Favorite Things: Chenille Stem Fish

This week we used again one of my favorite things - chenille stem fish.

We've always enjoyed using a fishing pole made of a dowel rod, yarn/string, and a magnet. We would catch construction paper fish with a paper clip. (I always put tape around the clip so it won't come off. That's a disappointing catch!)

But a few years ago, I saw the idea for chenille stem fish on Inner Child Fun. I think I literally slapped my forehead. What a great idea!

The chenille stems have wire inside so they're magnetic. The fish I used were formed by some of my kindergartners in the past. The girls that played this game enjoyed catching and releasing the fish several times.

Of course, we had a tackle box with plastic "bait" (frogs, snakes, lizards). We had a "real" fishing net. We had a basket to hold our catch before releasing it. We had a few paper fish, too.

But we love those chenille stem fish. I can reform them at any time. Or add a few stems for the kids to make more fish. And we can catch them by the tail or in the middle - not just at the mouth!

My "fishergirls" had great fun! (That's what one of them called herself.)

5 Ways to Use Craft Sticks

Craft stick are one of our favorite things. We use them in all kinds of ways. Here are five ways we've used them (plus a few other links, too).

1. Build with them

We like to include craft sticks (and other wood pieces) with our blocks from time to time. The craft sticks add another way to create create structures.

Wood Odds and Ends in the Blocks Center (Brick by Brick)

Plus sticks can make great roads. (See my post about craft stick roads on PreK and K Sharing.)

2. Magnet Sticks

Add magnets to the backs of craft sticks and you have magnet sticks! These are great for exploring alone or with other magnetic shapes on a magnet board.

Magnet Sticks (Brick by Brick)

Check out the post on Teach Preschool that inspired my sticks. Deborah made shapes, too.
DIY Magnetic Craft Sticks (Teach Preschool)


3. Stick Puppets

Tape photos or pictures from magazines onto craft sticks to make stick puppets.
Or provide paper, scissors, markers, and tape for kids to make their own stick puppets.

Mix It Up (Brick by Brick)

4. Make games.

We use craft sticks for different kinds of games. For one game, I printed letters on the sticks to spell a word. I made several sets of letters. We put them in a container and spilled them on the table. Then we played a variation of "Pick Up Sticks" where kids tried to remove a stick without moving any other stick. Kids tried to spell the name/word as we played. 

Our kids created other games with this group of sticks, too.

Invention (Brick by Brick)

Check out this game made with sticks: Making Shapes (education.com)


5. Hot Glue Sculptures

Our favorite Christmas activity is making frames. We use the glue guns to make frames with colored craft sticks. (And we get to use the glue gun!) Using the glue gun makes the assembly quick (and usually painless); we don't need to wait for craft glue to dry before continuing our work.

Of course, you can use other glue instead of hot glue to make sculptures. Any way you do them, this is a fun way to explore!

"I'm Not Allowed to Use That" (Brick by Brick)

Check out this hanging sculpture from Childhood 101.


These are just five ways we use craft sticks. How do you use them in your classroom?

Burner Cover Magnet Boards

I've written a lot about my large magnet board. (It's really an oil drip pan from the automotive section of a discount store.) We use it with magnet shapes and magnet sticks. We use it as a magnet table. We even use it for sticky paper play. (Note: Check out my post on Pre-K Pages about using the large magnet board for graphing.)

But I haven't mentioned our small magnet boards. These are also repurposed items - stove burner covers. These are square but I've seen circular ones, too.

We bought them a while back. (Sometimes you can find them at the dollar store or other discount store.) We pull these out when we want to have more individual magnet experiences or use a table but not the whole table (as with the large magnet board).

We've used magnet shapes and magnet letters. We've used magnet figures (to retell stories or play out original stories). We even had eyes, noses, and mouths to make funny faces.

These are great resources for centers or smaller areas for magnet play.

I really like these because you can use them as dry erase boards, too. And, if you flip them over, they make great trays for holding all kinds of things. I like when I can get lots of use from something!

Listen: Taking My Own Advice

My word for this year is LISTEN. I'm working on listening and responding as I teach and learn.

So many things have been happening this year, and I've been hearing lots of advice. Colleagues are ready to help. Experts in books have lots to say. Blogs burst with myriads of ideas. I've been trying to listen and learn whenever I can.

As I prepared for the first of the year, I began filtering through a lot of listening. And one thing struck me. I often don't listen to myself. Of, better said, I don't always remember or do things that I know are good ideas. I get so caught up in others' thoughts that I forget the "tried and true" ideas of my own. 

Here's one specific case. I love my large magnet board, an oil drip pan. In fact, one of the top all time posts on Brick by Brick is my post about the oil drip pan as one of my favorite things. We use one regularly in our church kindergarten class. But I don't have one in my school classroom. 

I decided that I should listen to my own blog and get one. In fact, I now have 2 in my classroom.

In my first grade class at the beginning of the year, I used one for a daily question. The class mascot, Rilla, would ask a question and the first graders placed their names under their response to it. We would then compare the answers (how many more or less, etc.). I had hoped to develop this daily activity further as the year went on. (Then I moved to my new school and grade level. In all the transition, I haven't been able to restart this activity.)

In my new class, we haven't used the magnet boards much yet. I use them as a portable display board from time to time. I will be using them more, and I'm so glad that I "listened" to my blog and purchased them. 

(I'll post more on using these as the year goes on.)

Sometimes the person you listen to the least is yourself. Or you just get caught up in all the other advice out there, you forget what you really know.

What "old" idea do you need to pull out and use again?

Magnetic Sticks

We made magnetic sticks by adding self-adhesive magnets to colored craft sticks. As I set up this week, I was thinking about Deborah's recent post about invitations on her Teach Preschool blog. So I set up the materials like this:

The first kids came in and this is what happened. (I didn't suggest he do this.)

Then the kids began to experiment.

Note someone changed my H to "a tic-tac-toe shape."

An alien

How many? "...10, 11,12..."

A sun and stars

An invitation of what to do...and letting the kids use their own ideas. Our magnetic sticks were a success!

Twists from the Blogosphere

I love to put a twist on a familiar idea. Here are three "twisted" ideas from the blogosphere that I want to use this year.


Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds: Ziplock Baggie Painting
This post is a different take on ball/marble painting. We've marble-painted in an oatmeal box and on a large canvas, but a ziplock bag is a new idea for me.


Crafty Crow: Discovery Bottles
The link on Crafty Crow shows a variety of discovery bottles but I love the one featured. Chenille stem pieces and a wand magnet is a fun idea.


Deep Space Sparkle: How to Make Painted Paper
We love to paint...and we have cut up old paintings to use in collages. But I like the idea of painting paper in lots of different ways and incorporating that painted paper into other projects.

Top Ten of 2011 - #2 and #1

This week I'm reviewing the posts most visited during 2011. New posts will resume next week. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

#2 - Favorite Things: Oil Drip Pan and Magnet Shapes

I've had more comments and interest in this idea than anything else on Brick by Brick. I'm sure it would have been number 1 if not for the book study blog party (see below). And it's a post from January - almost a year old and still gaining readers. The oil drip pan magnet board is one of my favorite repurpose ideas. If you're looking for a larger magnet board, I'd suggest you head to a discount store or auto store and get one.

#1 - Literacy Beginnings: Chapter 3

This was my first hosting of the book study blog party organized by Vanessa at Pre-K Pages. This post discussed the inquiry process, part of the play foundation for literacy. So many people were interested in the book study that this post vaulted to number 1 for 2011. 

I'm surprised at some of the top ten. And some of my favorites are not among the top ten. And that's fine. 

In the comments, feel free to note a favorite post that didn't make the top ten. Or let me know something you'd like to see on Brick by Brick in 2012.

Good-bye 2011!

Some Christmas Links

This week we tried cutting snowflakes from coffee filters. This group of kids just liked the scissors and didn't really get into cutting snowflakes. They tried but just couldn't get into it. (I didn't really get photos of their efforts. It was a busy day.) Kids in last year's group loved it. And they really worked to get it just right (by their own standards). Check out the pictures of last year's snowflakes. I'd still recommend this as a fun activity for winter or Christmas.

Here are a few other favorite posts from around the blogosphere with some Christmas ideas—

Peppermint Play Dough (PreK + K Sharing): I love to make play dough, but I have not made any peppermint play dough. I think this would be a great sensory experience...or a great gift for kids.

Handmade Pine Tree Holiday Cards (Frugal Family Fun Blog): These are so simple and so cute. I think a batch of these would be fun for kids to make...or for an adult to make to send to kids.

Christmas Bow Magnetic Play (Teach Preschool): Everything that Deborah has been doing with her class this month has be fun and inspiring to me. I love the idea of magnetic play with bows. Don't you just have a stash of used bows that you didn't want to toss? Now you have a use for them!

Christmas Door (Getting Messy with Ms Jessi): I love the idea of creating a handprint tree without all the stress of putting hands in the "right place." And I can see this idea translate into lots of other applications, too - not just Christmas trees.

