighbor’s yard. Then, back down to our driveway, following it down a line of trees that had blocked most of the snow. Tiptoe along our railroad-tie retaining wall, duck under the fence, and wander across the backyard to the same section of fence she’d climbed over the summer, …

Yesterday I posted a list of preschool activities. I’m sure the list made me sound super organized and efficient. Unfortunately, I’m not.

For example: a while ago, I bought a neat calendar that showed day-by-day schedules for preschoolers with music time, fun finger snacks, art projects, and play ideas. I’ve looked at the calendar a few times, but so far, all of our projects have been spontaneous. A book mentions volcanoes… “What is a volcano?”  Well, thank you, Youtube and the Hawaiian lava fields, for showing us exactly what a volcano is and does.
(This is what Montessori/child-lead learning is all about, right?)

Anyway: A few months ago, Munchkin and I started talking about how we see and smell. The topic seemed a bit abstract for preschoolers, so I created a 'sensory paper' to show the five senses and how we use them. This is a really easy craft for preschoolers to do, and I can guarantee you’ve got all the supplies, so here’s how to make your own:
Supplies:Take one piece …