Pre-School Snip and Print Valentine

A taped area on the table is painted pink and red.  On the paint we place our paper hearts.  

We roll the paper and pull our prints.

Pattern Block Find

When I spied these in the "teacher's tag sale" my heart skipped a beat because I've been secretly longing for a zillion pattern blocks for quite some time.  I know I don't have one square inch of free space in the supply closet, but so what?  I grabbed them and ran.
Here are the pattern blocks having a bath in my kitchen sink.
And now they're all set to go.  Aren't they scrumptious?

Why pattern blocks?  Because they teach spatial reasoning, visualization, symmetry, slides, turns, problem solving, sorting, colors, 2-D geometric shapes, attributes, and of course, pattern making. Wow! And yes we're just about to start thinking about shape as an element of art so....

Here are some links to pattern block cards that you can download for free.  

http://fun-in-first.blogspot.com/2011/04/pattern-block-pictures.html

http://prekinders.com/pattern-blocks/

http://www.kellyskindergarten.com/math/math_activities.htm

http://www.homeschoolmo.com/2010/10/free-pattern-blocks-for-you-to-download.html

http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview?LPid=18826

Here are some on-line pattern block sites for playing on-line

http://www.learningtoday.com/player/swf/Geometry_Symmetry_L3_V1_t1a.swf

http://mathtoybox.com/patblocks3/patblocks3.html

Happy Patterning!

Wycinanki: Polish Paper Art

Despite my Polish roots I have just discovered Wycinanki (Vee chee non kee), and I'm glad I did.  Wychinanki is the Polish art of paper cutting.  I guess I'm a pushover for symmetrical designs and bright colors because I find these designs so appealing, also a great way to teach symmetry and practice paper cutting skills with kids.  There are lots of examples of beautiful Wycinanki designs on the net.  You can find more designs at Inspire Bohemia.  

If you would like a pattern to help you get started planning a lesson, you can find a pattern to make the multi-colored style Wycinanki like the one above from the Lowicz region by clicking here. 

You can find the single colored style Wycinanki from the Kurpie region by clicking here.

Happy snipping!