-->

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Kittens and Mittens Bulletin Board

For nursery rhyme week, if you use a system where children move their clothespins or name tags when they arrive and depart each day, then you can make an interactive bulletin board with cats and mittens.

Copy a mitten pattern and allow children to color the mitten. Then write the child's name on each mitten.

Here are two nice patterns:

Place some kittens on the board and use a line from the nursery rhyme such as, "Little Kittens, Find your mittens" or you could use the entire rhyme or the first few lines.

Kitten patterns:

You can use a small basket under the board or a sturdy manilla envelope to hold the children's mittens, although I always preferred to put a string along the bottom of the board with clothespins. Children would put their tags there when they left school each day and find them there when they returned the next day. Then each child would have another clothespin "spot" on the bulletin board where they would put their tags (in this case, their mittens).

If your children are young and can't handle the motor skills involved with clothespins, use magnets or velcro. Just make sure that you secure the velcro with staples or you'll end up with a ripped bulletin board. Also, with magnets, make sure you test them before you affix them permanently (does side A go with side B) or they will repel each other.

Another note on magnets... Magnets can be very dangerous if two are swallowed, so I wouldn't recommend using them if you have children who put things in their mouths. Laminating the mittens after the magnets are in place should be sufficient for older children.

No comments: