Ninja Turtles Birthday Party

Last year I helped my sister-in-law prep and plan a candy buffet table for her son's 3rd birthday party. My nephew Michael LOVES the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so his mom wanted to plan a fun party using TMNT as a theme on a budget.

She decided to do a fun pizza and dessert party. It was so much fun and she pulled it off perfectly! 

 The Cake my amazingly talented Mother-in-Law made

 The birthday boy with his cake

 TMNT happy birthday banner with TMNT balloons

TMNT head table display with little goodie bags

 My Sister-in-Law made these adorable TMNT masks, armbands and turtle shells for the kids to "Pick Which Ninja Turtle" they wanted to be

She cut the masks and arm bands out of a super soft and flexible fabric

 She spray painted oval aluminum take-out tins green to make the turtle shells

TMNT tattoo station

The candy bar sign I created

Ninja Smoke Bombs & Leonardo's Swords

 The signs I created

Raphael's Red Mints, Donatello's Bo, Michelangelo's Sardines, & Cowabunga Chewy Pops

 

The whole TMNT candy spread

Here's a list of the TMNT Themed candy I used:

Donatello's Bo: Little Licorice pieces in multiple colors

Leonardo's Swords: Marshmallow Twists

Michelangelo's Sardines: Swedish Fish

Raphael's Red Mints: Red Peppermints

Cowabunga Chewy Pops: Tootsie Pops

Sewer Covers:Peppermint Patties

Ninja Smoke Bombs: Hersey Kisses 

Turtle Shells: Reese's Minis 

Sewer Worms: Gummy Worms   

I printed my signs out in a word document and added TMNT clipart. I then pasted them on green cardstock and placed in little plastic frames.

 Leonardo photo booth fun

Ninja Turtle Pinata

Me with my niece and nephew

The whole ninja gang

and of course I had to get the birthday boy TMNT gifts

*if you are interested in the TMNT candy buffet labels I created I'd be happy to email them to you! Leave a comment in this post with your email!

Dr. Seuss Learning Adventures

We are having so much fun with our Dr. Seuss Learning Adventures.

Some of the fun Seuss activities we did this week in my classroom:

1. Created Dr. Seuss Characters using various art materials.  

I put animal print paper cut-out in various shapes along with feathers, googly eyes, and crayons on the table. I placed Dr. Seuss books nearby to inspire their creativity, but allow the children to choose to make whatever creation they desire.

 

 He made a "Do-Da-Ma-Dad"

 She made a "silly penguin"

 He made "A Dr. Seuss Water-Ma-Doodle"

 A "Silly Man"

"The Cat-in-the Hat"

My bulletin board with our finished characters

2. Rhyme Time Game
We love focusing on rhyming while doing our Dr. Seuss unit. We play a fun and super easy rhyming game from prekinders.com. Click here for prekinders printable rhyming games.

3. After reading "Put Me in the Zoo" we made our own "Put Me in the Zoo" characters and charted what our favorite color is:

4.  We created "The Cat in the Hat" and "The Lorax" Paper Plate Puppets.

5. Puppet Show: Our puppet creations were a big hit with the children. Some of them decided they wanted to put on a puppet show using their new puppets. It was their idea to then work together to create a special sign for their puppet show that we hung in the auditorium for their little performance. What a great idea! They all either performed or participated as audience members! Such a great preschool memory!

 Performing their "show":

My First Linky Party: 5 For Friday!

I'm excited to explore all the wonderful resources of fellow teacher bloggers out there with my first 5 for Friday Linky Party!

 I linked up with Doodle Bugs Teaching.

5 Things About Me & My Week:

I organized my new blog with a fun new blog template! I love it! Check it out and follow my blog and I will follow you! xo

Today I discovered that Dunkin Donuts has a reward card! Hello I'm Kimberly and I'm a coffee-olic and this is fabulous! Free coffee on your birthday too, where have you been all my adult life?! 

Tonight I discovered these gems at Francesca's! They were each on clearance for $6.98 each. I'm pumped to plan cute teaching outfits to go with them! 

I posted a link on my blog about this fun math game I found and put together for my kiddos from prekinders! They had a blast pretending to be mailmen/mailwomen!

I put together this care package for a fellow teacher's husband who just had surgery. Super easy but I think it's a great way to make someone recovering feel a little bit better.

Mailbox Math

Here's a super easy and fun shape matching activity I found on one of my favorite early education websites: Prekinders.

How to prepare the game:

• Get or make little mailboxes. I found mine at the Target dollar spot. I bought 5. You could try making the mailboxes with little milk cartons too to save money.
• Print out the envelopes and mailbox labels from prekinders. Link here.
• I laminated them to make them more sturdy. 
• Cut the envelopes as close to the little lines as possible to make sure they fit properly into the slots. Do not cut down the middle. 
• Fold the envelopes in half and glue together to make it look like a real envelope. 
• Glue shape label onto the little mailboxes.

How the game works:
The kiddos can work individually or in a small group. They take turns matching the little envelopes with the corresponding shape on the mailbox and then they put that envelope into the correct mailbox slot. 

On Prekinders there is also an option to play the game with numbers as well! 

Easy and fun way to practice shape recognition! 

Get Well Gift Idea

For a fellow teacher's husband who just recently had hand surgery I organized this super easy and inexpensive get well/speedy recovery care package:

What's inside?:

• little basket I got from the Dollar Tree
• lots of candy
• gum
• tic-tacs
• hand soap
• pain reliever 
• some magazines I purchased and some I "borrowed" from my husband's subscriptions 

Other items you could include in the care package:

• tissues
• Chap-stick
• books
• movies
• I-Tunes or Netflix gift card
• back scratcher
• notepad/journal