Fishy business

A friend of mine started a preschool/playgroup for 2 yr olds. Its held once a month for 2 hours and has about 12 kids in it. We each take a month to be in charge. Its a mix of playtime and crafts/stories. Last month was my month to plan. Honestly, I was nervous. I very comfortable planning lessons and crafts for 4 yr olds, but this was out of my comfort zone. I'm not one that has ever really done crafts with my 2 yr old. I know its good for their development and creativity and what-not, but thats just not me. I'm not artsy and I don't like going through all that work for an age-group who most likely will want to do something else right then. What kind of crafts are 2yr olds even capable of? Maybe my kids got my lack of skill, but at age 2 they were just wildly scribbling on paper (with the exception of Xandy).

I turned to my trusty computer for ideas but that just ovewhelmed me. There were tons of ideas but which ones should I choose and how do I move smoothly from one activity to another? Then I turned to Tonya and Laura. They each have experience teaching 2 yr olds, maybe they had some brillant ideas. In the end, it was one of Laura's craft ideas that brought it all together. The cutest Rainbow Fish craft I'd ever seen. With a Fish theme settled on, I went to work planning. I set up a fishing pond (plastic round blue tablecloth which was $1@ Walmart), made fishing poles out of dowel rods, strings, and magnets, and cut out paperfish that were accessorized with paper clips. During the first part the kids played in the sandbox, fished, and had free play.

Then we gathered and made a fish out of a paper plate and attached it to a popsicle stick to use to sing some fish songs and finger plays. After we had our fill of fish songs, I read the book "The Rainbow Fish".

Afterwards, we made Laura's craft, and one of my favorite crafts ever which happens to also be one of the easiest, LEAST MESSY crafts ever- suncatchers. All you do is take a piece of contact paper and draw a shape on half of it. We of course, drew fish. Then peel off the paper on that half of the contact paper. Give your child an assortment of different colored sqaures of tissue paper. Even Jacob had a blast placing his tissue paper on the contact paper. When they have filled the shape, peel off the rest of the backing and fold that part of the contact paper over the shape. Flatten and cut out. Viola, you're done. Punch a hole and tie with string to wear as a necklace or hang as a sun catcher. (I know, I'm terrible at giving directions)

I served fish crackers and blue jello set in dixie cups with swedish fish suspended in the jello. I found this idea online. My only advice would be to use fish fruit snacks. The swedish fish turned to a weird color and consistency in the jello.

I think the day was a success overall, and the best part is I can sit back and enjoy the rest of the playgroups until next year!

Test run of some of the crafts
The fishing pond

Who doesn't like sidewalk chalk?