Paint Chip Ornaments (StrongStart): Another simple idea with few resources. Kids could make them as gifts to give...or these would make fun gifts or bag tags for kids.

There are a lot of great ideas all over this year. I just don't have time to do them all!

Magnet Board to Magnet Table

One of our favorite things is our magnet board. But we usually use it propped up against the wall or a table - a vertical surface for creating.

But recently we used it in a different configuration - the oil drip pan was on a table so we had a flat horizontal surface for creating.

The kids seemed to use the magnet shapes a little differently. They experimented with designs in a different way.

Sometimes just a little change in the way we use something can stimulate different thinking.

(Now I think I need to make Deborah's slinky magnets for our magnet table!)

5 Repurposing Ideas I'm Going to Steal

I love it when I can recycle, reuse, and/or repurpose materials. It's part of my DSDD. Well, my friends around the blogosphere are feeding my sickness. Here are five great ideas that I will be stealing...er, borrowing for myself.

Magnet Play Set - Teach Preschool: Deborah has been working hard on her new classroom...and has been giving me lots of great ideas. I love this magnet set made with lids and slinkys. Slinkys! I can't wait to see what these look like on our large magnet board (also a repurposed item!).

Ice Cube Tray Marker Organization - Pre-K Pages: Vanessa made me realize a problem in my classroom (kids cannot find the specific marker colors they want) and she gave me a solution (tall ice cube tray). I can see that this will really help in my writing center.

Creative File Organizer - Pre-K Pages: Vanessa again has a great post. This is a much better use for a dish drainer than actually washing dishes. I also read somewhere (maybe on Facebook related to this post) that you could use it in a center to hold/display books.

Sponge Towers - Toddler Approved: I got to this idea through Ellis' blog Growing in Pre-K. Cutting sponges into strips for building - like a Jenga game. I was going to purchase one of those games, but now I'm just going to make my own; it's quieter, too, when knocked over. My builders will love these.

Old Slides into Sculptures - TinkerLab: Rachelle sent my brain spinning with this post. I can imagine all kinds of things we could do with old slides - but I've not imagined that before. I like the sculptures - and the idea of using them as windows in constructions. Need to find some of these.

Have you made any good finds to repurpose/reuse/recycle lately?

Quick Feel Box

This week we were talking about sight and being blind. I wanted to engage the kids in using their touch instead of sight, so I wanted to use some of our magnet shapes in a feel box. Now, there are many ways to create a feel box, but I pulled out something that had been lurking in one of my bins.

This particular feel box was one I used when I was working with 1s, so it's useful for all ages of preschoolers. And I like this one because it feeds my need to reuse and repurpose stuff. All you need is an empty oatmeal container and a new (unused) large athletic sock. Slide the sock over the oatmeal box...and you're done. Drop anything inside the box and it's ready to go. (This one also makes it difficult to "cheat" and look at what you are feeling. Not that any of your kids would ever do that.)

I put some of each shape in the box and lay one of each shape on the table. Then a child could feel a shape and guess which shape he was holding. Pull it out to see which shape it is. Here it is in action:

Of course, some of us had to use the shapes to create really cool designs (flowers, stars, etc.).

Gone Fishing

Last week we enjoyed one of my favorite activities with kids - fishing. (Well, I enjoy the kind the classroom more than the one by the lake - another post some day.)

I put out some "fishing poles" (dowel rods with yarn and magnets), a fishing net (a real one from my favorite discount store), a large net (from the party store), and a tackle box with odds and ends in it (chenille stem worms, plastic snakes and lizards, etc.). I made fish a while back and we just keep reusing those: Cut fish shapes from construction paper (or purchase paper fish shapes) and add a paper clip; I cover the paper clip with masking tape to keep it from slipping off. (This is a really good idea for younger preschoolers since paper clips are a choking hazard.)

And I got to try out using chenille stem fish; I've been wanting to do that since reading Valerie's idea at Frugal Family Fun. I made a few and put out additional chenille stems for the kids to make more fish themselves.

The kids had a really great time.

The small net became the holder for the fish caught.

Counting the catch

Catching a really big one!

(Their play also reminded me of the importance of mixing in "real" items with play items. Their play was enhanced from the real fishing net and tackle box. But that's another post.)

A group of girls "fished" first. They played together for quite a while. I had to encourage them to move on to other things so more kids could fish. Then a group of boys moved in. They had a fun fishing trip, too. One thing we noticed - the girls, while working together and having intricate play - were very quiet about it. The guys' fishing trip was much more boisterous - but their group play was also very involved and continuously changing. All in all, a successful time together.