Squirrels!

Hi! It's Carolyn from Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together.  I've seen so many squirrels around these last few weeks. I found some awesome squirrel freebies on TpT and thought it would be fun to share them with you in this post.



First of all, Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt, is a great book that the children love.

Here's a little bit about the book:
Scaredy Squirrel never leaves his nut tree. It's way too dangerous out there. He could encounter tarantulas, green Martians or killer bees. But in his tree, every day is the same and if danger comes along, he's well-prepared. Scaredy Squirrel's emergency kit includes antibacterial soap, Band-Aids and a parachute.

Day after day he watches and waits, and waits and watches, until one day ... his worst nightmare comes true! Scaredy suddenly finds himself out of his tree, where germs, poison ivy and sharks lurk. 

But as Scaredy Squirrel leaps into the unknown, he discovers something really uplifting ...

I always use Scaredy Squirrel as a Writer's Workshop reminder for the children to know that trying something new (like writing words and stories and drawing illustrations) can seem scary, but when you try new things, good things happen!  We talk a lot about being brave writers, so this fits in beautifully.

I LOVE this Scaredy Squirrel I Have Who Has Letter Game from Barb Gaither. Oh yes, this is fun!  Great letter recognition practice!

A Special Kind of Class has these adorable Squirrel Counting Numbers. This is a fun math center and would be fun with real acorns, too!

I love Kinder Kay's Fall Squirrel I Can Draw I Can Write Fun Pack. What a great afternoon this would be learning to draw squirrels- and so great for details and writer's workshop!

 

 This Fall Scavenger Hunt from Julie Barello will be so much fun for a beautiful fall afternoon!



A variety bag of nuts is great for so many activities for children.  Children use their fine motor skills when they use tongs to move nuts to different containers as they sort them or make patterns with them.  And the children just love studying the different types of nuts- feeling the different textures or examining them with a magnifying glass.  This makes a perfect, easy science center.

I have had terrible luck finding acorns this fall. (Must be the squirrels got them first!)  But I am still looking and thought this idea from Play to Write was adorable.  I even have a little container all set to go (AKA an old Lysol wipe container) that I have turned into a little tree to store the acorns!   





 



On a delicious note, aren't these so cute? These are from Life Inside the Page.

I made these (below) one year to decorate the top of a cake, and they turned out really cute. (SO- you know they are easy!) This picture is from Bargain Hoot. I think I like the look of the nutter-butter top.

(God made these- they are real! haha- just comparing the tops cause I am like that.)

As I was looking for that  picture, I found this from Party Pinching! OH my goodness! I don't think I could even eat him, he is so doggone cute.

If there are no nut allergies in your classroom, making peanut butter is lots of fun for the children.  Children sometimes don't realize that peanut butter comes right from... peanuts!  Have the class shell about  3 cups of peanuts.  Cover tables with newspaper or a plastic table cloth for easier clean up.  Shelling peanuts is fun- and good for developing those little fine motor muscles.

After the peanuts are shelled, put about half the nuts into a food processor with about 3 tsp peanut oil or vegetable oil. You may want to add about 1/4 tsp of salt for taste.  

Process peanuts until they are smooth.   Empty the peanut butter into a bowl, and continue with the second batch of peanuts.   

This picture is from Sally's Baking Addiction. 

Give each student a few crackers, a plastic knife, and a spoonful of peanut butter on a plate.  Teaching children to spread the peanut butter on a cracker is a skill in itself!  It's also a great time to remind children never to put a knife in their mouths because they are sharp, even plastic knives.  

Have a wonderful day! I hope you found some fun squirrel or nut activities to use in your classroom!