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Day Care Crafts for Preschoolers

According to the Post Adoption Learning Center, children make more than just art when they use crafts. Children learn how to follow directions. They practice gross and fine motor skills. Children learn how to work with peers and share space and resources. They also learn a sense of pride as they hold up the work they have completed. Preschool teachers use crafts to teach about letters, numbers and the world around them.
  1. Letters

    • The alphabet offers many craft options. Cut out letters from household sponges and allow children to stamp the windows with washable paint. Give each child a large construction paper letter to cut out. Give the children magazines and advertisement circulars and help them find pictures of items that start with the letter the child has cut out. Glue the pictures to the letter. Help children make an upper and lowercase letter out of stickers that begin with the letter. For example, make the letter "A" out of apple stickers.

    Numbers

    • Cover a cookie sheet with shaving cream. Let the children draw numbers in the cream and then "erase" them by spreading the shaving cream over the sheet again. Make a caterpillar out of numbered circles. To help the children learn even and odd numbers, make even numbers in yellow circles and odd numbers in green. Make an abacus by sliding fresh grapes onto bamboo skewers.

    Music

    • Build African, Native American or Chinese drums out of a variety of recycled containers. Stretch colored plastic wrap over the top of the container and decorate the outside. Cover one side of a cardboard spool and fill with beans or rice. Attach a stick to the other hole to create a rhythmic shaker. Tie four or five jingle bells to a paper towel holder to make a jingle stick.

    Seasons and Science

    • Create murals for each season. Use gold and green paper for autumn, white paper for winter, pastel colors for spring and green and blue paper for summer. Help the children make autumn leaves or fluffy snowballs out of cotton. Ask the children to paint coffee filters and pinch them in the middle. Hold the center pinched with a clothespin and add antennae to create a mural full of craft butterflies. Place soil and a small plant in the bottom of a clear, two-liter bottle. Leave the miniature terrarium in sunlight and allow the children to observe the "rain" that circulates inside the bottle.

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